My Religious Odyssey. Part Five.
The Canadian Memorial United Church contrasts strongly with the Quakers worship house. "This church is a magnet church," a worshipper at the United Church says. "It draws people from all across Metro Vancouver." She herself comes from New Westminster. The budget of the Quaker church stands at about $30,000 a year. The Canadian Memorial Church's budget hit $800,000 in 2017. "Running this church costs lots of money," says one of its main ministers.
I have returned to the Quakers after a three year absence. Yet now when I tire of the Quaker silences and need to hear sermons and a choir, I head off to Canadian Memorial. Here too, I have found happiness and a place to worship.
My religious journey has now I think come to an end. I have left the Jewish religion and most political involvements. When people now ask me what I did in my adult life I usually reply, "I lived on welfare, did telemarketing and was active in the anti-poverty movement. I've also changed my religion and my life a number of times."
And I usually add, "It was all good."
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Tuesday 13 March 2018
Ends and Odds: Th Ravings of An Old Man by Dave Jaffe: Chapter Seven, Part Four..
My Religious Odyssey by Dave Jaffe. Part Four.
Many Quaker services are simply one hour of silence. Still, sometimes worshippers may be inspired to practice what is called "ministry". Someone speaks about some spiritual or contemporary topic. Then after a period of silence someone else will speak. At the end of the hour of worship the congregants greet each other and then may talk during a ten minute session about their private concerns or more public topics.
When I first came to this worship house I talked often in the usually silent hour. These days I only talk after the hour of silence ends. For me, who often talks far too much, the hour of silence is a profound experience. Also, the religious beliefs of the Quakers are Christian but not heavily so.
For 13 years I went to the Quakers and most of the time I enjoyed it there. Yet then I tired of the silences and dropped out for a while.
One spring Sunday morning in 2016 I sat in a west side park where I often went to take the sun and breathe in the spring air. I'd lived in this area briefly in the 1970's and had come to this park since about 2009. In the past 40 years a lot of changes had happened in the neighbourhood. Yet the United Church still sat on the corner of 15th Avenue and Burrard Street. I needed to go to a toilet and wandered into the church while it was in session. Soon I went back to this church again and again. It's called the Canadian Memorial United Church. The church has a wonderful choir and two or three very impressive women ministers. Also a very fine set of stained glass windows that tell contemporary and biblical stories line two walls of the church.
"This church was founded after the first world war," a church member told me. "The man who started the church came back from the war and wanted to devote his life to peace." The United Church was formed out of three separate Protestant religions. The United Church is often known as a left leaning church. Yet not all United churches lean to the left. One or two others I've been to were quite conservative.
Still, this Memorial Church was very liberal. "The Anglican Church in England is the Tory Church at prayer," some people used to say about Anglicans. In English Canada, many members of the economic elite in the 1950's and before were Anglican. Yet there were other churches that leaned to the left like the United Church. In Canada, some progressive church ministers helped start the progressive Social Gospel before World War One.
In the end, left wing ministers like James Shaver Woodsworth vanished from the United Church and helped set up the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation political party in the 1930's. Yet progressive elements still linger in some United Churches. In any case, Canadian Memorial church preached a progressive faith. It was the first real Christian church I'd ever been to on a regular basis.
Many Quaker services are simply one hour of silence. Still, sometimes worshippers may be inspired to practice what is called "ministry". Someone speaks about some spiritual or contemporary topic. Then after a period of silence someone else will speak. At the end of the hour of worship the congregants greet each other and then may talk during a ten minute session about their private concerns or more public topics.
When I first came to this worship house I talked often in the usually silent hour. These days I only talk after the hour of silence ends. For me, who often talks far too much, the hour of silence is a profound experience. Also, the religious beliefs of the Quakers are Christian but not heavily so.
For 13 years I went to the Quakers and most of the time I enjoyed it there. Yet then I tired of the silences and dropped out for a while.
One spring Sunday morning in 2016 I sat in a west side park where I often went to take the sun and breathe in the spring air. I'd lived in this area briefly in the 1970's and had come to this park since about 2009. In the past 40 years a lot of changes had happened in the neighbourhood. Yet the United Church still sat on the corner of 15th Avenue and Burrard Street. I needed to go to a toilet and wandered into the church while it was in session. Soon I went back to this church again and again. It's called the Canadian Memorial United Church. The church has a wonderful choir and two or three very impressive women ministers. Also a very fine set of stained glass windows that tell contemporary and biblical stories line two walls of the church.
"This church was founded after the first world war," a church member told me. "The man who started the church came back from the war and wanted to devote his life to peace." The United Church was formed out of three separate Protestant religions. The United Church is often known as a left leaning church. Yet not all United churches lean to the left. One or two others I've been to were quite conservative.
Still, this Memorial Church was very liberal. "The Anglican Church in England is the Tory Church at prayer," some people used to say about Anglicans. In English Canada, many members of the economic elite in the 1950's and before were Anglican. Yet there were other churches that leaned to the left like the United Church. In Canada, some progressive church ministers helped start the progressive Social Gospel before World War One.
In the end, left wing ministers like James Shaver Woodsworth vanished from the United Church and helped set up the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation political party in the 1930's. Yet progressive elements still linger in some United Churches. In any case, Canadian Memorial church preached a progressive faith. It was the first real Christian church I'd ever been to on a regular basis.
Monday 5 March 2018
Ends and Odds: The Ravings of An Old Man By Dave Jaffe.. Chapter Seven Part Three. My Religious Odyssey.
My Religious Odyssey by Dave Jaffe. Part Three.
When the United States and the British armies invaded Iraq in March 2003 I was going regularly to the Unitarian Church in Vancouver. By this time I'd left the New Democratic Party and no longer called myself a socialist. Still, I remained a progressive and the invasion of Iraq appalled me. Yet in the Unitarian Church the minister didn't mention the invasion at all - or at least didn't say a word about it when I came to church.
Not only this, many church members supported the invasion. This last fact didn't surprise me. Yet I did expect the minister of the time to say something about the war. "This is far out," I told a woman who taught biology at the University of British Columbia. "Aren't some Unitarians against this war?"
"Dave," this woman replied, "you may have come to the wrong church. Go 20 blocks down Oak Street. to the Quakers. You'll find a lot of people there who're against this war." So I journeyed 20 blocks south along Oak street and ended up at the Quakers of the Society of Friends as they refer to themselves. Here I made the right move.
I was now into my third religion. The Quaker worship space is tiny. You sit in a former Baptist church that really looks like a compact living room. All worshippers sit on benches or rows of chairs that are ranged in a square that surrounds a sacred object placed on a low table. The Quakers or Friends' congregation in Vancouver doesn't total more than 100 members . The meeting house in Vancouver never held more than 30 or so worshippers when I went there.
Unlike all other churches I've been to, there's no hymns, no sermons or any minister in the meeting house. Quakers worship in silence. A service lasts about an hour. " It's like waiting for a dentist's appointment," one observer said about Quaker worship. A young man I met at the worship service liked the silence. "It's cool," he said. "Really cool." In this hour of silence Quakers are worshipping. They're not meditating, though some Buddhists do show up with prayer mats and meditate. Quakers are focusing on God or the divine spirit.
The founder of the Society of Friends was George Fox who lived in England during the Civil War. in the 17th century. He believed that each person carried the light of God within them. Big churches or churches period were unnecessary, Fox said. To worship God all one needed was a small space and a belief in the divine.
When the United States and the British armies invaded Iraq in March 2003 I was going regularly to the Unitarian Church in Vancouver. By this time I'd left the New Democratic Party and no longer called myself a socialist. Still, I remained a progressive and the invasion of Iraq appalled me. Yet in the Unitarian Church the minister didn't mention the invasion at all - or at least didn't say a word about it when I came to church.
Not only this, many church members supported the invasion. This last fact didn't surprise me. Yet I did expect the minister of the time to say something about the war. "This is far out," I told a woman who taught biology at the University of British Columbia. "Aren't some Unitarians against this war?"
"Dave," this woman replied, "you may have come to the wrong church. Go 20 blocks down Oak Street. to the Quakers. You'll find a lot of people there who're against this war." So I journeyed 20 blocks south along Oak street and ended up at the Quakers of the Society of Friends as they refer to themselves. Here I made the right move.
I was now into my third religion. The Quaker worship space is tiny. You sit in a former Baptist church that really looks like a compact living room. All worshippers sit on benches or rows of chairs that are ranged in a square that surrounds a sacred object placed on a low table. The Quakers or Friends' congregation in Vancouver doesn't total more than 100 members . The meeting house in Vancouver never held more than 30 or so worshippers when I went there.
Unlike all other churches I've been to, there's no hymns, no sermons or any minister in the meeting house. Quakers worship in silence. A service lasts about an hour. " It's like waiting for a dentist's appointment," one observer said about Quaker worship. A young man I met at the worship service liked the silence. "It's cool," he said. "Really cool." In this hour of silence Quakers are worshipping. They're not meditating, though some Buddhists do show up with prayer mats and meditate. Quakers are focusing on God or the divine spirit.
The founder of the Society of Friends was George Fox who lived in England during the Civil War. in the 17th century. He believed that each person carried the light of God within them. Big churches or churches period were unnecessary, Fox said. To worship God all one needed was a small space and a belief in the divine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)