"So you're Orthodox. You're Catholic. And I'm Presbyterian which is Protestant. Wow, this is interesting."
Three friends eating sushi burrito in downtown Toronto and this is where the conversation leads. Religion. For us, our faith isn't a secret that we hide and never talk about. It's a huge part of our lives. But for some reason, we had never talked about how we have been brought up in faith through different Christian churches.
But before I continue, I need to rewind a little. The three of us became friends at a Christian high school called The Yorkland School. Now, the only real difference between a Christian high school and a public high school is that Christian values and teachings are laced throughout your academics. So during first period every day we had devotions; in English class we studied Christian texts or the Bible; we had Christianity or Bible class; and assemblies had a strong emphasis on worship and learning the Word of God. Most of the kids were Christian, but a large chunk of them weren't which meant that we weren't just one big old bunch of God loving crazies. Even the ones who were Christian were still searching for what being a Christian really meant. Overall, we were exposed to fairly non-denominational Christianity. There were no traditions we had to perform or specific prayers or creeds we had to learn. We were just taught and encouraged to learn about God's Word, His ultimate sacrifice and hopefully believe, repent and receive the salvation of Christ. That was it. No one forced you to be a Christian. That was always your own choice. But that didn't mean that those of us who were Christian, were all the same type of Christian.
For me, I have never labelled myself anything but just Christian. I've been to a Presbyterian church my whole life, but to me it's just a place of fellowship, worship and to learn God's Word. I've never considered myself to be a hard core Presbyterian. So when our group of three started to talk about religion, it became apparent to me that I'm probably more Presbyterian than I thought. It's not because I truly studied the ways of Presbyterianism. It's because I had been steeped in the ways of the Presbyterian church from birth, and it had become normal to me. So when we talked about communion, it struck me as absolutely intriguing as to how our three denominations of Christianity treated the act of communion so differently. None of the them were wrong or better than the other. They were all just different and had their reasons for being so. There are many other differences too such as what kind of music is sung, how prayers are prayed, baptism, and the list goes on forever. And as I thought about all of this, the one thing that stood out was that at the core of everything, we believed the same thing. We were all for one. We were all for Jesus.
Over time, that conversation and realization sparked more thinking about our world today. It made me think about all the different churches I've attended in Canada and the U.S., and how at the core of everything, God is always first and foremost. In every church I went to, God's love was present in the people and the building. It's truly amazing that no matter where, God's love transcends any name of a church, the racial and ethnic make-up of a congregation, and tradition. It's a powerful thought. God is above it all. His love reigns supreme.
In times of late, the divide amongst the people in our world has been more prominent. Rich, poor. Educated, uneducated. White, black, yellow, brown, mixed. Male, female. Straight, LGBTQ. Immigrant, native. Christian, Islam, Muslim, Atheist. It truly is a paradox of unfortunate fortune. We all strive to be unique in who we are. We don't want to be the same exact person as someone else. Having two of you would be redundant. That's why being labelled as a middle class, educated, Christian, Chinese female from Canada who went to Indiana University, loves to golf and write, has terrible humour, and is sometimes super weird, makes me proud. But what happens when what makes us proud is used to describe how different, less worthy and wrong we are in someone else's eyes? It's devastating.
That's why I choose to respect how we are all different and celebrate and appreciate the things we do share in common. It's not a matter of what your rights are, right or wrong, better or worse. It's a matter of love. If there is one thing in this world we all share in common, it's our capacity to love. Even those who inflict devastation are built to love. It's written in the Bible. Why would God command every person on this earth to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40), if we would not be capable of love. It's the only ability that I am 100% certain we all have. And I promise you that if we choose to share the love we all have and use it to dictate our actions and words for the greater purpose of this world, we will be more than just okay.
So even though I know we aren't all for one in Jesus. We can be all for one in love. It's the next best thing.
G.O.L.F.
Three friends eating sushi burrito in downtown Toronto and this is where the conversation leads. Religion. For us, our faith isn't a secret that we hide and never talk about. It's a huge part of our lives. But for some reason, we had never talked about how we have been brought up in faith through different Christian churches.
But before I continue, I need to rewind a little. The three of us became friends at a Christian high school called The Yorkland School. Now, the only real difference between a Christian high school and a public high school is that Christian values and teachings are laced throughout your academics. So during first period every day we had devotions; in English class we studied Christian texts or the Bible; we had Christianity or Bible class; and assemblies had a strong emphasis on worship and learning the Word of God. Most of the kids were Christian, but a large chunk of them weren't which meant that we weren't just one big old bunch of God loving crazies. Even the ones who were Christian were still searching for what being a Christian really meant. Overall, we were exposed to fairly non-denominational Christianity. There were no traditions we had to perform or specific prayers or creeds we had to learn. We were just taught and encouraged to learn about God's Word, His ultimate sacrifice and hopefully believe, repent and receive the salvation of Christ. That was it. No one forced you to be a Christian. That was always your own choice. But that didn't mean that those of us who were Christian, were all the same type of Christian.
For me, I have never labelled myself anything but just Christian. I've been to a Presbyterian church my whole life, but to me it's just a place of fellowship, worship and to learn God's Word. I've never considered myself to be a hard core Presbyterian. So when our group of three started to talk about religion, it became apparent to me that I'm probably more Presbyterian than I thought. It's not because I truly studied the ways of Presbyterianism. It's because I had been steeped in the ways of the Presbyterian church from birth, and it had become normal to me. So when we talked about communion, it struck me as absolutely intriguing as to how our three denominations of Christianity treated the act of communion so differently. None of the them were wrong or better than the other. They were all just different and had their reasons for being so. There are many other differences too such as what kind of music is sung, how prayers are prayed, baptism, and the list goes on forever. And as I thought about all of this, the one thing that stood out was that at the core of everything, we believed the same thing. We were all for one. We were all for Jesus.
Over time, that conversation and realization sparked more thinking about our world today. It made me think about all the different churches I've attended in Canada and the U.S., and how at the core of everything, God is always first and foremost. In every church I went to, God's love was present in the people and the building. It's truly amazing that no matter where, God's love transcends any name of a church, the racial and ethnic make-up of a congregation, and tradition. It's a powerful thought. God is above it all. His love reigns supreme.
In times of late, the divide amongst the people in our world has been more prominent. Rich, poor. Educated, uneducated. White, black, yellow, brown, mixed. Male, female. Straight, LGBTQ. Immigrant, native. Christian, Islam, Muslim, Atheist. It truly is a paradox of unfortunate fortune. We all strive to be unique in who we are. We don't want to be the same exact person as someone else. Having two of you would be redundant. That's why being labelled as a middle class, educated, Christian, Chinese female from Canada who went to Indiana University, loves to golf and write, has terrible humour, and is sometimes super weird, makes me proud. But what happens when what makes us proud is used to describe how different, less worthy and wrong we are in someone else's eyes? It's devastating.
That's why I choose to respect how we are all different and celebrate and appreciate the things we do share in common. It's not a matter of what your rights are, right or wrong, better or worse. It's a matter of love. If there is one thing in this world we all share in common, it's our capacity to love. Even those who inflict devastation are built to love. It's written in the Bible. Why would God command every person on this earth to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-40), if we would not be capable of love. It's the only ability that I am 100% certain we all have. And I promise you that if we choose to share the love we all have and use it to dictate our actions and words for the greater purpose of this world, we will be more than just okay.
So even though I know we aren't all for one in Jesus. We can be all for one in love. It's the next best thing.
G.O.L.F.