tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-298174902024-03-18T15:28:41.733-04:00Lion Lamb Blog -- David MundyWelcome to David Mundy's nearly-daily blog. David retired after 37 years as a United Church minister (2017)and has kept a journal for more than 38 years. This blog is more public but contains his personal musings and reflections on the world, through the lens of his Christian faith. Follow his Creation Blog, Groundling (groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.ca) and Mini Me blog (aka Twitter) @lionlambstpDavid Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.comBlogger5368125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-15064069982123699712024-03-18T11:45:00.001-04:002024-03-18T11:45:26.371-04:00Gratitude for a Green Prime Minister<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5zgHB8X-bJsD24V5-pxoV5YCHm7sjocnDIs1iOgXzadfZPqvVAmipjxklJ3kAAEjQK3QF0b43-1ntL2ksKR2FgJxNh-tp13R0ml9xQ0vjGqERIiHHxVnE05GoOJcfRw92PKs9TOIunW8R6dJH-ZOrzsKA24DHSJMAzAznNaSkWQxp-aE7Y8PfrQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="1180" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5zgHB8X-bJsD24V5-pxoV5YCHm7sjocnDIs1iOgXzadfZPqvVAmipjxklJ3kAAEjQK3QF0b43-1ntL2ksKR2FgJxNh-tp13R0ml9xQ0vjGqERIiHHxVnE05GoOJcfRw92PKs9TOIunW8R6dJH-ZOrzsKA24DHSJMAzAznNaSkWQxp-aE7Y8PfrQ=w303-h309" width="303" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"> Today tributes will be paid in the House of Commons to the late Brian Mulroney. our Canadian Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993. It's fitting that these testimonies will happen today because yesterday was St. Patrick's Day he was proud of his Irish heritage, once singing a somewhat cringey "When Irish eyes are smiling" duet with President Reagan of the US at what was dubbed the Shamrock Summit. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It seemed that there was a fair amount of blarney emanating from Ottawa during the Mulroney years but he had a sense of civic responsibility which was commendable and he was also civil in his dealings with others during and after his years in power. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0k7eN9o7UhrWXxbJ2YSyd9rCC01CIXrolYp8MVILFLdlLgjJSQs8V2tZoLuTHsJdEYJyElwzklqo219wUm49AdqJwj0LXMNcJECTajNkKqRD0A3vZraPOqzGmRHeXglXy1Pl-A8eVxsyZduFNNMYopUQGhTJQtclEykx2Ur-jPyTeLy4ss9cGVQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="289" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0k7eN9o7UhrWXxbJ2YSyd9rCC01CIXrolYp8MVILFLdlLgjJSQs8V2tZoLuTHsJdEYJyElwzklqo219wUm49AdqJwj0LXMNcJECTajNkKqRD0A3vZraPOqzGmRHeXglXy1Pl-A8eVxsyZduFNNMYopUQGhTJQtclEykx2Ur-jPyTeLy4ss9cGVQ" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I hope that today there will be recognition of Mulroney's designation as "greenest" Prime Minister in Canadian history, which had nothing to do with shamrocks. In 2006 an expert panel chose Mulroney as the most environmentally responsivble PM although at least one of the panel members noted that none of them excelled. During his time in office his </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #303133; font-family: arial;">environment minister, Tom McMillan, hired environmental activiist Elizabeth May as a policy advisor. May went on to become the leader of the federal Green Party.</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #303133;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are a number of reasons for Mulroney's choice and one of the most important was his determined role in signing the Air Quality Agreement, also known as the Acid Rain Agreement with the reluctant United States in 1991. My sense that Mulroney was an Irish terrier on this pact and we are still reaping the benefits today. He was justifiably proud of this recognition. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #303133;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We were living in Northern Ontario at the time as I served St. Andrew's United Church in Sudbury. We spent a lot of happy hours and days in Killarney Provincial Park and in those years the lakes were crystal clear because nothing lived in them. This was due to acidification, much of it exported from the US to Canada. The Acid Rain Agreement changed this, including emissions from Inco's smelter superstack in Copper Cliff (near Sudbury) that adversely affected forests in Quebec and the Maritime provinces. We left Sudbury in 1999 but have been back a number of times through the decades. We've been heartened to see the return of aquatic plants and fish to the waters of Killarney. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #303133; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">There will be a state funeral this Saturday for former PM Mulroney at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. I also hope there is some recognition during the service of his environmental accomplishments because this was holy work and deserves an enthusiastic "Amen!" </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #303133;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is an idea of what the agreement addressed: </span></span></p><blockquote class="templatequote" style="background-color: white; border-left: none; color: #202122; margin: 1em 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 32px;"><p style="margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>The Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as "the Parties",</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Convinced that transboundary air pollution can cause significant harm to natural resources of vital environmental, cultural and economic importance, and to human health in both countries; Desiring that emissions of air pollutants from sources within their countries not result in significant transboundary air pollution; Convinced that transboundary air pollution can effectively be reduced through cooperative or coordinated action providing for controlling emissions of air pollutants in both countries; Recalling the efforts they have made to control air pollution and the improved air quality that has resulted from such efforts in both countries; Intending to address air-related issues of a global nature, such as climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, in other fora; Reaffirming Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration, which provides that "States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction"</span></p></blockquote><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYuIkpZySKDQ8sVhrNmc0dJGCxdo3GRGBJVCq8l_8Jq0P7Aw98PDnF7Vfn6E5hP32T74mAQTXGm2vLXJel4yw5XNe5j1hZIktQESPNhOrBpvzNuN-287-VSyrl2UGjB4hS3XspVl5xHQsQmgOSnC_D416vrIWhhZ-wDa0ahF5PHtiIW5mpZJvgMg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYuIkpZySKDQ8sVhrNmc0dJGCxdo3GRGBJVCq8l_8Jq0P7Aw98PDnF7Vfn6E5hP32T74mAQTXGm2vLXJel4yw5XNe5j1hZIktQESPNhOrBpvzNuN-287-VSyrl2UGjB4hS3XspVl5xHQsQmgOSnC_D416vrIWhhZ-wDa0ahF5PHtiIW5mpZJvgMg=w427-h239" width="427" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0.5em;"><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-66059253221144871892024-03-17T07:20:00.001-04:002024-03-17T07:20:00.142-04:00St. Patrick and the Pandemic <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkbCwtMVTc98Mq9zFZvC9eXknzil_gPqWeOqqN8tFhxiyTooykHqePzEAUAqHXnBTIsMxjDR7KDCE-nIw90xqCMbcfFmpDeW9RlbyM3LW1OeUSHowT0VGLBLeJtfshcgmvqrZ6Pd5uCCJJwqkGaZ1nak0HfEG1xw3lRjnEZDqs3P53T6EoE4h-Jg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="320" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkbCwtMVTc98Mq9zFZvC9eXknzil_gPqWeOqqN8tFhxiyTooykHqePzEAUAqHXnBTIsMxjDR7KDCE-nIw90xqCMbcfFmpDeW9RlbyM3LW1OeUSHowT0VGLBLeJtfshcgmvqrZ6Pd5uCCJJwqkGaZ1nak0HfEG1xw3lRjnEZDqs3P53T6EoE4h-Jg=w412-h202" width="412" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><b><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;">Caim Prayer</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Circle
_________, Gracious God,</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;">keep
protection near </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
danger afar.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Circle
__________, Healing God,</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;">keep
hope within, </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">keep
despair without.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Circle
____________, Caring God,</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;">keep
light near, </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
darkness afar.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Circle
__________, God,</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;">keep
peace within </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">and
anxiety without.</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">May
God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>shield
___________on every side. </i></span></span><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> </i>Amen.</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A couple of days ago a loved one went into hospital for what proved to be a successful heart procedure. This is a low-risk procedure, but it was the heart, after all, and it's a challenge not to have some anxiety about even the best physicians messing with our tickers. At the conclusion of a Zoom call the evening before Ruth shared the prayer above, a Caim or "circle" prayer. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I've used it in the past with those undergoing surgery in the midst of literal circles of family and friends. It is a part of the Celtic tradition that includes St. Patrick, the saint of Ireland recognized today.. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cast your minds back to four years ago on St. Patrick's Day (a Tuesday then). We were directed to close down many aspects of our society, including regular gathered worship, for as long as it took to protect us all from the greatest health threat in living memory, the COVID pandemic. For the most part we did what we were told, saving thousands of lives. People did die, others developed long-term health affects, businesses foundered, and so did many congregations. If memory serves me correctly it was this Sunday in 2020 that we were told that our church would close for a couple of weeks in the hope of returning for Easter -- little did we know what was before us. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We still need our prayers for protection and health and wisdom, both individually and societally. I'm not sure what we have learned from the existential threat of the pandemic. At times it seems that we emerged with a collective chip on our shoulder and a "me first" attitude. Yet I earnestly ask God, three-in-one, to lead us forward and to give us the strength to "keep heart". </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is my blog entry from March 17, 2020: </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>This is St. Patrick's Day and what an irony that government officials have closed down bars to curtail gatherings where people would ignore a public health crisis in order to drink too much. </b></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Patrick was a devout Christian of the 5th century, one of three patron saints of Ireland along with Brigid and Columba. Patrick is enveloped in lore but he does represent an alternative, Celtic, stream of Christianity which was egalitarian rather than hierarchical, appears to have honoured women in leadership, and was Creation-honouring rather than "pie in the sky when we die." </b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><img alt="Image result for st patrick art contemporary art" height="400" src="https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/poster/8/10/break/images/artworkimages/medium/1/saint-patrick-jen-norton.jpg" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; padding: 5px;" width="320" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">T<b>here is a prayer called St. Patrick's Breastplate (below) which is also known as St. Patrick's Lorica. A lorica was a protection prayer, a safeguard against evil. The Latin word <i>lōrīca</i> originally meant "armour" or "breastplate" and referred to the protection worn by warriors heading into battle. </b></span><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We are certainly feeling vulnerable and beseiged these days yet we can protect ourselves with our own "wash and pray" lorica and by observing the serious but sensible measures governments have instituted. I'm not a fan of Premier Doug Ford by any stretch, and have been disappointed by a number of decisions by Prime Minister Trudeau since he was elected in 2015 That said, I feel that both have responded strongly to the current threat and deserve our support in the midst of uncertainty. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We can all pray for those in leadership at every level including health care provider and authorities and politicians. Please pray as well for those who are anxious and frightened by an enemy which is invisible yet has the potential to be deadly.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">It seems reasonable to bend a socially responsible elbow to the lorica legacy of St. Paddy, and for all the rich possibilities the Celtic Christian tradition continues to offer.</span></b></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEip-q9J9uG_nZkq7ijlsfldnzP2zGYhgCHaJ7wMvcAKrroJMFDK3NdHSeZ2VZFFODDXcEugC_ycvyTKouYX0Yojb3JPlaJwe_OK59vk52JmHlmvTRDs954bzTMdVoBVzw4qMyjjHUgryKpfhD_7P_o-kgCBro7dwJ8YEr60dLVx7tqmpsUsOLQTEw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="410" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEip-q9J9uG_nZkq7ijlsfldnzP2zGYhgCHaJ7wMvcAKrroJMFDK3NdHSeZ2VZFFODDXcEugC_ycvyTKouYX0Yojb3JPlaJwe_OK59vk52JmHlmvTRDs954bzTMdVoBVzw4qMyjjHUgryKpfhD_7P_o-kgCBro7dwJ8YEr60dLVx7tqmpsUsOLQTEw=w247-h309" width="247" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></span></div>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-69383009667757898962024-03-16T10:09:00.000-04:002024-03-16T10:09:06.522-04:00We Can't Forget Those in Crisis <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKA2sqY6VcMUItx_IcH_qZJhLkWeZRzbS5fbOoXfHWS6M4HBLJclgsPUqpxB6JrZomMBPqxFHUIy5cq8A9cF7ia9hTo_wJ56KOfhqKFkuGg3w7i4_gDDfx-71cxJTulmIix4Okyf4ivOBAEoPYqfU_vPf7A7UmjTid-jeRr8MX2jMLCDcjJzMeVQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKA2sqY6VcMUItx_IcH_qZJhLkWeZRzbS5fbOoXfHWS6M4HBLJclgsPUqpxB6JrZomMBPqxFHUIy5cq8A9cF7ia9hTo_wJ56KOfhqKFkuGg3w7i4_gDDfx-71cxJTulmIix4Okyf4ivOBAEoPYqfU_vPf7A7UmjTid-jeRr8MX2jMLCDcjJzMeVQ=w416-h234" width="416" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Outside Bridge St. Church, Belleville, Ontario</b></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span class="text Jas-2-14" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum opening" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: static; top: auto; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? </span><span class="text Jas-2-15" id="en-NRSVUE-30291" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food </span><span class="text Jas-2-16" id="en-NRSVUE-30292" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? </span><span class="text Jas-2-17" id="en-NRSVUE-30293" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> James 2: 14-17 NRSVue</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> At the risk of belabouring a theme, I'm going to mention that this morning we packed our spacious Subaru Outback with the generous donations of baked goods from Cobbs bakery and Metro grocery store here in Belleville. We accomplished the jigsaw puzzle of getting everything on board, then drove to Bridge St, Church with our cargo for the drop-in and meal program run out of the building. We said hello to a few folks on the street and volunteers we know who were doing food prep, then got on our way, home by 9:00 AM. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I mention this because the people on the street have become reluctant media celebrities during the past few weeks. because of a horrendous 24 hours in this community of 55,000 when 14 people overdosed, creating a state of emergency for first responders. Five of them collapsed in a matter of minutes outside Bridge St. Fortunately no one died during that day, although there have been a number of drug related deaths in the city in the weeks following. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Since then just about every major media outlet has made a pilgrimage to the church, and there have been several explorations of what has happened here. I have been impressed by how accurate and considerate they've been. Some of the people interviewed on the street weep for those who died and for those they thought they'd lost. Here is the link to the <b>CBC The National </b>piece from just a few days ago. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2317443139612">https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2317443139612</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What hit me today was how calm the scene was even though it was obvious that some of the individuals were high. I spoke to a woman who came to the church office regularly when I was minister at Bridge St. At that time she was a fast walking and fast talking soul with a wry sense of humour. Now she shuffles around the downtown and could barely muster a few words this morning. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As we wheeled the laden trolley into the building we went past my former study. It's been several years since my retirement but during my time only occasionally were there people outside my window. Now they are present all day, every day, no matter the weather. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This crisis won't magically disappear even though the media will eventually move on. That's the nature of the business. Yet the need and the challenges have become greater. We see at Trenton United that the number of people coming to the warming centre has increased this winter, even though the town is less than half the size of nearby Belleville. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I hope community leaders and faith communities such as Bridge St and Trenton United will "keep the faith" in their outreach ministries, demonstrating the compassion of Christ. Let's continue our prayers for overworked frontline workers and faithful volunteers. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXd7SkHFYA1P0nsaiKFE5Cxi7KAogjW4R3BVhdBhlNtqbvwIdReYhdw8euHXBlDlUnPRdmJcZG9v_StSdwLqlXqidg0haqNt5e4vQRwxLR3knGsN-zpetxehk-_6nSYdLw4Ofr0vNk7uJmVyTaz6StA3hoLZsFm1lCeX4pJvtcTJnK1RjiyGihNg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXd7SkHFYA1P0nsaiKFE5Cxi7KAogjW4R3BVhdBhlNtqbvwIdReYhdw8euHXBlDlUnPRdmJcZG9v_StSdwLqlXqidg0haqNt5e4vQRwxLR3knGsN-zpetxehk-_6nSYdLw4Ofr0vNk7uJmVyTaz6StA3hoLZsFm1lCeX4pJvtcTJnK1RjiyGihNg=w385-h256" width="385" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Bridge St. </span></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-39521721554569259022024-03-15T09:09:00.008-04:002024-03-15T14:46:52.009-04:00The Solar Eclipse and Signs & Portents<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAemq0WsHLRgpIKGeQkvy70Q0hOG4H_qNR-PFWAsOVO5vlXLuscQTXY9Bm9hzBiWZmEHsOjSCM5yvymAdRLgEk0_kw4H-j0-nx0vhUd97MxQJ3Psqzyyv3jvfcGJS2SLmPfhXqPhDZ50Y_gtRsHsNGLTvlYXtHJ4vegw6bbf6Xb3phDHIQ-bmTgw/s680/Solar%20Eclipse%20stamp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="680" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAemq0WsHLRgpIKGeQkvy70Q0hOG4H_qNR-PFWAsOVO5vlXLuscQTXY9Bm9hzBiWZmEHsOjSCM5yvymAdRLgEk0_kw4H-j0-nx0vhUd97MxQJ3Psqzyyv3jvfcGJS2SLmPfhXqPhDZ50Y_gtRsHsNGLTvlYXtHJ4vegw6bbf6Xb3phDHIQ-bmTgw/w473-h266/Solar%20Eclipse%20stamp.jpg" width="473" /></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Canada Post Special Stamp </span></b></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">On the day when the </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Lord</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, </span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Joshua spoke to the </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Lord</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-indent: 18pt; vertical-align: baseline;">; and he said in the sight of Israel,</span></i></span></div><p></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -18pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,</i></span></span></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -9pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.”</i></span></span></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b> </b>And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,</span></i></span></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36pt; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -9pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.</i></span></span></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. </i></span></span><b style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"> Joshua 10:12-13 NRSVue</b></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><br /></b></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="text Acts-2-19" id="en-NRSVUE-26958" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" face="system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial" style="display: inline; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">19 </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And I will show portents in the heaven above</i></span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Acts-2-19" style="position: relative;">and signs on the earth below,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-2"><span class="indent-2-breaks"> </span><span class="text Acts-2-19" style="position: relative;">blood, and fire, and smoky mist.</span></span><br /><span class="text Acts-2-20" id="en-NRSVUE-26959" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">20 </span>The sun shall be turned to darkness</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Acts-2-20" style="position: relative;">and the moon to blood,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-2"><span class="indent-2-breaks"> </span><span class="text Acts-2-20" style="position: relative;">before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.</span></span><br /><span class="text Acts-2-21" id="en-NRSVUE-26960" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">21 </span>Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’</span></i></span></p><p class="lang-en" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"> Acts 2: 19-21 NRSVue </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We're trying to figure out where to experience the solar eclipse taking place on April 8th, less than a month away. We're ready with our eclipse glasses but where to go? We reserved tickets for a big shindig at Fort Henry in Kingston and the excitement of a "congregation" might be fun. We.re also pondering getting out in our canoe or kayaks for a totally different experience that might have more of a sense of the holy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Is the eclipse a big deal? We have family coming up from the United States to get into the path because this is a once in a lifetime event, unless we're willing to chase subsequent eclipses around the planet. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There has long been a connection between cosmic events and "signs and portents", both good and bad in different religions. In the Hebrew scriptures there is what some astronomers suggest is the earliest recorded solar eclipse, although they point our that Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, didn't make the sun stand still. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the Acts of the Apostles the disciple Peter preached a barn-burner of a sermon on the day of Pentecost and connected the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with what sure sounds like an eclipse with perhaps a volcanic eruption thrown in for good measure. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We do live in a much more scientific age with a greater appreciation of natural processes and the patterns of our solar system. At the same time we're up for wonders in the heavens, and that's the way it should be. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is a description of the possibilities for that Joshua eclipse from<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Oxford Academic:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">Humphreys and Waddington's paper identifies a solar eclipse on 30 October 1207 BC based on an interpretation of a passage in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 10:12–13, New Revised Standard Version of </span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Bible</span><span style="background-color: white;">). This would be the earliest recorded solar eclipse. However, another solar eclipse possibility has been proposed that is also based on the Book of Joshua and the immediately preceding verses in Deuteronomy (</span><span class="xrefLink" id="jumplink-R5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: -55px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden;"></span><a class="link link-ref link-reveal xref-bibr" data-google-interstitial="false" data-open="R5" reveal-id="R5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; hyphens: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">Manetsch & Osborn 2011</a><span style="background-color: white;">). Their work led to a possible reference to the solar eclipse of 1 March 1399 BC. The 192-year difference between the two putative eclipse reports means they are incompatible; both cannot be correct if the biblical account in Joshua is accurate.</span></i></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAeFEpt54Nag0Eyy7XUcaeuz0VGMuwdC0FVa_XxrzWUnxMYNMvtC1rtciWETZdFzIPl0nFwNTya8iKdxXiOc7OYGJP1p8LAtlK_egXMQEyx7iAFoG6gz0_EWMSOhRRSvnb_sn1s3thtUD-yTy7DDioPb5IcEhys3GRYatD6zGlA6dHavMkQb3SA/s1500/Solar%20Eclipse%20dates%20graphic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizAeFEpt54Nag0Eyy7XUcaeuz0VGMuwdC0FVa_XxrzWUnxMYNMvtC1rtciWETZdFzIPl0nFwNTya8iKdxXiOc7OYGJP1p8LAtlK_egXMQEyx7iAFoG6gz0_EWMSOhRRSvnb_sn1s3thtUD-yTy7DDioPb5IcEhys3GRYatD6zGlA6dHavMkQb3SA/w464-h232/Solar%20Eclipse%20dates%20graphic.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-85220597724153278992024-03-14T10:11:00.008-04:002024-03-14T16:10:24.914-04:00PI Day & PIE Day<p><span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglwGxCf747niUxHT8NHr4phGX6yTSur5UzcAcoU7ggD2fQG6uZRihhPJOQmgTLR_r9-73hpZhL9boSZEGPuJBpPqbnmpqJWGSosxA_lJCHVjAdJj9rYMn4Q3CVYzZ_Ivril4ulE5jhLqt0SfrILZSzkd4U6UW2KMr9y7WCZ7YVYeS6nX60BHy1AA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="481" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglwGxCf747niUxHT8NHr4phGX6yTSur5UzcAcoU7ggD2fQG6uZRihhPJOQmgTLR_r9-73hpZhL9boSZEGPuJBpPqbnmpqJWGSosxA_lJCHVjAdJj9rYMn4Q3CVYzZ_Ivril4ulE5jhLqt0SfrILZSzkd4U6UW2KMr9y7WCZ7YVYeS6nX60BHy1AA=w237-h316" width="237" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">During Pride Month (June) we put up a large rainbow flag at the front of our house and then tuck it away for the year. Today we put up an older flag just for the day, in recognition of PIE Day, not to be confused with PI Day, which is also today...wait, that is confusing!</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the United Church statement: </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">PIE = Public. Intentional. Explicit. These are the standards we hold ourselves and our welcome to when we become affirming, welcoming, or inclusive communities. March 14 is a chance to serve some pie and roll out the PIE by celebrating the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit people in faith communities and beyond across Canada.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I have to admit that while I'm very found of pie (strawberry/rhubarb makes me swoon) I haven't ever acknowledged PIE. That said, we are aware of a troubling rise in LGBTQ2S+ rhetoric and angry protests in response to the efforts toward inclusivity. I wrote about the vandalism at Trenton United Church when the Pride flag was taken down from the front of the building. We know that there is a high rate of suicide amongst LGBTQ2S+ youing people. Public, intentional, explicit support is important, today, during Pride Month, and every day. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is a benediction from a worship resource provided by the UCC</span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Microsoft JhengHei UI Light";"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Let
us go from here to proclaim the good news:<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Microsoft JhengHei UI Light";"><o:p> </o:p></span>God
takes on flesh in the strange and surprising.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Microsoft JhengHei UI Light";"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Love
liberates from the margins. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Microsoft JhengHei UI Light";"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Together,
we have what we need to resist evil and oppression.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span>With
a renewed commitment to solidarity with God and all LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit
people, may the Spirit lead us from this place with peace.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /><br /></i></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #424242;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-28348877914109123902024-03-13T01:00:00.001-04:002024-03-13T08:14:35.012-04:00Can a Murder Mystery & Divine Mystery Work Together? <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQV6u4rYyBp9N0JIvjX6s_apAZfR7682tR0wvH55osxflLH64Ce3O22f3yfSsefSbmh3UUfI4tTZpqv_hL729DHA2lfpPAKvP3jPWBwVOeHKTFAbfCdm1BMIbsqYg5uvspb5hqdDNuMZNhK4VQ_YIeMVB0B_FWA5TEsBQYK-9PkxmM1n-vVfkRmA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQV6u4rYyBp9N0JIvjX6s_apAZfR7682tR0wvH55osxflLH64Ce3O22f3yfSsefSbmh3UUfI4tTZpqv_hL729DHA2lfpPAKvP3jPWBwVOeHKTFAbfCdm1BMIbsqYg5uvspb5hqdDNuMZNhK4VQ_YIeMVB0B_FWA5TEsBQYK-9PkxmM1n-vVfkRmA=w487-h272" width="487" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Not long ago I read a positive review of</span><b style="font-family: arial;"> Blessed Water,</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> a new crime novel written by Margot Douaihy, whose last name just about covers the vowels -- and sometimes "y". The publisher's description of the novice nun offers: </span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #f7f7f0; color: #00001c;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Tattooed from her neck to her toes and sporting a gold tooth as sharp as her wisecracks, Sister Holiday struggles to stay on the righteous path. Never one to make things easy for herself, she’s committed to taking her permanent vows with the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and joining former fire inspector Magnolia Riveaux’s latest venture, Redemption Detective Agency—both in service of satisfying her eternal quest for answers.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #00001c; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f0;">Since this is the second of the Sister Holiday mystery's I figured I should search out the first and the library kindly served up <b>Scorched Grace.</b> The sister has a both a dark and unconventional past with years in a queer band and struggles with addiction. Joining a religous order with a social justice leaning catches everyone off guard, including herself, and she can't help but mooch a cigarette whenever possible. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #00001c; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f0;">The way Sister Holiday solves the murders is fairly good (I've read a lot of mystery novels over the years) but the way </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Douaihy has her not-so-holy detective reflect on divine mystery and redemption and other big-ticket faith issues is profound at times. In an interview she says:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: #dad9d9; letter-spacing: 0.3px;">To invoke Hegel and Madonna, </span><span style="background-color: #dad9d9; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.3px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">life is a mystery</span><span style="background-color: #dad9d9; letter-spacing: 0.3px;">. I view religion as a batch of stories and a net of interpretive frameworks—fables, cautionary tales—offering guidance, solace, strict laws, and roadmaps, depending on who you ask. The very same religion can soothe, empower, and hurt people. Religion has been routinely weaponized to subjugate, beating people into submission whilst justifying atrocious behavior. I was raised Maronite Catholic, and it’s been a profound influence in my life, but I haven’t practiced regularly in years. Would I be offered Holy Communion in my home church since I’m an out lesbian? Doubt it. But I haven’t checked.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I'd give </span><b style="font-family: arial;">Scorched Grace</b><span style="font-family: arial;"> a 7 out of 10 for gum-shoeing and maybe a 9 for faith-reflection. It's definitely the best murder mystery about a sneaky-smoking, tatooed lesbian nun I've ever read. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcb9NbJMCEgt4pX162iQuCP8cEycKngShc5CDUGqmozzr1FhdmFlx-PmRalTP7eKnpDGeD850_9_mKBjX8sclPNb6de2xPeqPysNH1tON0GQ5TJQgRpyKw3qEtvj53TujPD01DUf95RgiD38mOasNqHxLh025CRlGOV4BlPjl9S2AV5YVzFti1gQ" style="background-color: #f7f7f0; font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1714" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcb9NbJMCEgt4pX162iQuCP8cEycKngShc5CDUGqmozzr1FhdmFlx-PmRalTP7eKnpDGeD850_9_mKBjX8sclPNb6de2xPeqPysNH1tON0GQ5TJQgRpyKw3qEtvj53TujPD01DUf95RgiD38mOasNqHxLh025CRlGOV4BlPjl9S2AV5YVzFti1gQ=w211-h315" width="211" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="color: #00001c; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f0;"><br /></span></span></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-87205696062480352282024-03-12T12:40:00.011-04:002024-03-12T12:47:36.651-04:00A Kingfisher Caught Fire <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhArXTK1FqTHEyn-BqJuJ10J8dtxdSvVth7yBnTE-25bpR8K2rbU_h6ZGlI9DiWf9kLq5VOs_-w7Y3K4KlD-WkcLwzWDlrUxayWTfBTT9zKeZw1fCgsrkrozJoyCH13xm0gAYFSgZovUcKQphDTGzjpoRag1sL6_viGGS0WbQObJ7b8cl5gL0xuDw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhArXTK1FqTHEyn-BqJuJ10J8dtxdSvVth7yBnTE-25bpR8K2rbU_h6ZGlI9DiWf9kLq5VOs_-w7Y3K4KlD-WkcLwzWDlrUxayWTfBTT9zKeZw1fCgsrkrozJoyCH13xm0gAYFSgZovUcKQphDTGzjpoRag1sL6_viGGS0WbQObJ7b8cl5gL0xuDw=w393-h236" width="393" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">This glorious morning we decided to walk at a conservation area north of town and we were early enough that there were no other people in the woods or along the Moira River. At one point we sat immediately alongside a rapids with its exhilirating Spring voice. Ruth said, "is that a kingfisher?" just as I heard its distinctive chatter. She drew my attention to a branch over the water and there is was, the first we've seen in 2024. It is disturblingly early for this creature's return but when it flew it was exhilarating, climate emergency be damned. </span><p></p><p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c2340; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I thought of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, the quirky Jesuit poet of the 19th century. He never fit in anywhere and he died of typhoid fever at 44. When he converted to Catholicism he burned all his poems as a mistaken act of devotion. Even though he took up writing again in his latter years his work wasn't published until after his death, when his brilliance was recognized. </span></span></p><p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c2340; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The poem came to mind because of the opening phrase --the kingfisher we saw was brilliant in flight against the drab colours of this early season. It was also because Hopkins was aware of the grace of God the Creator all around us, and the extra-ordinary affirmation that <i>"Christ plays in ten thousand places."</i></span></span></p><p><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c2340; font-family: GP, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">As Kingfishers Catch Fire </strong><span face="GP, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0c2340; font-size: 16px;">by Gerard Manley Hopkins</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c2340; font-family: GP, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame; <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As tumbled over rim in roundy wells <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name; <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells, <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came. </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0c2340; font-family: GP, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 1em;">I say móre: the just man justices; <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces; <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is — <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places, <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />To the Father through the features of men's faces.</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #0c2340; font-family: GP, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQTknHxfavIaWV3wutO3QUpuSo_tkAh9v1Z2nBOGD8sIlT1K6jGjTS7SDaj441Ap0SHhznMxhpVnOY4ZO66lS-KVqtdUrYmpaYwSCQxcyi5si49gpP6cKpNRDS2QFzRjHOoeNqg5wInYnQTlmfk6REGfrQmnqU0kQ66rLKCbZmsR-rInAGNk0xug" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQTknHxfavIaWV3wutO3QUpuSo_tkAh9v1Z2nBOGD8sIlT1K6jGjTS7SDaj441Ap0SHhznMxhpVnOY4ZO66lS-KVqtdUrYmpaYwSCQxcyi5si49gpP6cKpNRDS2QFzRjHOoeNqg5wInYnQTlmfk6REGfrQmnqU0kQ66rLKCbZmsR-rInAGNk0xug" width="184" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Gerard Manley Hopkins; drawing by David Levine</b></span></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-84656954893160210062024-03-11T11:32:00.000-04:002024-03-11T11:32:09.959-04:00Ramadan & Hunger in Gaza<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0ZbQZYT7RrcCw5iZ1rc7OtjpyFuOvTXLRJzRoFFpwamdFxSHRwqZiyVJYmUYu0lOFp4yhJ1Lgyb8OyMGfiLemJXJnRu-YrEyke8NqRNaaxzkI7zX3BkTpyn14MbJqNzwrbZGRsTfBcC6RXS3oCqquZ2ShfnKwzKB8noswbBThYdQm3mVzqa9XRQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0ZbQZYT7RrcCw5iZ1rc7OtjpyFuOvTXLRJzRoFFpwamdFxSHRwqZiyVJYmUYu0lOFp4yhJ1Lgyb8OyMGfiLemJXJnRu-YrEyke8NqRNaaxzkI7zX3BkTpyn14MbJqNzwrbZGRsTfBcC6RXS3oCqquZ2ShfnKwzKB8noswbBThYdQm3mVzqa9XRQ" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><i><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold;">Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar</span><span style="background-color: white;">, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer (salah), reflection, and community.</span></i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A few days ago the United States did an air drop of food aid into Gaza, the ravaged enclave where roughly 500,000 Palestinians are at risk of starvation. In yet another tragic incident some of the parachutes for the crates failed to deploy and five people on the ground were killed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This was a terrible precursor to the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic period of 40 days of fasting that began last evening. Ramadan is a requirement yet also a choice for Muslims, and in no way is depriving children, the elderly, and others the expectation. Quite the opposite, the vulnerable are excluded from this expectation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Ramadan 2024 is a very different event from previous years in many places around the world. Along with the spectres of malnutrition and death by starvation this Ramadan has political overtones as well. Here in Canada politicians who might normally attend events at mosques are being told to stay away if they are unwilling to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. While we are generally wary of politicizing religion it is undestandable that what is happening in that region is a source of pain for other Muslims.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Last year around this time we were in Israel. We spent a couple of days in Jerusalem for the intersection of Ramadan, Passover/Pesach, and Easter. There was a considerable military presence because of the heightened tensions and we were grateful that nothing developed. We couldn't have imagined what would transpire only a few months later. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As Christians we can mourn with Muslims who are suffering physically and psychologically during this holy period. And yes, Canada must do much more in responding to the humanitarian crisis, including calling for a ceasefire. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-MsHxCmdMRT3gt3WxXx1Hsc5VAuX2p52aDnyq-Tenj_jslawG5Nr3VA0uc20ptgCrMVkUxZW8towXBjJwGo6PlczwdC-H4f9FEWyqy-mLFYVr_h2-F1BBX5LlpO8k0M1yj3i7gNk0_Udwki9-BB42s5uO870mOHqj_NyMwgzjPg85mWgYuHwOUA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-MsHxCmdMRT3gt3WxXx1Hsc5VAuX2p52aDnyq-Tenj_jslawG5Nr3VA0uc20ptgCrMVkUxZW8towXBjJwGo6PlczwdC-H4f9FEWyqy-mLFYVr_h2-F1BBX5LlpO8k0M1yj3i7gNk0_Udwki9-BB42s5uO870mOHqj_NyMwgzjPg85mWgYuHwOUA=w418-h234" width="418" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Hungry Children in Gaza</b></span></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-85912496431612026402024-03-10T01:00:00.003-05:002024-03-10T09:23:49.275-04:00The Ghosts of AGMs Past <p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDxZH8zKDWkzVwJ2nblyRVIIL0wH8lE0XiVrbL0_me7uCr2tSZb5AzhSLFpl-EzhhNjzbMifk1shfdtVRMCnZ4IMVA-sSd8HVm8nepvZMf6O6IbxkzY2VDYAJr0CnnvU0YDGTTX8W9GMQDvxkHbhmlSIh7CnIT9qNno91LWD6YYJFlR19E0XdrGg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="640" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDxZH8zKDWkzVwJ2nblyRVIIL0wH8lE0XiVrbL0_me7uCr2tSZb5AzhSLFpl-EzhhNjzbMifk1shfdtVRMCnZ4IMVA-sSd8HVm8nepvZMf6O6IbxkzY2VDYAJr0CnnvU0YDGTTX8W9GMQDvxkHbhmlSIh7CnIT9qNno91LWD6YYJFlR19E0XdrGg=w401-h345" width="401" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Today is the Annual Congregational Meeting for Trenton United Church and it's likely to be straightforward, civil, and brief.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For decades those meetings for most congregations were held early in January with huge pressure to get all the financial ducks in a row. Many veiled threats were made for leaders to submit reports by certain deadlines. Those reports may or may not have been read and are now consigned to the archives, or possibly hell. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some of these meetings involved heated discussions with blustery individuals holding forth, nearly all white males who were legends in their own minds. A few of these fine Christians were mean as mean could be and actually forewarned that they would be cantankerous. They resisted spending an unnecessary dime, even though it was God's money, not theirs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Fortunately, most of the participants were people who cared about the mission and ministry of the congregation and wanted to thank God for what we had accomplished and what we were going to undertake. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The other day Ruth was purging what has become a full filing cabinet of documents reflecting the better part of half a century of famly life. A schedule for services from my first pastoral charge after ordination in outport Newfoundland floated to the surface. You may be able to make out that I conducted THIRTEEN services a month for the five congregations I served -- literally morning, afternoon, and night. When I arrived there were only twelve, but folk squabbled so much about the equity of who got a service and when that I added one to keep the peace. Crazily, three of these five congregations had weekly attendance exceeding the national average today. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This meant that I chaired five annual congregational meetings along with a pastoral charge board meeting, as well as attending five annual meetings for UCWs, the United Church Women. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I vowed that in retirement I would find ways to serve in a congregation but with a determination not to attend meetings or serve on committees. Can you understand why? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYrAfzpC1btb9Jr5ppdMXd990ihNPt3vq7Y6d8RcKidrSWxgdlJNRNW1dRrYgaWolj_0o01oQI0Cb3cYV0AGeBPmNoihO836gPibIH4AxQHqETbvyOrsFv3XgVGCZhyCXdGZuaYy02ZLdCS8yS-8Z9sjclSHK63hW4PhY6pQa3KyCfUCHQm1YrgA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="179" data-original-width="282" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYrAfzpC1btb9Jr5ppdMXd990ihNPt3vq7Y6d8RcKidrSWxgdlJNRNW1dRrYgaWolj_0o01oQI0Cb3cYV0AGeBPmNoihO836gPibIH4AxQHqETbvyOrsFv3XgVGCZhyCXdGZuaYy02ZLdCS8yS-8Z9sjclSHK63hW4PhY6pQa3KyCfUCHQm1YrgA=w396-h251" width="396" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-22917133942003138542024-03-09T01:00:00.001-05:002024-03-09T10:05:15.958-05:00Mapping Collaboration for a 1000 Years <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigmXsUDxGDIOF6SZJm0QBdumj4RTGfjNje1YDEt0mmFSMlsPkUl5SwZCfbqOwYyIRvC9uS5mpD68DYS8YNTLClHlHbnEgugcZbKwCm-5ZwnV7YoMy1kzo5AZxaB6Q3QyjmwaR5F4lOWCT7pgCAneIZza3nOojBArZCAehLviRC3Np5DLaIaRVWeQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="310" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigmXsUDxGDIOF6SZJm0QBdumj4RTGfjNje1YDEt0mmFSMlsPkUl5SwZCfbqOwYyIRvC9uS5mpD68DYS8YNTLClHlHbnEgugcZbKwCm-5ZwnV7YoMy1kzo5AZxaB6Q3QyjmwaR5F4lOWCT7pgCAneIZza3nOojBArZCAehLviRC3Np5DLaIaRVWeQ=w535-h281" width="535" /></a></div><b><span class="dcr-1qvd3m6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: GuardianTextSans, "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The astrolabe’s engravings show how knowledge was created, shared and developed by Islamic and Jewish scholars living and working side by side.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: GuardianTextSans, "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> Photograph: Federica Candelato</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We live in a time of increasing polarization whether it be political or religious or any other excuse for people not to get along. It can be deeply discouraging, yet there are moments which lift us with the prospect of a different vision for the world, even those from the past. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A year ago historian <span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Federica Gigante was preparing a lecture and searching the internet for a portrait of the 17th-century Italian nobleman and noticed something else in a photo from the Verona, Italy, museum. It was a metal disc which she knew</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> was</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> an astrolabe, an instrument used to map the stars and tell the time. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Several months later she visited the museum in person and was able to examine the astrolabe. She discovered that there was writing in Hebrew, and Arabic, and Latin, representing three religions and different cultures over the course of a thousand years of use in Spain. In an interview from <b>The Guardian</b> Gigante offers:</span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">“[The discovery] never happened before and it probably won’t happen again,” she said. “We know that in 11th-century Spain</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">, Jews and Muslims and Christians were working alongside each other, especially in the scientific media, and that many Jewish scientists were sponsored and patronised by Muslim rulers with no concern for their religion.</span></span></i></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">“It’s not that this instrument tells us this for the first time. All this is known, but what I find extraordinary is that this is a very tangible, physical proof of that history.”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">It's a wonderful thought that rather than being at odds, or even at war, there was a common purpose for the advancement of science which helped explain the world and how it works. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #121212; font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYxZJ_Yv1jkvD1c7Pi5H34bUreibfjKwjy7TUGUpo3KU0AVHXb4_aXsY1M27T-yTAvy7t-ZAmqYVUXCp4PRm1bdJQ-IuQ6eaknxLUi2QTTHfuyRKcrv6R0Nld3OsV_MrkFfBXTgVHGLu5w7qzrLhaWGbS6_NWv_E3L6Md0cZIreDQUxz3B9Fcpfg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="290" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYxZJ_Yv1jkvD1c7Pi5H34bUreibfjKwjy7TUGUpo3KU0AVHXb4_aXsY1M27T-yTAvy7t-ZAmqYVUXCp4PRm1bdJQ-IuQ6eaknxLUi2QTTHfuyRKcrv6R0Nld3OsV_MrkFfBXTgVHGLu5w7qzrLhaWGbS6_NWv_E3L6Md0cZIreDQUxz3B9Fcpfg=w388-h233" width="388" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #121212; font-family: arial;"><br /></span><b><span class="dcr-1qvd3m6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: GuardianTextSans, "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Federica Gigante examines the astrolabe in Verona.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: GuardianTextSans, "Guardian Text Sans Web", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> Photograph: Federica Candelato</span></b><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-78473543366982488832024-03-08T08:49:00.001-05:002024-03-08T11:20:23.109-05:00Women Bible Scholars on Women's Day <p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HyInKcJVWqbyP4ZsDAKW4oxoBSWVTE8nmg9a2LwR4D47GLnLuxpcsHPA1atoEqB3MNVP6qq96qhI7cMkZjQcqHG7Vl4uSAhDY6LO186PqMf2iQSVG6_DRrlJb3PrKFAUsikdrFTtUwoUHJhg3EX25YlTD4Blcu3HKHH7u9rXYRLoOsyvAucEXA/s300/short%20stories%20by%20jesus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HyInKcJVWqbyP4ZsDAKW4oxoBSWVTE8nmg9a2LwR4D47GLnLuxpcsHPA1atoEqB3MNVP6qq96qhI7cMkZjQcqHG7Vl4uSAhDY6LO186PqMf2iQSVG6_DRrlJb3PrKFAUsikdrFTtUwoUHJhg3EX25YlTD4Blcu3HKHH7u9rXYRLoOsyvAucEXA/w362-h203/short%20stories%20by%20jesus.jpg" width="362" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I wasn't going to write about <b>International Women's Day</b> and had posted another blog but I've changed my mind. I got thinking about the study groups I've led in the past three years, four of them based on books about aspects of the New Testament written by women scholars. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The first two were the excellent <b>Sermon on the Mount</b> and <b>Entering the Passion of Jesus</b> by Amy-Jill Levine, titles that are self-explanatory. Late last year we got going on <b>Finding Pheobe</b> by Susan Hylen, a thought-provoking and revelatory look at women of the New Testament and the environment they lived in. Now we're working our way through Levine's <b>Short Stories by Jesus</b> and once again we are gaining perspectives we just didn't have before despite hearing the parables so often through our lifetimes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCt3lOT2N_GvKRdCHaN-EN5YOx1fPZa5fsjtAdxqWlnzocjGiWtSUqcgBwedMHFwirN64f1qtDEZNFmpqlmi-dDNcj4x_y8foh0GIhLAuKV2YMQnt8DnZwlquU0ONRpJSkJ56j_l6aHGpQThTLVfW_chj2uvnDD9yNc5lj-bVdiWvlwTpBKLkR7w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="300" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCt3lOT2N_GvKRdCHaN-EN5YOx1fPZa5fsjtAdxqWlnzocjGiWtSUqcgBwedMHFwirN64f1qtDEZNFmpqlmi-dDNcj4x_y8foh0GIhLAuKV2YMQnt8DnZwlquU0ONRpJSkJ56j_l6aHGpQThTLVfW_chj2uvnDD9yNc5lj-bVdiWvlwTpBKLkR7w=w193-h298" width="193" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">I have quite a number of books by women biblical scholars, most of which have been really beneficial. Times and attitudes and opportunities have changed in half a century. When I entered seminary 47 years ago all but one of my professors were males and most of the material we considered was written by men. Now the principal of Emmanuel College at UofT is a woman and the faculty is much more diverse. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I should note that most of the participants in our study groups are women and I benefit greatly from their insights and observations. Even though we seriously consider the subject matter we also laugh.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I'll wrap this up with a thank you to my late mother who had no formal theological training yet was a person of deep Christian faith who was a life-long learner. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRN7wF-5RxG_dSA-AY8jWuO2Fhdp3HAFfBFvs-b-9LwgpXKI4oZLicH2BGDWijA9X6T5sE0JjABnoqB0ASVMAE-6LU1VYShW9ITyVymh0aM5vkefKJ1Invmsj4oOk9jd-n9QTD6K6WZBr6ZrmvBYod397CZzPSjqkAE9r6GA97hxEc60Qg-CoUCQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRN7wF-5RxG_dSA-AY8jWuO2Fhdp3HAFfBFvs-b-9LwgpXKI4oZLicH2BGDWijA9X6T5sE0JjABnoqB0ASVMAE-6LU1VYShW9ITyVymh0aM5vkefKJ1Invmsj4oOk9jd-n9QTD6K6WZBr6ZrmvBYod397CZzPSjqkAE9r6GA97hxEc60Qg-CoUCQ=w198-h305" width="198" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEha8sSojfJsH4fqbzX_IVGsyq1oY0UOm1IS-5We3DGgLd84e0_Mj7kt2q73Ls5PK8icQq2vkSvJ7nrjKCSO7MVB2pyS_lI5ziaN3VcPTHtWmpVvRerPv3LCQIWTdWbssZe6cKlVNQ4mO3cqdSGm-ehogWRfimPKWSRZomj71pW0MGyYu6afPI-qcw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="680" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEha8sSojfJsH4fqbzX_IVGsyq1oY0UOm1IS-5We3DGgLd84e0_Mj7kt2q73Ls5PK8icQq2vkSvJ7nrjKCSO7MVB2pyS_lI5ziaN3VcPTHtWmpVvRerPv3LCQIWTdWbssZe6cKlVNQ4mO3cqdSGm-ehogWRfimPKWSRZomj71pW0MGyYu6afPI-qcw" width="254" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-85097110704956805112024-03-07T15:28:00.000-05:002024-03-07T15:30:53.830-05:00The Monstrous Nazi & Family Man <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZlKIXPEZdFzN9u7ZlNalgl2-y607x9WnHLXN51tJGMImQKPLo9anHn4ufkniLVmTvPRaBaZ4BEaQy2-tlJ6BNU0fbFhWn_z5EXGQ9N5qQt-ObtzfH4ohn5QSCKeh3cLHkVns2mqQQs2yvHjSSNGsIjomVB70mOW0r_kQtdtE5coCCm8UtRha8dA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZlKIXPEZdFzN9u7ZlNalgl2-y607x9WnHLXN51tJGMImQKPLo9anHn4ufkniLVmTvPRaBaZ4BEaQy2-tlJ6BNU0fbFhWn_z5EXGQ9N5qQt-ObtzfH4ohn5QSCKeh3cLHkVns2mqQQs2yvHjSSNGsIjomVB70mOW0r_kQtdtE5coCCm8UtRha8dA=w353-h265" width="353" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"> We've been getting out early to walk at area Conservation Areas, taking advantage of the warm weather, both glorious and ominous. As a result I've been getting to this blog later and later it seems.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We've managed to watch seven out of the ten films up for top picture at this year's Oscars with a couple more on the horizon. The most chilling -- well, other than Oppenheimer -- is The Zone of Interest, another biopic. The title refers to the exclusion area around Auschwitz-Birkenau, the infamous death camp where more than three million European Jews starved to death or were murdered by the Nazis during WWII. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Within the zone, essentially up against one of the walls of Auschwitz, was the home of the commandant, Rudolf Hoess. He lived there with his wife, Hedwig, and their children. It was a home with a garden maintained by prisoners, and a swimming pool. They went on picnics and canoe rides in a nearby river. It was seemingly idyllic, except for the horrors unfolding nearby. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX2ToWwBAzOFYecpm6zP46X_EX6F6FdYaFt-_SEmKw_8m6XQ7OxT0HtcB4mJKtIBnts0TWHRDWeBKDqVKVuN53ZcexUwSyUslu_z9Kl-TUwg_58rM1fw93lAYdb2-fTA6UxOwUCTFY3A-UNK3Gd-7_Lp32WqSYAVDTmcFXhDXHisXWv9dMw1FLqg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgX2ToWwBAzOFYecpm6zP46X_EX6F6FdYaFt-_SEmKw_8m6XQ7OxT0HtcB4mJKtIBnts0TWHRDWeBKDqVKVuN53ZcexUwSyUslu_z9Kl-TUwg_58rM1fw93lAYdb2-fTA6UxOwUCTFY3A-UNK3Gd-7_Lp32WqSYAVDTmcFXhDXHisXWv9dMw1FLqg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Hoess and Family</span></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In the film it's evident that Hedwig was aware of the purpose of the camp, as was at least one of the older children. Yet when Rudolf was promoted to a role away from Auschwitz she implored him, successfully, to arrange for them to stay. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As we watched, Hannah Arendt's term "the banality of evil" to describe the way many Germans participated in evil in a chillingly matter-of-fact way came to mind. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">After the war Hoess and his family faded into the background of German society with Rudolf working under an assumed name as a gardener. He was found by a German Jewish officer who worked for the British, brought to trial, and hanged from a gallows built at Auschwitz for this specific purpose. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I've been reading more about Hoess's life in a book called <b>Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz.</b> It described Hoess's early years in a strict but devout Roman Catholic family and his early thoughts about entering the priesthood. Instead he lied about his age and fought in WW1 at only fifteen. After the war he become a follower of Hitler and joined the Nazi movement. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Before his death in 1947 Hoess wrote a detailed memoir describing his role, including his dedication to ever more efficient ways to gas inmates and incinerate their bodies. Much would have been lost without his candour. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> How does someone become what we might describe as a monster? The film shows his devotion to his family and the love he had for horses from childhood, even as he carrying out "the Final Solution." Considerable attention was given to recreating the Hoess home from photographs and on the walls there are crosses, truly an abomination.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> We never see inside Auschwitz but we hear the distant sounds of destruction and see the smoke rising from the chimneys. It makes the narrative even more chilling, in my estimation. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">This isn't an easy film to watch but it is exceptional storytelling with fine performances.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbGv4zLiB1MRaUAPiFuKN6S558yn-dn6xfoI0NX1yepUJJwy_PUfZCeMhb76-LpQwFQZ-lriEyqoTSJXkThKIzcYy1BlxdMySQWWdymv1nMDWjYeztCaHSYZm5LI24-ugYlOm8lCV-jGWR64_fomVIZMAKI1zX_YrT5b5lnXYLkmegr7euBGgjDA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbGv4zLiB1MRaUAPiFuKN6S558yn-dn6xfoI0NX1yepUJJwy_PUfZCeMhb76-LpQwFQZ-lriEyqoTSJXkThKIzcYy1BlxdMySQWWdymv1nMDWjYeztCaHSYZm5LI24-ugYlOm8lCV-jGWR64_fomVIZMAKI1zX_YrT5b5lnXYLkmegr7euBGgjDA=w200-h300" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-34711944404088406002024-03-06T08:32:00.003-05:002024-03-06T08:33:32.498-05:00Laughing & Crying about the Evangenitals<p> </p><p><br /></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoVnp1RjKkc5R1HRRuowq5D28aCXhNXenbowQ0usF_Hmd8bXxx40zeJ0JtgaKGYtuE3KHATa605IUgmhLRxX5mUnW76G9wIHq1bFtlE8TT6fdvpBb0u82GolgqG7fAu49eGhwnkTexMbOOsLa4JisF06B-CxbnlJkcP_ynBnDmUWd3eYp9S4AyBw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="273" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoVnp1RjKkc5R1HRRuowq5D28aCXhNXenbowQ0usF_Hmd8bXxx40zeJ0JtgaKGYtuE3KHATa605IUgmhLRxX5mUnW76G9wIHq1bFtlE8TT6fdvpBb0u82GolgqG7fAu49eGhwnkTexMbOOsLa4JisF06B-CxbnlJkcP_ynBnDmUWd3eYp9S4AyBw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></b></span></div>Evangenitals: <i>Fundamentalist Christians who are constantly interested in what's in someone else's pants</i></span></b></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">I saw a brief video testimony by a Black, female, physician who spoke passionately and eloquently about an abortion law passed in her US community by a panel of white, male, non-medical legislators. She insisted that this would cause untold harm and was not science-based. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">While she said nothing about religion we know that conservative Christian groups across America are pushing law-makers backward by half a century when it comes to reproductive rights. Some of the legislators and justices are evangelicals who have no sense of separating church and state. The irony is that many of these decision-makers decry Islamic Sharia law, yet their decisions are based on a particular religious outlook. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">I mentioned not long ago that this trend is seeping north of the border into Canada, at least in online discussions, and God knows what will happen as provincial and federal governments are leaning to the right. We don't have a federal abortion law in Canada, so even though there is reasonable access now, what will happen down the road? </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I've said along the way, I'm not ideologically pro-abortion, but I do strongly support the freedom for women to choose what happens with their bodies. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is such a serious subject, so I laughed out loud when I saw the clever play on words with the term "evangenitals" and the accompanying definition. It is a hypocritical obsession for some Christians and has been for decades. I suppose we need to laugh at times, otherwise we would cry. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-27974986034195969082024-03-05T16:54:00.008-05:002024-03-06T06:47:50.415-05:00The Promise of Little Forests <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeqURMBUWQh5WsVhbgy5m62rWccs2GJnVZCaBjqkhIpQj-Z7gZlwI5G-6OIJGiaUSJ67aQRNcMSqO1YJJHECbPolSZBJym51eKvggIts6B9p2KZPLjI65_6d81xP6gmedLvo_PFB2v1qEBr5gJObCv9bs2PEDMyBCECup8AtlYaR7Sj6O5IRNhw/s1024/Little-Forests-Poster_March-2024-768x1024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVeqURMBUWQh5WsVhbgy5m62rWccs2GJnVZCaBjqkhIpQj-Z7gZlwI5G-6OIJGiaUSJ67aQRNcMSqO1YJJHECbPolSZBJym51eKvggIts6B9p2KZPLjI65_6d81xP6gmedLvo_PFB2v1qEBr5gJObCv9bs2PEDMyBCECup8AtlYaR7Sj6O5IRNhw/s320/Little-Forests-Poster_March-2024-768x1024.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>1<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>nourish the life of the world in our care:</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>trust for the children tomorrow will bear.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>2<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We who endanger, who create hunger,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>agents of death for all creatures that live,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>we who would foster clouds of disaster,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>God of our planet, forestall and forgive!</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"> Touch the Earth Lightly Voices United 307</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">I hadn't intended to write a bunch of blog entries on environmental themes in the course of a few days, but it just seemed to unfold.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Yesterday I drove to Napanee, a town about half an hour away, to join others in a church hall to hear a presentation about <b>Little Forests, </b>or<b> Mayawaki Forests. Canadian Geographic</b> offers a helpful explanation: </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Named after the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki who invented them about 40 years ago, the densely planted forests are perhaps the size of a tennis court, often even smaller. But these minuscule forests are mighty, containing hundreds of plants, each striving to get its share of sun and rain. Done the right way, the forests achieve mature heights in about 20 years, rather than 100 or more, because they grow up rather than out.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the-many-benefits-of-the-minuscule-but-mighty-miyawaki-forests/">https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the-many-benefits-of-the-minuscule-but-mighty-miyawaki-forests/</a><br /></span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOG-ktGTZW8zkuEiZLqFQgNHFUMd6lvGAkik331gRGnp2oO10IGnERrghx97gzsKzDiQtbafTbtj9v5y1oLMloIL8MbZWINm6AG-zPA3HQ_78Fw1NCKUXP-OFh1uHJpbefnOjQIkZaV6ceaIXNvv0cqwtAAOolS-W8-iy3UEhADRkjg-tAj5A1fA/s270/little%20forest%20graphic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="270" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOG-ktGTZW8zkuEiZLqFQgNHFUMd6lvGAkik331gRGnp2oO10IGnERrghx97gzsKzDiQtbafTbtj9v5y1oLMloIL8MbZWINm6AG-zPA3HQ_78Fw1NCKUXP-OFh1uHJpbefnOjQIkZaV6ceaIXNvv0cqwtAAOolS-W8-iy3UEhADRkjg-tAj5A1fA/w358-h248/little%20forest%20graphic.jpg" width="358" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I first saw one of these Mini-Me forests in Diana Beresford-Kroeger's 2016 documentary </span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"><b>Call of the Forest: the Forgotten Wisdom of Trees,</b> She travelled to Japan and met with </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">Dr. Myawaki at a tiny, lush forest in a busy city. I was fascinated. Was any group attempting</span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"> to establish these forests in Canada, and where?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Google Sans, arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">It turns out that a devoted group has gotten under way in Kingston and two of them came to </span></span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">speak to about 75 people from all over, a rapt audience. I was so impressed and inspired by </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">these Little Forests evangelists. They mentioned the challenges of finding land and spoke of </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">various possible collaborations, including communities of faith. I asked if this </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">church/synagogue/mosque connection has happened and heard that it hasn't, yet. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">Lots of congregations across the country have repurposed portions of church properties for</span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">community gardens. We have a raised bed at a nearby Presbyterian church along with 15 or</span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"> so others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Little Forests could be established in these settings </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">as well? It turns out that <b>Broadview Magazine</b> of the United Church included an article a </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">couple of years ago that I somehow missed. </span><a href="https://broadview.org/miyawaki-method/" style="white-space: nowrap;">https://broadview.org/miyawaki-method/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">I've read that trees are the creatures mentioned more often in the bible, after humans. </span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">Early on in Genesis we read about a tree, and in the vision of Revelation there is a river in </span></span><span face=""Google Sans", arial, sans-serif-medium, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a city lined with trees. May the Creator bless the Little Forest visionaries. </span></span><a href="https://littleforests.org/pages/about-little-forests" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; white-space: nowrap;">https://littleforests.org/pages/about-little-forests</a></p><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>3<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Let there be greening, birth from the burning,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>water that blesses and air that is sweet,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>health in God's garden, hope in God's children,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>regeneration that peace will complete.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>4<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>God of all living, God of all loving,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us,</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>using us gently and making us one.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipBntmJxLTkMkvg6hxPE3GwSt1NVq1xNkFd8gIPAYM6wf6a4qHlDB5SW5cc73If48wciGaemO9oZx0RbRPbmsWFy5f5FJMr9RnTABfJh3N0zKQ1ol8a60J6qid8b2hYCpn5_PzG_jdXl69PaTi774VIkK0W6a5D6t9V7eBuNU3eTn5_N0KahV3w/s1440/Little%20forest%20image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipBntmJxLTkMkvg6hxPE3GwSt1NVq1xNkFd8gIPAYM6wf6a4qHlDB5SW5cc73If48wciGaemO9oZx0RbRPbmsWFy5f5FJMr9RnTABfJh3N0zKQ1ol8a60J6qid8b2hYCpn5_PzG_jdXl69PaTi774VIkK0W6a5D6t9V7eBuNU3eTn5_N0KahV3w/w407-h229/Little%20forest%20image.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-56989483476823069192024-03-04T08:18:00.002-05:002024-03-04T08:25:15.984-05:00Hope & World Wildlife Day<div class="poetry top-1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 2.6em; position: relative;"><p class="line" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><span class="text Ps-104-24" id="en-NRSVUE-15596" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></span></p><p class="line" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span class="text Ps-104-24" style="position: relative;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iDW_s5EdNFadrhpqqCyl_noBy8liCqEgWZ4xCc-5Xwnx6FbXhHy9WydQamZt_jk48V4Wi3nhMkiGLoXeReGP3HYVgALF6Wvq7agwmUrzEVz-6pOaJKnZZPNNSbH53d58_J46Iol2XWrJ-cgxwL0ILG3jN2jMCem38Z70aSsZk7s70CgRvW6vUA/s300/World%20Wildlife%20day%202024%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iDW_s5EdNFadrhpqqCyl_noBy8liCqEgWZ4xCc-5Xwnx6FbXhHy9WydQamZt_jk48V4Wi3nhMkiGLoXeReGP3HYVgALF6Wvq7agwmUrzEVz-6pOaJKnZZPNNSbH53d58_J46Iol2XWrJ-cgxwL0ILG3jN2jMCem38Z70aSsZk7s70CgRvW6vUA/w448-h251/World%20Wildlife%20day%202024%202.jpg" width="448" /></a></span></i></span></div><p></p><p class="line" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><i>O <span class="small-caps divine-name" style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span>, how manifold are your works!</i></i></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-24" style="position: relative;">In wisdom you have made them all;</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-24" style="position: relative;">the earth is full of your creatures.</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-104-25" id="en-NRSVUE-15597" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"><br /></span>There is the sea, great and wide;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-25" style="position: relative;">creeping things innumerable are there,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-25" style="position: relative;">living things both small and great.</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-104-26" id="en-NRSVUE-15598" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>There go the ships</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-26" style="position: relative;">and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.</span></span></i></span><p></p></div><div class="poetry top-1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 2.6em; position: relative;"><p class="line" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span class="text Ps-104-27" id="en-NRSVUE-15599" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>These all look to you</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-27" style="position: relative;">to give them their food in due season;</span></span><br /><span class="text Ps-104-28" id="en-NRSVUE-15600" style="position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>when you give to them, they gather it up;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-104-28" style="position: relative;">when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.</span></span></i></span></p></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Psalm 104: 24-28 NRSVue</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I mused about the Noah covenant yesterday, a reflection on the first of the biblical promises which are part of the scripture readings for this season of Lent. This is a myth in the best sense of that term, a seminal story that continues to inform conversations about the preciousness of a diverse and abundant planet, our "ark", and the Creator's love for Creation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Somehow I missed the opportunity to make the connection with World Wildlife Day, so I'll circle back around. We're reminded regularly that the climate crisis we now face includes global heating and weather unpredictability. We are also witnessing the planet-wide loss of habitat for creatures and the decline of biodiversity in the air, in our waters, and on the land. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The statistics are bleak but there is also evidence that when we change our foolish ways recovery is possible. Wherever nations have established marine reserves fish return in abundance. The end of whaling (for the most part) has meant that a number of species of whale have rebounded in numbers. The banning of DDT 50 years ago has meant that bird species such as ospreys and bald eagles have recovered in much of North America, including locally. We spotted an eagle pair at their nest on the weekend, just north of Belleville. Reader Roger mentioned in a recent comment that they have fishers on their property in Prince Edward County and wild turkeys, once wiped out in Southern Ontario, have been reintroduced and are...everywhere!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As Christians we are hopeful people, and in just a few weeks we will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, the first-born of all Creation. We affirm that Jesus came into this human life because "God so loved the world" not just humanity. We can look for the signs of hope and live with a determination to honour God who is the Creator. </span> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2YN97TZRqnpsb-mNJly5SwtwAMZy2L12PjHpeXZbYOtJmpSwVi5VRaBNG25LLKTdiQhkHSw0DM3QuaK83IcyCEFtxC7d3zt_Zr40RCgiFUjm59tHtjp9cYQ6FET750zriDd18XsQ_uuQ_mq8DnmX6FMM9J7KDp1Z59n2EuKafH5jGkOXIUc6QQ/s300/world%20wildlife%20day%202024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2YN97TZRqnpsb-mNJly5SwtwAMZy2L12PjHpeXZbYOtJmpSwVi5VRaBNG25LLKTdiQhkHSw0DM3QuaK83IcyCEFtxC7d3zt_Zr40RCgiFUjm59tHtjp9cYQ6FET750zriDd18XsQ_uuQ_mq8DnmX6FMM9J7KDp1Z59n2EuKafH5jGkOXIUc6QQ/w391-h219/world%20wildlife%20day%202024.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-44033614439799839232024-03-03T09:22:00.000-05:002024-03-03T09:22:31.598-05:00The Covenant & Caring for Creation <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHCfOs4lzwf_DCV91OxfVtAeVoSbxkg_zH_BIxs4mzPhuc8YiOBwxjRQ4OPm3fWU6H1NK9EUZgmxJxHDTRSrssirKUADoJJL-ucyO39aWx4Viy8QAxDWhxlFE31j4dBDXAkzuybxvMKMkRl02jz7yxzuCkE5opdGbBu3FTER7eRE5Ypl54OrhUPQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHCfOs4lzwf_DCV91OxfVtAeVoSbxkg_zH_BIxs4mzPhuc8YiOBwxjRQ4OPm3fWU6H1NK9EUZgmxJxHDTRSrssirKUADoJJL-ucyO39aWx4Viy8QAxDWhxlFE31j4dBDXAkzuybxvMKMkRl02jz7yxzuCkE5opdGbBu3FTER7eRE5Ypl54OrhUPQ=w388-h258" width="388" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br /> Noah's Ark -- William Blake</span></b></span><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, </span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: arial;">"As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: arial;">and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.</span></i></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."</span><br style="background-color: #f9f9f9;" /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;"><br /></span></i></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;"> God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:</span><br style="background-color: #f9f9f9;" /><br style="background-color: #f9f9f9;" /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, </span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.</span><br style="background-color: #f9f9f9;" /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;"> When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."</span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9;">9:17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."</span></i></span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>Genesis 9:8-16 NRSVue</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Every once in a while I receive an email touting another film or book or "experience" intended to support the "facts" about an actual ancient boat or ship containing the creatures of the Earth. This would be Noah's Ark from the story in the Hebrew scripture book of Genesis. The latest is for a documentary film and included this description: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><em><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Ark and The Darkness’</span></span></span></em></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><em><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">features interviews with l</span></span></em></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><em><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">eading creation scientists and Biblical apologists to examine the evidence that </span></span></span></em></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><em><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">proves and illuminates that the great flood of the Bible is historical. It presents </span></span></em></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><em><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">irrefutable and compelling scientific evidence of Noah’s flood, including fascinating details about how the animals were saved and survived on the Ark...</span></em></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The terms "creation scientists: and Biblical apologists" signal the efforts of those who are determined to make a story that was probably never intended to be taken literally into a pseudo- scientific description. The gymnastics of reasoning in the press release would be sad if we didn't know that there is a strong anti-science element to them stemming from right-wing Christians, largely in the States. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424;"><span style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We are living in a strange and disturbing moment of suspicion about science in no small part because of the anti-vaccine movement that emerged during the COVID pandemic. The "arkists" also use this story as justification to deny the climate emergency because God promises not to devastate the Earth again. Oh yes, there is the anti-evolution element as well. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #242424; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">I was about to delete this email when I thought of one of the themes for Lent in the lectionary this year. Week by week we hear of the scriptural covenants or promises of God, beginning with what is sometimes called the Rainbow Covenant. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #242424; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">While I don't take this story literally I do value it. Through the years In congregations I've served we adorned the worship space throughout Lent with a large rainbow as a reminder that God's love is enduring, This particular covenant is a declaration of peace with wayward humanity and a commitment to the diversity of the planet. Biblical covenants are meant to be two-way, with faithful humans fulfilling their side. The Rainbow Covenant doesn't say that we will be magically spared from destroying ourselves, a danger that climate scientists, including those who are Christians, are describing in science-based detail. We hear of atmospheric rivers and </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: arial;">flash-flooding, even in deserts, in ways we never did before. </span></p><p><span style="color: #242424; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why can't we accept that science is reliable and God-given and choose to act with all the resources we have in order to "live with respect in Creation"? (phrase from the United Church New Creed). </span></span></p></div>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-43070503142402728632024-03-02T01:00:00.004-05:002024-03-02T01:00:00.148-05:00Join the Unplugging Sabbath<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7pjqT2MgMWuhnezfPGhWe0Vkp3Dv1aTMPCSQFJBdguPh2v_NcilhIwMMwJoPIpHOpExITpRIYba1rD7ommmX29JUl7u1UaNE0rG75I5x9eGiCl0hK4cKhoZy5vMrmgzNRaM3XqqL9CwCxjtXkxQgmZplUt6AmZc39nrFydO4VyZzgIO62xOfmyw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="181" data-original-width="278" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7pjqT2MgMWuhnezfPGhWe0Vkp3Dv1aTMPCSQFJBdguPh2v_NcilhIwMMwJoPIpHOpExITpRIYba1rD7ommmX29JUl7u1UaNE0rG75I5x9eGiCl0hK4cKhoZy5vMrmgzNRaM3XqqL9CwCxjtXkxQgmZplUt6AmZc39nrFydO4VyZzgIO62xOfmyw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I go to the gym in the morning several days a week and there have been a number of newer young people of late. Even though there are signs everywhere prohibiting the use of cell phones in the change room and weight room this is ignored by a number of them. In fact, while they may figure they are working out for an hour, or whatever length of time, for some of them it is half that. It's not that they are listening to music. The thumbs and going and I realized along the way that one watches videos.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Apparently this is the International Day of Unplugging, a quixotic proposal knowing that we need our fixes of connection every few minutes, if not seconds. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I spend far too much time on my phone, rarely actually using this device to have a conversation. Still, I savour the times of disconnection, when we're paddling, or cycling. I never take my phone into the gym. In the morning I head downstairs without my phone so that there is a period of disconnection after waking. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Discovering that there is a disconnect day took me back to our study group on the sabbath and the notion of "cease and desist" as one of the biblical Ten Commandments -- the lengthiest, in fact -- rather than a suggestion. It's significant that the "suggestion" (who can command these days?) is that Unplug Day begins on the Friday evening and ends on Saturday at sunset, akin to the Jewish sabbath. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">I listened to a <b>CBC </b>"person on the street" segment where people in Toronto were asked if they could unplug for a day and nearly everyone said it would be very difficult or even impossible. They didn't give convincing reasons, they just knew that it wouldn't work -- yup addiction.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Pratt, Georgia, Palatino, "Book Antiqua", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.25rem; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheqM54-JBkip7tJScuMbyfpUrFw7R__l5SsFXHxYkGaK58NckMW9z-wlUE7Zp5kblhAdIUh2xf2ZpBnRc2Cy-if6sBG_hMpKZhjqzZHE3P5P5yDf21H9bxACDLDtH0C33COLTAW5cmPGQIwypHpNHoaYCkVWMkkxIzOBsqPzpzzis2mHMh0gGi5Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1200" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheqM54-JBkip7tJScuMbyfpUrFw7R__l5SsFXHxYkGaK58NckMW9z-wlUE7Zp5kblhAdIUh2xf2ZpBnRc2Cy-if6sBG_hMpKZhjqzZHE3P5P5yDf21H9bxACDLDtH0C33COLTAW5cmPGQIwypHpNHoaYCkVWMkkxIzOBsqPzpzzis2mHMh0gGi5Q=w308-h274" width="308" /></a></div><p><span style="color: #191919; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"> ILLUSTRATION BY ALAIN PILOn </span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">There was an excellent article in the <b>Globe and Mail</b> not long ago by Michael Harris with the run-on title </span><b><span style="color: #191919;">Come on, repeal the noise: </span><span style="color: #191919;"><i>Quiet is increasingly precious. To some, it may feel normal to live in a constant state of interruption, but that’s only because we are already so completely changed</i></span></b></span></p><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Harris asks:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>What are we blotting out today? What value is there in silence that our noise pollution obscures?...</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>None of these physical, cognitive or spiritual benefits can be ours, though, if we do not demand the silence that our online minds are so convinced we can live without. We will always fail to make that demand – of ourselves, our cities, each other – so long as our minds are primed to believe that constant interruption (and casino-grade stimulation) is natural. </i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">Cut out the noise within our heads and we might learn to shun the noise around us. </span><span style="background-color: white;">These two pollutions – the mess in our minds and the mess in our ears – are, I think, intimately linked. Online life shapes our senses and determines our idea of normalcy. To the adapted mind, physical noise</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.5;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">seems less and less like an irritant and more like our only option.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">You may wonder, will I unplug, take a device sabbath? No, but I'll be moderate rather than frenetic through the day. And </span><span style="color: #191919;">I wrote this blog entry yesterday so that I didn't have to plug in to write about unplugging!</span></span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLRfLre2NoyRIRUGQGxnyNx_nquav9unDywoJ4uYvZpaZTplZxT2V0Ib6dG6yQV6kr24cKP8tSmRCYi6ECRCmIbPNh5Rsht35Ss9EnsprlWioepJEq1KBKTQEefpSVyFes5peWsev424511aIV-DWNVep2y1hLEKCqsAU_zYXHSKN9OQGzey0CAg" style="background-color: transparent; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="197" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLRfLre2NoyRIRUGQGxnyNx_nquav9unDywoJ4uYvZpaZTplZxT2V0Ib6dG6yQV6kr24cKP8tSmRCYi6ECRCmIbPNh5Rsht35Ss9EnsprlWioepJEq1KBKTQEefpSVyFes5peWsev424511aIV-DWNVep2y1hLEKCqsAU_zYXHSKN9OQGzey0CAg" width="312" /></a></div><h1 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191919; font-family: Pratt-FineBold, Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; line-height: 1; margin: 0px;"></h1><p><br /><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-10248757811249508292024-03-01T09:25:00.011-05:002024-03-01T09:28:10.437-05:00Anglicans and Palestinian Christians <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAXf2JDwPFPdXCVIL_F-oylfr-MyjTqjz_XDjKaXa3J-CLaNEBPBXBO93xSjlJH24WkCA_K4jdwI-oINWWc3r5IR_MIs1JDojkFZoEmJ3Zh9bolfXp4sBjnGb0NIHwiBaoB6DVhZzDXaPkaPPdEDa2RUhEVqGkvYQ8HklsUCuhsFHn4ECAaIdRw/s300/jesus%20in%20the%20rubble.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAXf2JDwPFPdXCVIL_F-oylfr-MyjTqjz_XDjKaXa3J-CLaNEBPBXBO93xSjlJH24WkCA_K4jdwI-oINWWc3r5IR_MIs1JDojkFZoEmJ3Zh9bolfXp4sBjnGb0NIHwiBaoB6DVhZzDXaPkaPPdEDa2RUhEVqGkvYQ8HklsUCuhsFHn4ECAaIdRw/w420-h235/jesus%20in%20the%20rubble.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Do you recall the news from before Christmas about the Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac? He created a nativity in his West Bank church unlike any other, with the baby Jesus in the midst of a pile of rubble, signifying the destruction of Gaza. He preached a sermon which included the words in the image above. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Recently Rev. Isaac was in Great Britain to speak at a pro-Palestinian rally and sought a meeting the the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. I've appreciated some of Welby's statements on migrants and refugees but I was dismayed to hear that he declined meeting with Munther, a choice which deeply disappointed the Palestinian cleric. <span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Welby had been advised that meeting Isaac would cause significant problems for his relations with the Jewish community in the UK.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Yesterday Welby issued a statement of regret for his actions: <span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><i>“Recently I declined to meet with Rev Dr Munther Isaac during his UK visit. I apologise for and deeply regret this decision, and the hurt, anger, and confusion it caused."</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Isaac replied: </span><i style="color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">“Thank you archbishop. I welcome this statement, and I look forward to our meeting next week as brothers in Christ.” </i><span style="color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">Welby has admitted he was wrong and Isaac along others have accepted the apology. Some have not been so forgiving, including a British Christian group supporting Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.</span></span><span style="color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The apology was essential, and the situation certainly demonstrates the difficulty faced by religious and political leaders around the world. As leader of the world-wide Anglican communion Welby is aware of the implications of his choices. There has been a rise of anti-semitism in Britain which he wouldn't want to fuel. There is an Anglican presence in Israel and Christians have been under threat by right-wing Jewish groups. There are reasons, of a sort, for his original decision, but initially he did the wrong thing.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let's hope that the meeting with Rev. Isaac will be an opportunity to express solidarity of the already beleaguered Palestianian Christians of the region. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVqq26zfCAOB3-jE-6z3OkIOmSs7L68kkMmxkvyGUidqP9eB_VWd-FRFE4KGWim-zgXMzSRFw9TL9b8BayfwsOpkUaWoKxetCSeOKcDS5CvSTonqFgVuf4a_Asyt_v2UqHIq-TvGDtgAg9YrsGFGhVmNDtpU8yZvrRWFYNqpXehWcc-B1dSsrmDQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="1101" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVqq26zfCAOB3-jE-6z3OkIOmSs7L68kkMmxkvyGUidqP9eB_VWd-FRFE4KGWim-zgXMzSRFw9TL9b8BayfwsOpkUaWoKxetCSeOKcDS5CvSTonqFgVuf4a_Asyt_v2UqHIq-TvGDtgAg9YrsGFGhVmNDtpU8yZvrRWFYNqpXehWcc-B1dSsrmDQ=w337-h329" width="337" /></a></div><p></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="--source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><br /></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="--source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><br /></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="--source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><br /></p><p class="dcr-4cudl2" style="--source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;"><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-6555721579931763652024-02-29T09:56:00.004-05:002024-02-29T14:09:59.680-05:00The Letters, Anti-Racism, & the United Church <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPq6OzKC6JrWlKuY4zlRpH13_NeB49CCUQmWUiqC_wARkEuBdEwmYOwKq00RZUHQYi-H5Q0_BMXr6-z7NNaitzt1OGlfL3SxAskY6u0L92P4j7EKWxQKFpH4viCd-F30t-cl19q6AJjUnbn6kWOrXMes21LOQyy6HXgrl-WylbhKcSR8i2MzVgQ/s318/the%20letters.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="318" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPq6OzKC6JrWlKuY4zlRpH13_NeB49CCUQmWUiqC_wARkEuBdEwmYOwKq00RZUHQYi-H5Q0_BMXr6-z7NNaitzt1OGlfL3SxAskY6u0L92P4j7EKWxQKFpH4viCd-F30t-cl19q6AJjUnbn6kWOrXMes21LOQyy6HXgrl-WylbhKcSR8i2MzVgQ/w411-h204/the%20letters.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the last day of<b> Black History Month</b> so I'll share our experience of watching a segment of <b>TVOntario's</b> program <b>The Agenda</b> earlier this week. This was a fascinating interview with Canadian author Sheila White who has written a book that is a love letter of sorts about her courageous parents. Here is a description of the episode: </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #161725; font-family: arial;">Sheila White's parents met in Nova Scotia just after the Second World War. As she describes in her biographical novel, <b>"The Letters: Postmark Prejudice in Black and White,"</b> it was a love story for the ages. With one caveat: Vivien was white, Billy was Black. How they forged their relationship against family and societal disapproval provides a snapshot into the fraught race relations of the time, and how two individuals worked to dispel narrow thoughts about who they were and what their life together would be based on their differences. She talks to Jeyan Jeganathan about hers and her parents' anti-racism advocacy and what she learned by delving into their story.</span></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_9ytJS83bI8koht5ESJOjvZEY7cpf9guZHNjj6pHFQUDXrVs5ENuY8Hrv-p76iyLb6VnaPOAQkkG3f_HdgUMVfwc979dF0fcDv-iSooG-zZpMsNSJDkFiJs7Nnzks0UDL2_iaqoZh9hyphenhyphentAR3oJm5DR-ggV73uUvXno_k4bzUCPTzsnJwEDGglQ/s640/Billy%20White%20Poem.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="640" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW_9ytJS83bI8koht5ESJOjvZEY7cpf9guZHNjj6pHFQUDXrVs5ENuY8Hrv-p76iyLb6VnaPOAQkkG3f_HdgUMVfwc979dF0fcDv-iSooG-zZpMsNSJDkFiJs7Nnzks0UDL2_iaqoZh9hyphenhyphentAR3oJm5DR-ggV73uUvXno_k4bzUCPTzsnJwEDGglQ/w373-h281/Billy%20White%20Poem.jpg" width="373" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Billy White Poem</span></b></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">We were struck by Ms White's energy, and her description of a remarkable extended family. We also learned that in the 1940s the United Church invited her Baptist father, then living in Toronto, to write what was essentially an anti-racism guide. Sheila has a copy of that booklet, called a Programme Annual, part of her parents effects. She is still in possession of her father's poem which describes the exchange with Al Cooper from the United Church. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">I am heartened to learn that nearly 80 years ago our denomination was taking what were at least faltering steps to address anti-racism -- the young people on the cover of the booklet look decidedly white. I've written about the UCCs first and only Black moderator, the Rev. Wilbur Howard, who was ordained in 1941 and couldn't find a congregation to call him for many years. Despite our chequered past we are still learning and growing. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm grateful for the phone conversation I had with Sheila White and her graciousness in sharing images of her family treasures. Here is a link to The Agenda segment: </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.tvo.org/video/what-post-war-letters-reveal-about-racism-in-canada">https://www.tvo.org/video/what-post-war-letters-reveal-about-racism-in-canada</a><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiI2QYO2frGLiOEWDeQNKncTJokHb-oPpHbihGMAwksuAvFKc6Wo9OGggJb8XW-LkdDtpRybs7M-1KKn84h1Fz3pD1RlVGxn5ayMcjBrcmZ9OGO3D2Ml9bhvhtwDPUi3dTljomVQmdlVzQsycJkLi5q2nIi9WDeZep9Uj7Atc4PkEDCuuz06eGhg/s640/Billy%20White%20booklet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="640" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiI2QYO2frGLiOEWDeQNKncTJokHb-oPpHbihGMAwksuAvFKc6Wo9OGggJb8XW-LkdDtpRybs7M-1KKn84h1Fz3pD1RlVGxn5ayMcjBrcmZ9OGO3D2Ml9bhvhtwDPUi3dTljomVQmdlVzQsycJkLi5q2nIi9WDeZep9Uj7Atc4PkEDCuuz06eGhg/w385-h290/Billy%20White%20booklet.jpg" width="385" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #161725; font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-50065503558271394602024-02-28T08:41:00.000-05:002024-02-28T08:41:24.323-05:00The Spiritual Gift of Leap Day? <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwHxFhnX1jvR0dUvu7RSaQhvJIZKiaKvsTROW67vq5SHtm-FMDRNCGypQtkF2OcHAgimJ3zxTNlQ_fulawwJR2kaSHIeW1oqM4O3ATF_esunxwtLGcZTdvI5M83hYIIojSzwdNggGdgaMbjtB9MToKIf_2sWu7HNRZFgpXu0F7MHs1qdcL1NV5Rw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwHxFhnX1jvR0dUvu7RSaQhvJIZKiaKvsTROW67vq5SHtm-FMDRNCGypQtkF2OcHAgimJ3zxTNlQ_fulawwJR2kaSHIeW1oqM4O3ATF_esunxwtLGcZTdvI5M83hYIIojSzwdNggGdgaMbjtB9MToKIf_2sWu7HNRZFgpXu0F7MHs1qdcL1NV5Rw=w361-h240" width="361" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">2</span><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>sun, moon, and stars in their courses above</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>join with all nature in manifold witness</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. R</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><i style="font-family: arial;"> Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Morning by morning new mercies I see;</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>all I have needed thy hand hath provided -</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>great is thy faithfulness, ever to me!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This would normally be the last day of February, the curiously short month of twelve in our yearly calendar. However, </span><i style="font-family: arial;">"leap year coming once in four, February then has one day more."</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> February 29th is a sort of chiropractic adjustment for the year, ensuring that Halloween doesn't eventually end up in March, or whatever example of a skewed calendar we want to use. It is remarkable that humans have figured out how to measure the days and years as our planet, Earth, makes its way around our star, the Sun, in a yearly orbit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There is some suggestion that employers get away with a day of unpaid work because of Feb 29, but I don't want to go down that road. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It's also been posited that there is some sort of divine portent to Leap Day, which I don't buy. Although, I am intrigued by the thought that February 29th can be observed as a sort of big picture pause or sabbath day, a gift of 24 hours during which we might reflect, to pay attention to the importance of each day. The truth is that this would be luxury for most people as they trundle off into their daily routines. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As a retiree I don't have an excuse not to take at least a few minutes to ponder our days on this "third rock from the sun" and to give thanks for seasons, and the planets in their courses. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9IyMTUpGAIP13OftFbuLcXups4CScxGKXEzZDF9iaUmoXESKTOZOMBHcabawImvoaAOJT1CM0-UIuUpWMKBrRlu7-oCC6m_9PPFQL1F32-lL0XJLdWWv2VhWm0f4aKkzsxU-CK_8By8S-rT8h9aow0dgW4fOu4PZkAsCc6NZKrGDD-jkav_Q1zA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9IyMTUpGAIP13OftFbuLcXups4CScxGKXEzZDF9iaUmoXESKTOZOMBHcabawImvoaAOJT1CM0-UIuUpWMKBrRlu7-oCC6m_9PPFQL1F32-lL0XJLdWWv2VhWm0f4aKkzsxU-CK_8By8S-rT8h9aow0dgW4fOu4PZkAsCc6NZKrGDD-jkav_Q1zA" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-8127286153183577352024-02-27T10:44:00.003-05:002024-02-27T10:44:54.954-05:00Alexey Navalny...Christian? <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju-YvCy1wyy_5yTRqsAcUX7qTK3GJxmxJps_EHeyGKORYOTAib5MktmWhb-F4io-lz2G_OlNEVktrmNg1o0Og_pLz2qC0xyWVFmX1WwQRYmcAS87BOe3Gog5tRT_JUwSjCvZ4wRV_Ilo9m-ZCXdd1H_oS_-x0nOs-FS8oWNpTXQyfZ-OGL1ob5SQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="675" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEju-YvCy1wyy_5yTRqsAcUX7qTK3GJxmxJps_EHeyGKORYOTAib5MktmWhb-F4io-lz2G_OlNEVktrmNg1o0Og_pLz2qC0xyWVFmX1WwQRYmcAS87BOe3Gog5tRT_JUwSjCvZ4wRV_Ilo9m-ZCXdd1H_oS_-x0nOs-FS8oWNpTXQyfZ-OGL1ob5SQ=w256-h341" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-overflow: unset; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alexey Navalny by Fr. William Hart McNichols, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;">priest and iconographer.</span></b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; min-width: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text Matt-5-10" id="en-NRSVUE-23245">“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.</span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; min-width: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text Matt-5-11" id="en-NRSVUE-23246">“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. </span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; min-width: 0px;"><span class="text Matt-5-12" id="en-NRSVUE-23247"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Matthew 5: 10-12 NRSVue </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When I mused about whether Alexey Navalny might be considered a martyr last week I assumed he wasn't a religious person. Since then there have a number of reports that he embraced Christianity during his convalescence in Germany after almost dying from poisoning. And that he spoke of his faith during the kangaroo court trail that led to his incarceration and death. Here are a couple of paragraphs purported to be from his address to the judge in the trial, including a verse from the Beatitudes in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“Your Honour, do you want me to talk to you about God and salvation?” Navalny said. “The fact is that I am a religious person… I was quite a militant (atheist) myself. But now I am a believer, and it helps me a lot in my work.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>“And it is said, ‘Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, for they shall be filled’. I’ve always perceived this particular commandment as more or less an instruction for activity. And so, certainly not very much enjoying the place where I am, nevertheless, I don’t have any regrets about being back, about what I’m doing… I did not betray the commandment.”</i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191919; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is this conversion story true, and his testimony during the trial? Does it change Navalny's importancem his prophetic voice, in challenging the evil Russian regime? I hope that a new-found Christian faith gave comfort to Alexey Navalny in the dark moments of his imprisonment, and to his family. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; max-width: 100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #191919; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJkUYd_Ju9GEhDMGfpz-syqHDb8KKh_YkQN4JUCBQj51XClWo4O_65QBifZjZ8ux67RHrawKyi5QaUxrFgyLr3sCwMR9GquFsbZLQszWNGLUltjG6avZUXeZH9ZwAk0I5FNvvnbRW0ij1tNloTpdo7moa2sP4N6hNOt2GZEF0LY2-3NUsChQRSvA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJkUYd_Ju9GEhDMGfpz-syqHDb8KKh_YkQN4JUCBQj51XClWo4O_65QBifZjZ8ux67RHrawKyi5QaUxrFgyLr3sCwMR9GquFsbZLQszWNGLUltjG6avZUXeZH9ZwAk0I5FNvvnbRW0ij1tNloTpdo7moa2sP4N6hNOt2GZEF0LY2-3NUsChQRSvA=w360-h270" width="360" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Roboto, Roboto-fb, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>A flower and a picture are left as a tribute to Russian politician Alexei Navalny, near to the Russian Embassy in London, Feb. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)</b></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-74957187292639915042024-02-26T10:16:00.003-05:002024-02-26T10:17:01.049-05:00Living in the "Real World" of Peace-making<p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBunVOBWXoxQV5xOm-TaHNeohqKz49NpC4vGkqrabAhGM1Tvrzlw_6oMPUNCq8b13qe4-mAuVvNwoqqIJYiY-4Xs_UrtI3tX8dms5KBbPT8kWj-hUOKWsC9knSLiQCV3EDH17MnG_pDjo8Xp9X-XRVeJZpuhTEhAzsO5in4ynzTb4zgaLeIwnTbg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBunVOBWXoxQV5xOm-TaHNeohqKz49NpC4vGkqrabAhGM1Tvrzlw_6oMPUNCq8b13qe4-mAuVvNwoqqIJYiY-4Xs_UrtI3tX8dms5KBbPT8kWj-hUOKWsC9knSLiQCV3EDH17MnG_pDjo8Xp9X-XRVeJZpuhTEhAzsO5in4ynzTb4zgaLeIwnTbg" width="320" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Prime Minister Trudeau in Ukraine </b></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text Matt-24-6" id="en-NIV-23964">You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-7" id="en-NIV-23965"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-8" id="en-NIV-23966">All these are the beginning of birth pains. </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="text Matt-24-9" id="en-NIV-23967">“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-10" id="en-NIV-23968">At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-11" id="en-NIV-23969">and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-12" id="en-NIV-23970"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"> </span>Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Matt-24-13" id="en-NIV-23971">but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.</span></span></i></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2.4rem; min-width: 0px;"><span class="text Matt-24-13"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>Matthew 24: 6-13 NRSVue </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I was at a loss for blogging words yesterday -- go figure! Over the weekend we re-watched Oppenheimer, the film we'd seen on the big screen a few months ago. It's about the theoretical physicist who became a key figure in the development of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands, mostly civilians. The Americans had already fire-bombed Tokyo killing more people than in either of those detonations, a grim moment in history mentioned in passing during the film. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">There is a sense that Robert Oppenheimer, played brilliantly by Cillian Murphy, had a conscience. The premise was that using these weapons of mass destruction would end not only WWII byt would be the deterrent to end wars as we know them. He intuited that the opposite would happen and other nations would race to develop nukes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It was a coincidence that we watched Oppenheimer on the second anniversary of the Ukraine-Russia war, the senseless conflict of aggression initiated by the monstrous Vladimir Putin. There were vigils and memorials in many places in Canada, including here in Belleville. The Ukrainians confirmed that more than 30,000 of their soldiers have died and it's almost certain that several times that number of Russians have perished. Of course, the destruction of Gaza with a rising death toll of civilians grinds on. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">It's all so senseless.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7zIye5WPUpCQ7dy04a7MV_qnTWxKt8P0FcWG-uyHYueFaKro6UBQmtHoL3knkpN0VHLSSbTG_VhWKaba-kwepUOjxLM1Pb8zLL_txtFQWFnQ8dQd9HgQvp8fB-6iw2qEvv9ddKL5A1SPnInAAqOKUFCdwVhOqoQckOJxZVX4iN83c_lGnBEp1Ww" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7zIye5WPUpCQ7dy04a7MV_qnTWxKt8P0FcWG-uyHYueFaKro6UBQmtHoL3knkpN0VHLSSbTG_VhWKaba-kwepUOjxLM1Pb8zLL_txtFQWFnQ8dQd9HgQvp8fB-6iw2qEvv9ddKL5A1SPnInAAqOKUFCdwVhOqoQckOJxZVX4iN83c_lGnBEp1Ww" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Destruction in Gaza</span></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So often those who call for peace and an end to wars and the proliferation of armaments are mocked as naive and not living in the "real world." Even in nations which claim to be religious or Christian there are many "believers" who align themselves with the hawks rather than the doves of our troubled world. Certainly it is real that "rumours of wars" and conflicts persist, but is this what we want for our planet. Is this the "original sin" of humanity, that we choose war over peace in every age?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">How can we be the disciples of Jesus today, ready to listen for his voice in the midst of the cacophany and stridence of the voices for violence? He still stands on the hillside saying "blessed are the peacemakers", the seemingly foolhardy message which is the truth which will set us free. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiCFP852vkLGRyVSnwo79brgLXFTaT8oh_ffD-n4gKJm3NxyJIwbBjQnR_VKIPKAkYduAOzRIuSBXz4Z34vMBPQWAq2rCXdGw9nhWb7FQTxbCRjtrQWm7LKYPEPKNPcLyg5MPlDyr2h9QdfGmOLGM06J3yzVF7AwSWbJQsD-L0hYM5A1MOo-4fhQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiCFP852vkLGRyVSnwo79brgLXFTaT8oh_ffD-n4gKJm3NxyJIwbBjQnR_VKIPKAkYduAOzRIuSBXz4Z34vMBPQWAq2rCXdGw9nhWb7FQTxbCRjtrQWm7LKYPEPKNPcLyg5MPlDyr2h9QdfGmOLGM06J3yzVF7AwSWbJQsD-L0hYM5A1MOo-4fhQ=w253-h317" width="253" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-6437008256437427832024-02-24T18:23:00.012-05:002024-02-24T21:17:41.180-05:00Sweet and Sacred Trees<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyep_L63fwLKxaK11o5jwZjjyitkK0ResXD2O_S5-sompd9fZgK8YoF1FauO82CHGUsxHzV-H_duxska0_4AVA93NaZl_Gj2u81Hy6QZcW8sfq8oKv7sngp90MJIvOZzfv-q6gKokgdlrDZbUiT21JqfwjWxJ377rvvFM4RQ5poAYZhklRKwffeA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="216" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyep_L63fwLKxaK11o5jwZjjyitkK0ResXD2O_S5-sompd9fZgK8YoF1FauO82CHGUsxHzV-H_duxska0_4AVA93NaZl_Gj2u81Hy6QZcW8sfq8oKv7sngp90MJIvOZzfv-q6gKokgdlrDZbUiT21JqfwjWxJ377rvvFM4RQ5poAYZhklRKwffeA=w290-h313" width="290" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Today we heard from friends who have several hectares of mixed bush not far from Lindsay, Ontario. It includes sugar maple trees that they've been tapping for several years now. It's the old-fashioned way, with spiles and buckets. They reported that in a 24-hour period their trees gifted them with 80 litres of sap, translating to 2 litres of syrup at the 40 to 1 ratio. I commented that this was a wonderful form of generosity and they assured me that they expressed their gratitude to the trees in return. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We have chatted about reverentially acknowledging the trees around us, something Ruth and I do virtually every time we're in the woods, including during a walk in Prince Edward County earlier today. We began to do so after I read about the ritual of thanks offered by Ethiopian Christians as they enter their Church Forests, oases of trees surrounding church buildings, often in areas otherwise denuded of vegetation. As it happens, the husband of the maple syrup couple visited a Church Forest during a trip to Ethiopia a few years ago. By serendipity or providence he met the author of the article I read about Church Forests at a restaurant while in the country. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigGEve-uDod9LXpGztgorKWS8xRdIy400UMwti4MPDQvPP3NwMZat--McJ9hKW07Q9-YBeYRyRw8whGjrflAg8jQbjfaSYH3eT1yIeDxkBKdHYgTMLeO04d2Ay_2m1epPCAjruFYdoLqp3Dfxcx-vOpkvY-T9x-DQnSlC6YQPN090BZaj1gfuIGQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1418" data-original-width="1440" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigGEve-uDod9LXpGztgorKWS8xRdIy400UMwti4MPDQvPP3NwMZat--McJ9hKW07Q9-YBeYRyRw8whGjrflAg8jQbjfaSYH3eT1yIeDxkBKdHYgTMLeO04d2Ay_2m1epPCAjruFYdoLqp3Dfxcx-vOpkvY-T9x-DQnSlC6YQPN090BZaj1gfuIGQ=w324-h319" width="324" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Ten days from now I will attend a seminar in nearby Napanee about Little Forests, also called Micro-Forests. It is concept developed by a Japanese botanist named </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">Akira Miyawaki who came up with the idea about 40 years ago.These are densely planted forests the size of a tennis court, or smaller, that contain hundreds of plants. They encourage biodiversity in small plats and achieve maturity much faster. Canada has vast forests but we need these micro-forests in urban areas as well. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">Okay, I may be rambling here, but I hope you are able to follow the thread. Trees matter in so many ways for the well-being of Planet Earth and their gifts to humans and other creatures are manifold. Little wonder that there are so many trees in our Judeo/Christian scriptures and that they are regarded with respect and even reverence.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, the next time you look out a window at a tree, or walk amidst a forest, or pour some sweet maple syrup on a pancake, give thanks to the Creator. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLgFa2-5VO273V8cKO1hJdPGCaJsnv5Dvr1E5H1ONaTm7R8rQr4nj21JmXGp1s2AIP4XnIkcaVfcDLvY6M3ekGHpKr-vcxS7i1G3cB1bYN-_DSWIM9aGXR0hsvqrGtluYuHf0UTHCg68shwn1HP1g2P1TolQ-vyY5MT7SfxhrCb4LfxtONcCxi5Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjLgFa2-5VO273V8cKO1hJdPGCaJsnv5Dvr1E5H1ONaTm7R8rQr4nj21JmXGp1s2AIP4XnIkcaVfcDLvY6M3ekGHpKr-vcxS7i1G3cB1bYN-_DSWIM9aGXR0hsvqrGtluYuHf0UTHCg68shwn1HP1g2P1TolQ-vyY5MT7SfxhrCb4LfxtONcCxi5Q=w436-h244" width="436" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> Church Forest in Ethiopia </b></span><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-77247320368729401002024-02-23T11:26:00.001-05:002024-02-23T11:26:21.602-05:00Stained Glass and Racial Justice <p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfFB0cYsprPWCHCDXqsiFFvIUxd9Yn9DMYzieNOwGQbgd85Isrz6OA4nXGEedvv-a6OdQt6_IhG6xvpAOv6yM3KS8Vba_ZlpYYSLCDYAwFcatV8wnBUJgoszTH6O8G_qV7xBpi4tYyxWQ5aoS3TgzxjGC6E8GHpiu-kqx55rPHbto3Frcy6N76A/s1400/Justice%20Windows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1400" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfFB0cYsprPWCHCDXqsiFFvIUxd9Yn9DMYzieNOwGQbgd85Isrz6OA4nXGEedvv-a6OdQt6_IhG6xvpAOv6yM3KS8Vba_ZlpYYSLCDYAwFcatV8wnBUJgoszTH6O8G_qV7xBpi4tYyxWQ5aoS3TgzxjGC6E8GHpiu-kqx55rPHbto3Frcy6N76A/w411-h231/Justice%20Windows.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A single voice raised, then another. We</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.3em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">must tell the truth about our history.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.3em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How did we get here and where do we go?</span></em></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.3em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Walk toward freedom. Work toward freedom.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.3em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Believe in beloved community.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">For decades the Washington National Cathedral in the District of Columbia contained disturbingly racist stained glass windows honouring </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 0.36px;">Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. They were installed in 1953, which speaks to the climate of acceptance for Civil War "heroes" from the South at that time and the realities of racial segregation. There were Confederate flags hanging in the building as well.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ECNMpsn6-JMKgpgVb4Px5kKDgZxOO2Cv3GxvZMcHCKCHxvLClGaoiYHf33Estfn5lW8lMaN2MgzUy1-uixgKNqiALlIiN2pP7RAorxVtvfyYzbaxxEA6HnD30wq9TzC_wCgcwaNhHyp1B5UbMdP2skUs17BPawhmiudE_2YgXW0t8CxmVWEvWg/s265/Justice%20Windows%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="265" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ECNMpsn6-JMKgpgVb4Px5kKDgZxOO2Cv3GxvZMcHCKCHxvLClGaoiYHf33Estfn5lW8lMaN2MgzUy1-uixgKNqiALlIiN2pP7RAorxVtvfyYzbaxxEA6HnD30wq9TzC_wCgcwaNhHyp1B5UbMdP2skUs17BPawhmiudE_2YgXW0t8CxmVWEvWg/w340-h244/Justice%20Windows%202.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; letter-spacing: 0.36px;"><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;">Seven years ago those windows were removed, along with the flags,and I see that the replacement windows have been installed and dedicated They were </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;">were created by artist Kerry James Marshall and uphold racial justice. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: 0.36px;">The windows, titled "Now and Forever"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; letter-spacing: 0.36px;"> show a group of protesters marching in different directions and holding up large signs that read "Fairness" and "No Foul Play." </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.36px;">Last September the Cathedral debuted the new windows, as well as a poem inscribed in stone tablets near the windows titled "American Song" by Elizabeth Alexander. A portion of that poem is above. </span></p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.36px;">Why do we hang on to artifacts and glorification of poisonous history, sometimes with reverence, and even in places of worship? It's encouraging that these changes have been made and that there is now a beautiful tribute to those who worked for justice and equality. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5JE2LLon7ivoFTNQWVTTDjRV74InyIguMhivsdF7q1AOzQNFPSzbYp1YOJhb1cO6z6yyrj3EtBW92u2VGYRPOyDE1QwNnwu6PA97TBDCj4HaupUejzHqvU1mPIfGbrhiJ4V_x17QRkPaee4zdugi4dOvBywVRqf7YYpT5NsmTtzwePJp96ZjMw/s225/Justice%20Windows%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5JE2LLon7ivoFTNQWVTTDjRV74InyIguMhivsdF7q1AOzQNFPSzbYp1YOJhb1cO6z6yyrj3EtBW92u2VGYRPOyDE1QwNnwu6PA97TBDCj4HaupUejzHqvU1mPIfGbrhiJ4V_x17QRkPaee4zdugi4dOvBywVRqf7YYpT5NsmTtzwePJp96ZjMw/w267-h267/Justice%20Windows%203.jpg" width="267" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.36px;"><br /></span></span><p></p><blockquote class="edTag" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: none; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.3em; max-width: 680px; padding: 0px 15px; position: relative; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"><div style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(224, 224, 224); border-left-style: solid; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 2px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p></div></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; float: none; font-family: NPRSerif, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.36px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1.17647em; max-width: 680px; padding: 0px 15px; position: static; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29817490.post-62932411444349744582024-02-22T14:16:00.026-05:002024-02-22T14:54:27.667-05:00Cray-Cray in Alabama <p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoexal2vH6lFFy1FJ9KtYI7S4qEN8RcuZJHdUXwtsO-91QghGXRbX2jHKZjVHKCnI5asI5bgg9BhK0gXMJ2XtNfHZRr1j9Cs1TDg4T1dnjWe9OCNnYhz1ipG2NGlKkqIUrv8tKO9bX6daRP3bZuioxeGKcj8MLKXpDTFiFT2wX49BUzhYpE0V9eA/s249/Incubator%20Cartoon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="202" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoexal2vH6lFFy1FJ9KtYI7S4qEN8RcuZJHdUXwtsO-91QghGXRbX2jHKZjVHKCnI5asI5bgg9BhK0gXMJ2XtNfHZRr1j9Cs1TDg4T1dnjWe9OCNnYhz1ipG2NGlKkqIUrv8tKO9bX6daRP3bZuioxeGKcj8MLKXpDTFiFT2wX49BUzhYpE0V9eA/w259-h319/Incubator%20Cartoon.jpg" width="259" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><b> Ann Telnaes</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have to say that I get a fair number of wacky emails from various publishers and organizations who notice that I write a blog but don't seem to give any attention to the content. Many of them are so far to the Christian right that they are barely visible on the horizon and I"m definitely left of centre on the theologial spectrum.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A few weeks ago I got an invitation to support a project in the States to "rescue" frozen human eggs with the purpose of implanting them in willing human hosts so that they could become the persons God intended them to be. It was one of the most bizarre proposals I'd read along the way for so many reasons. Shades of <b>The Handmaid's Tale. </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, we aren't done yet with the cray-cray. Last Friday the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, a first-of-its-kind decision. Alabama has the second lowest rating of any state for healthcare and a fairly high infant mortality rate. It also scores 44th of 50 states for education. So, sure, focus on a frozen non-child instead of the well-being of children in your midst. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Already one medical centre has paused in vitro fertilization procedures because of the possible liability. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">We have seen and heard of the increasing control over the reproductive rights of women in the US, often encouraged and supported by conservative Christians. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">In the Supreme Court ruling the Chief Justice referred to the book of Genesis which is bizarre in itself, along with John Calvin and other theologians dead for centuries. This white male was a key figure in overturning Roe v Wade. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Whenever I hear the words "freedom" or "liberty" emanating from these groups I assume they mean the opposite. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Women and their medical care-givers are increasingly anxious about complications in pregnancies, afraid of the legal repercussions if they come to an end for any reason, </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> It is alarming, and while we assume this couldn't happen in Canada, I wonder. We seem to be listing to starboard in a number of ways. I wonder if Margaret Atwood will express thoughts on this latest development. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7w5zrKd-kZMQYpf5kgmXrRirJWw3hA2bl9kS94lvDZ8REngdacqrpNgN0NCj3nFkVPuOJ0VImSZY-4-W-Y8MDi_cCwlLcwrB9kJwXhR1X5eq4P8Ph1QkcqoMJ8T-k9SZaK7v77WqDoxgaFs6GNvBcvsVOBtDt4mBTGmtNoJWEBgGMfNr2lOZ-Q/s275/Handmaids%20Tale%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7w5zrKd-kZMQYpf5kgmXrRirJWw3hA2bl9kS94lvDZ8REngdacqrpNgN0NCj3nFkVPuOJ0VImSZY-4-W-Y8MDi_cCwlLcwrB9kJwXhR1X5eq4P8Ph1QkcqoMJ8T-k9SZaK7v77WqDoxgaFs6GNvBcvsVOBtDt4mBTGmtNoJWEBgGMfNr2lOZ-Q/w356-h237/Handmaids%20Tale%203.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, "Guardian Text Egyptian Web", Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>David Mundyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701933935604438349noreply@blogger.com0