We have confirmation that Fort St. John is losing another landmark main street building.
The Reverend Enid Pow is the Rector of St. Martin’s Anglican Church, located on 100th Street, and she’s confirming the building has already been sold, and is also scheduled for demolition.
“We’ve come to a position where we’ve needed to sell the building because it required far too many repairs for us to be able to afford,” says Rector Pow. “So we’re looking for somewhere else in Fort St. John.”
she believes churches should be looking outwards and not inwards, she says her church – among other things – is interested in helping to address the city’s addiction problems. I hear this kind of thing so often these days, and I squirm every time. This kind of attitude may explain why the church is, it seems, slowly dying.
What is wrong with looking inwards? We have to combat selfishness, greed, hypocrisy, hardness of heart in ourselves, precisely so that we can look outwards, in fulfilment of Our Lord’s commands. The interior/exterior thing is a false dichotomy anyway: each informs and stimulates the other.
You wonder whether behind talk about turning outwards there may lie a sense of shame at believing in the soul and its importance. And all this at a time when there is so much talk about being spiritual and not religious. Sigh.