Welcome to Highlands United Church!

Do you have anyone in your life that you would call a “radical?”

Radical people are bold, sometimes brash, occasionally wild, with big ideas who dare to try to make change. Radical people often wade into contentious issues like climate change, economics, politics, and even religion with their idealism and it often causes conflict.

Last week the news shared memories of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing 30 years ago, and I will always remember the image of one of those radical students squaring off with a tank, stopping it in its tracks, and then climbing up to give a rose to the driver.

That was radical. The message was “stop,” and what makes it radical is the extreme commitment to the cause. This man was laying his life down for peace. He had an idea and committed to it completely. That’s Radical.

Many would say Jesus was a radical. He waded into economics, and politics and religion with his idealism, and it caused conflict. It cost him his life. His ideas and his spirit live on, and throughout the summer at Highlands, we will be digging in to his radical ideas, and opening to his radical spirit. I hope to see you on Sundays in person or online.

Rev. Will Sparks
Lead Minister, Highlands United Church