Letters to the editor

Same old

Many thanks for hitting the nail on the head in Vision 2019: Where’s the beef? (May 2010, p. 4). It articulates what I have been feeling about our beloved Anglican church for some time. When I ask parishioners why they no longer attend regularly, the answer I often get is “Same old, same old, boring, repetitious!” We do not need to abandon our Anglican ethos to make worship more exciting for today’s generation. The parameters of the Holy Eucharist leave much room for creative variety if we would only have the courage to listen and adapt to the spiritual needs of the young. If we do not, I fear that we will continue to bleed members. For how much longer can we afford this? Our mission is to the “used-to-be churched” more than to the “unchurched.”The Rev. Bob Chandler
Windsor, Ont.

Change needed

I found Vision 2019: Where’s the beef? (May 2010, p. 4) insightful. We can talk all we want about change, but is it real change?We are avoiding the real issue: Sunday morning worship. We seriously need permission from our leaders to do church in new ways. I believe we need the confession and the eucharist, but within that, we need the freedom to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in whatever way He wants. It would be refreshing to take a hard look at the need for constructive change. People today are looking for the very presence of God. Just last Sunday, a young man who had never been to our church raised his hand. He was close to a couple whose relationship was broken and when he came forward for prayer, he was deeply touched. He came to our healing service three days later. Andy Leroux
Scarborough, Ont.

Past due?

Congratulations on Vision 2019: Where’s the beef? (May 2010, p. 4). I endorse your suggestion that we are trapped inside the box. Our vision can be likened to that of Eaton’s. Once the jewel of every Main Street, then mall, management fought hard (inside the box) to improve store appearance and efficiency. Too little, too late, the new world of “one message” (outside the box) big box stores negated their efforts.Anglicanism is a jewel. Unfortunately, it has lost its luster for the children and grandchildren of the faithful. They have no appetite for “doing church.” Are our words and practices past their due date?Our frontline clergy are fantastic, fully giving of themselves while managing increasing complex challenges. However, there is little time or energy left for explorations outside the box. This leaves no entry point for those parishioners yearning for change. I fully concur that Vision 2019 is barely relevant in our proximate world.Bill Lewis
Kingston, Ont.

Simply mind-boggling

There’s a sizable difference between recognizing the evolutionary principle that biological organisms adapt to changes in their environment and accepting the scientifically unfounded assertion of strident atheists like Richard Dawkins that “no special intervention is required for life to be created.” Science has not offered any compelling explanation for the creation of life from lifelessness; it merely points out that once extant, life in all of its myriad diversity has a remarkable capacity to evolve over time to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Harold Munn (Evidence of God, May 2010, p. 15) is quite right in pointing out that we should be focusing on Christ as a way of understanding the deep mystery of God. Surely Christ, as God incarnate, is the intermediary between what is mortal and limited and what is infinite and overwhelming. But we ought not to buy into the atheists’ assertions that “there is not one shred of evidence for God” or their hollow conclusion that an omnipotent Big Being doesn’t exist simply because he exceeds the breadth and grasp of our intellect. How could God be God if he were not mind-boggling?John Arkelian
Oshawa, Ont.

The big question

As Harold Munn observes, a really Big Being out there just boggles the mind (Evidence of God, May 2010, p. 15). Even a bigger, better, wiser being is just another being and no more credible. And of course, it is against this really Big Being out there that [Richard] Dawkins and Co. rail.The whence, the why and the wherefore is the Big Question that those guys never tackle, preferring as they do to tilt at straw men. In a review article of The God Delusion in the London Review of Books, Professor Terry Eagleton wrote that “God” is the answer to the question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” I couldn’t have put it better myself.Colin Proudman
Toronto

Mystery remains

As a retired Presbyterian editor, I applaud Canon Harold Munn in his column, Evidence of God (May 2010, p. 15). He supports the fact that questioning applies to the believer as well as to the unbeliever. We do need to listen and open the lines of communication with those who question our beliefs and agree that there is truth on both sides. Perhaps we can examine our differences together and come closer in our understanding of a God who is larger than anything we know and a Christ who is as near to us as any human, yet the mystery remains. June Stevenson
Ajax, Ont.

Sinking ship

One wonders if Rome’s ongoing invitation to Anglicans is like being welcomed aboard a sinking ship. Everyone can see the Vatican reeling as the scandal of child abuse and cover-up play out on the world stage. There can be no doubt that this has weakened the moral authority of the Roman Church.Moves to canonize Pope Pius XII will ensure continued debate on the Vatican’s relations with Fascism and Nazism in the World War II era. The facts of this period make the Vatican extremely vulnerable to further attacks on its moral authority.For more, see The Vatican and Fascism: Remembering the 1929 Lateran Accords www.wallsofjericho.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=1&Itemid=2Tony Crosthwaite
Brisbane, Australia