 Toward the end of the 2nd century, in the city of Carthage, a Christian thinker became concerned that ideas from Greek philosophy were entering Christianity and affecting it negatively. His name was Tertullian, the first Christian to write eloquently in Latin, and famous for the quip, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” What does the home of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have to do with the city where Jesus taught and was crucified? It is a very memorable and emotion-laden line.
But Tertullian wrote it with an amazing degree of unintended irony because he himself was a classically trained scholar. His entire worldview, conceptual framework, and vocabulary were founded on his Greek philosophical inheritance. For example, Tertullian is credited with being among the first Christians to use technical Greek philosophical ideas like “hypostasis” and “ousia” through their Latin counterpart terms “persona” and “substantia” to understand God theologically. In short, Tertullian’s question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” is answered, “Quite a lot, actually.” Last week on Beyond the Walls, we explored the theme “What Is This New Teaching?” This is taken from a scene in Acts 17 set in Athens. The Apostle Paul is visiting the city and is invited to share his ideas on the famous Areopagus (or “Hill of Ares,” the Greek god of war). The Areopagus was the location where a principal council of the Athenian democracy met. And although most of the crowd who listened to Paul left unpersuaded, we are told that at least two Athenians were converted and became Christians: a woman named Damaris and a man named Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus council. Centuries later a Christian philosopher was inspired by this story and wrote a number of influential treatises under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. Building on the ideas of Plato and his successors, these texts expanded on the analogy of God and light, speaking eloquently of divine illumination. These texts directly inspired the medieval custom of using stained glass windows in churches as teaching tools — an art form that continues to this day. With our greater historical perspective today, we are able to assess our many religious inheritances: ideas developed by the ancient Israelites and Judeans alongside ancient Greek and Hellenistic thought. But Christianity also inherited ideas from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and more. And as the living tradition has continued to evolve and grow, along the way it learned from new peoples who were added to the faith, including Latin, Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, and other peoples in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and in modern times, new inheritances from peoples all around the world from Indigenous Americans and Pacific Islanders, to Africans, East and South Asians. In Community of Christ, we recognize this with the informal motto that we seek “Truth wherever it is found.” As we encounter teachings that are new to us, let us recognize the diversity and depth of the traditions that are part of our Christian inheritance. May we ever be open to new insights and to recognizing the value of truth wherever it is found.
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 By Troy Roach, Midland, ON
I have always loved food. That love started with my mom, who introduced our family to all kinds of flavours and foods from around the world, especially Caribbean and Jamaican cooking. Later, while I was in university, I worked in restaurants as a short-order cook, broiler chef, and food service worker. I enjoyed learning techniques, trying new recipes, and discovering how food could bring people together. But cooking didn't become a ministry for me until much later. When I discovered Community of Christ about twenty years ago, one of the congregation members was a professional chef and culinary instructor. He generously shared his knowledge while leading church breakfasts, catering events, and fundraisers. My wife Melissa and I often volunteered alongside him in the kitchen. Those experiences taught me much more than how to cook. They taught me that food is one of the most tangible ways we can tell people they matter. As I worked alongside members of the congregation, I became aware of people living with food allergies and dietary restrictions. Some couldn't eat gluten. Others couldn't eat dairy, pork, or certain ingredients. I noticed that many of them often felt overlooked at meals and gatherings. Sometimes there was little or nothing available for them to eat. That never sat well with me. One of Community of Christ's Enduring Principles is the Worth of All Persons. For me, that principle found its way into the kitchen. If we truly believe every person is of worth and value, then everyone should be welcomed at the table. Everyone should be considered. Everyone should have something prepared with them in mind. Over time, Melissa and I were invited to help cook at camps. One camp became two. Two became three. Before long, there were years when we were helping with five or six camps in a single season. What kept bringing us back wasn't the cooking itself. It was the people. Campers, staff, and volunteers would stop by the kitchen just to chat. People would tell us how much a meal meant to them. They would come through the serving line with smiles and gratitude. Some would seek us out years later with hugs and stories they remembered. Again and again, people would tell us they could taste the love that had gone into the food. Those moments reminded me that camp cooking isn't really about food. Food is simply the vehicle. The ministry is making people feel seen. Several years ago, I became a plant-based eater myself. Suddenly, I experienced some of the same challenges that many people with dietary restrictions face every day. I understood firsthand what it felt like to arrive somewhere wondering if there would be anything I could eat. That experience deepened my commitment. As more people began requesting vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly options, I found myself stepping into that role. While many camp kitchens were doing their best, special diets often felt like an afterthought simply because few people knew how to prepare those meals. For me, this became another expression of ministry. I never wanted anyone arriving at camp to feel forgotten, excluded, or like a burden. Instead, I wanted them to arrive with confidence. I wanted them to know someone had thought about them before they ever walked through the dining hall doors. I wanted them to feel welcomed. One of the greatest joys now is watching people discover they don't have to worry. The stress leaves their shoulders. They stop wondering what they'll be able to eat. Instead, they begin looking forward to meals with excitement and anticipation. I start hearing questions like, "What's for supper tonight?" "What did you make for dessert?" and "I can't wait to see what you've come up with." Those questions always make me smile. Over the years, I've also had the privilege of watching younger campers wander into the kitchen wanting to help. They peel potatoes, stir sauces, ask questions, taste recipes, and learn alongside us. I've always hoped that some of them might discover the same joy in serving others that I have found. Because at its heart, camp cooking isn't really about cooking. It's about service. It's about hospitality. It's about creating a space where people feel cared for. It's about making sure nobody is forgotten. When I think about why camp cooking became my ministry, I come back to the same answer every time. I see it in people's eyes. I hear it in their words. I feel it in their hugs. I experience it in their gratitude. For a few days, a week, or even just a single meal, people know they are seen, valued, welcomed, and loved. And in the process of feeding them, something remarkable happens. The ministry feeds me too. Hopeful signs of courage and creativity — Apostle Lach Mackay reflects on his Ontario visit7/2/2026  By Apostle Lachlan Mackay
Apostle Shannon McAdam and I spent the second week of June visiting members and friends from eight Community of Christ congregations in Ontario. Accompanied by Sam Smalldon, Bishop of Canada and member of the Mission Center Presidency Team, we began our journey at the Grand Valley congregation, followed by a detour to see the home of Joseph Smith III's wife, Ada Clark. From there, we shared tea with members of the Proton congregation before visiting the Proton building and cemetery. The day ended with an evening gathering at Owen Sound. On the second day, we spent time with the Wiarton and Port Elgin congregations. On the third day, Mission Center Presidency Team members John Hamer and Leandro Palacios joined us as we attended the weekly home gathering of the Guelph congregation and an online evening with the Willow congregation. Everywhere we went, we were met with warm welcomes, delicious food, meaningful fellowship, and thoughtful questions. Throughout our visits in Ontario, we were impressed by the faithfulness, warmth, and resilience of the members and friends we met. Many congregations are sustained by long-serving disciples who continue to offer ministry with commitment and care. Again and again, we experienced communities shaped by deep relationships and a clear desire to steward what has been entrusted to them for the sake of mission. Their relationships with one another are central to their identity. In some places, congregations are also recognizing the need to move beyond a building while continuing to serve faithfully and creatively. These visits also revealed the many ways congregations are gathering and serving during this time of rapid change. Some communities remain deeply connected to their buildings as places of mission, memory, welcome, and ministry. Others pioneered what it means to continue as a congregation after selling a church building, while some have more recently transitioned to home gatherings. Still others are gathering in hybrid in-person and online ways. Together, these settings showed us that congregational life in Ontario is not defined by one model. It is shaped by faithful people discerning how best to embody Christ's mission in their local context. Several consistent themes emerged throughout the journey: the importance of strong relationships among field, mission centre, and congregational leaders; the need to name honestly the challenges we face; and the willingness to risk something new. In many places, there was a growing recognition that the future will require taking church to the people rather than waiting for people to come to the church. Our Ontario visit offered hopeful signs of courage and creativity as congregations continue discovering faithful ways to live Christ's mission in changing times.  By Leandro Palacios, Director of Communications
When the Apostle Paul visited Athens, according to Acts 17, he became “deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” Although today we think of Athens as a place of philosophy and politics, the city was also intensely religious. It was connected to great religious festivals like the Eleusinian Mysteries, and divine images and cult objects were integrated into ordinary civic life. Walking through Athens, especially the Agora and sacred areas, Paul would have encountered statues of the city’s patron goddess Athena, as well as images of Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Dionysus, the imperial cult, hero shrines, altars, processions, and other tangible expressions of devotion. But idolatry is not only the worship of statues. Idolatry happens whenever we mistake a limited image for the fullness of the divine. When God is imagined too narrowly, creation is also imagined too narrowly. A male image of God can become a sacred hierarchy, where maleness is treated as closer to the divine and gender roles are defended as if they were created by God. Biological sex can be treated as a divine boundary on human expression, as if what we do, what we wear, and whom we love should be determined by the bodies we were born with. Last weekend, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and many other cities around the world celebrated Pride. In this context, “pride” means “dignity”, not “hubris”. In fact, when we gather to celebrate human dignity, we are rejecting a type of idolatry rooted in hubris. This type of idolatry is based on an unfounded sense of certainty, the kind that, as the hymn says, limits “the truth of God to our poor reach of mind by notions of our day and sect, crude, partial, and confined.” Pride reminds us that God is not a man, not one gender, not one body, not one race, not one fixed image of holiness. The God who cannot be contained by human art, words, or imagination likewise cannot be confined by our inherited ideas of gender, sexuality, family, or love. Pride invites us to reject the inherited black-and-white boundaries our society and even the church have drawn around a creation that God made in a rainbow of colours. Pride is not just a party or a protest. Pride is not just for people who identify with the letters 2SLGBTQI+. Pride is the rejection of a type of idolatry that causes harm and division. Pride is a call to recognize and uphold the enduring principles that define our community: Worth of All Persons, Unity in Diversity, and Sacredness of Creation. Happy Pride! |
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