Chapel The Times
29 February 2004 21:08
A Striking Week
One of the denitions of the word strike is Cease (work), cease work, (of employees) [OED]. It would be dicult not to have noticed the strike of the Acadia faculty this past week. Pickets were parading up and down the streets with signs about being fair. This caused considerable stress in the community, and although there seemed to be good humour on the picket lines, the underlying cause was obviously serious. AUFA members were not allowed on campus for any reason, normally. It is signicant that one exception made was to allow any who wished to worship at the chapel could do so. This reinforced the idea of refuge and common ground for this place of worship. It is a strange feeling not to have classes taking place, and students certainly were left to their own resources by which to get their work done. One happy result was that passion play rehearsals were easier to hold. We hope that a settlement will be reached soon. It is dicult to pretend that things are normal in life, when they are not. Relationships can be stretched to the breaking-point when such events take place. Let us pray that the chapel stands for something greater: that building bridges is better than barriers.
Faculty picketing along Main Street (Photo from AUFA website)
Perspective
Nancy Reid presented this talk on Wednesday 25 February 2004. The text was Acts 2: 113. A few weeks ago, I did something dierent in Chapel: I sat in a pew that I dont normally sit in. Now right away you are probably wondering two things: rst of all, why would you care if you sat in a dierent pew, what dierence does it make where you sit; and second, what does this have to do with a chapel talk and the passage we just read. Well, I am going to try and show you how it is relevant, because I think it serves as an excellent metaphor. Every week day at approximately 11:20 AM, I come into this chapel and put my coat and bag down on the fth pew from the back, on the left side closest to the centre aisle. Why do I always put my stu here? Well, to put it simply, I like that spot. When the sun shines through the window it happens to shine right on that row, and I love sitting in the sun. This pew is also not too close to the front, but not in the very back either. I have noticed that people tend to sit towards the back in the chapel, and I prefer to be in front of them rather than behind. Maybe I feel like I can pay attention better this way, after all it usually works while I am sitting in class. These probably seem like pretty insignicant grounds to always choose that particular pew, but for some reason that is where I feel comfortable sitting.
However one day a few weeks ago, I was running late, and when I arrived I found someone was sitting in the very spot that I usually do. Well, this threw me o a little, but I recovered quickly and I set my stu down a few rows back. While I was listening to Roger talk, I suddenly realised that although I was sitting only two rows back, something was very dierent about what I was seeing. I still saw Roger, and the pulpit, alter and candles, but the view was dierent. Two rows back allowed me to have a wider view of the whole picture. And then it hit me, I had widened my perspective of something that I had become so used to seeing in a certain way. And I thought this can be applied to many other things in life, in fact, it can be applied to life itself. Perspective, one denition is the relation between objects as to position and distance. Another denition is point of view. Dierent people see things from dierent points of view, some are very similar, but they are never exact. The only person who can see your point of view is you, just as the only person who can see the same scene of the chancel is the one who is sitting in your exact spot, and we all know that it is impossible for you and someone else to be sitting in the same spot at the exact same time. Therefore we can conclude that every single person is always going to have a dierent perspective than someone else, even if it is only slightly dierent. This makes perfect sense, as no two
people are exactly alike. People come from dierent backgrounds: classes, races, cultures, traditions, religions, family situations and geography. With so many variables aecting each individuals life, it is no wonder that people have such dierent perspectives. Yet just because we are dierent, it does not mean that we cannot understand each other. In todays passage, the disciples are overcome with the Holy Spirit and begin speaking in tongues. from Jews all nations are gathered in Jerusalem, but they are able to hear and understand these tongues in their own native language. The main point of this passage is focussing on the power of the Holy Spirit, but when looking at it more closely, we can see that it is still relevant to the idea of perspective. All of these people are from dierent nations, and therefore they have a hard time understanding each other, and especially what the disciples are saying. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they come to understand what is being said to them, and they hear it in their own language. I think that is pretty amazing. People from dierent nations and all dierent backgrounds are brought together to an understanding through a common means. In many ways our situation is similar. We all come from dierent perspectives of life, and yet as Christians we all ultimately have the same vision, that is to know and see God; through
our relationships, our family and friends, and our actions. We too can come to a similar understanding by listening to each other and by trying to view something from a dierent perspective. We are all going to have dierent opinions and attitudes, or perspectives, towards certain things, and that is ok; but the key to truly fullling Gods will to love your neighbour and your enemy as yourself, is to be able to see something from someone elses perspective. You do not have to agree with it, or even like it, but you do have to recognise it. So, whether it is a dierence of opinion on the denition of barren wasteland, the dierence between political ideologies, religious doctrines, or any other possible dierence of opinion, it all comes back to perspective. In the end, the only way to truly make an informed decision or opinion on something is to be able to see it from dierent perspectives.
WAICC Event
On Wednesday, 21 April at 7:30 p.m. there will be a Spring Programme of the Wolfville Area Inter-Church Council. The special speaker will be the Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia, and he has been asked to speak on the topic Ecumenism then, now, and tomorrow. The gathering will be held in the Theatre of the KC Irving Centre. Refreshments will follow. Everyone is welcome and you are invited to bring a guest.
Sunday Oerings
Those who give by chapel envelope have their oering taken to the Development Oce, accredited to their account, and the sum added to the Chaplaincy Endowment. For those who do not have envelopes, or do not designate their funds to the Endowment in another way, have their money divided up into several charities. At the moment there is well over $1,700 in this Fund. Half will be given to the Chaplaincy Endowment Fund, and the other half will be divided up between vari...