Unbelievable as it may seem the United Church of Canada has yet another problem.
We know about the national membership falling from over a million ten years ago to a little over four hundred thousand in 2016.
We know about the crisis that ensued when they voted to ordain homosexuals. We know that this crisis was followed by another when they decided to marry men with men and women with women. We know about their decision to adopt inclusive language in their liturgy when God was no longer "Our Father" but "O Supreme Being".
But this week's fiasco tops the lot. One of their very own, the Reverend Gretta Vosper, from West Hill in Scarborough, has declared her new found faith as an atheist.
She is now preaching love, kindness and human connection without the interventions of a supernatural God and, unsurprisingly the ruling body of the United Church are not sure what to do with her.
Should they let her stay with her West Hill congregation where she is "respected and loved" or should they defrock her (kick her out).
After a year of dithering H.Q. are asking the lady to leave peacefully. She is refusing to do so. Now it is off to court with her lawyers arguing why should an atheist not be allowed to preach to a christian congregation?
Well, I guess if we wait another ten years the United Church National membership may be reduced to fifty with Gretta leading the flock!
Jubilate.
Ian.
Having closed the Kitchen two months ago it was the with the hope that when I re-opened the restaurant in September it would be to better news. It is not to be.
On Monday of this week, the city of Chicago reported it 500th murder of the year. A milestone on the road to hell.
500 of its citizens dead, mostly through gunfire and double that number seriously injured. If you think that these sound like war statistics you would be right.
It is estimated that since the year 2000 more people have been shot, stabbed and strangled in America than in all the nation's wars since the second world war.
Let the figures speak for themselves. The conclusion must surely be that America is a country at war with itself.
At war on its streets, at war in its schools, at war in Congress, at war on its roads and at war in its hospitals (where millions of children have met death by abortion).
Nor will the outcome of the 2016 election help to heal the land.
This great nation was once called "The City on a Hill" That was when the banner of the Gospel of Christ flew proudly aloft.
If the bleeding of this awful wound is to be staunched it will only be when the Nation returns to former things. When it returns to former pathways and to the unchanging standard of Righteousness that exalts any nation.
If this post adds a tiny breath to that clarion call it will not have been written in vain.
Jubilate.
Ian
