Ew yuck! Who wants to suffer for any reason? Who wants to have to endure anything? In our
quick fix world, pain, physical, emotional or mental pain, is to be avoided at
all costs. Pain should be drowned or
denied or ignored or ended. Endurance?
Give me a break!
One man knew how affliction led to hope, not just for
himself, but for many. Despite our
society saying otherwise to him, he was determined endure for the sake of his
faith, and even the United Church of Canada. The Very Rev. Dr. Wilbur Howard is
a name you might not be familiar with, but to many who knew him, he was
unforgettable and inspired great hope! Dr. Howard was born on February 29,
1912, in Toronto, a leap year baby. Like many African Canadians, his father and
brothers worked as porters on the railroad, for low wages and long hours. They were often called “George” instead of
their real names, and were banned from the union until they founded their own.
As a child, Howard was invited to go to the United Church by a neighboring
white family and went faithfully for the rest of his life. He discovered that he was called to be a
minister but racism was rampant. The
Canadian Armed Forces were just starting to accept people of African origin as
soldiers. While the rest of his
classmates went off to preach in churches during the summer, Howard was sent to
a church camp as a counsellor, even though there was a dire shortage of
ministers due to conscription. In 1941, when Howard was 29, he became the first
Black person to be ordained in The United Church, but for the next 24 years, no
one would take him. Instead, he was administrator for a Boy’s organization
similar to the YMCA, and edited Sunday school resources, including the
controversial New Curriculum of the 1960s. Then, in 1965, at the age of 53, he
finally got the call — to team ministry at Ottawa’s Dominion-Chalmers United.
Howard worked hard for the church and for Canada, often
focusing on children and youth ministries.
He was also a member of the Refugee Status Committee for the Federal
Government. He was President of the John Milton Society for the Blind in
Canada, and Chairman of the Ontario Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drug
Concerns. In 1974, Howard became the first, and to date only, Black Moderator
of The United Church of Canada. In 1991 he was received into the Order of Ontario
and in 2001, he passed away.
The Broadview Magazine article written in 2018 said:
“He … exhibit[ed] a renowned wit. When elected moderator,
for example, Howard quipped, “They had to decide when the commissioners vote
‘Black’ on the ballot whether they meant John Black [a fellow nominee] or me.”
Some say this sense of humour is what helped Howard cross racial boundaries.
“He had a respected place in the life of the United Church.
And if there were some congregations that didn’t choose to give him a chance,
he didn’t dwell on that,” says Very Rev. Bruce McLeod, 89, who served as
moderator before Howard and knew him well. “He was a private person. He
certainly wasn’t a crybaby. He wouldn’t appreciate his story being used to say,
‘Oh, wasn’t that awful about Wilbur Howard.’ He wouldn’t appreciate that
because he didn’t think it was that awful.”
But this isn’t the only opinion that exists on Howard’s
silence. “I can see that he had been bruised in terms of racial prejudice and
that there was a vulnerability there,” Douglas Lapp told the Globe and Mail
after Howard’s death. “Maybe that was why he was so private.””
Talk about affliction producing perseverance! It must have
been hard to be both a respected leader of a large denomination and also a
person who faced racism on a daily basis.
And while Howard didn’t dwell on it, other ministers have been speaking
out about how it is still difficult to this day. That same article said “Rev. Marlene Britton
… moved to Canada from Barbados in 2013 and first settled in Alberta. During
her search for a ministry position, she sat before a church’s three-member
hiring committee and took part in an interview that she felt was normal. She
was later told she did not get the job because the committee thought the
congregation was not ready for a woman. But a few months later, she learned the
same congregation had hired a woman — and the new hire was white” Rev. Paul Walfall, also from Barbados, who
has preached in this very church when he was president of Alberta North West
Conference, spoke out at the last General Council three years ago about the
racism that he and other ministers were experiencing not just from Canadians
but from the United Church. For this
year’s meeting in Calgary, all commissioners had to take rigorous training on
equality, diversity and equity, with six facets: Challenge Assumptions,
Question Biases, Notice who’s missing, Value All Voices, Aim for Equity, Live
Out Our Commitments. Each of these is
thought-provoking and not something we can find quick fixes or easy answers
for. They may even produce some
affliction while we wrestle with how to nurture hope for everyone in our
communities of faith in the future.
Rev. Walfall also has spearheaded an ambitious project,
“Here from the Beginning”, a travelling exhibition that quote “showcases the
contributions and experiences of Black people within the United Church,
amplifying voices that have long been overshadowed by the dominant narrative.
This is a celebration of faith, history, community and The United Church of
Canada.” End Quote. It will be unveiled
in Edmonton from July 27 - August 2 at Pilgrim United Church before travelling
across Canada as part of the United Church’s commitment to becoming an
intercultural church. If you are in Edmonton, please check it out.
The many stories of people like Walfall, Britton and Howard
can inspire us and help us also live into a deeper commitment to being
intercultural, to being more aware of our assumptions and more curious about
those who are missing in our pews. They show us the spirit of Truth and how it
really does lead to great change. Howard
did not father any children, but in some ways he fathered a deeper
understanding of what it means to persevere in the face of great injustice, and
his example can inspire hope for us all in these dark times. “And such a hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who
has been given to us.” May this be so for us all!
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