This is Shawn Ankenmann a friend, member, and loyalist of the United Church of Canada. From his online presence, I doubt you could find anybody who more embodies the United Church of Canada than this experienced pastor.
Shawn is a graduate of Queen's Theological College - but I won't let that get between us (I'm an Emmanuel student). Shawn is a lifelong student, passionate about discovering the world of our imaginative Creator.
Shawn's perspective by what he calls "an older and curmudgeonly preacher" is also vital to the lifeblood of the Church. We often get ourselves into this dead end idea that white people = bad and everybody else = good. Or that young = good and old = bad. But that's absolute nonsense, and I think that's why these conversations ought to be happening more.
To put it simply, we each draw upon our experiences in this life - be they solitary or in community - and we respond.
When Shawn and I speak of inclusion and welcome in the Church we will be mostly making reference to the experiences that shaped us in the United Church of Canada and from the communities we grew up in, studied in, and lived in. We come from very different backgrounds - but we come from very similar backgrounds. And, perhaps, you might understand where we're coming from because our particular experiences are ones that you have known.
As Shawn said on his earlier post:
Let the games begin
Adam
P.S. you can find Shawn's material at: http://westmanpreacher.blogspot.com/
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