Letter to the Diocese from Bishop Andrew

Dear Friends,

On Friday, while driving through the University of Toronto campus, I noticed a large crowd of people gathered around Robarts Library. At first, I wondered if it was a protest, a march or a demonstration. As I drew nearer to the intersection, it became clear that this was something different. There were no placards or banners, no megaphones or noisemakers. Instead, there were hundreds of people gathering around, underneath, and nearby to the cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom. People young and elderly were taking delight in the show of colour, beauty and life.

On Saturday, I received a message from Canon Hobson to remind me that thousands of people would be descending on High Park on Sunday morning to imbibe in the same beauty. It would be wise for me to arrive early for Mass at St. Martin in-the-Fields. It was sage advice. The traffic was slow as “blossom watchers” tried valiantly to find a parking spot.

Spring has sprung! The warmer days, the longer sun, the birdsong in the morning signal a new awakening. The daffodils, tulips and crocuses are in full colour, announcing that life has returned. The buds on the trees burst forth, and with each day leaves begin to unfurl. Spring has finally arrived. After what seemed like a long winter, made longer by a sixth wave of COVID-19, creation is bursting with new life. And people are bursting forth, too.

With each passing week, I have been delighted to see more and more Anglicans coming back to in-person worship. Pews are beginning to fill again. The singing is getting stronger and more joyful. Folks are lingering longer after service to see one another at coffee hour, in the parking lot, outside the front door. I sense a deep want to be together, to be put back together, to be made new again. And spring reminds us of what we are made of and how we are shaped, and in whose hands we live and move and have our being, as the Psalmist sings in Psalm 104.

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
²   wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
³   you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
⁴ you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
⁵ You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
⁶ You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains…

Now, once this letter is written, I know where my place is and where I will spend the rest of the day. With spade and rake, hoe and shovel, the garden is calling to me. It’s time to get my hands dirty in the soil and the earth, to bend toward the ground to pull weed and deadwood and to relish in the beauty of God’s creation. May you find your way to the nearest garden.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is our practice at Diocesan Council to have a moment at the beginning of each meeting to “Dwell in the Word.” A lay or clergy member offers a prayerful reflection to help guide our conversations and decision-making and to remind us of the context in which we live and move and have our being. Yesterday, Bishop Riscylla offered a powerful reminder to us of where we are dwelling now. I commend it to your reading. She said in part…

I saw a cartoon-style image circulating last week on Instagram and Facebook. The top third of the frame had a simple drawing of a church with a sign beside it that said, “Love thy neighbour.” The bottom two-thirds of the frame, beneath the surface of the ground, was filled with human skulls. Some depictions of the image have the skulls overlayed with words: 215 children – Kamloops, BC; 104 children – Brandon, Manitoba; 35 children – Lestock, Saskatchewan; 38 children – Regina, Saskatchewan; #392 & rising…

­Who do you say I am? Jesus asks his disciples one of the most enduring questions of Christian life, in terms of the faith of individuals and the character of denominations. And who do we say we are, in relation to our faith, our Church, and that image from social media? Who do I say I am when I reflect on the teaching from Micah 6.8: to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with my God?

In the Anglican Church of Canada, responding to the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action, we are in a process of change – of deepening maturity, of growing up and out – in which we are working intentionally to build partnerships and to support and facilitate self-determination in the Indigenous Anglican Church.

“Let us cross over to the other side,” Jesus invites his disciples. A new time has arrived at our doorsteps, into which we must grow or decay: a time of reconciliation, of transformation, of questions and deep listening; a time to un-learn some of the things that have served us and made us rich at the expense of our souls, that have been established over many generations of colonial rule – for example, political and economic interests that have been defined as somehow naturally concurrent with the interests of God.

The gospels narrate a series of interactions that Jesus has with people – interactions that cross social, racial and gender borders, constantly reminding us that there is no center and margin, no “us and them” in the Jesus movement. That radical inclusion is the destination of Jesus’ ministry, the kin-dom, the beloved community. Interestingly, many of our texts, including in the Hebrew scriptures, narrate a series of outcast, often Gentile, boundary-crossing women who, unlike the disciples, do get it – the stories laud their faith.

Jesus is a border crosser! He meets people in their humanity, in their created-ness – created in the image of God. It is costly, this discipleship, living in the intersections of the boundaries and borders that both keep us and prevent us from being more fully human.

We are in a kairos time in which we can act with purpose and humble authenticity, to create a more just environment in our Church and in our land. Together we are all treaty people – Christian and non-Christian “other.” In Christ-like love and the beauty of community, we can walk the good road, learning to not be afraid to bring many cultures and traditions together.

The colonizers’ Jesus – white and culturally superior – is not the Gospel.  Settler theology settled quickly into Christian exclusivism, to genocidal result. We have to change – to expand, to break boundaries like Jesus of Galilee did from the inside out – to become a worthy partner in these relationships. Our work is to focus on un-settling from the benefits of colonization. Our witness in the world is to speak our perspectives on justice, land return, shared revenue, the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action. May the settler Church be Idle No More – living up to the instructions of Creator: to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly.

I conclude with an example of Indigenous and Christian intersections: The Seven Sacred Teachings, how we understand the world and life together:

To cherish knowledge is to know Wisdom;
To know Love is to know peace;
To honour all of the Creation is to have Respect;
Bravery is to face the foe with integrity;
Honesty also means “righteousness”, be honest first with yourself – in word and action;
Humility is to know yourself as a sacred part of the Creation;
Truth is to know all of these things.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto