Emancipation Day at St. Paul's Cathedral
Joyful celebration on August 1 (Emancipation Day) at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario
By Very Rev. Kevin George
I can do things you cannot.
You can do things I cannot.
Together we can do great things.
These words, written by Mother Teresa, are a beautiful reflection of what a gift diversity truly is.
In Canada we aspire to be a diverse and multicultural community. We have long promoted ourselves as such. Yet we know that we still struggle to remove barriers that exist due to racism and xenophobia.
Today many people from the African continent have chosen to call Canada home, making our country a better place by bringing the richness of their faith, culture and joy for life.
August 1 is Emancipation Day in Canada. It is an annual opportunity to acknowledge those whose journey from the African continent to North America was in the hull of slave ships - a stolen people.
As a country we continue to see the deleterious effects of systemic racism, and discrimination - Challenges that have spilled over from generation to generation because of the evils of slavery.
With that in mind, the ever-growing number of parishioners from places like Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leon, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, to name but a few came together to plan an evening in celebration of African, food, music, dance, faith and culture.
It was a joyful night. A celebration that made room for the Holy Spirit to move freely among us. Over 120 came out and were feed in body, mind and spirit. Indeed, the planning team pulled together an event that honoured our African parishioners and celebrated Anglican African tradition. It was a wonderful opportunity for all members of the St. Paul’s Cathedral community to learn more about one another.
As we danced, sang, ate, and prayers we were following in the footsteps of Jesus - who calls us to live in a way that our lives are a beacon to the world around us that there is a place for everyone. Bread-breaking - whether it is on a Sunday Mass or in at an Emancipation Day celebration of Africa, is a reminder of a world promised to us in the Gospel – a world that is just, a world that is inclusive, a world that makes room at the table for all.
While some in the world are erecting barriers, building walls, ours is a call to extend the table. When we hear the Word of God proclaimed we hear a voice that calls us to find ways to enhance life, to embrace the stranger and to welcome all seekers.
In her book Breaking Bread, Sara Miles reminds us that the voice from the table is a “voice that can crack religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least qualified, least official, least likely; that upsets the established order and makes a joke of certainty. It proclaims against reason that the hungry will be fed, that those cast down will be raised up, and that all things, including my own failures, are being made new. It offers food without exception to the worthy and unworthy, the screwed-up and pious, and then commands everyone to do the same. It doesn't promise to solve or erase suffering but to transform it, pledging that by loving one another, even through pain, we will find more life. And it insists that by opening ourselves to strangers, the despised or frightening or unintelligible other, we will see more and more of the holy, since, without exception, all people are one body: God's.”
There was no doubt among those present that in our time together God was able to show us that by opening ourselves to those “othered” we were treated to seeing more and more of the Holy.
There is a hunger among the community for more opportunity to pray, sing, dance and break bread. To that end St. Paul’s will host monthly African Mass and Fellowship evenings. All are invited to join us on September 21, October 26, November 23, and December 21.
These evenings will be planned and led by our African sisters and brothers and supported by the St. Paul’s Pastoral Team.