|
 This is what I remember.
I remember crying, or rather sobbing uncontrollably. I remember my forearm soaked with the seemingly endless nasal drip that accompanied my tears. I remember calming words, blurry smiles and a supportive hand on my shoulder. Mostly, I remember the mustard yellow carpet.
It was the summer of 1984 and I was attending Christian Athlete Hockey Camp at what was then Winnipeg Bible College in Otterburne, MB. At age 10, it was my first time away from home and despite several asthma attacks, an admittedly overprotective mother and a father on the camp’s board of directors, I’d like to believe that I took what little separation I had from them like a man. I hustled during the on-ice sessions and dry land training, contributed Sunday school sentiments to the conversation during Bible study and read my camper manual at quiet time. Other than blowing my entire tuck budget on chocolate bars and pop, and an innocent crush on one of the instructors’ wives, I was a model camper.
But according to Bob Presseau, a short, stocky man with a mustache like a walrus and a bum leg from a bout of polio as a child, I was also a sinner in desperate need of a savior. “Where would you go if you died in a car accident on the way home from here?” he asked us, following his captivating testimony of shady mob connections and alcoholism. It wasn’t something I had thought of before. As he described it, hell certainly didn’t sound like much fun. And so, with one hand raised to my eternal destiny and the aforementioned burst of emotion, I joined “God’s team” by parroting a prayer and “accepting Jesus into my heart.” Peace descended while, I was told, the heavenly host rejoiced. Not that it hadn’t always been, but from that moment forward, my life became a flurry of church activity. There were morning and evening services on Sundays, Friday night youth events and quite often a mid-week Bible study or floor hockey game. Summers would see me off at two, sometimes three camps. While no doubt a little over-the-top, things weren’t all that bad. I could have done without my parent’s “secular music” embargo, mind you – did Corey Hart really promote a “rebellious lifestyle?” But such, I was told, were the sacrifices of the faithful. It wasn’t long, however, before the storms came. Dark clouds of doubt rolled in, shattering the false expectations of perfection and perpetual bliss that came attached to the manufactured emotional climate of campfire singalongs. Moments of weakness followed by excruciating periods of guilt rocked the fragile raft of faith I clung to for dear life. The never-ending cycle of oops-I-did-it-again-please-forgive-me eventually wore me down, breaking my resolve to keep on trying. Simply, the lure of “the world” was just too strong for me. I was a hypocrite and I knew it, so I packed my spiritual baggage and walked away. I recount this story not to relay that things have been easier since then, or put another nail in the coffin of organized religion. To be honest, my time away has only confirmed that Presseau was right two decades ago. Humanity is broken and in need of something greater than its many philosophies, which explains the curious trend of 30-somethings either looking into faith for the first time or revisiting that which they once believed. Hedonism is fun and all, but we are unsatisfied. We are left wanting. What then are we to do? Where does one begin? Is faith important, or just a crutch? Can I unpack “the gift” that was handed to me as a child and make it my own, or am I forced to buy in hook, line and sinker? To provide a little insight, I posed similar questions to some of the city’s faith leaders, who, despite opposing fundamental beliefs, in many ways, share a similar story. They had some interesting insights and advice that you can read below. As for me, I am currently contemplating being baptized in an Anglican church. It looks nothing like the church of my youth, and while similar, my faith looks much different than it did the hour I first believed. But that’s okay. I have come now to understand that there is room enough for all of us in the big picture, and that despite my rather large ego and countless shortcomings, forgiveness is handed out freely when I’m grown up enough to ask for it. Like the Old Testament character Jacob, we all must wrestle with God, or the concept of God at some point. I suspect it might be the most important thing we ever do. And comfortingly, if he, a bit of a shyster, can be tried and found worthy of the new name Israel, then maybe, no matter what path we choose, there’s hope for us all.
Amen.   Jamie Howison
Pastor, St. Benedict’s Table (Anglican)
www.stbenedictstable.ca
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Q: What is Christianity? A: Christianity is faith in the God of Jesus Christ. I subscribe to the school of thought that says that Jesus wasn’t particularly interested in founding another religion, but was rather all about proclaiming a radical vision of grace in which people are accepted and declared justified in spite of the fact we’re still in the dark. Christianity, in part, says that God has gone out of the religion business. There’s nothing, in fact, that we can do to make God love us more or less, so it’s a raw gift. And the faith is living in response to that gift of grace. Q: Have you noticed a trend of spiritual seeking? A: I’ve seen a couple of things. One would be people who grew up within some church tradition who’ve either become restless in it, or sufficiently indifferent to stop attending somewhere, who are now looking again, but through different eyes. The other thing is that there are lots of people who have grown up with no connection to a particular tradition who are starting to wonder if there is something more. In both cases, I think people are less inclined to be drawn to airtight systems, but more interested in being situated somewhere that gives them a sense of meaning or depth. Q: Why is faith important? A: Because it’s all about truth. More broadly than that, I believe the Christian faith situates you in real human life in a way that makes sense of how things are, offers resources for navigating through some of the hardships and the pitfalls, draws you out of your narrow individualism, your own mad quest to fill your own void, when the void isn’t going to be filled except in the context of relationship and community; of people all committed together to opening themselves to the presence of God.
Recommendations for Digging Deeper into Christianity: The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-Found of Church History
Robert Farrar Capon Mere Christianity
C.S. Lewis Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense
N.T. Wright Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief
Rowan Williams What’s So Amazing About Grace?
Philip Yancey Shahina Siddiqui Executive director, Islamic Social Services Association www.issaservices.com Q: What is Islam? A: Islam answers basic questions like, why was I created? What is the purpose of the creation? And through the striving to find the answers, you find peace. I think that the aim and objective of Islam is to establish peace, both at the individual level, family level and community level. It is very practical. It speaks to human nature. It doesn’t speak in ideals. It says that only God is perfect, which takes away a lot of the load, because I don’t have to be perfect. I can try to do my best and that’s all that I will be held accountable for. Islam is basically based on the belief of Tawhid, which means the oneness of the creator, or the unity of the creator. If you believe and declare that there is only one God and prophet Muhammad is his last and final messenger, that belief and proclamation makes you a Muslim. Islamists believe in all the prophets. So all the prophets mentioned in the Bible are prophets of Islam as well, because Islam is a continuation of Judaism and Christianity. That’s what I found most attractive about Islam. I didn’t have to deny anything. Q: Have you noticed a trend of spiritual seeking? A: Yes. I talk to a lot of people that are interested in Islam. Everyone comes from a different angle. There are those who are not satisfied with the faith they were born in. There are others who have been inspired by another individual and have found out that that person was a Muslim. Others come to Islam through intellectual means. Still, others, like me, grew up in a Muslim country and it was all about rituals and dos and don’ts until I was asked why I was a Muslim and I didn’t know. That led to me to explore my faith. I think that a lot of Muslims coming into Canada from so-called Muslim countries are more committed to the faith than Muslim countries themselves. What I find extremely interesting is that after the 9/11 tragedy, the number of people looking at Islam seriously for themselves has quadrupled in North America. We’ve seen a rise here in Winnipeg as well. Most faiths say that God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes a tragedy leads people to faith. Q: Why is faith important? A: Once you remove faith from your life, it’s like you’ve taken the soul away. Faith is important because first and foremost it’s consoling that there is a supreme, merciful creator above and beyond us. That knowledge is both empowering and very healing. Remember, it is usually in times of crisis that people turn to faith and God, so faith is a support to fall back on. It carries you through the good times and the hard times. For me, I can be in the company of millions of people, but still be alone with the creator, because it’s inside me. To me faith goes beyond the rituals, beyond the dos and don’ts. It’s your relationship with your creator. It’s your understanding of your own place in the universe. And once you understand that you can live in peace with the rest of creation. Recommendations for Digging Deeper Into Islam: “It is very important to be careful what you choose. There is a lot of bad stuff out there written by people with an anti-Islamic agenda,” cautions Siddiqui. “We reference a lot of good material on our website.” www.issaservices.com
Muhammad Martin Lings
The Koran  Rabbi Larry Pinsker
Shaary Zedek Synagogue Q: What is Judaism? A: Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It began as the unique monotheistic expression of a vision of life, and life being a product of a God who was ethically motivated, who balances justice, compassion and love, and is centred in a work called the Torah, which means “the teaching” and the way of life that emerged from it. It is built around a set of principles that define human behaviour like operating instructions for your life, so that you don’t have to destroy the product in the process of discovering how it works. In Judaism, a good life consists of doing the best you can to increase the goodness of the world in this life. It’s not terribly obsessed with an afterlife, because the ultimate outcome of an afterlife in Judaism is the ultimate restoration of all beings to their bodies, and an eternal life embodied on earth as God meant it to be. So it’s not that we’re looking forward to cream cheese and bagels served by bodybuilders with wings in heaven. Judaism is the fountain of Western monotheism. It is the place from which Christianity and Islam derive much of their principles. Q: Have you noticed a trend of spiritual seeking? A: There are a lot more people asking questions about the meaning of life and the purpose of being alive. The obvious is starting at home with the tradition into which you were born, and there’s a revival in that. And then there’s an interesting trend in the rise in people interested in converting. I think people shop. I think they want to know what it is that a religious tradition offers them and everybody markets what they believe. I don’t want to make it sound crass or commercial. It’s not commercial. I think people on the whole see it as a lot of work becoming Jewish. Q: Why is faith important? A: I think it’s really easy to get involved with routine. I think it’s really easy to become convinced that all that matters in life are the daily tasks of survival. There’s a point where you realize that that’s not enough, that there has to be something that will outlive your life and that will transcend your self-interest. You want to be able to say some part of my life is dedicated to that. At best, all the religions do that. They encourage you to see that there is a dimension of life that transcends food, shelter and clothing. Recommendations for Digging Deeper into Judaism: Basic Judaism Milton Steinberg What is a Jew? Morris N. Kertzer Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin Judaism for Dummies Ted Falcon and David Blatner www.myjewishlearning.com
www.judaism101.com  Gerry Kopelow
Meditation Teacher Dharma Centre of Winnipeg www.dharmawpg.com Q: What is Buddhism? A: There are lots of different kinds of Buddhism, but what the Buddha himself actually taught was not religion. In fact, it’s not a faith-based system. It’s based on experience. It’s a method of mental development. The idea being that one can, with effort, get control of the mind so that you can use the mind as a reliable tool for investigating reality. Q: Have you noticed a trend in people looking into Buddhism? A: Certainly in North America. Buddhism has become institutionalized in Asia and other places, and like any institution, it’s losing its authenticity there. But with it coming to the West, people are bringing Western intellectual interests to it and it’s appealing because it doesn’t require you to believe anything. You can take up the methods that are recommended for development and you can witness it yourself. It’s appealing to people in North America who are cynical about believing things they can’t see. Q: Why is faith important? A: I don’t think in terms of faith and I don’t think in terms of spirituality. If you take up a method that is meant to develop the mind, you can see it. You see things more clearly. Eventually you get to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, whereas a lot of people do things and have no clue why they’re doing it. Trust is more useful. You might find a teacher and trust them to take some advice and direction. People only come to these things because they’re looking for the reasons that they’re not happy. Recommendations for Digging Deeper into Buddhism: There are a number of Buddhist groups and teachers in Winnipeg. You just have to start looking and maybe take some classes. In Buddhism, you follow your own interests and instincts. If something is appealing, follow it up. Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy From a Buddhist Perspective Mark Epstein
|
