HELLO!

On Friday night Kim and I attended a Jazz Festival concert on the Halifax Waterfront. “Men I Trust” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_I_Trust were the featured performers. We enjoyed it thoroughly. Most of the audience were the age of our child Lucian, mid 20’s, but there was a smattering of 60 somethings like us. What I appreciate about these gatherings is the opportunity to see diversity and inclusion up close. When I grew up in Halifax, and I have lived here 50 of my 62 years, there was little by way of diversity, and inclusion was limited to a notion of being “friendly”. That changed not that long ago, even after many Canadian cities were growing, becoming diverse, Halifax remained the same for some time. The number of new buildings, many apartment dwellings, mirrors the numbers of new people. Some are from other countries, and many are from rural Nova Scotia. The subdivision where we have lived for 20 years, is made up of, for the most part, people who grew up in rural Nova Scotia, work in Halifax, and prefer the privacy of living 25 minutes outside the city. Front lawns are rarely used here, almost all the activity is behind each house, where privacy can be kept.

My ongoing concern with how we are making our way, at this moment in time, is blending the benefits of a diverse and inclusive population with the binding affection that comes from genuine hospitality. In short, with lots of new people, how do we offer a spirit of inclusion and at the same time, make it deeper than “all are welcome”. The church faces the same challenge. The United Church of Canada has led the way on inclusion and diversity, we were the first denomination to ordain women, gays and lesbians, and we have made large efforts to repair relations with Indigenous Peoples and people of colour. Bethe and I both have long standing relationships with persons who identify as transgendered, who feel a call to ministry. All this change is positive and a reflection of Martin Luther King’s words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” When I consider where Halifax was, Catholics did not marry Protestants, Jews were excluded from social clubs, the plight of the Africville community, how uniformly white our established decision-makers were/still are, I can see progress. But my concern remains, there is more to community than ensuring everyone is welcome. Community means taking an interest in others, reaching out, talking to people.

I often ponder the mystery of how Bethe and I came to be paired together; when asked by the Search Committee if I knew who she was, I said no (Bethe says we did meet once, in the 90’s). And we are so different in personality and skills. Yet, on this core challenge, how to be inclusive AND build community, create safe spaces AND warm spaces, where everyone is welcome, and where people take in interest in each other, Bethe and I are completely on the same page. Peace, Kevin

PS I guess, for Bethe and I, putting up posters, saying words in church, offering sermons and programming, are all just words without backing them up with action, witnessing to what we say. I truly believe the greatest influence we offer, is not what we say, but what we do.