The Apostle Paul stopped by to share our Canada Day worship, so we invited him to speak ...

Good morning.  My name is Paul.  Paul the Apostle they call me, in case you haven’t met me before.

I’m happy to be with you in worship of the holy God of all the world and all people made known to us in Jesus, the Christ, on this Sunday of your country’s anniversary weekend.  Wow!  That’s a mouthful.  Being a citizen of a particular country and following Jesus is sometimes complex to work out, isn’t it?

I’ve got a few layers of identity myself.  On one hand, I’m Roman – full citizen of the Empire, which at times has stood me in good stead and I wouldn't want to leave home without it.  On another, I’m a Jew – full member of the family of Israel, and I would never want not to be that as well.  But the two hands do not always want the same things, or work together easily.  Many’s the time I struggle to know where my ultimate allegiance lies.  And then when I became a disciple of Jesus – full servant of that even greater reality, the messianic kingdom in the world, things got even more complex.

I’m sure you know what I mean, because here we are worshiping the God of all the world and all its people on this weekend of your particular nation's celebration. 

I listened closely to your national anthem that you sang before worship began, and I really like that line, “true north, strong and free.”

True north.  You know I try to keep up, and I love the way Winnipeg Jets fans – when the team plays at home, will happily and loudly sing the anthem until they reach this line, then in an even louder and happier voice will just shout out the two words, “TRUE NORTH” before going on to sing the rest of the anthem even more energized. 

And your Raptors, too, with that hash tag name of “We the North.”  I’ve no idea what a hash tag is, but I love the self-affirmation of that phrase, the happy defiance you can show against the burden and bullying of bigger countries in the world, and how you can act against the reputation you’ve had for being more meek and invisible than you need to be.

You are the “true north, strong and free.”  Freedom is a big part of who you are and what you are about – freedom for yourselves, and freedom for others too. 

And you’re right; you need to be strong to be free and to do freedom well. 

Because in a country as diverse and varied as yours – which, by the way, always has been part of your genius as a country, different freedoms can sometimes seem to be in conflict as different tribes and peoples try to share this land and its blessings, try to live together in mutual respect and harmony, try to be together like in the kingdom of God where all nations it says, shall come together in peace – all cultures, races, religions, sexual identities, national histories living together in love, making room for one another, protecting one another’s God-given dignity and purpose, all serving and seeking the greater good.

Sometimes it’s all too clear, though, how far away we are yet from the kingdom of God.

I’ve been reading, for instance – like you have, about what happened two weeks ago at the Gage Park Pride Festival, with two vastly different groups using the word “freedom” to justify two very different kinds of actions that simply cannot exist together.  On one hand, members of the LGBTQ+ community exercising what they saw as their freedom to self-expression and speech in celebrating their identity and their place in society.  And on the other hand some Christian extremists and some yellow-vesters exercising what they saw as their freedom to self-expression and speech in shouting hate at the young men and women at the festival, stalking them and making them afraid to go home and show where they lived, and hitting some of them in the face with a helmet.

“Freedom” is such a slippery word, and can be used for both godly and devilish purposes.  In the true north, strong and free you have to struggle and pray sometimes to know freedom really is and isn’t, what you’re called by God to be free for and free from, and what you need to be strong about and strong against if you really want freedom for yourself and for others.

And it’s not just you and Canada that struggles with this.  Let me read what I wrote some years ago to the Christian community in Galatia – in chapter five of a letter I wrote them.

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence or [domination of others], but through love become servants of one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another [and you bring the whole house down with everyone in it – yourself included]. 

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh [-- and by flesh I don’t mean your body and physicality, but more the desires of the self, of the unredeemed and fearful ego, the kind of self-centredness that makes someone or some group of people unable to live beyond the prison of their own prejudices and anxieties.]   For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; these two are opposed to each other, [and when we try to serve both they paralyze us and keep us from doing the good we are called to in the world.]

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law [because you naturally do what the law prescribes, and even more.  In other words, to use some of your language, instead of having to be ordered by laws of political correctness and mutual respect like some people have to be because they don’t like acting that way, you just naturally do these things because it’s the holy and humane way of being.] 

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.  [In other words, the ways we have of using other people for our own gratification, the ways we have of using God to satisfy our desires and justify our prejudices, the ways we break faith and break relationship with others when they and we disagree; the ways we get envious and angry at what other people have or are given, because we think it should all be ours and we should dominate.]

I warn you: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against such things.  And when you belong to Christ Jesus you crucify the flesh [ -- remember, the ego and the anxious self] with its passions and desires.  So if we say we live by the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit.

That’s how we’re called to be.  That’s what you and I who follow Jesus, and others who follow the best of other religious traditions are called to be in this and any other country – living ambassadors and witnesses to God’s love for all – a love that the better laws of any land can only point to and try to protect, a love that you live out in its fullness even without the law.  Just because of who you are – in tune with God, ready to say no and be as strong as is needed against the unredeemed, fearful and hateful ego, guided instead by the Spirit that guides all who are open to God, however they know and name the God of all the world and all its people.

In your anthem you sing, “God keep our land glorious and free.”  And I wonder: is this a grateful description of what is, or a longing prayer for what is needed?  Or maybe both.

It’s all people of Spirit – people who through the best of their religious traditions come to be in tune with God, as you come to be through Jesus; people like you whose religious faith and practices lead to a place beyond anxious protection of self, to loving care for others – who will keep your country strong and free, the true north you are happy to be.  They are your friends and allies in your prayers and hopes for Canada.  They are your brothers and sisters in holy spirit, and there are many of them all around you.  It’s not a single, narrow pinnacle of truth that you are building here, but a broad and wide many-pillared dwelling of love.

And so … may you be strong in your faith; may they be strong in theirs; and may you all be friends together in living out and showing others the kingdom of God that longs to be known in this land. 

From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land, glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee…

May it be true.  And may God – the God of all lands and all peoples, bless you as you learn to live in faith, in hope and in love together in this land, God’s blessed Canada.