Walking with Jesus on Haida Gwaii

 During worship a couple of Sundays ago we were invited into what was termed Imaginative Prayer, an opportunity to picture a place of peace where we are walking and having Jesus approach us. 

I could see in my mind's eye several places of solitude we visited this Summer at either end of the country. In June we are on Haida Gwaii, the archipelago in the Pacific in the north of British Columbia. In August we were on Change Islands, adjacent to Fogo Island off the northeast of Newfoundland. 

We were able to experience rambles on beaches and in the rainforest of Haida Gwaii with hardly another soul around but twice we encountered Haida men and we stopped for conversation. A young guy with his dog was friendly and open, seemingly content in his own skin. Another, probably in his fifties, was with his granddaughter on a beach known for agates. They lived on the mainland but Masset was his childhood home and he wanted her to know the pleasure of getting lost in the moment on a beach. He gave us a quick lesson in finding agates amidst the pebbles and then we moved on. We heard him call and there he was, with an agate for us. 

I thought of both of them in our prayer exercise, not because I thought either of them was Jesus but because of the warmth and strength of the encounters. 

This past week CBC Radio's The Current shared episodes from Haida Gwaii and I encourage you to listen to them. They were invitations into the culture of the Haida people who have a centuries old tradition of art and creativity that was almost wiped out by colonialism. In the past 60 years there has been a resurgence of that culture in what is described as the post-missionary era.

I felt heartsick when I heard this term while in the Haida Heritage Centre. The church representing Jesus Christ worked diligently to wipe out Haida language, gatherings such as the potlatch,  and artistic expression. Totem poles were burned as satanic. 

The irony is that there are tens of thousands of Haida artifacts in museums around the world and there is more historic Haida art in New York City than on Haida Gwaii. Efforts are being made to repatriate objects including the bones of ancestors. 

So, I'm grateful for the "imaginative prayer" moment that brought these two men to mind again. I'm hoping that Jesus would be approvingly amused that I would see these two dark-haired, brown-skinned guys.   

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16093165-what-historic-land-agreement-means-haida-gwaiis-future

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16093421-rebuilding-jasper-ashes-bringing-home-haida-gwaiis-treasures

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/haida-gwaii-protecting-land-and-culture

When Weddings Get Personal

 

                                              Setting for Today's Family Wedding at Camp Timberlane 

I was in the "hatch, match, and dispatch" line of work for the better part of four decades and in retirement  I've happily stepped away from baptisms, weddings, and funerals, for the most part. In 7+ years of retirement I've presided at a couple of funerals and zero weddings -- until today. Our younger daughter, Emily, asked me if I would preside at her wedding ceremony and since I still have my license --just call me 0069 -- I accepted the honour. 

I did so with some trepidation because I tend to get blubbery at these occasions, as witnessed at the weddings of our other two children, and it's helpful to have a minister who sheds fewer tears than the bride.

Our planning has revealed that I prefer more religionin the service than Emily and Brad and they want less than the aged Pere. Both grew up in Christian homes and are open to the spiritual aspect, we just approach this differently. In high level negotiations we have reached a compromise and I am confident that today will be lovely in every way. 

The choice of many couples to go with an Officiant rather than Pastor/Priest is a sign of the secular times.  I've written about the reality that few weddings happen in churches anymore and who wants a minister who may insist on being 'ligious about it all? Most clergy I know are relieved not to be asked to compromise their spiritual convictions. 

Today's ceremony will take place outdoors, the Creator willing, with about 160 guests -- a biggy. And while we covet your prayers for wedding, as you can see I wrote this blog in advance and we have already expressed our gratitude for the forecast! 

No "back to school" in Gaza

 

                                                      School Childen in Gaza

This past Sunday worship at Trenton United was both briefer and livelier as we explored the biblical story of the Exodus, connected to a Blessing of the Backpacks. Children (about 20 of them) and some adults brought school and hiking backpacks to be blessed. After worship there were crafts for all ages and it was wonderful to see one pair of grandparents waiting slightly impatiently to leave because the grandkids didn't want to go. Isn't it supposedly to be the other way around? This was such a positive event across generations. 

Two of these children were our grands, and our other two are in school now, with the four-year-old on the bus for the first time with his older sister. We are literally praying that they make the adjustment to new grades and JK. Happily, they live in a wonderful country and COVID is largely in the rearview mirror, so we're confident that they will flourish,

Consider that more than 300,000 Gazan children have already been out of school for nine months and will not return to school this week, likely missing the entire year. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes and are living amidst rubble or in tent encampments that have been relocated several times. Schools have been used as shelters, only to be bombed. hese are traumatized kids who are deprived of their right to education. 

I am reluctant to use the term "genocide" because it has a legal definition and has racist overtones for some. Yet when one group not only kills civilians but deprives them of food and medicine and destroys the fundamentals of culture, what do we call it? 

We simply must pray for these children of Gaza as well and cry out to God/Allah for justice. 

The Way of the Hermit

 A hermit, also known as an eremite (addjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. 

1 Come and find the quiet centre

in the crowded life we lead,

find the room for hope to enter,

find the frame where we are freed:

clear the chaos and the clutter,

clear our eyes, that we can see 

all the things that really matter,

be at peace, and simply be.

                                 Voices United 374

When we spend time in Newfoundland our home base is a old two-storey house on the rather remote Change Islands  adjacent to Fogo Island. The wonderful, creaky house was once owned by a man who lived there by himself his entire adult life, never having married. He wasn't a hermit, with family living nearby and a circle of friends, but he was content to keep his own company and went about fishing, and cutting wood, both solitary activities. We met George 40-odd years ago and the house has changed ownership three times since his death but we do remember him and his huge circular woodpile which was a work of engineering and art.

While we there in August I read a book I took along with the intriguing title The Way of the Hermit: My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness, the story of Ken Smith with Will Millard of the BBC as his amanuensis. Smith is in his mid-seventies and has spent decades living in a self-built log cabin in a forest in Scotland, existing cheerfully without electricity or plumbing or road access. As a young man he decided he didn't want to be constricted by earning a wage in a conventional way. He left Britain to meander around western and northern Canada and the United States, living hand-to-mouth and loving the spartan life. Eventually he returned to England but made his way to Scotland where he received permission to live in the wildest part of a large estate where he did seasonal outdoor work. 

His story is not religious, although Ken claims to be a Christian in a "do unto others as you would have them do to you" way. In the end I would agree that he has lived the life of a hermit in the sense that he chose radical simplicity, gratitude, and an almost mystical appreciation of the natural world. 

I have been intrigued by the way of hermits through the years, reading about the Celtic Christian solitaries of Ireland including St. Kevin, who hung out with birds and otters. 

I have also spent time talking with two hermits, something I imagine few people have done.

Father Charles Brandt, a Roman Catholic priest, was uniquely ordained a hermit, and lived along the Oyster River on Vancouver Island. He was something of a spiritual hero to me having seen an episode of the old CBC TV program Man Alive featuring Father Charles. I arranged that while on United Church business in Victoria I would rent a car and drive north to visit him. 

We talked about his vocation which was by definition largely solitary. In his secluded hermitage he had a workshop where he meticulously restored antiquarian books for libraries across North America. He also had a small chapel where he said the daily Mass. His public life was an environmentalist, working to restore the Oyster River as salmon habitat and in leading meditation workshops walking through the woods. Both of these activities were well before their time. https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/earthrise/57/

                                                Father Charles Brandt in his Oyster River Hermitage

While living in Halifax I spent time on retreat at a Cistercian Monastery in New Brunswick. One winter I was given permission to ski out to the woodland cabin of the one brother who was a hermit. He was a thoughtful, friendly man who talked my ear off. 

Of course the bible shares lots of stories of those who spent solitary time to be attuned to God, including Moses and Elijah, the apostle Paul and Jesus. 

I have my curmudeonly moments when the life of a hermit is vaguely appealing, but it is not my vocation. I'm glad it still is for some as a spiritual antidote to the frenetic, over-connected world we live in. We could all benefit from oases of quiet and reflection. 

                                                                                   St. Kevin 

A Life Page by Page

 

Not long ago son Isaac sent me the link for a BBC World Service Forum podcast called The Diary A life page by page. He knows that I have kept what I call a journal and others call a diary (po-tay-to, po-tah-to?) for going on forty years. Below is part of the description of the episode and above is a page from what must have been the childhood diary of a listener -- remember the Spirograph? 

In all these years I have rarely reread my journal entries and I'm not sure why. I still have all my journals, boring looking books with content which is admittedly often mundane. I do reflect on my day in various ways, from the very personal to global issues. Often there is spiritual content and I regularly conclude with a prayer of some sort, sometimes gratitude, sometimes asking God to give me peace or to help someone. Simple. 

The conversation with participants and the background were thought-provoking. I've never really considered that you need to be literate and have time to write a diary. So it isn't surprising that diaries or journals flourished in the monastic world and with those who had personal wealth. Keeping a diary really can be a spiritual undertaking.

I was surprised to hear that diary/journal writing has experienced a resurgence with Gen-Z, the under-forty crowd who are so adept with social media. And that this tends to be "analog", putting pen to paper, even though some entries may be shared on social media afterward. There is something about cursive writing that stimulates the mind in a unique way and is a creative form of self-expression. I can look back and see how my curious hand-writing has evolved through the decades. 

I have missed six or seven days in all those years and haven't missed a single one in the past twenty years or more. I am grateful that good health and relatively stable circumstances have allowed me to do this, even though there have been sorrows and deaths through those years. In all the "hatch, match and dispatch" of personal life and ministry it has been what I hope is a virtious habit to write each day, and I trust that God has been my companion. 

Since this is the Season of Creation or Creation Time I will note that I include the creatures I've seen each day and record the weather. After all, This is God's Wondrous World.

Unfortunately, this 50-minute BBC episode appears to no longer be available. I'm glad I wrote some of my thoughts about it in my journal!

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people found that keeping a diary was one way of reducing stress during uncertain times. They also felt that it was important to chart their day to day experience of a historic moment in world history. Such diaries will be valuable sources in years to come for historians, providing future scholars with a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people.

These diaries form part of a long tradition of people chronicling their own stories, whether intended for publication or purely to put thoughts down on paper. One of the earliest texts we could describe as a diary was written by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose musings were influenced by Stoic philosophy. Later diaries, such as those by or the African American naval yard worker Michael Shiner or the teenage Anne Frank, have been important in helping us understand society and events from ‘the bottom up’ during a given period.

Iszi Lawrence explores what motivates people to keep diaries. She’s joined by a panel of experts including Dr Polly North, Founding Director of the Great Diary Project at Bishopsgate Institute in the UK; Julie Rak, the Henry Marshall Tory Chair in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta who's an expert on what’s known as life writing; and Sergio da Silva Barcellos who’s published widely on diary keeping in Brazil, including a chapter in The Diary: The Epic of Everyday Life.

Refuse to Harden Your Heart!

 

                                                              The Good Samaritan -- Art of Marza

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25: 34-40 NRSVue

One of the biggest issues in the upcoming American election is illegal entry into the country by migrants from the south. The Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, has been criticized by Republicans for not doing enough as Vice-President to stem the tide. It's so interesting to hear about the Christians along the border who provide sustenance and shelter to these migrants, to their legal peril, while others speak of them with contempt and act as though they aren't even human. Some of those Christians who have heeded the voice of Jesus have been physically threatened, arrested, and jailed for their actions. I admire their courage. 

Refusing to hardens our hearts is a radical act. Perhaps we should be reading the passage above and the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29–37) every week to remind us of Jesus' compassion and practical love. 

Taking the Spiritual Plunge

 

                                                    Crazy Canucks Swimming in Winter...Why?! 

During our two weeks in Newfoundland during August we went for a swim in the Labrador Sea, the third year in a row. When we lived in Outport Newfoundland, my settlement ministry charge of five congregations more than 40 years ago, no one swam in the ocean for recreation. The water was far too cold, frigid, at any time of the year. Sad to say, climate change has made a difference, although the experience is still breath-taking. I have to admit that we waited until our last day to swim in Wiseman's Cove and it was so exhilarating that we regretted doing so earlier in our stay. 

This has been a swimming Summer for us, taking the plunge at least a dozen times, maybe more, nearly all of them in lakes, including Lake Ontario (brrr) along with the one occasion in the ocean. We've enjoyed a couple of pool swims as well but there is something about the "baptism" into a body of water that's a spiritual experience for us. 

We went to a Lake Ontario beach last week with one of our daughters and two grandchildren. The kids swim regularly in pools but it was their first experience of a beach swim, at least of one they can recall, and they loved it, as did our daughter. 

I was pleased to see this past Labour Day Weekend, often the last hurrah for such activities in our northern clime, that the Globe and Mail offered an editorial on the pleasures of swimming, and even going a few strokes farther. Here are the first few paragraphs: 

Wading into a cool lake on a hot summer day, stretching your arms out in front of you and diving in, then coming up for air and gliding through the open water. It’s always a transforming experience. A new element. A new world. The mind freed by the meditative rhythm of each stroke, each breath.

Or staring up at the clouds, daydreaming as you do the backstroke in an outdoor pool, hands raising as if to ask a question before sweeping down and through the water. Or cruising across the water’s surface with the playful, frog-like kicking of the breaststroke. Or simply diving deep as far as you can, turning this way and that like an adventurous deep sea explorer or mythic mermaid. Returning to the surface out of breath but renewed.

No matter the stroke, no matter if you are in a pool, lake or ocean, the fundamental experience is always the same: delighting in what the neuroscientist and writer Oliver Sacks once described as the “essential rightness” of swimming. His father, when Mr. Sacks was a boy, called it “the elixir of life.”

It is a pleasure every Canadian should be able to enjoy. Along with our long winters and vast prairies, we are also a nation of oceans, lakes and rivers. Many of us are drawn to the allure of water.

Elixir of life indeed. How could we not say "amen!" to this? It is certainly evocative and downright spiritual. Little wonder that one of our Christian sacraments is baptism, although I would not recommend immersion in today's Jordan River. 

                                                                 Baptism of Jesus -- Pheoris West 

Pope Francis & Rising Seas

 

Pope Francis meeting with Bob Dadae, the governor general of Papua New Guinea, in Port Moresby on Saturday.Credit...Pool photo by Guglielmo Mangiapane

I might have settled on one blog entry about the lengthy visit of Pope Francis to Asia-Pacific nations but this is the Season of Creation and the pontiff has included a focus on climate change or what is more aptly termed the climate emergency. 

Francis has made care for Creation and honouring the Creator a priority of his papacy, even to choosing his papal name in honour of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment. His 2015 encyclical , Laudato si' (Praise Be to You), draws on the Canticle of St. Francis for inspiration and is subtitled "on care for our common home". It is a nuanced, wide-ranging document. 

Island nations are particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and first in Indonesia, then in Papua New Guinea this reality has been noted. A New York Times article by Emma Bubola offers: 

In the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea, hundreds of people may soon have to abandon their homes, pushed inland by the rising sea. Hundreds more were buried in a devastating landslide this year. Around the country, intensive logging is shrinking the island’s lush rainforests, and mine tailings have polluted its rivers.

On Friday, Pope Francis, who has long begged the world to preserve nature, started his visit to a place that is a stark example of how human action can harm the environment. Locals hoped his presence would make a difference.

“Your holiness, climate change is real,” Bob Dadae, the governor general of Papua New Guinea, told Francis at a meeting on Saturday. “The rise in the sea level is affecting the livelihoods of our people,” he added, asking for the pope’s support for “global action and advocacy.”

The Times article goes on to make a Canadian connection in the person of Cardinal Michael Czerny, in charge of a Vatican department responsible for promoting human development:

[Czerny] said that the pope’s trip to the Asia Pacific region underlined the urgency of caring for the environment. “It’s shouting out that we have to take our human and environmental responsibilities seriously,” he said.

Again, I commend Pope Francis for his quietly relentless focus on this existential threat and the ways in which he makes connections with scripture, the Creator, and the Incarnation. 

Julian of Norwich, the Original Cat Lady?

 

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

                                                                 Julian of Norwich

Vice-presidential hopeful -- or is that hopeless? -- J.D. Vance has been called out for his belittling comments about prominent Democrats as “childless cat ladies.” Instead of backing away from these mean-spirited and sexist words he has leaned into them and they'll probably haunt him until he and Trump lose the election in November, God willing. 

Vance has unwittingly provided what seems to be endless fodder for jokes and memes about so-called cat ladies, including a Time Magazine Taylor Swift cover. I notice that one of the many cartoons features a nun schooling Vance, who is actually a Roman Catholic.

 And then there is the delightful use of an icon featuring Julian of Norwich who offered her wisdom as an anchoress, a hermit of sorts, who lived in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.  She wrote a book, Revelations of Divine Love, which she was inspired to write after receiving a series of visions that showed her a kind and loving God. While Julian lived alone in terms of human company she was allowed to have a cat to keep the rats at bay. 

Perhaps Vance is a prophet. Cats are just what Democrats need to keep the political vermin under control. 

 Yes, “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Why Would Pope Francis Visit Indonesia?

 

Pope Francis (C) and Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar (center, L) pose with religious leaders at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta on September 5. 

Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

When I hear that Pope Francis is off on another tour on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church my eyebrows go up. He is 87 years old, uses a wheelchair, and is in and out of hospital regularly due to respiratory issues. You might figure he deserves a break from leaving the Vatican due to age and infirmity. 

At the moment Pope Francis is in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country -- there are more Muslims in Indonesia than any other nation. Yet while only about 11 percent of the population is Christian that's about 29 million people, about 10 million more than in Canada. 

Indonesia is religiously pluralistic and espouses religious freedom but there are times when Christians are keenly aware of their minority status. The presence of Pope Francis serves as an encouragement to Christians of every flavour and the warm welcome he has received from Muslim leaders is important. Frail as Francis might be, there is no other Christian leader in the world who would receive this sort of attention by a government, those who represent other religions, and from the international press. 

We can certainly pray for the health of Pope Francis and for the ways in which he is building inter-faith and ecumenical bridges. I admire this aspect of his papacy immensely.  Read this from CNN

Since his papacy began in 2013, Pope Francis has signaled his intention to build bridges with other faiths. The global growth of Islam, and the rise of extremism across religions, also made this an urgent priority. 

On Thursday, in the biggest mosque in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, the pontiff used a joint statement with Indonesia’s Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar to pinpoint “two serious crises” facing the world: dehumanization and climate change.

“The global phenomenon of dehumanization is marked especially by widespread violence and conflict, frequently leading to an alarming number of victims,” said the statement, signed in the sprawling capital Jakarta. 

“It is particularly worrying that religion is often instrumentalized in this regard, causing suffering to many, especially women, children and the elderly,” it continued. “The role of religion, however, should include promoting and safeguarding the dignity of every human life.” 

On climate change, the declaration stated that “human exploitation of creation” had led to “various destructive consequences such as natural disasters, global warming and unpredictable weather patterns,” and an “obstacle to the harmonious coexistence of peoples.”

Overdose Awareness & Demon Copperhead

 

Almighty God,

we gather to mourn and honor
those who have lost in the battle to addiction.
May our collective witness
comfort those who grieve death to overdose,
be a beacon of light to those lost in the darkness of substance use,
and encourage those who walk the path of recovery,

Help us to stand with one another
Help us to help one another in our times of need.
Help us to believe in the transformative power of
empathy and love.

In your great Love, O God, we stand
hoping for a glimpse of heaven now.
Amen.

Adapted by Jacob Juncker from a prayer “For an Untimely or Tragic Death” found in The United Methodist Book of Worship (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992, p.164).

This past Saturday was Overdose Awareness Day. Vigils, marches, and events were held in many communities to draw attention to the crisis of drug use and addiction leading to what are often fatal overdoses. While some people have been essentially brought back from the dead many times. others have died as the result for their first experiment with hard drugs, including opioids in various forms 

As it happens, I was in the home stretch of reading the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. This was my third and ultimately successful attempt to make my through what I found to be a relentlessly harrowing story. Kingsolver is an exceptional writer. I would like to read The Poisonwood Bible again and I have read Flight Behavior twice. Demon Copperhead is her reimagining of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Kingsolver considers the plight of orphans in the Appalachian region which is her home and she avoids the persistent hillbilly stereotypes, even as she addressed the generational effects of poverty and loss. 

I needed three attempts at reading Demon Copperhead because I have a visceral aversion to stories involving abuse of children, whether in fiction or non-fiction. At one point the  boy protagonist with the nickname observes that “a kid is a terrible thing to be, in charge of nothing”. And just when I figured that he was emerging from his trauma...well, let's say that the cancer of the opioid crisis in rural America spreads in this rural setting.

I first heard the term "Hillbilly Heroin" to refer to opioids when we lived in Halifax at the turn of the millenium when a popular Cape Breton radio host was arrested for the armed robbery of service stations for money to feed his addiction. Since then we have all become much more aware of the toll that these powerful drugs has taken on untold thousands and perhaps millions in North America. In the United States this is the leading cause of death for people under fifty. 

A few months ago there was a rash of overdoses in a matter of hours here in Belleville that shook civic leaders to the core. Several occurred almost simultaneously outside the drop-in centre at the church I served before retirment. For all the discussion at the time it seems so difficult to find solutions. Recently our Ontario premier demonstrated how little he understands about the dangers of overdosing even as he claims that his government wants to provide support.

I've suggested before that this is crisis of meaning that is deeply spiritual, but communities of faith are ill-equipped to respond even when they want to make a difference. I am convinced that it is societal evil when the owners of companies such as Perdue Pharma who falsely marketed drugs such as Oxycontin as non-addictive are able to ultimately escape personal prosecution. 

Demon Copperhead is powerful, and if you haven't watched the Dopesick series I encourage you to do so. The story of the Sackler family is well worth reading as well.

Moms for Liberty and the Orange Menace

I could repurpose and rename this blog as The Orange Menace, devoted to the bizarre, nonsensical, laughable, and dangerous comments and claims made by the former president and insurrectionist of the United States. 

This past Friday he spoke at the annual meeting of Moms for Liberty, a disturbing bunch led by a former school trustee from Florida who was anti-mask during the COVID pandemic. They have been described this way: 

 Moms for Liberty is an American conservative or far-right political organization that advocates against school curricula that mention LGBT rights, race and ethnicity, critical race theory, and discrimination. Multiple chapters have also campaigned to ban books that address gender and sexuality from school libraries.

In other words, "liberty" is code for anti-LGBTQ2S+, racist, and fascist.  Last year one of tghe chapters printed a quote from Adolf Hitler on the top of the front page of their monthly newsletter. They are as wholesome as mom and apple struedel. 

After a series of almost incoherent lies during his speech Trump offered: 

“But the transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. You kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s going to happen with your child and you know many of these childs [sic] 15 years later say, what the hell happened? Who did this to me? They say, who did this to me? It’s incredible.”

This isn't funny but we laughed. Ruth wondered if these nefarious schools perform gender transition surgery during recess. 

This is deeply disturbing and the misinformation and hysteria regarding LGBTQ2S+ persons has seeped across the border into Canada, or was probably always here. This year a number of Pride parades in Canada were affected by organized backlash and I've mentioned that the Pride and Every Child Matters flags at Trenton United, our home congregation, have been vandalized three times now. 

Often those in opposition are militant "Christians" who have no qualms about controlling the reproductive rights and the gender orientation of others and literally re-writing history. It is The Handmaid's Tale come to life. 

What's even more bizarre is that one of the founders one of the three founding members of Moms admitted to having had a threesome with her husband and another woman and he has been accused of sexual assault. And recently the pastor of one of the largest mega-churches in the United States has been turfed after a decades long cover-up of his sexual assault of a minor, otherwise known as rape. The hypocisy is staggering. 

We need to be vigilant about what is unfolding around us, the steady creep of authoritarianism and faux religion. 

Singing From the Same Hymn...Board?

 

1 We are pilgrims on a journey,  fellow travellers on the road;

we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

2 Sister, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;

pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

3 I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

                                                    595 Voices United 

Ruth has wanted a hymn board for years and has different ideas of how one could be used in our home, none of them involving church music. There aren't many congregations that still post the hymns for Sunday worship in this way because they project music on screens along with everything else that takes place in the service. I do have memories of those who would dutifully take the board down each week and juggle the numbers for the upcoming service. 

Perhaps I might have said "there aren't many congregations..." and stopped there given the closure of United Churches at an alarming rate. We heard of one that was selling off its "holy hardware"before the building became a downtown city hub for various services provided to those living on the margins of society. The hymn boards weren't on the list of available items but when asked the folk given the monumental task of dispersing everything took one down for our benefit. 

The last service for this congregation, with a history going back more than 150 years, took place in April of this year and we were told that the hymn numbers on the board were from that final worship experience I'm tempted to offer a prize for anyone who can name the hymns just from the numbers, but how could I ensure your honesty? I assume that they are all from Voice United:

262 A Mighty Fortress is Our God

274 Your Hand O God Has Guided

236 Now Thank We All Our God

258 O World of God

I have to say that these venerable hymns would not have been my choices, but I know from experience that hymn and tune favourites are highly subjective. I was puzzled by 990 because there is no such animal in Voices United but there is a 960, the oldie-goldy sung version of the Lord's Prayer. One of those nines an inverted six?

As you can see, there isn't a contemporary hymn in the bunch even though there are a fair number of VU and lots in More Voices. Along the way this congregation began a drop-in ministry which became the multi-faceted community outreach now taking over. In the former mission statement we find: 

We feed the hungry, clothe the naked, advocate for the downtrodden, befriend the lonely, heal the sick, and all with a song of praise in our hearts.

A powerful statement, and I might have chosenThe Servant Song (three verses above) as a departing hymn, a reminder of faithful Christian witness through the generations and passing the torch to those who will continue the work of compassion and love.Of course, there would have been reasons for the ones those present sang as a farewell.

Now, what to do with our old/new hymn board!

Labour Day as a Holy Day

 

Not long ago we were in a big chain store and while Ruth moved through the check-out line I went for coffees at the fast-food place within the building. I realized that only one of the seven workers was white and the accent of the friendly person at the counter suggested she was originally from South Asia. When I walked back to find Ruth I saw that the person overseeing the self-checkout and all the cashiers but one had various shades of brown skin. Here in Belleville this is the case in many stores and for most of the people who deliver parcels. There is a college in the city where a high percentage of students are from South Asian countries and lots of them find part-time jobs to pay their bills. 

I commented on this to Ruth and noted the political turmoil these days about the number of permits for temporary foreign workers and foreign students at post-secondary institutions. We know that there are abuses of those who come to Canada to do the jobs most of us have never wanted to do. We aren't sure what to do about all the students and plenty of Canadians resent their presence, even though the institutions are happy to take their money and they labour away in positions such as those I describe here. 

This is Labour Day in North America although it doesn't seem as though many Canadians consider this as much more than the long weekend before kids go back to school. Labour Day was first recognized as a statutory public holiday in Canada on the first Monday in September since 1894. However, the origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to numerous local demonstrations and celebrations in earlier decades.In those days this was literally a matter of life and death.  

Ealier in my lifetime Labour Day parades were a big deal, often organized by unions. Even though many people are hard pressed to pay the bills there isn't much interest in honouring the tradition. 

I did preach about the spiritual aspects of meaningful work with reasonable pay a few times on Labour Day weekends, but there weren't many people in attendance on those Sundays! 

Do we need to explore the injustice of the widening gap between rich and poor, the effects of the gig economy, the issues of immigration to fill the labour gap? 

Jesus did offer a couple of parables about reward for work but they were among his most confusing rather than offering clarity. As a happily retired guy I'm inclined to lie down until the feeling goes away but as a Christian I know better.

Creation Time, Season of Creation, Creationtide

 

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God,  for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor,  and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 Romans 8:19-25 NRSVue Creation Time, Season of Creation, Creationtide theme verses

Today marks the beginning of the Season of Creation, or Creation Time as it's called in the United Church of Canada. My favourite term for this liturgical period during what is early Autumn in Canada is Creationtide. The Church of Scotland resource describes it well: 

Since 1989, the ‘Season of Creation’, ‘Creation Time’, or ‘Creationtide’ has grown to be  a lively  global and ecumenical movement in Christian churches, dedicating the Sundays of September and the first in October (closest to St Francis’ Day, 4th October) to worship, prayer, reflection and action on the Commission of the Risen Christ, to bring Good News to All Creation. 

This year we visited the islands of Haida Gwaii in the Pacific Ocean and Change Islands/Fogo in the Atlantic. We delighted in the constantly changing sea and appreciated the gifts of the tides, the daily inhalation and exhalation of the planet. In this way Creationtide has special meaning for us this year. 

I hope you are part of a community of faith that acknowledges this important time of reflection and action. All of us can be hopeful, mindful of Creator and Creation during these weeks.

Triune God, Creator of all, 

We praise you for your goodness, visible in all the diversity that you have created, making us a cosmic family living in a common home. Through the Earth you created, we experience love and nourishment, home and protection. 

We confess that we do not relate to the Earth as a Mothering gift from you, our Creator. Our selfishness, greed, neglect, and abuse have caused the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, human suffering as well as the suffering of all our fellow creatures. We confess that we have failed to listen to the groans of the Earth, the groans of all creatures, and the groans of the Spirit of hope and justice that lives within us. 

May your Creator Spirit help us in our weakness, so that we may know the redeeming power of Christ and the hope found in him. May the groans of the Spirit birth in us a willingness to serve you faithfully, so that we may hear and heal Creation, to hope and act together with her, so that the firstfruits of hope may blossom. 

Loving and Creator God, we pray that you will make us sensitive to these groans and enable us to have the same compassion as that of Jesus, the redeeming Lord. Grant us a fresh vision of our relationship with Earth, and with one another, as creatures that are made in your image. 

In the name of the one who came to proclaim the good news to all Creation, Jesus Christ. 

Amen.