"There is a Bible on a pedestal in Gretta Vosper's West Hill United
Church in Toronto. She would prefer it did not have a special place,
she said, because it is just a book among other books. In a similar
way, the cross that is high above the altar has no special meaning, but
there are a few older congregants for whom the Bible and the cross are
still nice symbols so there they remain.
Though an ordained minister, she does not like the title of reverend. It is one of those
symbols that hold the church back from breaking into the future -- to a
time "when the label Christian won't even exist" and the Church will be
freed of the burdens of the past. To balance out those symbols of the
past inside West Hill, there is a giant, non-religious rainbow tapestry
just behind the altar and multi-coloured streamers hang from the
ceiling.
"The central story of Christianity will fade away," she
explained. "The story about Jesus as the symbol of everything that
Christianity is will fade away." "
Read on...
