The Unquiet Earth on Listening Day

 

 In the morning, while it was still very dark, [Jesus] got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 

Mark 1: 35 NRSVue  

This is World Listening Day and while we didn't choose to be on the water in our kayaks early to honour the occasion we were in the spirit of this relativity recent celebration. As we put our boats in at a launch site on the Bay of Quinte we could hear the high-pitched cries of an osprey and the chatter of a kingfisher. Within five minutes of paddling we came upon a blue heron and we were close enough that when it took off we could hear the flap of its wings. There were plenty of other birds in full voice and little human-made noise, at least in the beginning. 

We did hear a train in the distance and when we landed after an hour a father and son were making an astonishing racket with their motorboat, along with producing a lot of blue smoke. Humans seem to love making noise and the wealthier we get the more racket we make. I'm so glad we're a couple of hundred kilometres from the Honda Indy car race taking place in Toronto tomorrow. 

I know Christians who are earnest about "listening for God's voice" as a metaphor for the spiritual life who don't seem to realize that listening to the world around us can be a form of prayer. Jesus spent time praying en plein air and I know from experience that even now Galilee is a a region where one can hear a wide range of species of birds, especially during migration. 

I hope you are able to look and listen in Creation today although it can be goal and perhaps a spiritual practice every day of the year. As I write there is a song sparrow singing outside my study window. 

                                                    R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021)

History of World Listening Day

World Listening Day falls on July 18 to honor the birthday of Raymond Murray Schafer, a Canadian composer and environmentalist who is seen as the founder of acoustic ecology. Born on July 18, 1933, he developed his World Soundscape Project, which laid the fundamental ideas and practices of acoustic ecology in the 1970s. World Listening Day was established in 2010, and each year the holiday has a specific theme tied to it. Past themes include ‘H20,’ ‘Sounds Lost & Found,’ and ‘Listen to You!’ 2017’s theme was ‘Listening to the Ground,’ which honored the life and legacy of American composer Pauline Oliveros, who once said “Sometimes we walk on the ground, sometimes on sidewalks or asphalt, or other surfaces. Can we find ground to walk on and can we listen for the sound or sounds of ground? Are we losing ground? Can we find new ground by listening for it?”

Since the holiday’s inception, thousands of people from around the world have participated in its celebration. The theme for World Listening Day 2021 is ‘The Unquiet Earth,’ created by Lisbon-based filmmaker, curator, and organizer Raquel Castro.

Biidaasige Park & The River of the Water of Life

 

 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb  through the middle of the street of the city. 

On either side of the river is the tree of life  with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22: 1-2 NRSVue

Today is the official opening of Biidaasige Park, at the mouth of the Don River and now one of the largest urban parks in Toronto at over 40 hectares. After centuries of European settlers turning a living river into a conduit for industrial waste and ruining an ecosytem the park is part of a massive redevelopment of docklands which will include housing in the surrounding area. 

The park, pronounced “bee-daw-si-geh” and meaning “sunlight shining toward us” in Anishinaabemowin, is located near Cherry Street on the island of Ookwemin Minising, meaning “place of the black cherry trees.” 

Today CBC Radio's Metro Morning broadcast live from the park and along the way mayor Olivia Chow kayaked in for the festivities. Let's not imagine Premier Doug Ford doing the same. Children were playing on and in what sound like wonderful structures.  

                                                                       Stage and Play Structure 

Yesterday Metro Morning interviewed John Wilson who has been an advocate for revitalizing the Don for 30 years. When he first moved to Toronto he found solace along the river even though it was in grim shape. It's lovely that he can savour this moment.

One headline speaks of the resurrection of the river, an appropriate term. I've written about the park during it's development and noted that there are many references to rivers in the Judeo/Christian scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. The passage in Revelation is a "new heaven and new earth" resurrection vision. I'm convinced that this is not meant to be just a "pie in the sky when we die" promise but the prospect of an earthy, renewed Creation in the present and the future as an aspect of new life in Christ. 

The park has:

• An amazing new playground complete with a stage built into a massive wooden snowy owl.
• Two off-leash dog areas.
• Gorgeous landscaping.
• Walking paths and cycling trails.
• Cool air (thanks, Lake Ontario!)
• Canoe, kayak and stand-up paddleboard launch spots.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/livestory/your-1st-look-at-biidaasige-park-in-toronto-s-redeveloped-port-lands-9.6835888

Indigenous Rights & Bill C5

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney listens as Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty speaks at a news conference in the House of Commons after Bill C-5 passed in the House in June.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Today Prime Minister Mark Carney will convene a gathering of 300 or more Indigenous leaders to discuss Bil C5. This bill was given assent in late June after hastily making its way through Parliament and the Senate. According to the federal government: 

With the Building Canada Act in place, the Government of Canada will immediately move forward on consultations – as required under the Act – with provinces, territories and Indigenous rights-holders to determine the initial list of national interest projects.

The criteria that will be weighed in those discussions and decisions include the extent to which the project will:

    Strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience and security;

    Provide economic or other benefits to Canada;

    Have a high likelihood of successful execution;

    Advance the interests of Indigenous Peoples; and 

    Contribute to clean growth and to meeting Canada’s objectives with respect to climate change

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, centre-left, speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

For the most part, Indigenous communites don't see Bill C5 as advancing their interests, especially with this hurry-up agenda. While they want prosperity and are not categorically opposed to development they feel that this is one more example of being marginalized in decison-making on what is land over which they have sovereignty through Treaties with the Crown established through the centuries. 

I have already voiced my disgust with the Ontario government over Bill 5 which removes enviromental safeguards and overrides Indigneous rights, supposedly in the cause of fast-tracking development in the so-called Ring of Fire in the north. Doug Ford, who grew up in the wilds of Etobicoke, seems unable to understand why Indigenous groups are cautious about development without consultation and environmental protection. 

Canada has made a lot of noise about Truth and Reconciliation in recent years and many Christians in different denominations have made commitments to this end. Lots of United Church congregations include Land Acknowledgements on Sunday mornings. Isn't this where we put our words into action? 

The Plight of Gazan Families in Canada

 

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 

The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; 

you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 

Leviticus 19:33-34 NRSVue

Does Canada have any compassion for the plight of the people of Gaza? Of course, the Liberal government would offer an emphatic yes but the evidence says no. In December of 2023 the Canadian government launched a special visa program to allow citizens and permanent residents to bring extended family members from Gaza to Canada as temporary residents. 

Since then some people have been allowed in from Egypt but immigration lawyers and others say that no Gazans have been brought here since the program began. Meanwhile a number of European nations have welcomed thousands without any special announcements or programs. 

Some of the people who applied for acceptance in Canada have been killed while waiting, including students who had been accepted by Canadian institutions. Many of these people are caught in a nightmare of not fitting into categories for support from the UN and other agencies. They are surviving in the midst of famine and bombing through financial donations from family. 

This inaction on Canada's part is shameful.Today there will be protests at Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada offices in different cities by family members desparate to bring loved ones into a peaceful country, even if this will be for a limited time.

We were proud when so many Canadians, including Christians from varous denominations, welcomed strangers or aliens from Syria into our midst permanently a few years ago. We considered it our moral and biblical responsibility to do so and our government acted quickly and effectively to make this happen. When Ukrainians needed a place to flee they were welcomed as well. What has happened to our moral compass? Please, Canada, open the doors. 

                                           This protest occurred in March, 2024

Prayer as Journalling to the Sky

 

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
 What do people gain from all the toil
    at which they toil under the sun?

A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.

                                    Ecclesiastes 1: 2-4 NRSVue

I heard yet another of those summer repeat CBC Radio interviews, this time a portion of a conversation with musician Lucy Dacus. She is a solo success and a member of indie supergroup Boygenius, winners of three Grammy Awards last year. I am regularly reminded that the world of contemporary music has passed me by.

Dacus was raised in a Christian family in the States but has an ambivalent relationship with religion now. In another interview she makes a passing reference to the book of Ecclesiastes which recognizes the ephemeral human condition. 

With Q host Tom Power Lucy touches on the mystery of prayer and refers to it as "journalling to the sky." Maybe it's because I've kept a journal for 40 years and this blog is sort of a journal the phrase tickled my fancy. Some things I write about in my journals have import but others are just stuff that in the bigger picture doesn't really matter. i write about it anyway. Perhaps prayer is simply sending everything God's way with earnestness and playfulness and a few shrugs. It takes off the pressure to get prayer right, doesn't it? I'm hoping that a loving God is paying attention.  

I've listened to a bit of Dacus' music and I like it. I like her as a reluctant theologian as well. 

 

Consider the Lilies of the Pond

 

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

                           Matthew 6: 28-29 King James Version

 There was an article by philosophy professor Sonia Sedivy in Saturday's Globe and Mail newspaper with the intriguing title HOW LOVING FLOWERS CAN SAVE THE PLANET. Sedivy focuses in on the Chelsea Flower Show in Britain which takes place every May on the huge grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The subtitle of the piece is Beauty can feel like a luxury in a difficult world. But Britain’s Chelsea Flower Show is proof that it is important, too. 

I am certainly a strong believer in the transformative power of beauty whether it is through art or nature. Beauty is an antidote to the relentlessly crass, materialistic tendencies of our species and we can cultivate an eye for the beautiful around us. 

I read this article after we returned home from a few days of family camping in Sharbot Lake Provincial Park, one of the lesser known parks in our province, although it was full to bursting. We got out on the water a few times and saw a parental loon feeding a chick up close, as well as a curious snapping turtle. At night the fireflies were astonishingly abundant, an encouraging sign because they are supposedly in decline, as are snappers and loons.

I was also struck by the sight of yellow and white water lilies in profusion, something we might be inclined to take for granted in Ontario, yet they were glorious with dragonflies and damselflies flitting about. 

When Jesus invited us to admire the wildflowers (described at lilies in the KJV) it was so that we might stop and consider the beauty of Creation as a reset from the downward spiral of anxiety and fear that threatens our wellbeing. Contemplating beauty in all its forms is a "soul lift" that heals and inspires. I have no doubt the Chelsea Flower Show is mind-boggling, but so are those water lilies that neither toil nor spin. 

I think, too, about the enigmatic phrase from Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky; "beauty will save the world."  Dostoevsky was a devout Christ-follower and so i'm confident that if he saw Canadian water liliies in bloom he would delight in them as a gift from the Creator. 

Make sure you consider the lilies of the pond in all their beauty during these sweltering these days of summer. It is good for the soul. 

 

                                                      Chelsea Flower Show

Marianne Budde "Who is My Neighbour?"

                                   

 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”  He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”  And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10: 25-37 NRSVue 

Remember Bishop Marianne Budde, the Episcopal priest who was willing to speak the truth directly to President Donald Trump as he sat before her during an January worship service? I was one of millions who were impressed by her courage to be a Christian seeking mercy for the vulnerable in America despite Trump's power.  Honestly, she had totally slipped outside my radar until I saw that she will preach in Sweden in September, the country from which her mother emigrated to the US. 

It seems appropriate to post a look back on this Sunday when the gospel passage is Jesus' answer to  the question "who is my neighbour?" At the time Budde spoke we couldn't anticipate how cruel and small America would become in such a short time.

 In the event you need a reminder, here is a portion of Marianne Budde's  sermon contained in a story from the National Catholic Reporter shortly after it was preached. She answered Jesus' question eloquently. 

"Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now," Budde said in her sermon. "There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in both Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives."

Budde also made a plea for immigrants, a group under fire from Trump’s incoming administration, saying they include people who "pick our crops" and "work the night shift in hospitals," among other vital roles.

"They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals," she said. "They pay taxes, and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara and temples."

It was a forceful rebuttal of Trump’s approach to immigration: He has pledged to enact the largest deportation in history, with early reports that his administration may begin conducting deportation raids as early as Tuesday. In addition, among Trump’s first executive orders included a move to end birthright citizenship and a measure declaring a near-total halt of the U.S. refugee admissions program — a move widely opposed by Trump's religious critics.

Budde then implored the president to "have mercy … on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here."

She added: "Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land."

Budde concluded: "May God grant us all the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth in love and walk humbly with one another and our God, for the good of all the people of this nation and the world."

The Most Religious Wedding Money Can Buy?

 

                             Madonna dell’Orto Roman Catholic Church, Venice 

The hideous spectacle of the Jeff Bezos/Lauren Sanchez wedding in Venice has mercifully come to an end. Bezos is one of the world's richest people, so spending an estimated $50 dollars on the nuptials was chump change, but the thought of it all was sickening. Of course, the rich, the famous ,and the naricissistic showed up for the happy couple even though Venetians were not star struck and pushed back hard against the invasion. 

I still have lingering questions about how this wedding between two divorced people, one of them not RC took place in a Catholic church. And what priest was willing to preside at such an ostentatious event? 

When I was in ministry United Church congregants marrying Catholics were required to prove their baptismal status and, depending on the priest, had to promise to raise their children in Catholicism. Sometimes they were expected to attend RC boot camp before the ceremony. Some gave up and married in the other congregation, to the dismay of staunch RC family members. 

Could it possibly be that money buys just about anything, regardless of supposedly hard and fast doctrinal rules and regs? Ah well, I'm sure this will be a "forever" marriage, although I'm dubious that the Madonna was smiling. 

Hope & the Lying Voice of Despair

  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 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: 18-25 NRSVue 

Two days ago I was running some errands and I heard a summer repeat of an interview by CBC The Current's Matt Galloway with John Green, author of Everything is Tuberculosis. Green was in Sierra Leone researching women's health and was invited to visit a Tuberculosis hospital. He didn't know that tuberculosis was "still a thing" but he discovered that it is still prevalent and fatal in parts of the world. Green was shown around by a boy with the disease named Henry, the same name as his son who is about the same age. 

This led him into his exploration of a disease that has been all but eradicated in wealthier nations, including Canada -- although it is still a scourge in some Indigenous communities. He discovered that tuberculosis is entirely treatable yet approximately 150 million people have died of TB since drugs, both as vaccinations and cure have been developed. It is horrendous that the wicked Elon Musk was allowed by the morally bankrupt Trump administration to end programs around the world that were saving millions of lives. 

Near the end of the interview Matt asked a question about optimism and hope, not the same thing, but related. The way in which Green spoke about the  "lying voice" of despair and finding the voice of hope was inspiring.

These days it can seem as though despair is an incurable disease. Coupled with fear it leads to paralysis, and there is certainly no vaccination. Yet Christians are people of hope, it is the essence of the gospel, so we persist in following Jesus, the One described as "our judge and our hope" in the New Creed of the United Church. 

Here is the question by Matt Galloway and the response by John Green. Perhaps it will inspire you as it inspired me: 

MG: I mean, it's kind of needed now, not just broadly, but also, I'm sure, for yourself, right? There's a lot of bad news that's out there. And when you are helping to contribute something that is changing that channel and giving people some sort of sense of optimism and hope, that has to feel good.

JOHN GREEN: It's really easy to feel despair. It's always easy to feel despair, but it's really easy right now. And the thing about despair is that it tells such a compelling story. It says, don't bother with anything because what's the point anyway? There's no point. You know, we're just a temporary phenomenon, which is true. We're just… This is misery. There's no, don't get out of bed. And that voice is very loud in my head. It always has been. 

And yet, I also think that voice is lying. The thing about despair is it just makes more of itself. It doesn't do anything. And so my work, my life is about fighting that despair and trying to find causes for hope. And I will be honest, that is certainly not easy right now. That's certainly not easy for me as an American right now. But I still believe that hope is the correct response to consciousness. The year I graduated from high school, 12 million children died before the age of five. And last year, five million did. That progress is real, and it only happened because millions of people came together to make it happen. And I really, really believe that evidence like that is what we should hold on to in hard times like this one.

Praying for Christians in Syria

When the Assad government was overthrown by rebels last December many of us wondered whether the defeat of a ruthless tyrant would result in a draconian regime of a different kind. The links with

Mohammed al-Bashir, head of the Syrian Salvation Government  assured that they will protect and allow Christians and other minorities to freely practice their religion and met with Christian leaders.

In June there was an explosion in a Syrian Orthodox church that killed and maimed many. This act of terrorism has Christians throughout the country on edge, and justifiiably so. Here is a statement issued by two of the organizations to which the United Church belongs. It is so important to be in vocal solidarity with vulnerable Christians in "out of sight, out of mind" places. We can admire the courage of those whose faith puts them at risk, even in their worship "sanctuaries."  

 Published On: June 25, 2025

A suicide bomber targeted Christians at prayer in St. Elias Church in the town of Dweilaa, near Damascus, the capital of Syria, on June 22.

We stand in Christian solidarity with the Christian Orthodox community affected by this bombing, which killed at least 20 people and injured more than 60. We convey deep condolences, and support the statements made by the Canadian Council of Churches and  the World Council of Churchesin response.

Statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East Damascus, June 22, 2025 (excerpt):

On this day when our Antiochian Church commemorates All the Saints of Antioch, the treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa, Damascus.

Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in a statement on the bombing of St. Elias Church in Damascus:

We extend our deepest condolences and sincere sympathies to the families of those who perished in the criminal bombing, which has affected the entire Syrian people. We also wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. This heinous crime targeting innocent civilians in their place of worship reminds us of the importance of unity and solidarity—between government and people—in confronting anything that threatens our security and national stability.  Today, we stand together as one, rejecting all forms of injustice and criminality.

May we continue to work unceasingly for peace with justice, and a just peace. 

Propaganda, False Prophets, & the Jesus Manifesto

 

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5: 20 NRSVue

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 

Matthew 7:15 NRSVue

There are lots of people who dismiss or decry religion in its various expressions as propaganda. It was Karl Marx who coined the phrase "religion is the opiate of the masses" to describe how people use religion to cope with the painful realities of life. Marxism  became its own secular religion responsible for the suffering and deaths of millions. 

I would agree that mindless religion can be hugely destructive. I am also convinced that religion can be the foundation for compassion, justice, and resisting evil. While these values are expressed in a variety of religions it is the incarnational God who has come to us in Jesus, the Christ, who has held my heart and mind through a lifetime. 

We are in a season of history where what I consider the false religion of white supremacy has taken hold in several countries with our neighbour, the United States, as the prime example. I have a number of American relatives and several of them baffle and alarm me with their supposed fervent love of Jesus while ignoring his message of Good News for the poor and the marginalized. 

In what we call the Sermon on the Mount, essentially the Christ follower's manfesto, Jesus warns about the propaganda of false prophets. Surely we need to be more vigilant than ever. 

We are not alone,
    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:
    who has created and is creating,
    who has come in Jesus,
       the Word made flesh,
       to reconcile and make new,
    who works in us and others
       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:
    to celebrate God’s presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

United Church New Creed (1968)

Let Justice Roll Down Like Water

 

I hate, I despise your festivals,

    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

                                         Amos 5: 21-24 NRSVue 

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
    and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

                                                Isaiah 55: 10 -11 NRSVue 

Over the weekend torrential rains in Texas caused rivers to rise at a catastrophic pace, with up to 500 millimetres falling in a few hours. For perspective, we get concerned when the forecast called for 30-40 mm in a day here. The Guadalupe River rose about nine metres, or roughly the height of a two-storey building. Those who were in the path of this murky, tree-filled rush of water didn't have a prayer. So far we know of 100+ deaths but dozens more are still missing, including children from a Christian camp along the shore of the river. One woman was swept 30 kilometres down the river and somehow survived but her family didn't. 

Texas is prone to flash floods and flooding happens around the world but these events are becoming more frequent and severe. The heat of climate change supersaturates the atmosphere and what goes up comes down in the form of intense rainstorms.. The average number of storm related drownings annually in the United States is about 115. The deaths from this one weekend storm will likely exceed this number. 

The president of the United States is a climate change denier and so is the governor of Texas. Apparently both of them are praying for those who have lost just about everything including their lives. Honestly, this infuriates me because the time for prayers has passed for these precious souls. Lots of people including climate scientists are wondering if the drastic cuts to the National Weather Service meant that early warnings weren't issued in time to save lives. I can hardly believe that government officials are pointing fingers at the NWS rather than getting on their knees and begging for mercy. The prayers should be of contrition and repentance. 

I'm waiting for someone to describe this terrible storm as an "act of God."...wait the White House has now described it as such. 

In scripture rain is both a blessing and a curse, literally and metaphorically. The prophet Isaiah praises what we would now describe as a balanced hydrological cycle, bringing precipitation in a timely and seasonally balanced way to describe God's faithfulness. Another prophet, Amos, warns against false religion that ignores the plight of the vulnerable and warns that God desires justice and will wash away hypocrisy. 

As Jesus said, those who have ears to hear, let them hear.