St Timothy Presbyterian Church
Vibrant church in Etobicoke, Toronto with roots in the Korean immigrant community.
Our mission as a church is to stand in solidarity with the weak and vulnerable. What does this mean in the context of our racialized world and society?
Another part of our mission is to seek truth through the gift of Scripture, and to be rooted in our spiritual connection with God. We will reflect on the important issue of racism in our society through this scriptural and spiritual framework. Using Paul's letter to the Galatians as our source material, we will incorporate materials from other spiritual traditions to reflect on our place in this complex context.
The hope is that we will develop some tools to reflect on our own situation and what our calling is for this time and place.
July is the month where we as a church will be reflecting on race and justice. We encourage you all to participate!
There are two aspects of study for this month:
It is important for us to be more aware of the context we are dealing with. This includes an awareness of facts and on-the-ground reality of those who face racism and injustice. It involves an awareness of the discourse and dialogue taking place in society.
We will provide materials for your reflection and ask you to do this on your own time.
The unique perspective that we can offer as a church is to provide a biblical and spiritual frame through which to reflect on these issues. When we gather together, we will walk through Paul’s epistle to the Galatians as our main source material. We will also incorporate other spiritual perspectives from other faith traditions.
Let us commit ourselves to an active month of study and reflection. From our common reflection, we pray that God may give us a more concrete sense of calling on where we go from here.
For tonight, please read chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians.
For those who missed any of the sessions, you can find the recordings, notes and materials here
For background reference, you can also read these very interesting but easy to consume articles before tonight. They deal with issues underneath the surface in our very own region of Toronto:
Thank you and see you tonight!
Rev. Simon Park
This is the second session of our church-wide study on Galatians and anti-racism. To learn more about our current context, please click here. For more on Becoming Together Towards the Beloved Community, please click here.
This past Friday marked the second of four sessions in our Becoming Together: Toward the Beloved Community study led by Rev. Simon Park. As part of our mission to seek truth through the gift of Scripture, we reflected on the important issue of racism in our society and our role as a church and community in the fight against anti-black racism. Last week we learned about the history of the Galatians, the concept of model minorities, and the white normativity that we see in today’s society. Many of our ESM congregation members shared their stories and honest reflections on issues relating to racism, freedom and identity.
This week we covered Galatians 1 and 2, exploring the source of the gospel as Paul understood it. As we began to delve into the message and thoughts of St. Paul, we learned about how this revelation of the Gospel changed Paul’s entire belief system, helping him find a new calling in life. We continued to look at the real-life implications of Paul’s understanding of the gospel and how he built communities based on new norms. We began to understand that the essence of a new community is based on the norm of a life where all receive God’s grace without regard to their worth.
From the insights of these chapters, we were able to relate to our current real-world context. In particular, we reflected on the residential patterns of Toronto, and realized how we’ve structured ourselves as a society. Toronto is much more segregated and racialized than we thought, even though we hold this reputation of being one of the most diverse cities in the world. What do these facts tell us about the norms we follow and the choices we make? Whom have we deemed worthy to be with? Is this due to the subconscious choices we make as citizens? Or is this a systemic issue that stems from the top and those in power? Questions like this provoked discussion and deep reflection on our actions as a faith community.
As we were able to listen in to the discussion groups and hear the thoughts of our congregation members, many insights and new perspectives were introduced to us. Topics such as cumulative advantage, white privilege and ignorance branched many discussions on our history and our role as a faith community. Some members realized that normality and what seems right can be subjective; things that may be wrong can seem normal to us if we are used to it. Others discussed ignorance and how we are hesitant to help those who are different from us. Overall, it was truly a beautiful sight to see many of the members of our community, from all different types of backgrounds and experiences, come together and honestly discuss such prominent issues in our current context. We encourage you to continue to participate in these active discussions and Bible studies as we explore our role as a church and faith community.
See you next Friday!
This week, we will walk through Galatians 1 and 2.
We will explore the source of the gospel as Paul understood it. We will see what this revelation of the gospel led Paul to do. We will see the real-life implications of Paul’s understanding of the gospel in his own time. We will then understand the essence of the new community that is created by the good news of the Christ-event.
We will see how the insights from these chapters relate to today’s real world context. In particular, we reflect on the residential patterns of Toronto, see how we’ve structured ourselves as a society, and what Paul’s words might say to us today.
To prepare for the study, please read Galatians chapters 1 and 2.
If you are able, please also read the following materials:
Toronto Star article: Toronto is segregated by race and income. And the numbers are ugly
Toronto Star article: Census map shows Black people live in ‘segregated’ Toronto, professor says
Ryerson University presentation: How Segregated is Toronto? Inequality, Polarization, and Segregation – Trends and Processes
Maclean’s article: Desmond Cole – “Canada insists on being surprised by its own racism”
This is the first session of our church-wide study on Galatians and anti-racism. To learn more about our current context, please click here. For more on Becoming Together Towards the Beloved Community, please click here.
This past Friday marked the first of four sessions in our Becoming Together: Toward the Beloved Community study led by Rev. Simon Park. During a time where many are coming together to fight for justice for black people in Canada and the United States, it is important that we understand our role as a church and community in anti-black racism. Through delving into Saint Paul’s letters and exploring the discrimination faced by the Galatians, we can better learn about this and reflect on our responsibility.
During the first session, members of our ESM congregation were enlightened on the history of the Galatians, the concept of model minorities, and the white normativity we see in society today. We then split off into groups, discussing our place in society and the way we’ve lived our lives up to now. Has survival within the white normative system been your main focus? Have you perhaps experienced being part of this model minority?
Many shared their life stories and experiences of immigrating or growing up in Canada. It was a very honest time of reflection where we looked at the racism we have faced ourselves and the impact being a visible minority has had towards our confidence and identities. A lot of our members felt peace in their identities of being children of God, however, as it gave the freedom to be okay with oneself. They were reassured by His love.
There were a lot of thoughts and questions that arose on the topics brought up during the study, as well. The way we have been affected by our struggle to survive in society, the strong identity we now lack after being shaped by society, and our perspective towards our friends who are struggling just like us. There were questions about understanding the content better and trying to empathize with the Galatians, as well as what we can do with the unique position we have as model minorities. How do we uplift those around us instead of trying to mirror the way those with “power” govern our lives?
In the next three weeks, we will be working towards answering the following questions: What is true freedom? What is new creation? What is the gospel for us, and what is perversion of this gospel? What are the implications of this message for us? We encourage you to join us on this path to insight and enlightenment.
See you next Friday!
It is important for us to be more aware of the context we are dealing with. This includes an awareness of facts and on-the-ground reality of those who face racism and injustice. It involves an awareness of the discourse and dialogue taking place in society. Without some grounding in context, our reflection can become an abstract, theoretical discussion.
Here are some materials for you to watch/read this week. We have curated from among the many, many things out there to make it digestible. Please commit some time this week to review these materials.
This is a judgment from a criminal law case in Ontario. It delves into the issue of systemic racism in Canada, and in particular the challenges that black people in Toronto face.
