I was blind, but now I see (or Amazing Grace)

I had a profoundly moving experience this past weekend at church.

On my second visit to the Moncton Central United Church in as many months back in September, I noticed a Union Jack hanging on the right wall of the sanctuary. This disappointed me as I had seen one prominently displayed at the Shediac United Church and it had turned me off ever visiting the church again.

The problem was that I liked the Moncton church – the people, the service, the focus on justice, it’s inclusive nature. We visited again a couple weeks ago at my new friend Dennis’ invitation. After the service, Amber and I went out for lunch with him and his wife, Chris. At lunch I dropped the question as innocently as I could: “So, can I ask why there is a Union Jack hanging in the church?” Dennis almost fell out of his chair in disbelief. He said he had no idea that this flag was flying in the church he had been attending and serving in for decades. I explained where it hung and when we returned to the church after lunch, he went straight to it and another member conferred with him.

I received an email on Wednesday evening from Dennis: “You’ll never believe what the first item is in the new Business Section of our Church Council meeting. Can you guess what it is? PS I had nothing to do with it.”

I was seated in church the following Sunday, just our fourth at the church, before glancing over to the right side and noticing the flags that were there the week before were gone. I nudged Amber. When an open prayer time arrived during the service, I decided I would thank the church for their action. I got up to the mic and introduced myself, then choked up. I choked up multiple times as I explained how much their swift action (though it took over 100 years to recognize the need) meant to me.

As my faith has matured over the past 30 years, so has my interest in identity, faith and the history of my people.

My journey through belief has included postulates like the separation of church and state and the theology surrounding the kingdom of heaven/God. These have taken on more meaning as I have learned about other faiths and as I’ve integrated the theology of the incarnation (God come to us in the Flesh – what we celebrate at Christmas), and the flourishing of culture as an act of worship by God’s people. Through further reading, discussions and podcasts, I have begun to scratch the surface of the meaning behind the Cross; that it represents a revolutionary act against violence, empire, and scapegoating; a salvation through non-violence; a call to life rather than conquest. Thinkers like Rene Girard, Brian Zahnd, Brad Jersak, and Lazar Puhalo have nourished this approach to new life and salvation.

Earlier this year I read A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story Of The Expulsion Of The French Acadians From Their American Homeland by John Mack Faragher. From a young age, I, an Acadian by birth and heritage, could crudely recount my people’s early settling in Port Royal, the flourishing there for 150 years, the deportation by the British and then the subsequent persecution and marginalization by the Loyalists from the 1770s onward in the Maritime provinces. This book provides the an enormous amount of behind the scenes political and cultural content. Learning this made me very proud of the collaboration between Acadians and the nations in the Wabanaki Confederacy and the neutral position Acadians asserted in the numerous British-French conflicts. It also enraged me of how the British treated the Acadians and indigenous populations. The British held Acadians in low regard for the simple reasons that they were Catholic and not British – others.

The Union Jack was flying when Acadian men and women and children were separated and put on boats and taken out of the Port Royal – and many perished at sea or were forever separated. This is the flag under which British soldiers hunted the Mi’kmaq people who helped Acadians. It’s the flag flown over the Nova Scotia legislature where records of the deportation were hidden for generations. It’s the flag under which British loyalist settlers took Acadian farms a second time in New Brunswick, killing some and forcing families back out into the wild.

This is one small corner of the world that this particular empire touched in a profound and violent way. Indians, Scots, Chinese, Jamaicans, Tanzanian, Maori, etc. would have much more to add in regards to British colonialism, exploitation and theft. I don’t expect anyone would need me to provide references for this. Britain was, and continues to be in a financial sense, an empire on a much grander scale than the baddies from the Bible: Egypt, Babylon, Rome.

The clarion call from Jesus is that empire is never good.

So, why was a church hanging a symbol of empire in their place of worship while simultaneously protesting for human rights in Gaza, knitting winter clothes for the poor, weekly acknowledging a desire for reconciliation with the Wabanaki Confederacy, and celebrating people in the LGBTQI2S+ community? Well, the United Church of Canada formed 100 years ago as the Methodist Church, the Congregational Union of Canada and most of the Presbyterian Churches in Canada united to form a single church fellowship. These were essentially churches that had come to Canada from British origins and so their cultural identity bled into their Christian identity. Furthermore, the flag in this church was hanging above a memorial for soldiers from this building’s congregation that had perished in World War I. Canada was a part of the British Commonwealth and the Statute of Westminster had yet to be signed and the Canadian flag as we know it was long from being designed and adopted as our national flag.

Why did it stay on the wall for over 100 years? Did they want to assert their cultural identity to local Acadians and newcomers from the commonwealth? No. It is because those who found it offensive didn’t say anything. For those of whom it wasn’t immediately offensive, it was just a part of the decor, hardly noticeable.

After I shared my brief thanks, several others got up to share how much they appreciated that I had pointed out the flag. I learned later that the chair of the council heard from his wife that Dennis was asked about the Union Jack. He put it on the agenda and the topic was discussed and the council voted unanimously to have it removed. He brought his son to the church the next day and not only removed the flag, but removed the flag holders. The flag was put away respectfully to honour the people who had put it up initially as we can not understand their full intent. Several people expressed regret that it took so long to recognize their blind spot as they are an affirming church that welcomes all while simultaneously displaying a symbol of colonialism and oppression on their wall.

My take: Their blindspot was exposed and they responded with swift action revealing their hearts of love.

Thank you, Moncton Central United Church! (now you’ll have to deal with having me as a member – ha!)