Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries by Captain Michael Ramsay, 14 November 2021
The other week the kids and I were able to join Susan and her parents in the BC Legislature as they honoured her father for all the work he did for the people of BC. It was nice to have everyone’s names mentioned too.
We then got to stay for question period and that was ‘a whole nother matter’. It started off innocuous enough. It actually reminded me of when I was in Grade 6. We each took turns public speaking. Someone would have a timer. You had to be as close to 2 minutes as possible and not go over. The MLAs were doing this very well. I am sure they must have all passed Grade 6 with flying colours... And then it got interesting.
The clock was set for half-an-hour or so but unlike the 2-minute speeches, this time limit meant… absolutely nothing. The time was done and the politicians were not done; so they kept talking. The opposition, all except one lowly Green Party member who obviously didn’t get the memo, were all asking the same question over and over again about a government policy around Autism: ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ One after another would read a comment from someone in their riding and then they would ask, ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ to which Mitzi Dean, the minister responsible, would respond, ‘it is not a claw back’; the next person would read another letter and ask the very same question ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ to which the ever more frustrated minister would respond, ‘it is not a claw back!’ and this went on for well over the half-an-hour allocated for this: ‘why is the government clawing back Autism funding?’ ‘It is not a claw back!’
I got to thinking (sarcastically) during this whole show, ‘wow. What a good use of taxpayer money this is.’ Here we have some of the highest paid employees in the province giving Grade 6 level speeches followed by asking each other questions that no one really answered and that no one was really listening to anyway, even if they did. I began to think, what a colossal waste of money is our so-called democracy.
Then we went upstairs to a ceremony where they honoured Susan’s dad for all the work he had done as leader of the NDP, leader of the Opposition, and as an MLA and MP for this community for decades. They spoke about many of the great things he accomplished, his principles, and even read from some of his speeches. His first ever speech in the house was quoted by more than one person. In it he made a great stand for the people of Port Alberni and argued passionately the case of the local First Nations (he would of course, in later years, be the federal critic for Indian Affairs, as it was then called.) Susan also made one of the best speeches honouring her father, what he had done, and who he is.
It struck me then that on the same day as we saw question period which pointed out how seemingly useless our system of government and our leaders can be, we also saw how useful and valuable our leaders can be: both at the same time. When I was thinking about all this Romans 14: 4 came to mind: Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.
Then I got to thinking – well, that is life in general; isn’t it? We can all and each be equal parts good and useful and bad and useless; sometimes all at the same time, can’t we? (I know I can!)
Sometimes maybe we paint the world a little too black and white; sometimes we can throw the baby out with the bathwater; sometimes we can say that because so-and-so was wrong or bad on this occasion then everything they say is wrong or bad. I think sometimes we need to remember that when we disagree with each other it might even be the case that neither of us is wrong… or maybe both of us are? Maybe we are both right and wrong all at the same time too. Some examples from Romans 14:5&6:
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God… [And Verse 10] Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
There are many things going on in this world right now. I have spoken a lot about the anguish I have experienced praying and having to make decisions about vaccine passports and Covid-19; so, I am not going to go into that too much today but any of you who have heard me talk have heard me wrestle with the nuances of this. I was chatting about how troubled I was with that the other week to Nancy Wilmot and she had some words of wisdom. She said to me something along the lines of, “Who thought the apocalypse would be so nuanced and multi-layered?” That really resonates with me. I told her I’d quote her. I immediately thought of the passage in the gospels where Jesus reminds us, Mark 13:32-33:
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
The Apocalypse is nuanced and multi-layered. We don’t know how precisely everything is going to unfold and when all this will end. There are many challenging things going on right now that require us to seek the Lord’s leading: all the questions around Covid-19 but also the opioid crisis and race relations and gender identity and a re-interpretation of history, and, and, and...
I could really go on about some of the dangerous policies in place around ‘harm reduction’ these days. I have some real concerns about the way some of these policies are harming those who want to break their addictions and are even creating environments where new people are falling prey to addiction. I can get really worked up about this and Covid-19 policies and other things that directly affect us here. These are some of the many things that I am struggling with – and I know many of you have even more important, more immediate, and more personal things that you are dealing with right now. There are people we walk with on a daily basis whose actions often leave us wondering what is going on or can tempt us into anger, judgement, or frustration – but, in the midst of our frustrating time, here are two things I am learning from Romans Chapter 14 right now.
One: outside of the body of Christ, we are not a Christian Country so, Romans 14:4, who am I to pass judgement on servants of another? Someone who doesn’t follow Christ, can’t be expected to act as if they do. (But we still should!)
And two: even within the body of Christ, Romans 4:10-12: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Even amongst those of us who serve the Lord sometimes we are led to do different things. We shouldn’t despise one another. Life, even in our trying times, is confusing. As Nancy said, “who thought the apocalypse would be so nuanced and multi-layered?” It is - or at least our present time seems to be.
There are many things happening right now. There are people making every kind of decision and as for myself, I probably won’t get everything right. You may not even get everything right- but maybe you will. The Lord, however, is always true and the Lord is always faithful. We need to seek Him in all we do. Verses 5&6 and this whole passage really speak to this: we need to seek the Lord in all of our decisions and whatever He tells us to do, we need to do it. As we are faithful to the Lord, He will provide.
I will leave you with 2 testimonies here about this truth. One: Many of you know that it looked like we would have to lay off employees from the Thrift Store who are not able to get vaccinated for health and other reasons. This did not sit right with a lot of us. As we approached the Lord, He provided a way that we could provide for them and obey Headquarters’ vaccine mandate all at the same time. Both of those employees are able and willing to work at the Bread of Life until such time as they are allowed to work with the Army again. We faithfully sought the Lord in prayer and the Lord provides.
Two: Some of you know that consultants that the government hired were trying to force us to hand out crack pipes and syringes to people struggling to be free from addiction in order for us to receive government funding that we had already been promised. We weren’t going to do that. The Salvation Army, the Bread of Life and the Drop-In Centre need to be safe places for people to go. People can already get whatever drug paraphernalia they want at ACAWS, the OPS, Island Health; what they really need is a safe place to go and be allowed to be sober if they so choose. To make a very long story short, we sought the Lord and the Lord provided. God used one of our employees to speak to people higher-up at the city and the consultants were over-ruled. We are still able to provide a safe place for people to go who are struggling with addiction. The Lord provides.
Likewise, whatever you are struggling with today, whatever it is that is causing you to lose sleep or be preoccupied, whatever it is that threatens your peace of mind, your heart and soul, as we bring it to the Lord and stand firm in the way the Holy Spirit convicts us, He will deliver us. He will. Whatever you are facing today, He is able more than able to handle. He will bring you through to the other side. In Him and Him alone, we can place our trust. Let us pray.
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