Letters to the editor

The Anglican Journal welcomes letters to the editor. Preference is given to letters under 100 words. All letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Please include a mailing address.

out with stuffy, in with modern

I was saddened to read about churches having to undergo restructuring [Reality check in B.C, p. 1, March]. I grew up in a small tow.n in southern Ontario where the little local church was run by lay people for Sunday services. Confirmations, baptisms and so on were held at the main Anglican church in town.

When I was young, the church had lots of adults with children. As a teenager, I thought going to church was only for old folks and so I did not attend. In preparing for my wedding, I realized that only the elderly were still attending the church.

After we moved west, we settled into a local Anglican church with a large Sunday school attendance. The only reason this church was able to keep young people was that it had changed from its old stuffy formal format to something more modern. The formal processional and taking communion while kneeling at the altar had been replaced with standing stations. Gone were the old hymns that nobody really knew, replaced with modern songs. The sermons were put into a modern perspective so youth could identify with the stories from the Bible.

Today, our church has two Sunday services to accommodate everyone in the congregation.

Beverley Singh
Edmonton

No progress for pilgrims?

Why does D. Kellett not want the Journal to report on same-sex blessings [Out, damn journalists, March, p. 4]? He/she seems to think that in a time of “dwindling numbers” we should only “report good, positive stories that encourage us in our pilgrimage.”

I guess D. Kellett’s pilgrimage includes only heterosexual pilgrims. I’m sorry, but my pilgrimage as a Christian includes everyone-straight, gay, bisexual, transsexual, rich, poor, female and male. Are we not all God’s children?

Being a Christian is not always easy. We are challenged to push the boundaries and when faced with adversity, ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do in this situation?’

If we want to grow our church, we need to reach out to everyone, and that includes performing same-sex weddings (not just blessings) and reporting it in the Journal.

Karen Sutton
Hamilton, Ont.