Canada Day: A Time for Weeping or Rejoicing?

How comfortable are you around another person's tears? If you are like most people, your answer is likely to be something along the lines of, "Not very."

There are those who have the gift or ability of "being." They are able to sit with another person in pain and simply be with them — not trying to fix anything, not trying to cheer them up. Instead, they are just there, present physically and emotionally.

But as a whole, our culture often tries move someone out of feeling pain, because another person's pain make me feel uncomfortable.

In his letter to new Christians gathering in Rome, Paul takes time to explain the character of a Christ-follower (Romans 12:9-21). In the middle of his poetic description he writes:

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

~ Romans 12:15

This is a challenging verse, because it means I must be present, compassionate, empathetic, and wholly focussed on the other. In fact, both sides can be difficult. Rejoicing with another when we don't feel joyful can be as hard or harder as weeping with another when we don't feel sad. That's why we must be other focused - because we feel and join in their joy or their brokenness.

Now, let's try this in real life, today.

It was Canada Day yesterday. Normally, Canada Day is a time of celebration and rejoicing for the founding of this nation. But we must also face the fact that Canada Day is a source of pain for the Indigenous culture, and perhaps this year more than ever, given the recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked children's graves on former residential school grounds.

How are we to respond? Do I weep with the weeping, or rejoice with the rejoicing, or both? Is that even possible? How should I feel about Canada Day this year?

PAUSE and REFLECT: Wrestle with this verse and what it might mean for us on July 1 and beyond. Take a moment to be quiet and ask God, "What do you want me to feel this year? What do you feel? How can I best observe this national holiday?"

As followers of Jesus we are called to lovingly and compassionately weep with those who are weeping. Every Canadian ought to recognize the historical injustices committed by our government and its agents (both religious and non-religious) against Indigenous peoples. In the Truth and Reconciliations Commission, the Canadian government recognized these acts as cultural genocide.

At the same time, we may be thankful to live in Canada, and that's OK. We can still be thankful for being Canadian.

However, this year, perhaps a more muted observance of Canada Day is appropriate and kind, where the acknowledgement of pain and hurt comes before any acknowledgement of celebration.

If we want to live with the character of Christ, we will acknowledge the vast array of emotions connected to Canada Day and be willing to enter into the brokenness as quickly as we may be willing to enter into the celebration. And maybe, for this year, we could even lean toward the hurting more than other years.

Finally, let us join Jesus in his ministry of reconciliation by praying for our nation, the First Nations, and for truth, healing, and reconciliation.

Some will weep, some will celebrate, and we will pray for them all.

—

Photo by Vince Lee on Unsplash