Sunday, September 27, 2026 - Leave and Go
September 27, 2026
Deborah Laforet
“Leave and Go”
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your
Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
I had quite the dilemma this week. As soon as I sat down to plan worship, I realized that this
scripture reading was going to clash horribly with our honouring of Truth and Reconciliation with our
Indigenous peoples of Canada.
I had decided that during this Season of Creation, we would focus on New Beginnings, as St.
Paul’s focuses on a sequel in its story. Naturally, we’re looking at the stories in the book of Genesis,
where the stories of beginnings are found in our scripture. In our bible, after the story of creation, and
the myths around the first peoples of the earth we have a story of two people, Abraham and Sarah, two
people that are central to all faiths with its roots in Judaism, including Christiantiy and Islam. Abraham
and Sarah are seen as the father and mother of our faith, and in this story that Candy read for us today,
Abraham and Sarah are leaving their homeland, following God’s call to go to a new land and start over.
But - this land is already populated. There are people living on this land. Within this story is a
promise from God to Abraham and Sarah, that “I will give this land to your descendants.” Hearing this
story in our own context, in Canada, in the 21st century, we might hear how Europeans, mostly
Christians, came to this continent and took it as their own, with no regard for its original inhabitants,
professing that it was their destiny and God-driven. Today, we remember the solution to what was
called, “The Indian problem,” as stated in 1920 by Duncan Campbell Scott, head of Canada's
Department of Indian Affairs, the solution being the forced removal of children from their families into
residential schools, and all the abuses that went with these unhealthy environments.
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I have to tell you. I almost threw out the scripture reading and started from scratch. But here’s
the thing. We profess our bible to be holy scripture. As Christians, this is the text from which we read
every time we gather in worship, its the text we use for many of our hymns, and, like it or not, its the
text that has formed much of Canadian society. So, what do we do with problematic texts like these?
The text that we heard today is not inherently bad and needs to be put into context. This story
was shared orally for many generations until it was written down, thousands of years ago, probably
around the time of the exile and return. The Babylonian Empire had destroyed the land of Israel and
Judah and exiled many of the people back to Babylon. When the Persian Empire conquered the
Babylonian Empire, the Israelites were allowed to return to their homes. When this story was written
down, the Israelites had recently lost their land, only to recover it but still be under the thumb of empire,
which would be the case for most of its history, right up to and through the Roman Empire.
For the Jewish people, land and security have been strong themes throughout their history and, of
course, in their sacred scriptures. Even in more contemporary times, pogroms, the holocaust, and other
violent attacks against Jews have caused this veneration of their Holy Land as a place God had carved
out for them, a place meant to be safe and secure and sacred. Unfortunately, this idea has also caused
it’s own problems and is now violating the rights of others living on that land.
So what do we do with this text today? I don’t think we throw it out or ignore it. If we started to
cut out of the Bible every text that some see as problematic, we wouldn’t have much left. The truth is
that humans wrote this text, inspired by their faithful experiences, but imperfect humans wrote these
strories and these words, and different texts will have different meanings depending on the context and
the time. For example, today I wanted to use this text through the lens of new beginnings, and I think
we can still do that, so let’s try.
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One of the biggest and most stressful common transitions in life is moving. Is there anyone here
who has not moved, from a home, from a city, a country? Now, we all can say that we’re experienced a
big move in our lives, from one church building to another.
Usually, moving is a last resort. Sometimes its because we don’t want to disrupt the lives of our
children. Sometimes, it’s seniors who don’t want to leave the homes they’ve lived in for so many years.
Sometimes, its because we don’t want to leave our communities, our friends, and those connections we
value. Sometimes moving might mean leaving your home country and moving somewhere where the
language and the traditions are different.
Moving, at times though, is necessary. In our story, God tells Abraham, or Abram at the time, to
leave behind his family, except for his wife and nephew, Lot, and move from his home of Haran, and
move to Canaan, more than 600 kilometres away. That’s a long walk, with a caravan of all their
possessions. Abraham was 75 years old at the time, and Sarah probably not much younger. Now, I
know some 75 year olds from within this congregation who have been moving St. Paul’s from one
location to the next. It’s been a lot of work, and thankfully, it was only two kilometres and we had
motor vehicles to help.
What I want to point out though, is that we have no idea why Abraham and Sarah moved except
that God called them. What was going on in their homeland? Why did this move make sense to them?
I don’t think God’s call would have been received as openly or obeyed as quickly if Abraham and Sarah
had been content and happy.
If St. Paul’s had had plenty of money, lots of volunteers, and a strong mission at 454 Rebecca
Street, it wouldn’t have made sense to move. This community though did some big thinking and
discernment after the pandemic when we knew something needed to change. This community talked to
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each other, heard one another, and opened itself up to what was possible, and to where God might be
leading them.
I think this is a question for the church as a whole. In Canada, society and its relationship to the
church has changed greatly. Many are uncomfortable with big church buildings. Not everyone. There
are still those who like the sense of high church, with all the bells and whistles, robes and steeples, but
many want to find a place that feels more relaxed, and feels different from the typical church, partly
because of the notoriety created by the abuses of a church in power, in the past, and in our present. I
think people are longing for a loving community with a thirst for justice, with a faith that holds a healthy
critique of scripture and tradition, but also a contemplative and healthy respect for it, one that cares for
people, both inside and out of the community, and one where everyone can belong, where they can be
themselves, and where everyone has a place. In some ways, it doesn’t matter where the church is
located or what the building looks like in order to have these aspects, but if the property and building are
in the way, then some difficult conversations need to take place.
St. Paul’s, I have been asked several times to share your story. You’re a good example of what
can happen. Now, we’re still figuring things out. We are still working through a possible amalgamation
and we’re still exploring the possibilities for this space, but we’ve taken a big step, a step that many faith
communities don’t have the resources to take or can’t even contemplate taking. So, I will share your
story, and I hope we can be an inspiration to others, and I hope we can join with others as we figure out
our way forward.
The church, and people of faith everywhere have the potential to be sources of justice, loving
community, care and compassion for neighbours, and a place to feel the Holy and the Sacred. Imagine a
church or any faith tradition like that in every community. We might actually be closer to that kin-dom
of God that we are working to create. May it be so. Amen.