Dear Friends,
Hello out there, we’re on the air, It’s ‘Hockey Night’ tonight. Tension grows, the whistle blows, And the puck goes down the ice…
On Tuesday, the clergy of the Diocese gathered in the cathedral and online for the annual pre-Lenten retreat. This year’s speaker was the Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink, principal of Montreal Diocesan Theological College, which is affiliated with McGill University and serves both the Anglican and United churches. The theme for the day was “Resisting the Temptations of the Powers.” Dr. Zink took us through the all-familiar story of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, a text that many of us have preached year after year. He offered a refreshing and challenging word on the temptation of convenience, our overwhelming desire for more and the pursuit of contentment.
They storm the crease, like bumble bees. They travel like a burning flame. We see them slide, the puck inside. It’s a one-one hockey game…
Dr. Zink accompanied the College of Bishops, executive director and chancellor to Niagara-on-the- Lake for our annual retreat. This year marks the 30th anniversary of our gathering. The retreat was first convened by Archbishop Terry Finlay in 1995. Over the years, the team has spent time at the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since Covid we have met closer to home, joining the bishop and team from the Diocese of Niagara. We have enjoyed the hospitality of St. Mark’s Church, the pastoral support of its rector, Fr. Leighton Lee, and the wisdom of our speaker.
Dr. Zink writes, “It feels like an overwhelming time to be alive and to be in Christian ministerial leadership. The headlines are full of what seems like a never-ending litany of disaster, decay and crisis, while the church is wrestling with declining numbers and challenging structural change. Amid all of this, there remains the Christian gospel that remains as deeply and profoundly good and excitingly and disturbingly new now as it was when it was first incarnated and preached in Galilee 2,000 years ago.” Our conversation over the last three days centered on the theme of churches as communities of resistance in an apocalyptic age. It has been a challenging and restorative time.
Threading the week for me has of course also been a hockey game. There may have been four nations in the tournament, but it became more about two and the growing tensions between us. Longstanding friends who are experiencing a moment of challenge, upset and uncertainty. Our sovereignty is somehow being called in to question. How did that happen? In the midst of the harmful and demeaning rhetoric, adopting the posture of stillness and prayerful resistance becomes an antidote to our growing anxiety.
And a hockey game helps too. The final word goes to Stompin’ Tom Connors:
Now the final flick, of a hockey stick. And the one gigantic scream, “The puck is in! The home team wins!” The good ol’ hockey game…
Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Andrew Asbil
Bishop of Toronto
