Tucked away in a Calgary courtroom this past Wednesday, Pastor Derek Reimer was convicted of criminal trespass and various breaches of bail conditions after a three-day trial which heard that he was protesting in front of a local Calgary library at a reading session. It turns out that he has a long rap sheet. This last conviction involved the pastor standing at a respectable distance from the door of the library warning parents who were bringing their children that they were going into a “grooming session”. The event, it turns out, was one which went from library to library in Calgary called “Reading with Royalty”. It featured drag queens reading homosexual stories to children who were encouraged to come dressed “in their best outfit, cape or crown.” A previous arrest which generated the bail conditions was at another public library in Calgary hosting the same event. And in February, the same pastor was arrested and evicted from Calgary City Hall along with three other members of his congregation while they were having a silent prayer meeting in the public hall near a cafeteria.
As I dug a little further, I came across Pastor Derek’s arrest record – assault, intimidation, trespass, mischief, cruelty to animals, and a slew of ugly terms given for deeds done in righteousness. I also came across the website of Mission7, the ministry where he serves a small group of believers. Across the scrolling banner came the words, “I was hungry, and you fed me; I was naked and you clothed me…I was imprisoned, and you visited me” (Matthew 28:35, 36). It made me think about how we have often misunderstood that passage of Scripture. We think of it as social work – the need to help those in the midst of social and economic difficulties. While that may be an implication of the passage, close reading of its context will inform us that this passage is part of the Olivet Discourse – a sermon in which Jesus was talking about the results of the end times. Jesus details how believers in Him will suffer tribulation. You will be dragged before the courts; you will be betrayed by your own; you will run for refuge from place to place; you will end up imprisoned for righteousness’ sake. Matthew 28:35, 36 is about those who come to the aid of the persecuted. In the end, I cannot speak for the character of one such as Pastor Derek, but I can speak to us. Live out the character of righteousness. Speak out with love and grace. Perhaps the days of tribulation are still withheld from us so that we will not suffer harm from doing so. But it is coming. And it’s best to arm our hearts from going cold.
Just Church
In the midst of tribulation, we need to be His church. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
Timothy Quek
Pastor, Just Church
