The leadership of the United Church of Canada recently settled a years-long controversy by voting to allow the Rev. Gretta Vosper to keep her post as the lead minister at West Hill United Church of Toronto. “So?” Well, this is significant because Rev. Vosper is a self-proclaimed atheist.
Folks, we can’t make this stuff up. In her sermons and her new book, “With or Without God,” Rev. Vosper has made it clear that she doesn’t believe the Bible to be the authoritative Word of God. Well, how could it be if He/She/It doesn’t exist? “God,” for her, isn’t a personal Being, but a metaphor for “love, compassion, and beauty.”
So every Sunday when the membership gathers, the people replace prayer with “community sharing time.” They have to; you can’t talk to nothingness! Then they sing hymns that have been rewritten to accommodate their secular sensibilities.
I personally like the song, “All Because of Jesus.” I wonder how this song would be sung at West Hill? “Giver of every breath I breath; author of all eternity; giver of every perfect thing, to Love be the Glory. Maker of Heaven and of earth; no one comprehend your worth; king/queen? over all the universe, to Beauty be the Glory.”
Now as though this scenario isn’t troublesome enough, the head of Rev. Vosper’s denomination says he’s happy with the decision to keep her. Why? Because he prefers to emphasize “inclusiveness” over something as divisive as the Christian dogma of God’s existence.
WOW! Am I ignorant! I had always assumed Christianity presupposed God’s reality. Hey, so if He doesn’t exist, “hakuna matata! – no worries for the rest of our lives; it’s our problem-free philosophy.” But if God does exist, “mega-matata!” Huge worries! Why not come out this Sunday to hear which it is in Part 2 of the sermon I’ve entitled, “When God Got Hot?”