Dear People, Neighbours, and Friends of St. Thomas’s,
I hate looking at social media whenever a catastrophe strikes, particularly as it relates to gun violence in the United States. Such was the case this past week with the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But of course, like passing a car wreck, I can’t avert my eyes for long. At these times, I am tempted to give in to cynicism, such as represented by this sad-but-true post:
And it’s easy to feel righteous indignation in all sorts of directions. Blame conservatives. Blame liberals. Blame the United States as a whole!
At such times, I wish I could absolve myself from saying anything, but the public nature of my ministry means that I do not always have the luxury of withholding private opinions. I don’t consider myself a “political” priest. Nevertheless, I admire clergy who are able to speak to the events of the day while at the same time proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ. Most political clergy I know forget the latter in their pursuit of the former. Not so my friend Fr. Robert Hendrickson, rector of St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church in Tucson, Arizona, who regularly writes challenging and inspiring reflections on the ills of our society. His latest missive on this week’s topic may be found here. I commend it to you.
For my own part, I will express how grateful Anne and I are that we now live in a country where the chances of encountering this sort of violence are far lower than south of the border. But none of us is immune. In fact, a common fear I have heard in recent days is that the attitudes that enable such acts of violence are slowly creeping northward, like a spreading epidemic. I’m not sure how grounded in reality such a fear is, but I did read this past week a good definition of what exactly it is that we ought to fear: idolatry.
One of my friends posted a quotation attributed to another of my friends, the Rev’d. Dr. Leander Harding: “My definition of an idol is the god we make ourselves according to our own preferences in order to serve our own purposes. The idols always promise much, deliver little, demand more and more and deliver less and less, and in the end they always demand human blood—usually beginning with the blood of children.” In the conversation that ensued, another friend commented that Dean Harding has often preached that “Our god, or idol, in America, is personal autonomy without restriction, no matter the cost.” Dean Harding is no bleeding heart liberal. He happens to be in the Diocese of Albany, one of the most conservative dioceses in the Episcopal Church, and a former professor of a very conservative seminary.
This idolization of personal autonomy without restriction, no matter the cost, without responsibility or mutual obligation, is what I believe many of us who live in Canada fear most. It runs counter to the “peace, order, and good government” that I wrote about in my second Thurible letter after my arrival in Canada. Worse than that, it runs counter to everything we as people of faith stand for, as Fr. Hendrickson articulates so well.
So this is no time to pat ourselves on the back for not suffering from the same idolatry, because Canadians, while generally more polite, are not necessarily any more virtuous than any other citizen of any other country. We may in fact suffer from the same idolatry, but simply lack the extreme autonomy to carry it to its logical conclusion.
I have no answers, no suggestions, just a heart that yearns for national and international leadership, both religious and political, that can bring about the changes we need to renounce and repent from whatever idolatry grips our hearts, through God’s indispensable grace and love.
Yours in Christ’s service,
N.J.A. Humphrey+
VIII Rector