Missed Opportunity (mine)

 The Ottawa Mennonite Church is situated only a few blocks from the church where I used to work. I literally drove by the church 5 days a week for 18 years and never went in, except for their third World Bazaar and some piano exams for my daughters. It was this realization that inspired me to worship ecumenically for the first few months of my retirement.  

It is a beautiful building, a bright open sanctuary, and very accessible. The building reflects the spirit of their worship, which was also very accessible. Beautiful music, both for gathering and hymn-singing. I was sitting towards the back of the congregation and I could hear people singing all around me. There was a music leader, and the congregation was the choir. 

I expected the worship to be more informal than what I am used to in United Churches - less printed prayers, for example, or responsive readings. However, I didn't realize how affirming they would be in their language and hymns.  This is something we in the UCC expect to be the leaders, but they affirmed the inclusion of the 2SLGBTQIA+ in all aspects of their faith community in 2017 (2 years before our congregation made the decision to become Affirming.) Their hymn book, printed in the USA in 2020, had many of the same hymns as our hymn book, with language adapted to make them even more inclusive - of everyone's gender identity, a non-binary Creator, and a vision of community that is non-hierarchical. There was a good group of children, and I remember thinking how awesome it was that they were meeting God described so inclusively at a young age, always Mother and Father and Parent and Spirit and Holy Presence at the same time.

The preacher is one I could listen to again and again. He was tackling the third instalment of a series. He acknowledged it was a tough sell, inspiring people to come to church to hear a sermon on "systemic" boundaries. However, he did a beautiful job with a tough subject, using examples of real life dilemmas that most of us could connect to, whether we were the ones benefitting from privilege or impeded by obstacles based on social status, gender, race or identity.

People were helpful and friendly, and many introduced themselves by name. When I explained who I was and why I was visiting, they seemed curious but also happy to learn that we have much more in common than we do dividing us. I am feeling sorry that I missed the opportunity to build those bridges between our two communities.