Please, Governor General, Don't Dismiss My Faith

To Your Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette,

Please don’t make fun of my faith.

I cheered you on the day you were installed as Governor General of Canada.

I celebrated that you acknowledged the Indigenous Peoples and spoke in one of their languages.

I agree with you that climate change is mostly human caused and that we must quickly become the solution.

I also believe in God, a God who is the creator of the universe. To me, it takes just as much faith, maybe even more, to believe that the universe started with a random fluctuation.

I believe in God, and I also believe in evolution, and that this earth and universe are billions of years old.

I believe in God, who calls us to be part of the mending, tending and repair of the earth, and I am with you on climate change. 

I believe that science has an important, essential role to play in our lives.

I also believe that faith in God is an essential relationship in my life.  I have stood with a woman and her two children as they said good-bye to their dad who was suddenly killed in a farming accident.  I have held a mother as she grieved the death of her five-year-old son. I was at the bedside when a young man died of AIDS, without being able to tell his parents he was gay.  For the thirty years I have been in ministry, I have journeyed with people through life and death, through their moments of deepest tragedy and greatest celebration, and I have known God present in each moment.

I know what faith can do.

I know what science can do.

I know that there have been mistakes made by both faith and science.

I also know that there is an essential role for each.

It is okay if faith is not essential to your life, but please don’t dismiss my faith. 

Please don’t make fun of the fact that I believe that an intentional, loving force, rather than a random happening, ignited the creation of the universe.

You are Governor General of this country.

You have a role that can provide inspiration to many in Canada and beyond.

Our country and this world needs such inspiration right now.

You must be who you are, dynamic and intelligent,

but please, as my Governor General, don’t dismiss my faith,

or of the faith of my Muslim neighbors, and my Baha’i neighbours, and my Jewish and Hindu and Indigenous neighbours.

This country needs the best messages that we can bring from each of our faiths: Love your neighbours and your enemies.  Show compassion to those in need. Live in peace with each other. Care for the earth.  Those are all messages of faith that have helped shape this country, and messages that are needed now.

Speak your truth.  Inspire us,

but please do so without dismissing others,

people who may indeed be your best allies in sharing the message you wish to share.

Please don’t dismiss my faith.

Yours sincerely,

Rev. Susan Lukey

November 8, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rev. Susan Lukey

 

 

 

cc’d The Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau

Last modified on Saturday, 20 April 2024