Collaborative, collegial, or Lone Ranger....

When I was in Scarborough Presbytery, before the change of structure in Toronto Conference (well, even after), there was a lot of discussion about why - all year round, every church wanted a "perfect pastor" who did everything well; why were we all beavering away in our little silos, all of us doing exactly the same thing week in and week out.

There was a small group of us - interestingly pretty much only women clergy - who came together to share services and collaborate on activities. For a while it worked. Then, once again, every congregation wanted to do its own thing, have its own activities - and little by little my clergy colleagues got "too busy" to collaborate. I do have to say that, compared to the guys, it was close to a dream come true. Not quite, but close.

Now, I am in a new conference with new colleagues. - and although there has been a lot of talk about collaborating, it's rapidly vanishing into the mists of "what might have been" because one of us is "too busy with the congregation."

There are five United Churches here, two of which are not really able to continue to function. Yet none of the five can afford to function independently of the others; we need each other, in more ways than some may wish to admit. My own congregation wants to collaborate, wants to do more things together - so do a couple of the others, but it isn't going to happen, at least not in the near future.

There are too many Lone Rangers in ministry - too many who need to be in charge, who need to set the pace, and others have to come along behind. Recently a colleague said to me "Well, I'm too busy now for that date, so it will have to be this date. It would have been nice to have you there, but if not, that's all we can do."

Lesson learned. I will continue to work for collaboration and true collegiality, but I am not sure I'm going to hold out much hope. We just don't do that well - at least not yet.

So this is how democracy dies......

This week, in the news, came the revelation that the Government of Canada is now to be called the "Harper Government" in official documents. This is appalling, frankly, although not at all surprising from this particular government. While countries in the Middle East and northern Africa are pushing for more and more open democracy, even willing to risk their lives for it, the Prime Minister of Canada quietly and dishonestly chips away at our democratic system, setting himself up as a dictator. He has no respect for the electoral process, or the people of this country who might NOT have voted for him - like me. Despite the fact that he is elected to serve ALL the people of this country, he treats everyone with disdain and is convinced of his own rightness in everything. He exalts himself, even over the Governor General, who represents the Queen in this country. There is a word for this - it's called megalomania.

As an ordained minister, I can usually find a couple of Scripture passages which will fit just about any occasion. The Book of Daniel says "The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god........"; and from Matthew 23: "The greatest among you will be a servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." This is pretty clear, in my mind. Raise yourself above others, and eventually you will be brought down.

What I can't get my head around is how Canadians are sitting quietly by and allowed this gradual erosion of our democratic system. We should be screaming from the rooftops, demanding that "The Harper Government" listen to the people. But democracy no longer exists in Canada. It has been replaced by an extreme and dangerous right-wing ideology which punishes those who speak the truth, and rewards those who keep their mouth shut and do what they are told. The "Harper Government" had as its platform transparency and openness in government. Instead we get secrecy and behind-the-scenes manipulation, and by and large we sit here and let it happen.

I used to be proud of being Canadian, and proud of our status in the world as peaceful and neutral. I can't do that any more.

There is a scene in Star Wars, where Senator Palpatine has become Chancellor, and his true colours finally begin to emerge as he consolidates more and more power to himself. Padme comments "So this is how democracy dies. To the roar of approval....."