Bless the Lord, Frosts and Snows

 

Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
45 Bless the Lord, dews and falling snow;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
46 Bless the Lord, nights and days;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
47 Bless the Lord, light and darkness;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
48 Bless the Lord, ice and cold;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
49 Bless the Lord, frosts and snows;
    sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
50 

from the Song of Azariah -- addition to the Book of Daniel 

Before Christmas we visited the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinberg Ontario, a gem of an art gallery that never disappoints. We went primarily for a current exhibition called River of Dreams: Impression on the St. Lawrence. As the title states, this features the work of artists who could be described as Impressionist painters and who worked along the length of one of the great rivers of Canada. 

                                                                                 Robert Pilot 

44 

We loved this exhibition and at one point I commented to Ruth about the number of glorious paintings that featured ice and snow, remarkable depictions of winter. Quebec tends to remain more wintry than most of southern Ontario but climate change is altering the season there as well. The Quebec Winter Carnival begins this weekend although in recent years organizers have contended with melting ice castles and outdoor rinks unfit for skating. 

                                                                  Paintings by Clarence Gagnon

This morning I was out shovelling an overnight accumulation of snow that was actually more than we anticipated. After I huffed and puffed my way through the task I took a look in our backyard at the trees and shrubs festooned with what was just the right consistency of snow to create an old-timey Winter Wonderland. This was perfect for our Listening and Looking with Jesus in February project at Trenton United and will be included in today's calendar square. 

I appreciate that ice and snow can be a life-changing threat for the elderly. Despite getting up there in years myself I am still grateful to the Creator for the sheer wonder of snow and I hope I always will be.Ruth skated on a rink created on the Bay of Quinte on Sunday following worship and for her it was another form of praise.  I will likely get out for a walk at some point today that doesn't require pushing a shovel.

Stay safe, upright, and warm!

                                                 Our backyard this morning -- photos Ruth Mundy

Genuine Love in Turbulent Times

 Yesterday the pastor at Trenton United Church who happens to be our son Isaac took a few minutes to be pastoral with the congregation regarding the growing antagonism between the United States and Canada with the anxiety for many that has ensued. He noted that there is a strong temptation to escalate the rhetoric of retaliation at every level of society. While Isaac didn't exactly say "keep your eyes on Jesus" (his thoughtful words were more nuanced) that was the essential message. 

Isaac's invitation to view our current critical moment  -- I do think it is a national crisis -- his reflection and invitation were important when it is so tempting to be angry and frightened. Occasionally both anger and fear have their place but rarely. This moment during Sunday worship brought to mind a daily scripture reading that jolted me recently. The apostle Paul has sent a pastoral letter to the congregatoin in Rome and this brilliant epistle includes this passage: 

Marks of the True Christian

 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good;  love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.  

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:9-21 NRSVue

This exhortation by Rabbi Paul is essentially the AI distillation of Jesus' teaching, including sampling from the Beatitudes. It is brilliant, both unattainable, if we're honest, and yet paradoxically vital to living in Christ. He doesn't suggest that evil doesn't exist. He does say that more evil isn't the answer.

The phrase "heap burning coals" doesn't sound particularly peaceful and has puzzled many a Christian. The phrases immediately before it are reminders that we aren't God, that compassion and kindness are the anti-revenge -- think of the furore when Bishop Budde had the temerity to gently and directly ask that the president exhibit mercy. That was a heapin' helpin' of coals.

Shall we keep praying and hold fast to what is good? 

Is Brigid a Timely Saint in 2025?

 Happy Imbolc! I'm fairly sure you didn't see that greeting coming and I'll be the only person you know to offer it today. Imbolc is a Celtic celebration roughly marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It supposedly signifies the beginning of spring and lambing season which shows you that spring arrives at a very different time in Ireland. Imbolc is now a national holiday in Ireland where it's also known as Saint Brigid's Day.

I've written about Brigid before because her lore is fascinating. There is a Brigid who was a pagan goddess and then there is the saint, one of three patron saints in Ireland along with Patrick and Columcille (Columba). Were these two Brigids the same person with the pagan transformed into a Christian by the church? Who knows, although there is no shortage of Brigids in the history of Ireland. 

I like that the Christian Brigid of Kildare was an independent soul, an abbess of renown who may have been a bishop, beyond the sphere of Rome's patriarchy. Both of them are associated with blacksmiths, cattle, and an eternal flame. This is also Candlemass in Roman Catholic tradition, the day when candles to be used in the coming year were brought to a priest to be blessed. The scriptorium at Kildare was said to have produced an exquisitely decorated gospel book, an illuminated manuscript, which fits the theme of light. 

A 16th-century fresco by Lorenzo Lotto showing Brigid turning water into beer (left) and healing a blind man (right) -- a saint and a multi-tasker!

Brigid was also known for her compassion toward the poor and the sick, as well as providing sanctuary for those fleeing violence. We need more Brigid's in our world these days. 

I would be remiss in failing to mention that daughter Jocelyn celebrates her birthday today, always cause for celebration in our famly. 

Given that Dry January has just come to an end this might not be the time to share a portion of a poem attributed to St. Brigid that is a cheerful and well lubricated imagining of heaven, but here goes:

I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity. I'd like to give a lake of beer to God. I'd love the Heavenly Host to be tippling there For all eternity. I'd love the men of Heaven to live with me, To dance and sing. If they wanted, I'd put at their disposal Vats of suffering. White cups of love I'd give them, With a heart and a half; Sweet pitchers of mercy I'd offer To every man. I'd make Heaven a cheerful spot, Because the happy heart is true. I'd make the men contented for their own sake I'd like Jesus to love me too. I'd like the people of heaven to gather From all the parishes around, I'd give a special welcome to the women, The three Marys of great renown. I'd sit with the men, the women of God There by the lake of beer We'd be drinking good health forever And every drop would be a prayer.

Re-Enchanting the World, One Look at a Time

Indigenous Australian artist Alma Nungurrayi Granites paints the great Warlpiri story of the Seven Sisters Dreaming, about the ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are found in the night sky in the star cluster known as the Pleiades

Beautiful sunrise and clear blue sky. Red-breasted nuthatch at a feeder. These are two "look and listen" moments to start this day and this month of February. As some of you know, last Sunday I invited members of Trenton United Church to pay attention to the natural world or Creation during the month of February, day by day. It is tempting to hole up and miss the beauty of the world around us in the depth of winter but I was inspired after hearing a CBC interview withpsychology professsor Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore about her research into the mood-altering benefits of even the small aspects of attending to nature.

I sought Dr. Passmore out and she kindly gave me an hour of her time for a chat. She was delighted to hear that our congregation is embarking on this project and wants to know how it goes. As we meandered about in conversation we spoke about the "re-enchantment" of the world, the intentional effort to reconnect with nature. While Indigenous peoples everywhere understand this our Christian faith somehow drifted away from appreciating Creation. For some it was the fear of pantheism, even though there are countless passages encouraging us to recognize the Creator in all things. As I mentioned a few days ago, Holli-Anne chuckled at my observation that Jesus did a lot of his best work "en plein air." The gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus climbed a hillside early in the day to pray in preparation for the demands of his ministry.

"now stop...breathe...and engage your senses"

 I have been pleasantly surprised to hear from folk who are already "listening and looking with Jesus." One was on her way to a follow-up appointment after major surgery and noticed snow-rollers in a field, a curious phenomenon from the recent high winds. 

I hope you'll join in this spiritual exercise during the next 28 days. The description is below and all you need is a calendar. 

Snow rollers on the Bay of Quinte at Belleville Ontario --Paul Lantz

Listening and Looking with Jesus…in February!

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”

― poet Mary Oliver

 "When people notice nature, and not necessarily even just spend extra time, but just [notice] it, we know it enhances our positive emotions…"

Dr.Holli-Anne Passmore -associate professor of psychology at the Concordia University of Edmonton who studies the correlation between nature & well-being

You are invited to take time each day during the month of February to pay attention to the natural world we Christians call Creation. We will look, listen, engage all of our senses, for a few minutes or longer during this shortest month. You might:

Notice your houseplants or the lengthening days from the comfort indoors

Pay attention to the birds at feeders (or the squirrels!)

Go for a walk, skate, ski & consider tracks in the snow, ice on the bay/river, the changing sky, birdsong

Create a snow angel (providing you can get back up again!)

Jot down what you experienced in the squares of the February calendar page, or perhaps create a tiny drawing.

On Sunday March 2 you’ll have the opportunity after worship to share what was meaningful for you as you paid attention to the world around you.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, whatyou will wear… Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenlyFather feeds them…. Matthew 6: 25 -26 NRSVue

CBC The Current interview with Dr. Passmore

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/9.6612459

Jesus Was a Refugee

When Jesus was a refugee

from Herod's cruel tyranny,
an exile in a foreign place,
a child in need of saving grace,
we wonder who it was God led
to shelter him and give him bread.
We wonder too, had we been there,
would we have been as quick to share?

Now risen, Christ still makes his home
with everyone who walks alone,
and, with the people on the street,
still waits in line for bread to eat.
The time is now. We must decide.
Will we pass by the other side,
or will we follow Love's command
and reach out with a helping hand?

When Jesus was a Refugee Author: Mary Nelson Keithahn (2002) 

Tune: NEIGHBORS (Horman) 

Just before Christmas I saw the news about the deaths of 44 migrants who drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Their boat capsized in a strom the only survivor was an 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone who was aboard with brother and cousin. This disaster barely received coverage because we've become numbed to the barrage of informations about, migrants, displaced persons, asylum-seekers refugees -- whatever term we decide to use to describe those who are so desperate for a new life that they'll do anything to achieve it. Some are fleeing persecution, others escaping famine and war. 

Yesterday I saw a New York Times headline, Something Extraordinary Is Happening All Over the World, so I had to click for more. It was an essay by Lydia Polgreen, part of a series called The Great Migration, exploring how people are moving around the world today. The piece begins: 

We are living in an age of mass migration.

Millions of people from the poor world are trying to cross seas, forests, valleys and rivers, in search of safety, work and some kind of better future. About 281 million people now live outside the country in which they were born, a new peak of 3.6 percent of the global population according to the International Organization for Migration, and the number of people forced to leave their country because of conflict and disaster is at about 50 million — an all-time high. In the past decade alone, the number of refugees has tripled and the number of asylum seekers has more than quadrupled. Taken together, it is an extraordinary tide of human movement.

The surge of people trying to reach Europe, the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia has set off a broad panic, reshaping the political landscape. All across the rich world, citizens have concluded — with no small prompting by right-wing populists — that there is too much immigration. Migration has become the critical fault line of politics. Donald Trump owes his triumphant return to the White House in no small part to persuading Americans, whose country was built on migration, that migrants are now the prime source of its ills.

Because I tend to dive down rabbit holes a search revealed that this huge number of displaced people is roughly the equivalent of the fourth largest country in the world, Indonesia.This is staggering, yet the response of the global community is to threaten possible asylum seekers, lower immigration quotas, seal borders. 

This year, 2025, marks the tenth anniversary of the first wave of Syrian refugees to Canada and some of us were very involved in sponsorships. In our case it was an initiative of our congregation and other communities of faith. We all felt that this was a moral responsibility, and those of us who were Christians felt it was a Gospel imperative.We might shake our heads at the American debacle after an election based on fear and hatred of outsiders brought a cold-hearted tyrant to power again. Yet there is a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada as well and I am saddened. 

Members of the Mostafa Family 

The other day we stopped in for lunch at the small restaurant of a Syrian family who arrived in 2016. They weren't part of our sponsored group of 23 but we would invite them to events at Bridge St Church. Nasr greeted us warmly and we chatted about his sister in Syria during this time of national uncertainty. Two of his kids are in college now, and they own a home and a broadening business. Canada is better for their presence here. 

Let's pray that our hearts not be hardened to those who desire a new life, and not just those who come from relative stability in their countries of origin. Let's remember that the young Jesus was a refugee as part of a Holy Family on the move. 

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”  

 Emma Lazarus

What Will You Do With Your "Rebate"?

 

Doug Ford announces snap election with ballots printed on backs of $200 cheques -- from The Beaverton

We have received our DEBCs -- Dougie Election Bribe Cheques -- and they didn't bounce. These government "rebate" cheques have been a challenge for some bank machines that read deposits. Maybe they're gagging on them.The Ontario government with Premier Doug Ford as its conniving leader has borrowed billions of dollars for this obvious pork-barrelling for the masses and eventually we the taxpayers will be required to pay it back, with interest. 

We decided long before the cheques arrived that we would figure out how to benefit those in need of support with this nonsensical attempt at currying favour with the electorate -- oh, look, the Conservatives have called an election to get a strong mandate they already have! The satirical announcement from the The Beaverton is so clever. 

We will support a couple of food and meal ministries because these are being squeezed to the limit just about everywhere in the province. The gap between haves and have-nots is growing without any cohesive plan by governments to address the crises of food insecurity and lack of housing. We're also looking at the environmental causes to which we contribute as well. Even though we haven't decided about where our vote will go other than ABC -- Anyone But Conservative -- we may make a contribution to the Green Party because this is the strongest voice for environmental issues. 

In the last election the clear winner was the Apathy Party with just over 40% of Ontarians casting a vote, the lowest percentage ever in this province. As a Christian I feel it is my God-given responsibility to pay attention to governance and the party that will best represent the values I hold in the best interests of all Ontarians but especially for those who need a hand up, not just a hand-out. 

An Airport, A Park, & Whistling into the Wind

 

The once-and-not-future federal government made an important announcement on Monday about lands purchased more than 50 years ago in Southern Ontario. A number of farms and other acreage was bought up, mostly expropriated, for an international airport on the other side of the Greater Toronto Area to take pressure off Pearson and alleviate the dreaded gridlock of the 401 corridor. 

This expropriation was significant, totalling approximately 18,600 acres (7,500 hectares) and almost immediately some barns and houses were demolished. I was in my late teens at the time and this Pickering plan meant that farms owned by members of the congregation my father served in Brooklin had their farms or farmland purchased, although some of them leased the land back from the feds pending the start of construction. This all ground to a halt in 1975 when an agreement with the province couldn't be reached for servicing the area. 

There was resistance before the expropriation and it continued through the decades. There would be announcements about reviving the plan and then it would go away. There were a bunch of studies about feasibility, one as recently as 2023. Is there anything governments do better than hire consultants to study issues at great cost to taxpayers. 

During the early 2000s, when I served a congregation in Lakeridge Presbytery of the United Church where some of those airport lands were located, the committee I chaired invited a spokesperson from Lands Over Landings to speak to our coalition of UCC churches about the ongoing issues and we petitioned the federal government to protect what was and is a pristine watershed including prime farmland. I can't recall receiving a reply because, hey, that's the way in often goes with attempts at resistance.We weren't expecting a "road to Damascus" (or Pickering) moment on the part of the involved governments but we wanted to make a statement of some kind. 

I couldn't be happier that this land has been officially transferred to Parks Canada and will become part of  Rouge National Urban Park, now about a decade old. I pray that the agreement will be ironclad, given the possibility of an imminent change in government. 

I've joked that the unofficial motto of the United Church could be "the importance of being earnest" yet I've participated in protest and support marches, written letters regarding various concerns of the day, and even made a presentation to an Ontario roundtable looking at the use of Crown Lands in the province. I've done so while in ministry in several provinces and now as a "civilian" Christian. At times it has seemed as though I've been whistling into the wind, but I will continue to try to carry a tune, God being my helper. 

Hikers walk through a forest in Toronto's Rouge National Urban Park in June 2021. The Rouge, Canada's first national urban park, was created in 2015. (Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press)

Great, Great Christian Art

 

                                                        The Calling of Saint Matthew -- Caravaggio 

Last week I lamented the seemingly endless stream of kitschy and just plain bad art. From Maudlin Mother Mary to Ripped Caucasian Jesus it is a form of eye pollution.

Then their is the great, even sublime, Christian art from the past and to a lesser degree from the present that inspires the sense of transcendence and invitation to the divine that we hope for in religious experience. 

You may be aware that through the years I've written several times about the 16th century painter, Caravaggio, the general reprobate and convicted murderer who created some of the most intriguing biblical scenes of his time. The moody Netflix series, Ripley, set mainly in Italy,connects the psychopathic central character with Caravaggio both in temperament and the use of light and dark (chiarascuro).

I see that the chapel that Tom Ripley visits in one scene of the series has undergone a renovation with new lighting for what has been a dark space. 

Rome's famed 'cradle of Caravaggio, San Luigi de' Francesi, has got a new lighting system for the iconic Cycle of St Matthew painted by the Italian pre-Baroque master in the French church n the late 16th century-early 17th century. "It's a true, full-blown resurrection," said Brother Renaud Escande, administrator of the Pious Establishments of France in Rome and Loreto, who acts under the aegis of the French embassy... Of the three works that are a high point of Western art and Caravaggio's trademark chiaroscuro technique, perhaps the most celebrated is The Calling of Saint Matthew depicting the moment Jesus Christ calls on the tax collector Matthew to follow him.

Is the great art an antidote for the bad stuff? Let's hope so!

                  David and Goliath -- Caravaggio -- the head of Goliath may have been a self-portrait

Auschwitz, Then & Now

A survivor attends a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation at the Auschwitz-Birkenau former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, in Oswiecim, Poland on Monday. (Oded Balilty/The Associated Press)

 We have been discussing a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum to see the current exhibit about Auschwitz, one of the Nazi death camps, a place of horror where approximately 1.1 million persons, mostly Jews, were killed in less than five years. It's called Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away. 

This extermination of human beings required a level of commitment unprecedented in the history of the world. Ruth isn't sure she wants to go so we will work out a compromise. We went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem in 2023 and she has been there before so its not as though she won't address the horror known as the Shoah, or Calamity, to Jews. But it is all profoundly disturbing and I understand how she feels. 

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russians who won't be represented at the solemn commemoration because of their war of aggression against Ukraine. Leaders from many other countries, including Prime Minister Trudeau are present. 

We're hearing that a growing number of Canadian children and young people either don't know about the Nazi "Final Solution" or feel that it has been exaggerated -- about 20% for the latter. Shoah deniers have always existed but this is a disturbing development. So is growing anti-Semitism in Canada manifested in a number of ways and we should all find this troubling and unexceptable.

I also want to see the documentary The Last Musician of Auschwitz which tells the story of cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who at 99 is the only surviving member of the Women’s Orchestra at Auschwitz. This a portion of the description: 

The film also brings to life the testimony of other Auschwitz inmates who played and composed music at the concentration and extermination camp, to explore what music meant in the worst place on earth. 

Woven through the film are a series of new performances of musical works written by prisoners at the camp, and filmed in the shadow of Auschwitz today. Anita recalls how when she arrived at Auschwitz, a chance mention that she played the cello saved her life, by offering her entry into the camp’s official women’s orchestra – one of 15 orchestras ordered to play marches as prisoners forced to carry out slave labour went to and from their work. The film features a performance of Träumerei (Dreams), from Robert Schumann’s Scenes From Childhood, which the notorious camp doctor Josef Mengele asked Anita to play for him - performed here by her son and professional cellist, Raphael Wallfisch.

I will be leading a couple of sessions at Trenton United using the very good United Church document regarding Jewish-Christian relations in a few weeks as one small way of counteracting that trend. We must be vigilant and informed, remembering that Jesus, most of the disciples, many of the early followers, and the apostle Paul, were Jews. 

             White Crucifixion by Marc Chagall with a Jewish Jesus & Persecution in the Background

Listening and Looking with Jesus…in February!

 

This morning I invited the Trenton United Church congregation into what I hope will be a spiritual exercise in attention during the month of February. I heard an intriguing interview with Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore by Matt Galloway on CBC Radio's The Current not long ago. Dr. Passmore is doing research on the connection between attending to the natural world and positive emotions. This is psychological research but the intertwining of mind/body/spirit is so important I was hooked.

I came up with the idea of putting a calendar page for February on one side of a page and the explanation below on the other. Following Dr. Passmore's lead I asked folk to take the page and record something, great or small, each day in the month or as often as they choose. Then on the first Sunday of March we'll take some time at the conclusion of the worship service to share our observations and delights. 

Our TUC administrator made up 30 sheets and I wondered if this was too optimistic. What do I know! We have to create at least 10 more for all the people who wanted one. Some immediately shared what they are experiencing, including a woman who just had major surgery and went for her first walk yesterday to lift her mood. Another said that three deer have been visiting her backyard and I could see the delight on her face. A family across four generations is going to participate. I was really heartened by this. As children of the Creator we are enlivened by the natural world, a realm of true enchantment. 

Holli-Anne Passmore is an associate professor of psychology at the Concordia University of Edmonton. (Submitted by Holli-Anne Passmore)

I reached out to Dr. Passmore  following the interview with an email and she quickly responded. We ended up chatting for an hour thanks to a Google link and while her work is a scientific endeavour she appreciates the spiritual aspect, if maybe not religious for her. I enjoyed the conversation immensely. She has also been interviewed by Britiain's The Guardian and the New York Times about this research. 

February is tough for a lot of people so, God willing, this will help to make it a bit more hopeful. I reminded Ruth yesterday that about six weeks from this date we paddled for the first time in 2024. She didn't roll her eyes for too long. Who knows what 2025 will hold!

Please join in this endeavour of listening and looking, should it appeal to you, wherever you are. 

Listening and Looking with Jesus…in February!

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.” ― poet Mary Oliver

 "When people notice nature, and not necessarily even just spend extra time, but just [notice] it, we know it enhances our positive emotions…"

Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore -associate professor of psychology at the Concordia University of Edmonton who studies the correlation between nature & well-being

You are invited to take time each day during the month of February to pay attention to the natural world we Christians call Creation. We will look, listen, engage all of our senses, for a few minutes or longer during this shortest month. You might:

Notice your houseplants or the lengthening days from the comfort indoors

Pay attention to the birds at feeders (or the squirrels!)

Go for a walk, skate, ski & consider tracks in the snow, ice on the bay/river, the changing sky, birdsong

Create a snow angel (providing you can get back up again!)

Jot down what you experienced in the squares of the February calendar page, or perhaps create a tiny drawing.

On Sunday March 2 you’ll have the opportunity after worship to share what was meaningful for you as you paid attention to the world around you.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear… Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. Matthew 6: 25 -26 NRSVue

CBC The Current interview with Dr. Passmore

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/noticing-nature-experts-1.7434315