Concerning Treasures
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 NRSVue
I made my way to the gym carefully this morning through the slush before the blizzard we've been promised for days now. I'm mindful of the millions across North America who are stuck in airports or have heard that flights are cancelled or wondering whether to set out on potentially dangerous vehicle trips to be with loved ones for Christmas. Those of us who are now hunkered down for the next 24 hours can hold all these people in our prayers.
Did you see earlier this week that Germany has returned the first of 1,100 bronzes to Nigeria? These Benin Bronzes were looted by colonial invaders around the turn of the 20th century and have been on display in a number of Gernman museums. While they are all to be returned the ceremony this week was the first step.
This choice is one example of a new wave of repatriation by colonial empires, although they are often being wrested from the icy clutches of the museums in which they reside. I have meandered wandered through the British Museum in London or the Louvre in Paris without much thought to have these nations came up with the objects in the first place.
Canada is going through its own reckoning in this regard with controversies at the Royal British Columbia museum and others in the province over returning stolen artifacts.
An Inuvialuit leader wants the rare Western Arctic kayak held by the Vatican Museums sent back to the Mackenzie Delta region, where it was built a century ago. WILLOW FIDDLER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
We know that there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of Canadian Indigenous pieces in the Vatican, many of them considered to be of spiritual importance. While the Holy See claims they were "gifts" this is a dubious assertion. Most of them aren't accessible by the public and when the Canadian Indigenous delegation visited the Vatican at the beginning of the year there was concern that the members wouldn't be able to view them (they did.) We were told that they felt both awe and anger. The irony is that the museum is known as Anima Mundi, which means "soul of the world."These too need to be brought home and Indigenous spokespeople from First Nations and other Indigenous communities have asked for this to happen. So far the Vatican has resisted these entreaties.
It's sobering that most of these colonial nations and the Vatican are Christian in background. They sent missionaries to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the "heathens" supposedly living in spiritual darkness. How can any of them justify this sort of theft? The new podcast Stuff the British Stole should be interesting,
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus cautioned an audience of poor folk about accumulating stuff. For centuries Christians have steadfastly ignored this teaching, myself included. According to these verses we all need a "heart transplant", including nations and religious institutions.
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1030-stuff-the-british-stole
Steve Nease has created a brilliant "How the Premier Stole the Greenbelt" cartoon. Take a look in today's Groundling blog groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2022/12/how-pr
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