Re Sanctuary Off Limits, January
The article did its best to explain why the Ottawa presbytery felt obliged to lock the doors of 83-year old St. Giles to “‘discipline’ the warring congregation.” It noted how the “secular press jumped on the unique measure.” The Ottawa Citizen article to which Amy MacLachlan refers did portray the dispute with a certain amount of gusto dealing with things such as the actions of the interim moderator, the barring of a particular Bible study on church property and the congregation being required to worship in the basement. Presbyterians emerged looking a bit odd.
The reaction of Citizen readers was equally vibrant with letters to the editor predicting the end of faith-based institutions and online comments such as, “a very unchristian demonstration of ego,” “the church acting in a petty and heavy-handed manner” and two Ottawa students writing “this is why I am not a Christian.”
While St. Paul tells us in Romans “not to be conformed to this world,” we cannot ignore it and should be conscious of what the so-called secular world thinks of us as Christians. While disputes within the church are as old as his epistles, St. Paul did instruct us in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21) where we are to be the “ambassadors for Christ.” One can hope that in the months that have passed since St. Giles closed its front doors both the presbytery and the congregation have had time to consider whether they have adopted the right course. They might well consider borrowing something that the secular world for decades has found effective for disputes between everything from married couples to nation states—an outside mediator to help find a solution.
About Robert Hage, Ottawa
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