Dear friends,

This Saturday marked both the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) internationally and the beginning of Muslim Awareness Week (MAW) here in Quebec.  I’m confident that the overlap is accidental. The WPCU runs between the Confession of St. Peter on January 18 and the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25; MAW marks the days around the anniversary of the mass shooting at a mosque in Quebec City on Jan 29, 2017.  This Sunday, Christ Church Cathedral, where I worship, marked both, with interfaith and ecumenical visitors throughout the day.

While the overlap was accidental, it seems that it might well be providential.  The text chosen for this year’s WPCU worship was the account of Paul’s shipwreck on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:18-28:10), highlighting the “unusual kindness” the people of Malta showed Paul and his shipmates. It is an account of humanity and solidarity between people of different cultures, classes, social status and ethnic origins, for the common good of those on the ship.  

The worship materials, prepared by Christians in Malta, reflect their historical memory of the shipwreck of St. Paul, their long experience as a meeting place for diverse peoples, and their more recent reflections on global migration, particularly across the Mediterranean. The text sets the celebration of and hope for Christian unity within the broader context of meetings between people of many faiths and cultures.  To me, those diverse experiences of hospitality and kindness put the call for Christian unity in the broader context of work alongside others for the common good.  In our world, like in the experience of Paul, his companions and those who welcomed them on Malta, this includes experiences of hospitality and collaboration with our neighbours of other faiths, and those of no religious faith at all.

For the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to flow into Muslims Awareness Week, where we are invited to encounter our neighbour’s faith, and to accept and receive hospitality, and to learn from each other, makes that call evident here in Montreal.  The challenge remains to continue to nurture relationships, learn from each other and work together the rest of the year.  In some areas, those relationships are longstanding (the Montreal School of Theology is one such example). In others, they are just emerging. 

In faith,
Jen Bourque
Chaplain

This message was written by College Chaplain Jen Bourque for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community.