As many of you know I attended CLAY this past week. CLAY stands for Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering, which was held in downtown Saskatoon. It was my first time attending CLAY and it was amazing. Kudos to Angela, who serves on the church council executive in this congregation and is the Registrar of CLAY. And thanks to the whole team including Deacon Gretchen Peterson on the national church staff, and others. It was one of the best organized church events I have ever attended.
What also stands out is that CLAY is for everyone. It’s for the cool kids and the misfits. It’s for the extroverts and the introverts. It’s for the queer kids and the non-queer kids. It’s for racialized youth and non-racialized youth. It really is a great cross-section of the wider church. And so much energy and hopefulness among attendees in middle school and high school. And then there were CLAY leaders who used to attend CLAY as youth and are now in university or older and still supporting this gathering. It’s for adults generously giving their time to supporting youth attending this gathering. And some of the youth group took bus trips that truly defied expectation. One group from Winnipeg decided Saskatoon was too close to drive it in a straight line. So instead they first drove to Banff, then to Edmonton, and then circled back to Saskatoon, before returning home to Winnipeg. That’s one way to make an epic road trip.
What stood out most to me about CLAY was the diversity of youth and their comfort being in spaces together, both in the large and small group gatherings. CLAY resembles Jesus’ call for disciples to invite everyone off the street to join for the wedding banquet. Not just to invite the well connected or powerful people who are already friends.
It was heartening to see many Lutheran and Anglican bishops hanging out at the back of the Anglican cathedral where we gathered for all our large group gatherings, including worship. It was a chance for youth to see bishops who were investing their time being present. It was an opportunity show that being there supporting youth is worthwhile in itself. Even if none of the the youth rise to positions of power. It signals that it worth leaders’ time being at the banquet regardless of reward.
Pr. Jordan Cantwell served as a the keynote speaker. Pr. Jordan is the Growth Animator: Prairie Regions for the United Church and former Moderator for the United Church in Canada (similar to National Bishop for Lutherans). Listening to Pr. Jordan’s keynote addresses it was not hard to understand why she was elected as Moderator and now helping congregations deepen discipleship and work on evangelism. She has an ease of addressing the youth and unpacking Jesus’ parables about seeds, which was a focus given CLAY’s theme “Rooted and Rising.” Pr. Jordan is also a former classmate when I studied at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon and she was at the United seminary. Pr. Jordan shared that after coming out as a lesbian in a non-affirming church, she abandoned church altogether for about ten years. Then she came back and became a pastor in the United Church, feeling the call to share the good news of Jesus’ love for everyone. She realized she had a strong faith that could be shared in a church that is truly inclusive.
Thinking about Jesus’ parable about the wedding banquet, who among us hasn’t experienced feeling excluded at a social function? Perhaps we attended a wedding or a church event where we didn’t feel we fit in. An event where we didn’t know anyone or we were treated as someone not worth knowing because we weren’t considered important. Thinking about the youth, remember those days in middle school and high school when there were times, whole years even, when we didn’t fit in.
I certainly was not a cool kid in school. I didn’t always fit in and was excluded from social circles for several of these years. And anyone who has worked around teenagers, even older elementary kids, knows how cruel other kids can be. The bullying and exclusion can be strong, although I am grateful for the anti-bullying campaigns that exist in schools today. There are lots of dynamics on school playground today where teachers are often at a loss how to disrupt the social hierarchies that develop and form school culture in and outside the classroom.
I remember high school as a lawless place especially in the early grades. Short of criminal acts, truly anything goes in high school. I am heartened hearing reports from kids today hearing that high school can be a better place. That principals actually know their kids. I give thanks and praise for every story for my kids when they find a home in school. And I give thanks and praise knowing there are places like CLAY where everyone can find a home. And the group we went with was no exception. Not all kids are comfortable making new friends, saying hi to people. But we were placed together with youth from across Canada. CLAY became an opportunity to meet people outside of school. Our team was paired together with youth from Richmond and Greater Vancouver in some activities, so we could share stories about the island and lower mainland. We could talk about interests.
I spoke with one youth entering grade twelve in Richmond who wants to get into automotive apprenticeship for example and loves working on cars. He also plays basketball and goes to the gym. We brought with us custom stickers with a Vancouver Island logo that we handed out to other kids. One more way to break the ice and give a small gift.
Jesus calls us to invite everyone to the banquet table. What does that look like for us as a congregation at Church of the Cross? How do we build this kind of discipleship into our programming at Church of the Cross? We also offer a range of large group and small group gatherings.
We gather every Sunday morning for worship and we offer an assortment of small group gatherings ranging between Perk Me Up, a seniors coffee gathering with conversation, to Sunday School, middle school Confirmation, high school youth group, campus ministry at UVic, singing in the choir, the DEI Team social meetups (new initiative for young adults), and the adult theology book group which will begin in a few weeks (more details to come). There is also the weekly coffee hour and different boards and committees gathering to do communal work, among other ministries.
Shelbourne Community Kitchen personifies Jesus’ banquet, inviting in the hungry and people financially challenged. These are people who cannot afford to host a meal in return, struggling to afford daily life. Our commitment supporting the Kitchen remains important especially at a time when individuals and families are struggling in many ways. Kim, director of the Kitchen, has mentioned members of the church will be invited to participate in monthly meals at the Kitchen once they are up and running. They model the kind of banquet Jesus describes. Attending this banquet doesn’t win anyone status. Setting the table for all our neighbours is an act of faithfulness. It’s part of our calling as Christians.
It’s important to remember stories of generosity as we enter a challenging time. We’re hearing a lot of stories in the news that are the exact opposite of protecting the stranger. There is the story of masked ICE officers who detained two wildfire fighters and disrupted wildfire fighting in Oregon this past week. The wildfire crew has been fighting the Bear Gulch Fire in the Olympic national forest. In the end ICE agents took away two of the firefighters, not identifying themselves by name or badge number, and without telling their colleagues or families where they were taking the two men. One of the men was on track for legal status in the US. You can imagine the terror of being taken away by masked men, unable to say goodbye to family and friends. There is a phrase, “None of us are free until all of us are free.” We are all connected and so the justice for neighbours just across the water is also of our concern. Just a few weeks ago smoke from one of the fires in Washington State blew in our direction.
Creation connects us together, despite the artificial borders that separate us from neighbours. Neighbours who are being forcibly removed from banquets just kilometers from our shore.
In closing I want to share a good story of someone showing hospitality to a stranger. Andrew Weichel wrote a story for CTV News about how a teen helps Olympian Clara Hughes finish the gruelling West Coast Trail. Just last week Clara set out with a friend to complete the 75 km hiking trail. Unfortunately she ran into trouble when she took off her shoes to complete a water crossing along a beach in the dark. However she didn’t secure her shoes very well onto the back of her pack. As a result one of her shoes fell into the water in the dark and she was unable to find it again. These were her only shoes. So she was down to one shoe hiking a trail lined with sharp rocks and tree roots. A fifteen year old boy hiking with his father met up with Clara and her friend. Immediately he offered her his spare pair of Crocs. He had the wisdom to bring some light shoes for around camp to let his feet rest after hours on the trail. They were worn and beat up, and one size too small, but Clara was elated to have footwear to finish the final leg of the West Coast Trail, with over 20 km to go. She had never been so happy about a pair of shoes in her life, going from being stranded and barefoot to an ill-fitting Croc that saved her feet. That is the kind of hospitality that solves problems through love. This kid sacrificed his comfort so she could finish the trail.
What is the spare pair of Crocs we are carrying around? What are ways we are extending the table and inviting a neighbour to have a seat? Know that Jesus has gone ahead, inviting us to gather around the table, to receive the sustenance we need to be fed, to have enough. God continually shows up to feed us and invite us, out of love for us. Amen.
