Dismantling Advent

Advent is the time in the liturgical calendar when we expectantly wait and prepare for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming.

This year, the Anglican Church of Canada has decided to use Advent as an excuse for jumping on the latest faddish secular bandwagon – what a shock, I hear you mutter – and denounce racism and white supremacy.

They are vowing to “dismantle” racism but, instead, have dismantled Advent, an opening skirmish in their battle to dismantle Christianity. If only someone would dismantle the Anglican Church of Canada. Oh, I forgot, they are dismantling themselves. We don’t have too long to wait.

From here:

This Advent, we feel called to name the truth that the sin of racism and white supremacy is ongoing. People continue to be subjected to and oppressed by these systemic evils, even within our own churches and the ecumenical movement.

For the sake of our common mission and witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we share a commitment to dismantling racism and combating white supremacy, and we actively seek opportunities to engage more deeply. We bind ourselves together in this work, even as we are bound together by a common history of complicity with evil. We look forward to meeting with members from the Black, Indigenous and other communities of color within and beyond our churches to help us develop specific goals and actions. We know this will not be easy, but it is essential. It happens only by moving beyond the borders of the familiar, encountering the truth, trusting God’s grace and being transformed. We have much to learn from and with each other.

4 thoughts on “Dismantling Advent

  1. Advent season reminds us of the First Coming of Jesus and His Return. Perhaps the Second Coming is getting closer and closer. The second wave of COVID-19 appears to be much worse than the first. For example, here are the number of the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States (26,140 on May 3, and 216,548 on December 3), and in Canada (2,760 on May 3, and 6,495 on December 3).

  2. “This Advent, we feel called to name the truth that the sin of racism and white supremacy is ongoing. People continue to be subjected to and oppressed by these systemic evils, even within our own churches and the ecumenical movement.”

    I’m confused. If this is true, why hasn’t the Anglican Church hierarchy taken the obvious next step? You know, a mass resignation of the clergy. After all, in the statement above, they have as good as admitted they’re to blame.

    (This is my key annoyance at this “systemic racism” nonsense: if, as our political “leaders” insist, it is all true, shouldn’t everyone in mid- to senior-level management in all organizations – religious, educational, professional, governmental – be resigning en masse since they’re the ones who’ve been running the show?)

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