The following piece is an excerpt from the Venerable Dr. Ellen Clark-King's Notes section published in the February 27th edition of Christ Church Cathedral's weekly newsletter, The Chronicle.
The First Ever Downtown Churches Ecumenical day took place, Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011.
February 23rd there was an unusual gathering in the centre of Vancouver. Not a flash mob this time -
no Hallelujah Chorus was sung or crazy dance moves performed. It wasn't that media-friendly an
event, even though it did involve music and food and laughter. What happened, for the first time
ever, was a meeting of clergy and staff from Christ Church Cathedral, St Paul's Anglican Church,
Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cathedral, St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church, First Baptist,
Central Presbyterian and Coastal Church - in other words, representatives of most of the down-
town communities dedicated to following the way of Jesus Christ.
Now, though we all follow the way of Christ, we aren't always expert at respecting the different ways
that we walk this walk. It's a real achievement to have this group talking together, studying the Bible
and worshiping together, laughing together and eager to learn from one another. The day took us
round to different churches, gave us all a chance to explain what our church actually does (they have 5 masses every day at Holy Rosary with the first at 7:15am !), and to walk and talk together.
no Hallelujah Chorus was sung or crazy dance moves performed. It wasn't that media-friendly an
event, even though it did involve music and food and laughter. What happened, for the first time
ever, was a meeting of clergy and staff from Christ Church Cathedral, St Paul's Anglican Church,
Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cathedral, St. Andrew's-Wesley United Church, First Baptist,
Central Presbyterian and Coastal Church - in other words, representatives of most of the down-
town communities dedicated to following the way of Jesus Christ.
Now, though we all follow the way of Christ, we aren't always expert at respecting the different ways
that we walk this walk. It's a real achievement to have this group talking together, studying the Bible
and worshiping together, laughing together and eager to learn from one another. The day took us
round to different churches, gave us all a chance to explain what our church actually does (they have 5 masses every day at Holy Rosary with the first at 7:15am !), and to walk and talk together.
It was a wonderful reminder that we are not alone in what we are trying to achieve at CCC. There are
other communities also working at building the Commonwealth of God here in the midst of our
busy, beautiful, flawed and beloved city. It is also a wonderful reminder that, if we take the initiative
to bring down some of the barriers we have ourselves erected, we can find behind them people like
us, working hard to make choices for good and to love as much as they dare.
other communities also working at building the Commonwealth of God here in the midst of our
busy, beautiful, flawed and beloved city. It is also a wonderful reminder that, if we take the initiative
to bring down some of the barriers we have ourselves erected, we can find behind them people like
us, working hard to make choices for good and to love as much as they dare.
A challenge for this week — peek your head over a barrier you recognize within yourself and see what
you find on the other side.
you find on the other side.
The passage of scripture that we studied together that day was Mark 12:38 -13:2-the story of the widow's mite and a prediction of the destruction of the Temple. We talked about the radical invitations
that God gives to us—to offer all that we are in God's service as the widow did, to honour every
person not just those who give the appearance of worthiness, to value our service to God above our
service to any human institution - even religious institutions.
person not just those who give the appearance of worthiness, to value our service to God above our
service to any human institution - even religious institutions.