But this was no ordinary church service. Sanguin chose to die in the sanctuary that day. Last spring, Sanguin was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). And when she decided to access medical assistance in dying (MAiD), she wanted the procedure to happen at her church. Churchill Park United’s leadership team unanimously approved her request, and on March 9, the “crossing-over” ceremony took place in the church’s sanctuary. This was the first MAiD procedure to take place in a church in Manitoba.

At around noon on March 9, Betty Sanguin arrived at her church, Churchill Park United in Winnipeg, on a stretcher.
“The moment we rolled her in … and sat her up in her recliner, she lit up like a Christmas tree,” Lynda Sanguin-Colpitts, one of Sanguin’s daughters, recalls. “I hadn’t seen that much life in her eyes, so much joy [in a long time]. And honestly I think part of it was just being in the church.”
But this was no ordinary church service. Sanguin chose to die in the sanctuary that day.
Last spring, Sanguin was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). And when she decided to access medical assistance in dying (MAiD), she wanted the procedure to happen at her church.
Churchill Park United’s leadership team unanimously approved her request, and on March 9, the “crossing-over” ceremony took place in the church’s sanctuary. This was the first MAiD procedure to take place in a church in Manitoba.
Sanguin could no longer talk, so she used a whiteboard to communicate. When she was settled in her recliner, she wrote: “Welcome to my special day. I love you all so much.”
Sanguin’s children had worked hard to make the big space feel intimate. In the end, it was almost as if they were in her living room. There was a recliner for Sanguin to sit in, an area rug, a lamp, and a collection of family photos. Many of the quilts that Sanguin had made over the years were on display.
The chairs were set up in what Renée Sanguin, another one of her daughters, described as a “circle of care.” The six chairs immediately surrounding Betty were for her six children; the next tier was for husbands, wives and grandchildren; and the final tier was for friends.
During the ceremony, two of Sanguin’s grandchildren sang “Let Your Light Shine on Me” and everyone joined in for “How Great Thou Art.” Sanguin waved her arms along to the music. Sanguin had prepared a playlist for the event, which was mostly gospel music — a lifelong love of hers.
“There was an opportunity for every single person who wanted to to come and hold her hand and tell her they loved her and say goodbye,” says Renée. “It was very touching and very intimate.”
Afterwards, the minister of Churchill Park United, Rev. Dawn Rolke, offered a blessing. Each of Betty’s six children placed their hands on her as Rolke invited Sanguin to go in peace.
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Most significantly, it takes us away from where we are meant to get our identity from. From One who loves us and who never changes. Instead of being a fountain of failed promises, this One would lay down his life so that we could know who we truly were made to be. Jesus Christ is where we are made to get our identity from.

We used to live in a religious world, where your religious belief defined who you were—it was where you got your identity from. Religion flavoured every aspect of life from the cradle to the grave, taking in education, community, family, even work. But things have changed, now we live in a secular world—one, in a sense, stripped of religious input.
In this secular world people get their identity from many things—work, success, family, sport, looks—the list is endless.
Or at least it used to be endless. But that list has narrowed largely to one single item—Sex. Not simply the act, but all that goes with it. It has been transformed into our sole source of identity.
For the vast majority of history sex has been seen exclusively in terms of what we do rather than who we are. When I was at secondary school in the early 90s (not that long ago!), sex was a bodily function. But it is that no longer. Sexuality = Identity. You can see it in the vast array of labels there are to go under: homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, asexual, gray-asexual, pansexual, polysexual, lesbian, transgender…
I am my sexuality, therefore I am.
Add an environment where there is the sexualising of everything, the cheapening of chastity, and the crushing problem of pornography addiction. Throw in the catastrophe of gender clinics failing to properly help young people who presented as struggling with gender identity, and the many heart-breaking detransitioning stories.
Add to that the complete lack of freedom to voice anything other than the approved mantras and dogmas. And dogma is the right word—for our secular world has once again become deeply religious.
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God is holy.  All His actions and pronouncements are holy.  They must not and do not deserve to be compromised.  The above represent subtleties in that they do not appear to be active or aggressive evil attitudes or acts.  At least, that is how they might appear to us.  But how do they appear to a holy God?  Slighting or taking lightly His holy character, actions, perspective, or pronouncements dishonors and disrespects Him in every way.

Unholy darkness is so subtle that it may compromise relating to words or actions out of either ignorance or insensibility on the part of some Christians.  Due to the subtleties, a greater need for holy sensibility or awareness needs to be encouraged.  A first experience to this need for me came through another language—French.
My first two years of language studies for missionary service were spent in Montpellier, France: French in my first year and Arabic in my second year.  Members of the French church I attended would invite me to dinners in order to assist my proficiency in the French language through conversation.  One evening, I had dinner with two sisters.  After dinner (Where I had to learn to eat potato chips with a fork and knife!) they pulled out a word game named Diablo (Devil).  It was akin to Scrabble—composing words with lettered tiles.  Unlike Scrabble where an unlettered tile could be used for any letter foregoing a score, this game had the image of a devil on the tile to be used similarly.  One of the words needing another letter was “CHR__ST.”  It was one sister’s turn to add a letter where she could.  She placed the deviled tile in the blank space, spelling “CHRIST” with the devil’s image in the middle of it.  Looking on, I was shocked and thought to myself, “I could never spell such a holy name using a devil to score.  I would forego a turn and lose points rather than combine the unholy with the holy.”  To me—without judging her, I thought such a move lacked holy sensibility.  It was a compromise.
I was also confronted with a frequently-used French exclamation by even some believers.  Coming from the States, I was familiar with commonly uttered profane usage of God’s or Jesus Christ’s name in vain, which is prohibited to all.  It was a while before I recognized the French use of the word God in vain appearing at first innocuous because it didn’t damn anyone or wasn’t used against someone.  It was simply, “Mon Dieu”! (“My God”!).  Eventually, it came to me as virtually calling on God without really wanting Him.  In effect, it is simply an exclamation calling on God in vain.  It too represented a compromise.
Do these relate to holy sensibility vs. compromise today and here?  There are an infinite number of ways, but following are a few.
Perhaps the greatest compromise of all is misnaming murder as a woman’s right, health care, or abortion.  The term abortion originally related medically to natural miscarriage, not coerced miscarriage.  It comes from Latin, “abortionem (nominative abortio) ‘miscarriage.’” In French, avortement (abortion) was still used for natural miscarriages when I was there.  Not realizing this until later caused misunderstanding on my part.  Please note holy sensibility so rampantly missing in regard to this unholy act against the most vulnerable and innocent numbering in the millions.  Unfortunately, many claiming to be Christian fail to see it for what it is, i.e., killing a genuine human being in an early stage of life.  This is compromise.
Another prolific compromise relates to identifying an immoral propensity, temptation, or acts to one’s position and union in Christ.  The usage and acceptance of the term “Gay Christian” by so many is a compromise involving an unholy association with a holy union between a believer and Jesus Christ.  No other sexual propensity, temptation, or sexual acts ever become an identity factor of one’s position or union in Christ.  This, too, compromises the holy with the unholy.
One other compromise is accepting the rainbow colors in a flag or diverse objects—God’s holy promise and sign following severe judgment for evil on earth—for activism representing ungodly attitudes and actions. “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth . . . I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud . . .” (Genesis 9: 11, 13-14. God’s holy covenant sign must not be compromised with unholiness or sin.
God is holy.  All His actions and pronouncements are holy.  They must not and do not deserve to be compromised.  The above represent subtleties in that they do not appear to be active or aggressive evil attitudes or acts.  At least, that is how they might appear to us.  But how do they appear to a holy God?  Slighting or taking lightly His holy character, actions, perspective, or pronouncements dishonors and disrespects Him in every way.
Let’s pray for and exercise “Holy Sensibility” by not compromising even in the subtlest of offenses against God. “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1: 15-16).
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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