It would be convenient to blame a hard winter for the state of the national psyche, but that would avoid addressing the real roots of fear and anxiety.
And just as we are coping in society with politicians linking everything but the decline of the dollar to “jihadi terrorism,” there is dissonant vibration running through parts of the church, induced by fear that this summer’s General Assembly will make a bad decision in regards to various overtures concerned with same – sex issues.
Fear is an emotion rooted in difference. It is a remnant of our ability to survive: people who look like us must be part of our tribe and therefore are friends. People who are different are from a different tribe—and likely foes.
Fear is not overcome with anger, bravado or any kind of negative reaction. That only fuels the situation. Fear is only overcome with love—a message that Jesus ceaselessly preached, but which even his would – be followers have had a difficult time accepting.
Perhaps it’s just what makes the news, but I hear God’s alleged wrath invoked more than God’s love. And even then, God’s love is parried—sometimes even in letters to the editor—with divine judgment or its dispensation is so restricted that it seems nothing like the love that is the epitome of the divine names in scripture (see John’s gospel and letters).
So it was welcome news indeed to learn that Jean Vanier is the recipient of this year’s Templeton Prize. Vanier, son of former governor general Georges and his wife, Pauline, certainly ought to be known by every Canadian.
Originally a philosopher, who taught at St. Michael’s College for a while, the deeply religious Vanier sought to do something more spiritual with his life. In 1964, he was introduced to two men institutionalized with developmental disabilities and subsequently invited them to come live with him in northern France.
Out of that meeting L’Arche was formed. Today, there are 147 communities in 35 countries, including many in Canada. I visited the one just a few kilometres from my home a few years ago and met the man.
One could simply assert that Jean Vanier is a saint. To be in his presence is astonishing. You instinctively know that his mind has enough intellectual wattage to power a small town. Yet a more humble man I have not met.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail on being awarded the Templeton, Vanier acknowledged the prevalent fear factor: “We are in a world that is rather terrifying. … There is great insecurity.”
The societal result is defensive tribalism. “People close ranks and hide behind their factions.” And, at the personal level, he said: “The problem is that most people disappear behind their titles or their shortcomings.
“At L’Arche, you are who you are and you reveal yourself as you are.”
Such words ought to embarrass politicians who stoke populist fears. And it should cause all of us who think God may have lost control of the church and the world to recall Simon Peter’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane and put away our verbal swords.
Jean Vanier has helped transform the world by changing our perceptions of people with extraordinary challenges. Emulating his example in our lives can transform us and those around us.
