October 4, 2026
Unfortunately there has been some health stuff with my Dad this week that has had me distracted, so keep Robert in your prayers… so later getting this sent as I struggled to focus. That said, amongst the new struggles, my brother had his lymph note removed and this week his pathology was clean for cancer but he will now be on a three year ongoing check in plan.
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The Atlantic School of Theology, where I studied and received my Master of Divinity Degree sees itself as an ecumenical teaching institution. Formed in the 1970s when the three founding Church denominations (Anglican, Roman Catholic and United Church) in the Atlantic region were struggling to balance teaching staff costs vs a small pool of students decided to combine resources to offer a different kind of ministry learning experience for prospective students.
There would still be specific denomination training days and events, but courses like Church History, Biblical Studies, Pastoral Presence didn’t need denominational training, but specialized training. Professors from the three primary denominations and even a couple of adjunct professors with other backgrounds would offer their skills to an increasingly diverse student population seeking Master of Arts Degrees in Religious Studies or Master of Divinity Degrees. Though more frequent now in Canada, it was unique at its time, and for some prospective clergy and church authorities, not a desired way to train for ministry. Though still involved in the school, ordination into the Roman Catholic Priesthood would involve additional seminary training beyond the basic degree offered. But AST continues to evolve and offers ministry training that is geared to help build bridges across denominations.
I am fortunate that rooted both in my formal teaching, but also a worldview influenced by family and my home congregation growing up, though there are differences across denominations we are trying to live into the teaching as best we can…. Though there are still deep denominational divisions in some places and communities and even if some Christian teachings and interpretations of Scripture personally make me cringe.
But religious division isn’t just within the Christian Church, it extends to how different faith traditions relate and interact with each other. It is a struggle we still encounter today amongst the big three religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism that all claim their heritage to God through Abraham. This will continue to be a work in process locally and globally.
The latter part of Matthew’s Gospel is full of stories and parables of judgement. The Jesus followers would eventually be exiled by Jewish leadership because the teachings of Jesus challenged authority and tradition. Matthew, in writing his Gospel, is offering words of encouragement and hope to fellow Jesus who have been scorned. When emotions are heavy, the us vs them language comes out and we do it in a variety of contexts religion, sports, and politics and those division unify the inside, but make walls bigger and harder to breach with those with a different view of experience.
The wider Christian Church has had a challenging relationship with Judaism – rooted in teachings around the crowds call for the crucifixion of Jesus and parables like the one this week of the Wicked Vineyard Tenants, the is an undercurrent of division that reveals itself in other experiences in culture and society. The Parable of the Wicked Tenants involved tenants who kill first some of the owner’s servants who are sent to collect the grapes and then kill the son when he is sent.
Jesus then asks the hears what the owner should do and they cry out that the owner would punish and put to death the tenants. Note, Jesus doesn’t offer that teaching, he speaks later of corner stones and obstacles. Perhaps a reading of faithful vs unfaithful following of God is a better way to interpret the parable than a traditional teaching leads to a path that reinforces antisemitism and God has moved on.
Interpreting the text involves exploring worldviews, context past and present, and praying for wisdom. The judgement in Matthew is rooted in the hurt of rejection from the Jewish leaders but doesn’t need to be the eternal way that we treat each other. Like AST we can evolve, we can be better, because in the words of Barbara Holmes (from Study on Thursday night) “we are all one tribe”.
As October begins, the first Sunday of October is World Communion Sunday. Where some Christian traditions will celebrate Communion on a weekly or mostly weekly basis (depending on the availability of a Priest) many Protestant Christian denominations, like us in the United Church of Canada don’t celebrate Communion officially as frequently. This Sunday, when we gather for worship in Ilderton at 945am or in Melville at 11am, we will share the Sacrament of Communion, not just together in our own church communities but in solidarity with many Christian reminding us that in spite of our theological and ecclesiastical differences we are seeking to understand God and the world through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A world, God’s world and indeed God’s universe, that for me is rooted in compassion and grace as we seek to love God and love all our neighbours so that all might experience God’s promise of abundant life.
Steve
The Rev Steve Longmoore
Ilderton and Melville United Churches
Cell (519) 381-8282
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