Well, I don't know about you, but I’m feeling like its been a big week.
Anyone else?
We started the week with the final ballot counting for the BC election and finally got a confirmed result.
Then we moved into Halloween; this was the first year I’ve been here at the church on Halloween evening (hosting our Farm-To-Plate Marketplace pick up). I put out some candy at the sidewalk for trick or treaters walking by. And I must say this Is quite an active little neighbourhood for Halloween trick or treating. (Note to self: next year put out dog treats for dogs in costume!)
Then of course, yesterday TGUC hosted our Fair Trade & Artisan Market (see photos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts).
And today are observing All Saint’s Sunday: our annual remembrance of those who have died in the past year, and a time when we remember others who have influenced our lives for the better, including those who’ve given us examples of how to live faithfully.
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about one of our modern day saints - at least I would call him that - Fred Rogers. Mr. Rogers to many of us. And last week we heard from someone I would consider to be what we might call an “everyday saint”- our guest speaker Karen Reed. Anyone who opens up their home to live communally with strangers for the sake of the gospel - well, they’re a saint in my books.
And that’s the thing about our Protestant observation of All Saints’: rather than simply recognizing a set of “officially approved” saints who’ve been canonized by one denomination, we affirm a great cloud of witnesses, past and present, canonized and not; well known and not-so-much.
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So today, I want to tell you the story of another saint. This one was a saint of the United Church - Lois Wilson who just passed away last month at the age of 97.
The Life of Lois Wilson
Lois Miriam Freeman was born in Winnipeg in 1927, the daughter of the Rev. Gard Freeman, a minister, and Ada Freeman, a teacher. Lois was born into the United Church of Canada — Lois’s father had been a Presbyterian minister, but had become a minister of the newly formed United Church when Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists had amalgamated two years before Lois's birth.
Lois followed her father's footsteps, attending United College and graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947 and a Master of Divinity in 1950. She also attended Theological Seminary in New York.
Following graduation in 1950, she married Roy Wilson. Wilson was ordained a minister in the United Church of Canada in 1965, her husband Roy having previously been ordained a United Church minister. She then served in ministry in United Church pastoral charges in Winnipeg, (1954–60), Thunder Bay, (1960–69), Hamilton (1969–78) and Kingston (1978–80).
In a CBC Ideas Podcast (originally aired in 2022 and rebroadcast on Sept.17, 2024) titled “For the Sake of the Common Good: Honouring Lois Wilson” - Lois, at age 95, was interviewed.
In the interview, she speaks of herself as a “Community Minister” rather than a “congregational” minister, and this identity seems to have developed through her early years serving in various United Church congregations.
Lois told the story of her time serving with her husband Roy in Hamilton, ON. She spoke of how the church had burned down, and how there was no church phone. For months they were dependent on the community and used neighbours’ and businesses’ phones to do the church's work. They also had no “base of operations” and had to operate in the community. That was a core experience for Lois, as was the experience of moving into a new place and first getting introduced at the co-op store, rather than the mayor’s office.
At the 28th General Council of the United Church in 1980, Wilson was elected as the 28th Moderator, becoming the first woman to serve in that role since the founding of the United Church. In a recent Broadview magazine article, writer Julie McGonegal noted that during her time as Moderator, "Wilson brought an unprecedented focus on peace, environmental stewardship and human rights. Her leadership style was confident yet collaborative and informed by her belief that faith communities should be at the forefront of social change. To that end, Wilson led the United Church into deeper conversations about nuclear disarmament, gender equality and the elimination of poverty, both at home and abroad.” And this focus on the church’s role in fostering social change very much reflected Lois’s affinity for the prophetic tradition, a tradition in which Jesus also stood.
Lois didn’t shy away from making her voice heard - again following in the prophetic tradition. From 1967 to 1968, she was the director of Town Talk, Thunder Bay, an innovative ecumenical program that made use of all the available forms of media of the. The program invited citizens to publicly discuss issues affecting the future of their city. In 1984, following her time serving as Moderator, she was a commentator for the CBC during Pope John Paul II's visit to Canada.
Lois also continued to build on the ecumenical relations she had fostered as Moderator, eventually serving as President of the World Council of churches for a time. She was known for being confident in her convictions and identity while being open to learning from the experiences and perspectives of others.
In 1998 Wilson was appointed to the Senate and insisted on serving as an Independent. In 2000, she led Canada's first parliamentary delegation to North Korea to begin the process of establishing formal diplomatic relations. She also served as Canada’s official envoy to Sudan. She retired from the Senate in 2002.
Wilson was the author of ten books including one titled: I Want to Be in That Number - Cool Saints I Have Known (Toronto: self-published, 2014). Of course I now want to read it; I imagine it would be a big honour to be considered a “cool saint” by the Very Rev. & Honourable Lois Wilson!
As a result of her work in human rights, ecumenism, and social justice, Lois received many honorary degrees and awards. However, although Lois in her later life worked at the national & international levels, her passion was always for living out the social, communal, and environmental implications of the gospel in the immediate community and neighbourhood.
In fact, Lois's insistence on identifying herself not as a church minister but as a “community minister” remained at the core as she moved from local neighbourhood congregational ministry into the wider public realm. Hers was a faith that drew the lines wide - the lines of the parish and of the church’s ministry, insisting that the church, and she as a minister, was called to engage with and serve the whole community - everyone in one’s sphere of influence. In other words, she lived with the conviction that she served a God whose love was unfathomably broad and deep; who doesn’t draw any lines.
And while she served the church (UCC and worldwide) in official capacities, she had no illusions that it needed to maintain a particular structure in order for us to be the body of Christ in the world. And we would do well to follow her lead.
In that same CBC interview just two years ago, Lois commented on the uncertainty of the future of the established church, talking about the cultural shifts we are still grappling with and trying to find our way in and through. Her take? “I don’t know what will happen so I will just keep carrying on with what I know and what I think is responsible and faithful.” Perhaps a prophetic word for us too?
Her belief was summed up again in that CBC interview two years ago when she quoted fellow MP & UCC minister (and Winnipegger!) Bill Blaikie, who wrote: “The prophetic tradition is the history of calling humanity to greater forms of community than are possible within the bounds of blood, soil, nation and class”.
Lois, like many of the saints, lived with a deep sense of what is possible when we claim our identity as children of God, and insist on honouring that identity in everyone. She also lived with an acute awareness that our flourishing and the flourishing of the world depended on nurturing loving, justice-based community. And her conviction that the church and people of faith had a call to participate in calling this into being.
One could say that Lois lived with the conviction that comes through so clearly in the readings we heard today.
In Psalm 146 the psalmist reminds the people that it is God who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Who sets the prisoners free; who welcomes the refugee in strange land; and protects those being left behind in our society.
And this is summed up so perfectly by the author of Revelation who proclaims that indeed, God makes a home among mortals, that God is in the midst of - and as Lois would affirm - WITHIN the people.
So yes, as we remember our saints and their impact on our lives and on the church and the world, we make our claim that every tear will be wiped away…
Not just some people’s tears, ALL tears.
Why? Because GOD IS WITH US; GOD’S IS AMONG AND WITHIN US.
And every stranger will be welcomed - not just some strangers from certain places and under certain conditions - but ALL strangers. Why? Because GOD IS WITH US; GOD’S IS AMONG AND WITHIN US.
And the vulnerable and bowed down will be lifted up - not just those we believe are the victim of circumstances not of their own making, but ALL who are bowed down. Why? Because GOD IS WITH US; GOD’S IS AMONG AND WITHIN US.
Thank you Lois - and all our saints - for showing us what this looks like. May we walk in your light.
Amen.
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