August 13, 2026 - Pastoral Ponderings

Friends

I have come to believe that people shouldn't have to believe the right things, behave the right way, or have everything figured out before they belong to a church. In fact, I think it often works the other way around. It is through belonging, through being welcomed and known, eating and worshipping together, sharing our lives, that we are formed in faith and learn what it means to follow Jesus.

Part of learning to belong is remembering that this isn't really "our church" in the first place. The church belongs to Christ. All of us are here because, in one way or another, someone made room for us. We are called to make that same welcome real for others.

But genuine welcome is about more than saying, "You can come and be like us." When we truly welcome someone, we make room for the possibility that they might change us, and that the community might become different because they are part of it.

That isn't always easy. Welcome can stretch the boundaries we draw, not only toward people we recognize as marginalized, but toward people we find difficult, unfamiliar, or challenging. We may have to listen differently or discover that the circle is wider than we imagined.

There is something of that in the Gospel story we will hear this Sunday. Jesus encounters a Canaanite woman who refuses to remain on the outside (Matthew 15:21–28). It is a hard story before it becomes a hopeful one. Jesus' first response isn't welcome but refusal and even insult. But she persists, and something changes. Jesus' understanding of who belongs is enlarged.

I find that remarkable. If even Jesus can be changed through an encounter with another person, perhaps we can be too.

Our Affirming identity is one way this congregation practises that kind of welcome. It says more than LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit people are "allowed" to come to church. It says: you belong here. Your presence and your gifts are part of who we are becoming together.

One opportunity to live out that commitment is the Edmonton Pride Parade. If you're able and would enjoy joining us, I hope you'll consider walking with Mill Woods and other United Church congregations from the Northern Spirit Region on August 22.

None of us has mastered welcome. I certainly haven't. We are learning to make room, to receive one another, and perhaps discovering along the way that Christ is already here, welcoming us all.

May we all feel this welcome,William Brook