Around Town: One City, One Message; Spirit of Reconciliation; C.S. Lewis & love

This Sunday (June 11), churches across Metro Vancouver will address one of the great challenges of living in our region: social isolation.

The idea for One City, One Message came as a friendly but passionate challenge from Vancouver City Councilor Andrea Reimer during a panel discussion among civic leaders at the Vancouver Consultation’s City Summit last November.

Taking a cue from the Vancouver Public Library’s longstanding annual initiative ‘One City, One Book,’ Reimer encouraged church leaders to use their moral authority to catalyze public conversations that matter by promoting an agreed-upon topic in their various congregations one Sunday each year.

Churches all over Metro Vancouver – evangelical, mainline and Catholic – will be taking part in One City, One Message.

Urban Village reaching out

Members of Urban Village Church took part in Collingwood Days May 27. Photo by Jenny Peng.

Urban Village Church in east Vancouver got started early, with their own two-week challenge: ‘It Takes a Village.’ They began by participating in Collingwood Days May 27, hosting a booth with crafts, games and community building activities.

Pastor Daniel Louie wrote to his church family:

Our Church has always believed in the importance of living a Christ-centred life by reaching out to the community and the world. That’s why we are participating in this year’s city-wide One City, One Message campaign! The campaign asks churches to start a conversation on the theme of ‘Welcoming the Stranger’ following research by the Vancouver Foundation in 2012 that revealed “Vancouverites are experiencing a crisis of social isolation.”

We want to challenge you to spend two weeks, May 28 – June 11, to think about how you can go beyond you comfort zones and take a step in connecting with someone in your workplace, community, school and neighbourhood. Let’s go beyond a conversation on social isolation and reach out, make an impact and plant seeds of friendship, generosity, meaningful connection and the Gospel of Christ.

Go here for the full text.

Catholic participation

Agnieszka Krawczynski wrote in The B.C. Catholic May 28:

The Sunday sermon at Catholic and non-Catholic churches around Vancouver will have a common theme June 11, as priests and ministers preach with a united voice for the first time.

One City, One Message is an initiative encouraging pastors, preachers and even a few Jewish and Sikh leaders, to give sermons on the theme Welcoming the Stranger.

She spoke with Marjeta Bobnar, coordinator for ecumenical and interfaith initiatives for the Catholic Archdiocese:

Bobnar said the theme, chosen from Matthew 25, is one everyone can relate to and all Christians agree on. She said Catholic homilies might touch on refugee sponsorship, feeding the homeless, reaching out to the lonely and elderly or promoting reconciliation – all areas the Church is active in.

Archdiocesan refugee sponsorship coordinator Diane Chua said 33 parishes welcomed 294 refugees last year. Many of those parish communities were first-time sponsors and struggled to help newcomers learn English and find homes, jobs and schools. Another 680 archdiocesan-sponsored refugees have applications waiting for approval overseas.

Chua said encouraging pastors to preach on welcoming the stranger is an “amazing” opportunity to talk about the work the Church is doing and to encourage other parishes to participate. . . .

“This is a new initiative that I haven’t heard about in other cities,” said Bobnar, who hopes One City, One Message will become an annual event.

For more details about the One City, One Message initiative and how you can participate, click here.

Spirit of Reconciliation

Several events are planned – or have already take place – to mark the second anniversary of the publication of the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and National Aboriginal Day (June 21):

Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation

From the Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation Facebook page.

Participants from several churches joined Walk in the Spirit of Reconciliation June 2 – 4. The 35 kilometre walk began at Fort Langley National Historic Site and ended at Fraser Heritage Park in Mission. This is how the walk was described:

Sponsors – and walkers – came from the Anglican Church (Diocese of New Westminster), the Christian Reformed Church, Mennonite Church BC, United Churches of Langley, Willoughby Church – and no doubt others as well.

Mark Buchanan at Tenth

Mark Buchanan, pastor, teacher, speaker and the author of seven books, addressed the topic Truth and Reconciliation: How Do We Respond? June 7 at Tenth Church.

He spoke “about his own experience in trying to address Canada’s, and especially the Canadian church’s, historic wrongs committed against First Peoples, and will specifically explore ways that churches and Christians might respond to the Calls to Action that emerged from the TRC.”

Beyond 150

Mosaic Church, along with many partnering organizations and churches of the Downtown Eastside, is hosting Beyond 150: A Street Party in Honour of National Aboriginal Day June 18 from 2 – 6 pm.

They invite others “to come and join us in celebration of Indigenous cultures and history” on the street outside of Strathcona Church.

Beyond 150 will include a salmon barbecue, First Nations dancers and drummers, children’s activities and artisans booths. Princess Avenue will be closed between Pender and Hastings.

Philosopher’s Cafe

C.S. Lewis’s views on love will kick off a discussion at the Philosophers’ Cafe.

A Philosophers’ Café will address the topic What Do You Think About C.S. Lewis’s Views on Love? this Monday (June 12) at the False Creek Community Centre on Granville Island. Here is the description of the event:

Dr. Jason Lepojärvi is a scholar-in-residence at Regent College for the 2016-17 academic year. His current work is a post-doctoral research project on the theology of love, titled Idolatry: Catholic and Protestant Perspectives.

Jason, his wife and their two daughters moved to Vancouver in July 2016. Prior to this, they lived in Oxford, where Jason worked as the junior research fellow in theology at St Benet’s Hall. His doctoral thesis God is Love but Love is Not God: C.S. Lewis’s Theology of Love (2015) critically analyzed C.S. Lewis’s position in and contribution to the debate on love (‘agape vs. eros’) that preoccupied much of 20th century Protestant and Roman Catholic thought.

The free event is co-sponsored by the Inklings Institute and SFU’s Department of English.