As you know, faithful reader, neXus hosted a goodish contingent from the Gur Sikh Temple to a potluck and Sunday evening service last week.
I was charged with welcoming our guests and giving them a brief explanation of what we are about as a Christian congregation.
How do you do that? It's safe to say that Christianity is vastly more diverse than Sikhism in style and theology. Virtually none of our guests had any experience with Christian churches.
I was reminded of the time a couple of Chinese exchange students asked Sharon and me to take them to church. At the end of the service, one of them inquired, "Why did I not see Jesus?"
Say what?? Did she think that he was still alive and well and living, in bodily form, in British Columbia?
Thus we were somewhat confused as to what she was anticipating, but eventually figured out that her knowledge of the Christian church was limited to pictures she had seen in China of Catholic churches. She was expecting a crucifix in our church building.
With that confusion in mind, this is what I decided to say to prepare these mostly Indian-born, life-long Sikhs for what they were about to experience. I decided to touch on two issues only:
1. That we are a casual, contemporary church in terms of style, but that there are other, very different forms that churches took.
2. That while our style is different from that of the Sikhs, there is a great deal of overlap in our worldviews.
And all in two minutes or less!
Jas Singh, as he did for much of the evening, adeptly provided simultaneous translation services.
Ladies and gentlemen, community neighbours, and our sisters and brothers in faith:
My name is John Sutherland. On behalf of Nexus Church I welcome you on this historic occasion. The council of the city of Abbotsford has set as one of its goals that the many and diverse faith institutions in our community take the steps necessary to learn more about each other. As two congregations that love God and seek to do His will, Nexus Church and the Khalsa Diwan Society are the first in Abbotsford to meet this goal.
I want to acknowledge the presence this evening of Med Manzanal. Med is the person that the city hired to give leadership to their diversity goal. She is the person who worked with Jasbir Singh, Satwinder Bains, Mr. Hundal, and myself in making this special service tonight a reality.
The city of Abbotsford is not alone in pursuing this goal of greater understanding among the diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in our community. The Abbotsford Board of Education is a partner in this objective. I would like to acknowledge the presence of Abbotsford School Trustee Preet Rai, who has been a wonderful ambassador for the Sikh community on the school board.
Christian churches take many forms. Some have very large and beautiful church buildings; others meet in more modest places. Some have clergy who wear special clothing; others are much more casual. Some Christians use a good deal of ritual in their worship; others are more spontaneous; some are very traditional; others more contemporary. As you can see, Nexus Church fits into the modest, casual, spontaneous, and contemporary category.
We look forward to worshipping God with you this evening. We will begin with a song sung by Chris Janzen. Chris serves as the worship coordinator in our church, and has picked out this song especially for this evening. Then our main teachers, Peg Peters and Dave Phillips will speak for about 10 minutes about our Christian religion. Finally, Peg and Jasbir Singh are going to discuss the ways in which Sikhism and Christianity have similar perspectives.
Thank you again for coming. I hope that you feel very welcome.
How do you do that? It's safe to say that Christianity is vastly more diverse than Sikhism in style and theology. Virtually none of our guests had any experience with Christian churches.
I was reminded of the time a couple of Chinese exchange students asked Sharon and me to take them to church. At the end of the service, one of them inquired, "Why did I not see Jesus?"
Say what?? Did she think that he was still alive and well and living, in bodily form, in British Columbia?
Thus we were somewhat confused as to what she was anticipating, but eventually figured out that her knowledge of the Christian church was limited to pictures she had seen in China of Catholic churches. She was expecting a crucifix in our church building.
With that confusion in mind, this is what I decided to say to prepare these mostly Indian-born, life-long Sikhs for what they were about to experience. I decided to touch on two issues only:
1. That we are a casual, contemporary church in terms of style, but that there are other, very different forms that churches took.
2. That while our style is different from that of the Sikhs, there is a great deal of overlap in our worldviews.
And all in two minutes or less!
Ladies and gentlemen, community neighbours, and our sisters and brothers in faith:
My name is John Sutherland. On behalf of Nexus Church I welcome you on this historic occasion. The council of the city of Abbotsford has set as one of its goals that the many and diverse faith institutions in our community take the steps necessary to learn more about each other. As two congregations that love God and seek to do His will, Nexus Church and the Khalsa Diwan Society are the first in Abbotsford to meet this goal.
I want to acknowledge the presence this evening of Med Manzanal. Med is the person that the city hired to give leadership to their diversity goal. She is the person who worked with Jasbir Singh, Satwinder Bains, Mr. Hundal, and myself in making this special service tonight a reality.
The city of Abbotsford is not alone in pursuing this goal of greater understanding among the diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in our community. The Abbotsford Board of Education is a partner in this objective. I would like to acknowledge the presence of Abbotsford School Trustee Preet Rai, who has been a wonderful ambassador for the Sikh community on the school board.
Christian churches take many forms. Some have very large and beautiful church buildings; others meet in more modest places. Some have clergy who wear special clothing; others are much more casual. Some Christians use a good deal of ritual in their worship; others are more spontaneous; some are very traditional; others more contemporary. As you can see, Nexus Church fits into the modest, casual, spontaneous, and contemporary category.
We look forward to worshipping God with you this evening. We will begin with a song sung by Chris Janzen. Chris serves as the worship coordinator in our church, and has picked out this song especially for this evening. Then our main teachers, Peg Peters and Dave Phillips will speak for about 10 minutes about our Christian religion. Finally, Peg and Jasbir Singh are going to discuss the ways in which Sikhism and Christianity have similar perspectives.
Thank you again for coming. I hope that you feel very welcome.
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