Worship at Ralph Connor...see a recent sermon below

1. People are inspired to come to Ralph Connor worship for a variety of gifts that include:
   

2. ✢  a community of faith and spirituality
   

3. ✢  a welcoming and diverse approach to modern day thinking
   

4. ✢  music that resonates with our soul
   

5. ✢  relaxed, non judgmental and respectful atmosphere
   

6. ✢  supporting social justice issues
   

Worship can include the quiet contemplation of yoga and meditation, insightful discussions of scripture, thought-provoking sermons, spirit-filled approach to music.  Worship also includes an emphasis on open and “generous” communication in all aspects of the operation of the church.

Scripture is interpreted metaphorically, with a deep understanding of the complexity and nuances available through a more liberal interpretation of traditional teachings.  Offerings from other faith traditions and a deep reverence for ecology and our place on the earth are woven into regular services.

Our Minister, Rev. Ron Jeffrey brings intellect and knowledge about our history from the Bible from many denominational and spiritual backgrounds... his connection with current events... with wit, spontaneity, fun, and connection to life right now in the present.

Social justice and outreach are an important manifestation of worship at Ralph Connor and are connected with the efforts of the United Church of Canada.  Through discussion, ministerial input, fundraising for those in need, and community lectures, the congregation stays abreast of current issues in our world and endeavors to take action in ways that make a difference.

At Ralph Connor, you’ll find a congregation and staff who are warmly welcoming, an intellectually and spiritually stimulating environment and a true sense of social responsibility and justice in action.  We welcome any questions or input you might have about our approach, mission or vision.

Pastoral Class: Those wishing to join the church or bring children for baptism are invited to a pastoral class. Please contact the office for more details.

Sermon by Rev. Ron Jeffrey, September 6, 2009      

Happy Labour Day Weekend! Happy Labour Day.

The Labour Movement is to a large extent about the sharing of wealth. And, to some extent, power.  Power over the conditions of labour. Hours worked per day, safety, health, job security and eventually about what we call benefits: holiday and pensions.

The sharing of wealth is no self-evident thing. One of the fun things about visiting baronial estates, chateaux, castles, or stately homes, is recognizing just how “ for granted” the concentration of wealth and privilege was in the cultures of Western Europe.

In a sense the aristocracy of Europe stem from the feudal system of the middle ages, itself growing from the chaos of the post-Roman dark ages in Western Europe.

The land based baronial fiefdoms of the Norman Conquest in England grew from earlier systems of defense and mere survival from the sixth to the eighth centuries. Originally I read that the goal was to sustain a web of knights with horses and armour that could be organized into standing armies sufficient to withstand the invasion of mounted Muslim troops assaulting Europe from east and west. At one time Vienna itself was besieged by Mongol armies. Their next stop was Paris. And Spain fell to Muslim armies from Africa.

In times of survival the happiness of the estate of the peasantry did not take high priority. There was not too much sharing of wealth and power. As late as the time of the Protestant Reformation, in Germany, 1550 Martin Luther could preach against the Peasants Revolt of the time and encourage the armies of the Princes of Germany in the brutal suppression of dissent, seeing in the existing social order the will of God and blessing secular authorities with divine origin.

So it is not so outlandish to think of the concentration of wealth, land, and power in the 19th century to be the social norm. Barons of the Industrial Revolution were not overly concerned about the conditions of workers. Society was highly stratified and lots of persons just did not count. (Dickens)

Remember England in the early 1800’s still participated in the slave trade and the Americans were fighting about it as late as 1865. Within my father’s lifetime Chinese residents of Canada born here were not permitted to vote in B.C., and it is perhaps still the case that we practice oppressive labour practices, not so much in our own communities but by exporting our manufacturing to locations where safety standards, limited hours of work per day, and fair pay do not exist. There was a wonderful CBC news special showing how we stack our used computers in Vancouver and send them to a small city in Southern China where they pile up as junk and are dismantled by villagers working under conditions reminiscent of residents of Buenos Aires or Calcutta combing the local garbage dumps for their household furniture.

Christian social ethics are to a large extent about how we are to live  together as a community reflecting God’s will for our lives. While it is striking how much the vision of ethical community life HAS changed over the centuries, we have moved toward some modest consensus about things.

Leaders who pressed for  community values we cherish today looked to Jesus and his life and teachings, as well as the teachings of certain Biblical prophets to find the source material for their vision. The idea of a land, where there was prosperity, peace, security of the person, protection of the vulnerable, healthy public institutions, justice from the courts and king, were all part of the biblical ideal. The Jesus movement added a radically egalitarian note, did it not? After all, this was a peasants movement, included women and outsiders, and preached a radical solidarity. Lech Walensa did not just make up that name for his labour movement. Christianity originated in a grass roots movement of radical acceptance, forgiveness, healing, love, and community building. That is of course why it spread like wildfire….

Which brings us to Labour Day. Did you know it originated in Canada.

Out of labour disputes (the “nine hour movement”) first in Hamilton, then in Toronto, in the 1870’s. This resulted in the Trade Union Act in 1872 in Canada which legalized union activity. Movement parades led to an annual celebration, which became Labour Day. Not to be confused with an earlier Labour day begun in Australia in the 1860’s on May 1 and taken up in the US after the Haymarket Affair. A three day strike in Chicago, leading to three workers dead, leading to a demonstration in Haymarket Square, leading to twelve dead including 7 policemen, leading to a show trial and the conviction of 8 labour leaders as anarchists, seven of whom were hanged. Thus began International Workers Day, May 1.

(Changed in the Cold War era to Loyalty Day in 1958 after the Soviet Union was perceived to have appropriated May 1!)

Labour Day in the U.S, was first celebrated on Tuesday September 5, 1882, in NYC, when 10,000 workers took an unpaid holiday to parade.

President Grover Cleveland introduced a bill in Congress making Labour Day a national holiday in 1884.

The bill was passed unanimously into Law by congress in an attempt to quell harsh feelings after the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of US Military and Marshals in the 1894 Pullman Strike.

Labour Day has become a symbolic end of summer, a sports and recreational milestone. For much of its history it was a day honouring labour, with festive parades and parties for families in the afternoons and speeches by community dignitaries. 

But in 1883 many in the US worked 16 hour work days, often in harsh work environments. The parades and demonstrations were not festive, or, if they were, they were festive as were the demonstrations in the Ukraine that brought down a corrupt and unrepresentative regime by the sheer power of popular protest and solidarity.

There is still strength in numbers, and in the idealistic solidarity of a large number of the public pressing for common values. That’s why Tiennamen Square had to be shut down.

So happy labour day weekend. And if you have the day off tomorrow, and paid holiday in general, thank the labour movement. If you have a reasonable work week and safety standards in your workplaces, thank the labour movement. If you enjoy public health care insurance and are glad to have a pension, thank many of the reforms of the labour movement.  And let us be cognizant also of the weight the church often but not always lent in the direction of the public sharing of wealth and privilege, and in the Christian and Jewish values under-girding much of our tradition of human rights. 

1.