In his Easter Sunday sermon at Christ Church Cathedral, Bishop Shane Parker noted that April 7, 2021, would be the 125th anniversary of the day when the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa was established. “In the early spring of 1896, when timber cut on Algonquin Anishinabe lands began to float down the Ottawa River—coursing through the roiling waters of Akikojiwan before being gathered into booms beneath the cliffs of Parliament Hill—our diocesan church came into being.”
Although people and parishes across the diocese have been working to reach a goal set for the 125th anniversary year — creating 125 units of affordable housing — the pandemic has pushed typical ways of celebrating the anniversary out of mind, he said. “We won’t be having a big diocesan service in an arena anytime soon, and we do not have souvenirs or a special history book lined up.”
But, the bishop, suggested, “Maybe the pandemic is prompting us to look at this anniversary differently. Perhaps we are not in a place where looking back in a self-congratulatory way is the thing to do. Maybe we need to be prospective rather than retrospective.”
Returning to the Gospel lesson for the day, Parker pointed out that Mary Magdalene and the other disciples who witnessed the risen Christ became the generation tasked with spreading the Easter Gospel. “It fell to them to bring this new thing into the world, and there was sacrifice, joy, failure, and success. They were the generation who learned how to follow the risen Christ, and how to share the good news of God’s solidarity and love for all human beings.”
Now, in 2021, the bishop said he believes the task of addressing fundamental challenges to the diocesan church falls to the present generation. “And I can think of no better way of celebrating our 125th anniversary than embracing this task with conviction as we break free from this pandemic.
Describing the church’s challenges and the hope with which to face them, he offered a vision for moving forward.
We are the generation who has looked into the tomb that holds the glory and growth years of our church during the middle of the last century—along with artifacts of the status we were once afforded by our historic attachments to imperialism and colonialism. We are the generation who sees the declining numbers, and feels the eroding effects of secularism, pluralism, and relativism.
We gaze upon the foreboding statistical projections lining the walls of that tomb, and we are a bit like Mary Magdalene—somewhere between grief and confusion—trapped between staying as we are or somehow moving on; wrestling between denial and acceptance in the face of undeniable loss: and maybe we are a bit like Peter and the other disciple—wanting to go back to a place that will never be the same again.
But there are angels in the abyss, glimmers of light, abundant possibilities, and many reasons for us to look in a new direction with hopeful expectations.
We are the generation that has thrived in the middle of a global pandemic! When everything changed overnight more than a year ago, we rose to the challenge! We stayed connected and offered pastoral care, fellowship and worship in new and creative ways in our parish ministries—and our community ministries rapidly pivoted and adjusted to continue serving sisters and brothers who are vulnerable.
We recognized the need to be a diocesan church that is cohesive, creative, and profoundly faithful. We felt how resilient and determined we can be when it comes to sharing the expansive love of Christ.
So, in this, our 125th year, let us no longer be shaped by forces of change around us: let us instead bring our common strength, resilience, creativity, and determination to embrace the challenges that face us.
Let us gladly become the generation that fearlessly takes on the task which has fallen to us. Let us, as bishop, clergy and people, courageously address urgent questions about our capacity to communicate, the shape of our parish ministry, where we have buildings, how we engage with the world, and how we enable life-long discipleship.
Let us honour the generations of faithful people who went before us in our diocese over the last 125 years by focusing on the critical task of change and renewal which has fallen to our generation.
Let us honour our past by vitalizing our future. Christian faith is Easter faith. …
The horrific death of Jesus tells us that God stands in loving solidarity with every human being, especially in the lowest places of humiliation, injury, sorrow, pain, and loss.
The joyful resurrection of Jesus tells us that there is always more than we can see, there are always more possibilities for life, there is always more hope.
May God’s strong love fill your hearts today. May it inspire us to be steadfast in our service to one another as this pandemic comes to an end; and may the indestructible and abundant hope of the risen Christ compel us to renew our beloved diocesan church as we mark this 125th year of its life and ministry.
Amen. Alleluia!
Deanery of East Ontario — Church of the Nativity, L’Orignal