A Prayer for the Victims of Hurricane Beryl

 God,

In the face of destruction
that has the power to tear down home and threaten life 

we extend our hearts in prayer for the people in Jamaica 

and other Caribbean countries who are in Hurricane Beryl’s path.
We pray that your deep abiding love be felt by
those who fear, struggle and
help in times of crisis and uncertainty.
We pray for their safety and ask you to offer them comfort in these unimaginable times.
May they continued to be strengthened by your spirit and held in your love.

Amen

The United Church posted this prayer for those in the Caribbean who have experienced the destructive force of Hurricane Beryl. At times Beryl was a Category 5 storm, the earliest ever of this magnitude by this point in a year. Everyone knows that this hurricane was amplified by Climate Change and now tens or even hundreds of thousands of people are bereft, losing homes and livlihoods. 

I know that there will be opportunities to respond to this disaster through the United Church and other agencies in the days ahead. May God open our eyes to the bigger picture of the Climate Emergency and what lies before us. 

Celebrating Eagles on the 4th of July

 

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
Who abide in His shadow for life
Say to the Lord, "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

And He will raise you up on eagles' wings
Bear you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm of His hand

The US National Audubon Society is doing its best to get me to adopt a bald eagle and if I do so to the tune of $60 USD ($82 CAD) I will help this worthy organization and be patriotic on Independence Day. As you might surmise, the appeal is lost on this Canuck, and while the resurgence of this American emblem is a true conservation success story we could argue that bald eagles are more of a Canadian bird. Alaska has a huge population but so does British Columbia and there are more eagles north of the 49th parallel than south of it. 

We now see eagles regularly when we're paddling in Southern Ontario and when we visit Newfoundland. I can't recall seeing an eagle growing up in Ontario nor when we lived in NL in the early 80s. We've seen lots in Nova Scotia as well.

We expected to see a fair number when we visited Haida Gwaii, the glorious archipelago off the BC coast, but we still weren't prepared for the numbers. We saw them every day, on beaches, in forests, even in communities. 

When we were staying in Masset we took a walk in the Delkatla Wildlife Reserve early in the morning and saw four. We came back for breakfast and there were 15 on the beach literally outside our door. Despite how common they are we loved watching them in flight or hearing them up in the massive trees. The two principle clans of Haida Gwaii are eagle and raven and its not difficult to understand why. 

There are lots of eagles in the bible, although bald eagles are unique to North America. We saw some when we visited Israel last year and they are awe-inspiring in flight. 

Many a choir and congregation has leaned into the hymn/anthem On Eagles Wings and even though the Isaiah 40:31 reference may be more about growing new pinion flight feathers we picture the majesty of these raptors. 

I mentioned that when we stopped for a few minutes of worship on a beach two Sundays ago there was an eagle perched on a stump by the water. 

Happy 4th of July to our American neighbours and may your eagles soar. 

Democracy in Decline? God Help Us

 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots,  and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.  He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle[a] and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.  

And on that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.” 

 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! We are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”  When Samuel heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.  The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the Israelites, “Each of you return home.” 

1 Samuel 8: 10 -22 NRSVue 

In what was an unsettling but not unpredictable ruling the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the formerly democratically elected and accountable President is actually above the laws of the land. This was a decision about presidentially immunity from prosecution, a ruling never needed before formerPresident Trump was charged with a bevy of serious crimes, including attempts to overthrow the last election.

 What is unfolding in the US should be deeply concerning to people in other nations, including Canada. As voters lean to the right in many countries the democratic principles we've cherished are threatened by potential tyrants and strongmen. 

The man who once claimed "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" has been told that this isn't far from the truth. It's a sociopath's dream come true. 

What I find deeply disturbing is that millions of right-wing Christian voters enthusiastically support this decision swayed by the theologically conservative Christians on the Supreme Court and continue to support a former president who should be held in disgrace as a convicted felon.

 I've heard the false prophets trot out arcane scripture references to justify their support of the Orange Menace. They never refer to the story of the prophet Samuel who tried to dissuade the people of Israel from  anointing a monarch, and who tells them they will eventually regret their decision. In the story from 1 Kings, God essentially shrugs God's shoulders and tells Samuel "let them have at it." 

Since 2016 the unreserved support for Trump has been downright blasphemous and idolatrous. What has happened to these supposed Christians, including members of our family who live south of the border? 

There are prophets out there, sounding the alarm, but will the people listen? God, I hope so, including here in Canada. And there is still the ballot box...for now. 

Portage into the Spirituality of Canoeing

 

The entrance to the exhibition area of the new Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario.Credit...Ian Austen/The New York Times

On the weekend the New York Times weekly Canada Letter included a focus on the recently opened Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario. This facility has been a long time coming and replaced a worthwhile but makeshift display in a former factory in the same city. We have now visited both and this museum is really wonderful with interactive displays and historic film footage, along with creative presentations of the canoes themselves. Canoes owned by Pierre Trudeau and Gordon Lightfoot are there.  Previously the collection of canoes was hidden way, other than those on current display. Now glass walls allow visitors to see the tremendous variety of vessels in the museum collection. 

Canoes have been essential to many cultures around the world and this is reflected in the museum. It could also be argued that they are quintessentially Canadian, a mode of transportation, trade, war, and harvesting of the waters, for many Indigenous groups through the centuries. They also became vital for the fur trade and exploration by European settlers.

I've mentioned that Ruth and I first paddled together 50 years ago when we were teenagers and while we've been more inclined to kayaks in the past 15 years we still get out in our canoe several times a year. We'll take the canoe with us this weekend for a family camping trip and get the grandkids out on the water. In earlier years we engaged in some challenging trips in Northern Ontario, including with our three children.

There has always been something of a spiritual connection for us in canoeing, a sense of the pilgrimage which was profound. Making our way into the jewel of Killarney Provincial Park or down the Sand River north of Lake Superior gave us a deep connection with the wilderness and the Creator. As a minister I was involved in canoeing junkets with teens from diifferent  congregations, as well as with adults. Ruth was involved in canoe trips with a spirited group of church women for years. 

There is so much written about the spirituality of walking and I wish there was more about the spirituality of canoeing -- I know, write something. 

                                                                   Haida Heritage Centre, Haida Gwaii 

When we visited Haida Gwaii recently I realized that I'd forgotten to bring a cap, so Ruth loaned me the back-up she'd brought. It was an old, unused baseball-style hat purchased at the former Canoe Museum with the logo taken from a pictograph. When we were in the Haida Heritage Museum a staff member asked about my hat because he had been involved with the new museum planners in Peterborough regarding the magnificent Haida canoes that are part of the collection. He recognized the logo.  This was a  delightful, improbable, and perhaps providential encounter. 

Oh yes, during a long connector layover in Vancouver airport we sought out the monumental sculpture by the late Haida artist, Bill Reid called the Spirit of Haida Gwaii. The original is in the Canadian embassy in Washington DC, but this exact replica is a wonder to behold. 

Contemplation & Celebration on Canada Day

I am a proud Canadian and on this day as with all others I feel blessed to be born in this country during what in many respects was a golden age. The economy boomed after WW2, it was possible to attend university without a mountain of debt, and eventually we owned a home even though the Christian denomination I served started me out in clergy housing in outport Newfoundland. Ruth and I were both PKs --Preacher's Kids -- so we didn't have a lot of money growing up, but there was enough. As we raised our family we pinched pennies and clipped coupons but we had a full and varied life.

All this was the lot of two Canadians who lived in a time when we gave little or no thought to White Privilege for decades. Even though I had an adopted Indigenous cousin we had no idea of the Sixties Scoop nor the horrors of the Residential School System. It was at the end of my first decade of ministry that the United Church issued an apology for this systemic sin, followed by other formal mea culpas in the years to follow. 

On this Canada Day I am still a proud Canadian but I want to uphold the "rising tide" of the First Peoples of this broad land in terms of cultural expression, artistic creativity, and sovereignty. We have learned to acknowledge Indigenous title to areas that were never ceded and supposedly enshrined in treaties even though those agreements were often violated.

                                                         Haida Heritage Centre -- Haida Gwaii

Our recnet time on Haida Gwaii included National Indigenous Peoples Day so we visited the Haida Heritage Centre, a marvellous place. I can't describe how meaningful being there was on that day and seeing how a culture that was almost extinguished has revived and thrived. We also felt the sorrow of realizing how the institutional church was a willing partner in the cultural genocide of a proud people. 

On this Canada Day I'll bring to your attention the three new Canada Post stamps issued recently to celebrate three Indigenous women, two of whom I've blogged about in the past. They honour singer-songwriter Elisapie, artist Christi Belcourt and water protector Josephine Mandamin and were released on National Indigenous Peoples Day. We have a print in our home by Christi Belcourt. a Metis artist whose work we love. Josephine Mandamin walked around the Great Lakes drawing attention to the sacredness of water and Belcourt is a water-keeper through her art and activism. 

If we love this country we must love and respect those who were here when Europeans arrived, demonstrate humility, and make amends.O Canada. 

                                                The Fish are Fasting for Knowledge -- Christi Belcourt