Royal wedding sermon wasn’t a ‘speech’

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard a Canadian news commentator on the royal wedding call Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon a “speech.”

It would go a long way toward trading in the rust bucket of a car that sits in the “Minister” parking spot at the church I serve. The coverage reminds me of just how rusty our public religious discourse is.

In short, a sermon is always based on scripture, which is why in the context of a liturgical event, it is not called a speech.

A speech can be given on any topic; a sermon is focused on God and has a moral implication. So why should how we frame a bunch of words matter to more Canadians than me and my churchy friends?

First, because it’s the job of journalists to report accurately. We wouldn’ t co veracity council meeting and call it something like a “city board gathering,” just because it seems like that to us; we would call it what it is. Without a doubt, the royal wedding was a religious event.

It took place in a church, religious music was sung, scripture was read and the service was presided over by a slew of religious leaders. Calling the sermon something other than what it is, is inaccurate and beyond that, disrespectful to the church community and to Bishop Michael Curry who undeniably left it all on the pulpit.

That said, I’m pretty sure no disrespect was intended. I take it as a sign of a lack of religious literacy.

And I worry about that. One in five Canadians identifies themselves as a visible minority and we can’t divorce religion from culture even if we want to.

With cultural diversity comes religious diversity. While at the same time Canada is more secular than ever, it is also more religiously diverse.

We need to try to understand each other and to be well-versed in each other’s faith language. That means being attentive to, and communicating properly, religious context, especially when it’s our job to do so.

We need more religiously literate journalists and commentators.

It’s important work. How we speak belies what we believe. I believe that careful reporting that honours religious context matters in an increasingly multicultural and multi-faith Canada. I think it should matter to all of us.

Trisha Elliott, Ottawa

(The writer is the minister at Southminster United Church.)