Pastor's Corner to Help You in Your Daily Life.

Love Affair with Hockey

I loved hockey growing up as a kid. In the little kitchen behind the store where we lived on Pape Avenue, I would stickhandle the ball and pretend I was Wayne Gretzky. At the age of seven I discovered the world of ball hockey at Pape Recreation Center and took the bus or walked there twice a week to play my favourite sport. In winters I walked up the street to the outdoor rink at Withrow Park and would play shinny whenever I could.

One day, this older guy said to me: “hey kid, why don’t you join the hockey league” (I guess I was pretty good at shinny haha). I told my dad about what the man had said. The next day, my dad took me to Ted Reeve arena to sign me up for hockey. We didn’t know anything about organized hockey, so I just took the helmet, gloves, skates and stick that I had. The organizer saw that and took me to a storage room where he gave me a bunch of used equipment – shin pads, pants, socks, shoulder pads, elbow pads, etc. – and that’s how my (not so) illustrious hockey career began. 

I loved it. It was far and away my favourite sport, with baseball a distant second. On Saturday nights, Hockey Night in Canada was part of my weekly ritual. As soon as the theme song played, I would get excited (only to get disappointed by yet another Leafs loss). I grew up watching Don Cherry rant and rave about Russians, Europeans, and whatever other soft folks drew his ire.

Unrequited Love?

I loved the sport, but as I grew up, I wasn’t so sure at times if the sport loved me back. As I entered my teenage years playing more competitive hockey, I was often made quite aware of my difference. I was often the only non-white guy on my team, or on any of the teams in my league, for that matter. When things got heated, my race would be the first thing to come up. If they were trying to goad me into taking a penalty, racial epithets would be their tool of choice. And I always felt that old adage: “to make it, you have to be twice as good as the other guy”. Sometimes I was, more often I wasn’t. And not being better than others must have affected how I was treated by my coaches and others. What did I know. My dad sensed enough to yank me from my teams twice – once in the middle of a game!

It wasn’t all negative, though. I loved playing hockey. In university, playing intramural hockey bonded me with my faculty classmates in a way that only sport can. In my law firm days, bringing some game to the ice endeared me to the older partners. And I enjoyed playing at a decent level for some years in the newly created Korean hockey league (now I’m just old and slow). 

My relationship with the game has had its ups and downs. I stand feeling quite ambivalent toward the game. Do I put my own kids through hockey? Can I even afford the time and money for it? Do I withhold the benefits I did gain from the game? I was already feeling ambivalence from the fact that the game is still quite monocultural, especially when compared with other major sports. And with the recent excitement of the Raptors, who would argue that basketball is a way cooler sport? 

Underlying Thoughts Surfaced

All of those thoughts have really been buried in the back of my mind as I’ve been quite occupied by many other things. But the Don Cherry rant that got him fired has reminded me of all those underlying thoughts about the game. 

Beyond the game, though, it made me think more about the state of our society. If hockey is supposed to be the “Canadian” game, then who belongs? Am I one of the “you people” he references by dint of my background and skin colour? If I don’t wear a poppy, then am I one of them? Does it matter that I’ve grown up with the very game that gave him his clout?

Our society – and our world for that matter – has become so polarized in recent years. We’ve withdrawn into our tribal safe zones. You’re either “in” or “out”. If you’re not “with us”, you’re “against us”. And we’ve developed identity markers to establish who’s in and who’s out. In Don Cherry’s world, if you wear a poppy, then you respect the sacrifice of soldiers who have ensured our freedoms. If you don’t wear a poppy, then you are one of “those people” who have no regard nor respect for our soldiers. In other words, you are not one worthy to be included in the Canadian family. 

Identity Markers as Sources of Division

Jews during the time of St. Paul had very clear identity markers, one of the most important being circumcision. Circumcision defined who was “in” the covenant and who was not. Many Jews held such identity markers very dearly and closely. St. Paul declared the radical message that in Christ, people were now free from the requirements to take on such identity markers. Gentiles could enter the covenant freely without that cherished identity marker. 

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

The thing about identity markers is this: they often begin and come from a beautiful place. The poppy was a beautiful symbol stemming from Flanders Fields, where the Canadian poet referenced red poppies growing over the graves of fallen soldiers. The poppy became of symbol of remembering with reverence those who had sacrificed their lives. When used from that place of remembrance, it’s a beautiful thing. But when used as an identity marker to demonstrate who respect soldiers and who doesn’t, it becomes a tool that can divide.

Circumcision was similar. It began from a beautiful place as a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and all those who would descend from Abraham. But it became something that could divide people into those who were “in” the covenant and those who were not. Many Gentile converts felt pressured to take on these identity markers and to “behave” like Jews. St. Paul declares that in Christ, we are free to be ourselves and to be one without the use of such things that can divide. 

“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Ephesians 2:14)

Our Calling as Disciples of Christ

Our ministry as followers of Christ is to overcome the polarizing divisions bred by fear and anxiety. Instead, we are to overcome such fear with love. 

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

This is a challenging call, and a message that may not be received well. Jesus’ message of love and reconciliation was ultimately nailed on the cross. But our journey as disciples is to join Christ in dying on the cross so that we may be raised together with him to a new life of peace and reconciliation (Galatians 2:19-20). 

I don’t know how my relationship with hockey will turn out. But I’m not mad at Don Cherry. I don’t want to add to the already polarized nature of discourse. I’m rather sad that his love for the game and country has been clouded by his fear and mistrust of those who have changed the face of the country he grew up with. I hope he makes enough close friends with recent immigrants to see their humanity, overcome fear of changes and rather see the beauty that has come with such changes.

I hope that we can indeed be different – as people who do not succumb to fear and anxiety. I pray that we can be confident and strong in the faith that the way of love and generosity is ultimately more powerful than fear, anxiety or even death. May God be our strength and wisdom! 

Questions on My Mind

As I settle into my new role as a minister of this congregation, my mind turns a lot to the notion of “community”. What does it mean for us to be a community? Why do we gather weekly and sometimes more? What are we trying to achieve?

Being a minister gives me a whole  different perspective. I scan my mind across everyone in the congregation and I’m startled by the disparate lives we all lead. That fact leads me to the questions stated above. 

Changes in Community

In pre-modern times, community was just a given: it was the physical place you lived. You lived in a town, village or clan, and the people in that physical locale was your community. Life took place in and revolved around that community. But modern life has completely upended that model of communal life. I look around at our community of St. Timothy, and this is so evident. We live in physically very disparate places: Richmond Hill, Etobicoke, North York, Vaughan, etc. Not only physical: we are so different in so many ways. We all have different jobs at different places, are in different stages of life, are of different ages and thus life issues, we have different families and different friends in our personal lives outside of church.

What are we trying to do when we come together?

Challenges in Our Church

I think the current reality of our church is this: there are those who feel connected to this community from the history they have developed with this church. This history includes forging good friendships, having learned a different perspective on life from the church’s teachings, etc. But there are others who feel only marginally or peripherally connected with the community. It is a place they come once a week or less, for various kinds of reasons. 

Jesus’ calling to his followers to come was this: “that they may all be one”. Christian life was to be a life in community. This is our calling. I believe this is our calling as followers of Christ, but also as human beings. We were created for, and wired for, life in community.

Jean Vanier says this: “A community is only a community when the majority of its members is making the transition from ‘the community for myself’ to ‘myself for the community’, when each person’s heart is opening to all the others, without any exception.” 

But how challenging that is in our current context. In our own church, as mentioned, each of our lives are so individual – our jobs, social circles and homes are not connected with others in our church. Secondly, our lives are so busy: work, family, friends, play. By the end of the day or week, we are tapped out with not much left to give. Therefore, curling up with Netflix or YouTube is the easiest thing to do. Finally, we live in a world of overwhelming personal choice. Everything I do is up to me, and I can choose whatever I want in that moment, without having to think ahead. Choice supersedes commitment. But community takes commitment. Thus lies the great challenge of building genuine community.

Hope for Community

So is this whole enterprise futile? I believe not. If I believed that were the case, I might as well hang up my new ministerial robes right now. What I hope to do in the weeks and months to come is to reflect more deeply on what community really is, and to discern how we can continue to build up this community in a way that is a blessing to the people in it as well as those beyond it. For that, ultimately, is the calling of Christian community, to be completely one, “so that the world may know that [God] has sent [Jesus] and has loved them.” (John 17:23)

Invitation to Reflect

Here’s my plan and invitation to you: I will be reading through Jean Vanier’s book “Community and Growth: Our Pilgrimage Together”. (To learn more about who Jean Vanier is, click here.) My reflections over the next few weeks will derive in part from my readings through this book. I invite you to join in this reading journey with me. You can read along, and we can discuss or comment together on what we think.

Are you interested in this reading journey? Please fill in the form below to join. I’ll send links to those who expressed interest, and we can get started reading!

May God bless us in responding to this call to be a community.

Seasons of Change

Fall is a season of change. The leaves turn yellow and the air becomes chillier. Change is a part of life, yet change always brings about an unsettling feeling. Change can evoke anxiety, uncertainty and fear. But change is always how God has worked. Our Scriptures consist of countless stories of God working through change. The story of faith began when God called Abraham to leave everything and go to the place where God would show him. That is change.

Change in St. Timothy

Our community of St. Timothy is undergoing changes too. These changes can be unsettling. But we thought that the best way to address change is to first provide clear communication. And so I hope this post provides some more clarity.

First of all, here is one thing that is not changing right now: Rev. Kim will continue to be the primary preacher for Sunday worship. We have been so blessed by God’s Word spoken through him, and that will not change. I will on occasion preach to give Rev. Kim a break and on an as-needed basis.

So what is my (Rev. Simon’s) role then? I will focus primarily on the areas of pastoral care, congregational life and outreach. My main task is to build pastoral relations with members of the congregation and have a pulse on what is going on in people’s lives. I will focus on building connections and community among our members, through Bible studies, small groups and cultivating a communal culture where we care for one another. The church’s role is to also share God’s love with others. We have something precious in our community, and many people can be blessed by our message and community. I will seek ways to extend our loving hand to others.

Change in the Children’s Ministry

The next big change is the departure of Pastor Sunny. She has faithfully served our church for many years, and God has now called her to serve elsewhere. She will be ordained as a minister at our church on October 27, which is her last day with us. Beginning in November, she will be the minister of Whitewood Presbyterian Church in Saskatchewan. We thank her for her time with us, and she will be dearly missed. We pray for her as she begins a new journey there.

That means changes for our children’s ministry. Pastor James has accepted the call to lead the children’s ministry. This encompasses everything from the toddlers to the end of elementary. His primary focus on Sundays will be leading the Kids Church elementary program. He will work with the teachers to cultivate faith in our children. Teacher Sunny Shin is still teaching the preschool children. We are actively working at establishing a toddlers program in the nursery room on Sundays.

We are bolstering our efforts with the young children of our community. Our vision is to make our children’s ministry one of the crown jewels of our church, and we are putting intentional prayer, thought and action into this. We will need the engagement and support of the whole community to make this happen.

Pastor Dave has made the transition into leading all of the Hi-C. They have begun the school year in earnest.

Town Hall for Deeper Dive and Questions

You may have questions about all of these changes. We will hold a town hall meeting on Sunday, October 27 at 12:30pm, after the joint anniversary service that day. All parents and interested members are strongly encouraged to come, where you can ask questions, hear more about our vision and proposed plans going forward, and see how you can be a part of our church’s ministry.

We are indeed entering another phase in the life and ministry of St. Timothy ESM, and we prayerfully hope you are a part of its development. Please make sure to join our town hall on October 27!

Questions?

Do you have any questions or thoughts? We would love to hear them, especially in advance of the town hall meeting. Please respond to this post with your questions or thoughts below!