Several times this week, I have passed the growing makeshift memorial outside John Oliver Secondary School on 41st at Fraser. Candles, stuffed animals, and bouquets of flowers have been placed—in sorrow, in memory, in solidarity—between the sidewalk and the fence. This outpouring of grief while unfathomable is easily measurable, given the piles of flowers are already three metres deep in some places. It is a beautiful, bittersweet thing to behold, and I commend a visit to this memorial sometime in the coming days.
As we grapple with complex feelings about the Lapu Lapu Day tragedy that took the lives of eleven people and injured so many more, we are reminded yet again of life’s fundamental fragility. It is natural in this moment to try to make sense of the senseless. To feel in our grief our own vulnerability. To retreat, if in small and subtle ways, from the fullness of life to be found beyond our own front door. In the face of all these feelings, I encourage you to lean into life. For coming together in community is an act of resistance in the face of our fears.
This tragic event may have torn at the fabric of our wider community, but it is also revealing the city’s resilience. In the days ahead, may we each find ways to be part of the healing process—by building bridges, in making connections, through strengthening the ties that hold us together in life’s great web.
This Sunday, the Healthy Relations Team and I will be hosting another Listening Circle on the State of the World. All are welcome to join us in the Sanctuary at 12:30pm for a compassionate conversation about the world around us, including our own beloved city.
In faith and love,
Shawn
