Papa Santos is a father after my own heart. When his now grown sons would bicker, argue, and escalate to blows, he would make them take off their shirts and hug one another bare-chested. 

            “This is your brother. Your only brother.”

             He would solemnly repeat this mantra, ignoring the smell of their perspiring bodies, only allowing them to untangle themselves when their anger subsided. Today the sibling relationship bears the fruit of reconciliation from the loving persistence of their father.

            I’m not sure child psychologists would prescribe this unorthodox method of conflict resolution today, but I still love the image of angry, sweaty brothers locked in a close embrace. In a world of cynical adversaries shooting pointed barbs across the Twittersphere, I could sell tickets to a show where people who find themselves at odds get in the ring and are forced into a drawn-out, skin on skin hug. No talking points, no agendas, no one single winner. Just Papa Santos chanting (whispering?): “This is your brother.”

            While this UFC utopia is unlikely to happen this side of heaven, I recently experienced a taste of fraternity and solidarity that speaks to the desire of my heart to see unity in the church and in my city. The annual TrueCity conference happens every year around this time and celebrates churches across Hamilton coming together for the good of the city.

The first time I heard about TrueCity was one Sunday years ago when my family and I went to check out a small church in our neighbourhood. On this particular Sunday the pastors within the network had arranged a pulpit exchange and Leanne Freisen came down the mountain from her usual post at Mount Hamilton Baptist Church to preach in a small Reformed community. Right away I sensed that behind the scenes people were making inter-denominational connections to one another and there was strength and encouragement in these relationships.

            Seeing Baptists and Reformed folk praying and worshipping together felt like home to me. Growing up in small community, local churches always banded together to run summer VBS programs and host Holy Week services. They supported one another’s rummage sales and migrant worker dinners. In each church, there were only a small number of teenagers in a given year, which led the youth leaders to build vibrant ecumenical groups that were a patchwork of Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists and Reformed kids. We celebrated adult baptisms, confirmations and confessions of faith. Together we played baseball, went bowling, trekked up to summer camp and grew in our faith as a body of believers with a humble orthodoxy and an openness to seeing the kingdom of God expressed in beautiful diversity.

            It’s hard for people to intentionally seek out and spend time with folks who are not the same or hold beliefs different from theirs. Though we may not be called to hug shirtless until we recognized our dependence on one another, we are commanded to greet one another with a holy kiss. The TrueCity movement celebrates brothers and sisters who want to get in the ring together and lay down their differences. These are Christians who say to one another, we may not agree on everything, but we believe that God has this city in the palm of his hand – we will work together to see Hamilton flourish. They’re not in the ring for gentrification or personal glory. They’re not in the ring to fill the pews of their churches, either. The TrueCity conference this year opened up the question, what does it mean to serve God in the long haul? What does it look like to do this together? We were challenged to think about these questions from an array of speakers and storytellers. And as we considered the pitfalls of persevering united in our goal, we sang the words of Sandra McCracken and Joshua Moore’s beautiful song inspired by the psalms.

Every vow we've broken and betrayed
You are the Faithful one
And from the garden to the grave
Bind us together, bring shalom

 From the song “We Will Feast in the House of Zion” from the album Psalms

If you want to hear some of the great stories from TrueCity 2019, Philpott Memorial has posted them to their website. If you read my blog, you know how I feel about sermons/ stories. People don’t want to be told HOW to feel, they just want to feel. We need to trust people with our stories without wagging our fingers in the air. The older I get (why am I writing those words??), the more I believe God will do the heavy lifting in our hearts from there.

Shalom