This Issue

During this time of so much turmoil and uncertainty, we continue to discover who God is calling us to be in our personal lives, our communities of faith, and the wider community and world. We are assured that God continues to cherish and nurture every one of us, even when we wander far away for the path God wants us to walk.

This issue again reflects all of that. Our special focus is on racism and racial justice. We have committed ourselves to look inward and address the pervasive systemic racism and inherent white privilege that exists within our church and to take action accordingly.

There is so much for each of us to learn about the history that has shaped our country and us, and it won’t be easy. There are some things to celebrate and preserve, but there are also terrible things in that history that need to be explored as fully as we can. It takes patience and perseverance as we try to learn for our past, build relationships, gain trust and keep on trying to find solutions.

Each of us needs to discover what is personally possible and try to do our best with whatever opportunities present themselves in taking steps for meaningful and concrete change.

It requires us to be more honest and vulnerable than we are used to being. We can’t do this alone. Figuring out how and why are an important part of learning to continue to learn to become communities of faith where we nurture love, hope, safe space, active listening and encouragement.

GLIMPSES

Senzeni Na? (p. 9) contains a reminder of the consequences of links between apartheid in South Africa and racial injustice in Canada grew out of our shared history in the British Empire.

There are glimpses of Advent and Christmas sprinkled throughout this issue waiting for you to discover. This teaser is meant to encourage you to take some time to find them and reflect on their messages.

On a personal note, I have come to a time when I would like to pass the responsibilities of being editor of Canada Lutheran to someone else. Information about what we are looking for is on page four. Is this a role that you should be considering or that you need to persuade someone else to consider? It took a couple of people to persuade me to do that. Perhaps you are the catalyst someone needs.

Kenn Ward
Editor