Lent|Giving Up Superiority

Superiority

This Lenten blog journey about “Giving Up” or “Letting Go” has been interesting. Part of that interest arises from the nature in which the practice has been paired with the worshipping community at Little Britain United Church. The variations of the paths explored, whether that is on Sunday or during faith explorations, reminds me that there is no one way that each of the topics can be studied and discussed. Superiority, I have found, is no different.

For me, as this musing has been steeping, I have found several threads coming together. Some of which I have previously explored and others, the catalysts if you will, have been recent judicial decisions here in Canada. The threads that I first began weaving together have been reconciliation, #MeToo and White Privilege. The events that have offered me direction in this weaving have been the jury decisions of the Tina Fontaine and Coulton Boushie trials.

These two decisions have not been easy to accept and the media reporting has made that clear. There have definitely been appropriate challenges raised and, yet … what I have been struck by is the underlying divisiveness. Now perhaps that is indeed the focus of the reporting and the insinuations that have gone unspoken.

I heard some of my concerns named by the families of Tina and Coulton when they have been clear that justice denied must still be challenged with peaceful, though vocal, protest. The threat of violence, unfortunately, hovers below the surface of Canadian civil society. These two events, I have come to recognise, speak to a turbulent undercurrent that threatens to polarise reconciliation into either/or and us/them.

With this recognition, I have found myself returning to White Privilege. I have named, previously, the provocative nature of this phrase. I continue to believe that is important. Superiority, in our Canadian context shaped by a settler and colonial mentality, is founded upon this privilege. That privilege, by extension connects with the patriarchal sexual abuse of women and the marginalised, as expressed in the #MeToo movement, and stands central to the difficulty of living into reconciliation when unexamined.

The values that underpin Canadian civil society, which depends on the rule of law, are (I believe) widely shared. Regardless of race or gender, sexual identity or philosophical orientation, ideals of justice, fairness, equity and equality are ones that are not only important to uphold, but require deep listening when they are both threatened and require examination. Examination that leads to all of us looking into the mirror.

Entrust

That mirror, I would suggest, allows us to recognise the superiority of White Privilege that is embedded in the cultural tradition we have inherited. Justice is indeed an aspiration as old as the Christian journey, but when there are systemic limitations to whom it is afforded, then we must ask how do we address that. I do not believe we need to abandon the rule of law in order for justice to be realised. I do believe that expanding the franchise that allows the rule of law to be equitably and fairly shared, however, requires us to let go of the sense of privilege – superiority – that limits us all.

We must be wary of pitting or devolving to believe I am right and you are wrong. We must recognise such privilege begins to create binaries such as rural versus urban, inner city versus suburban, poor versus rich, women against men, left versus right. All of these either/or pairs, I believe lurk in the divisiveness that is currently swirling. We must find ways to better appreciate the manner in which our systems of laws and processes speak to both a higher ideal and are also limited by a history that requires difficult conversations.

In the passage for this week’s blog, Jesus and the Samaritan woman, we find the idea of superiority central and what it might mean to let it go. Jesus critiques his cultural sense of superiority over the Samaritans. In the discussion with the woman, she herself also directly challenges his ministry.

Who is in and who is out is central to the question of purity. Jesus and the woman engage in theological reflection that leads to both their own assumptions and those of the disciples to be explored. In turn, the woman is so affected by Jesus’ own demonstration of challenging traditions he has inherited that she herself shares this news of Jesus’ ministry. She shares with her own people a message where such ideals of justice and equity, fairness and civility, are central to a ministry she has only just encountered.

I wonder, therefore, what this might mean for Canadian society to learn from this story of Jesus’ ministry. What might it look like if we did engage in deep conversations, which though no doubt are complicated, awkward and most definitely difficult, that promise transformation. Unpacking the roots of historical traditions of superiority, I believe, echo the insight shared in the end of the John passage: namely that our lives are entrusted to one another and that is a sacred covenant that continues to await being fulfilled.