The Plight of Gazan Families in Canada

 

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

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

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

Leviticus 19:33-34 NRSVue

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

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

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

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

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

                                           This protest occurred in March, 2024

Prayer as Journalling to the Sky

 

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

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

                                    Ecclesiastes 1: 2-4 NRSVue

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

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

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

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

 

Consider the Lilies of the Pond

 

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

                           Matthew 6: 28-29 King James Version

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

                                                      Chelsea Flower Show

Marianne Budde "Who is My Neighbour?"

                                   

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

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

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

Luke 10: 25-37 NRSVue 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Most Religious Wedding Money Can Buy?

 

                             Madonna dell’Orto Roman Catholic Church, Venice 

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

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

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

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

Hope & the Lying Voice of Despair

  I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor,  and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 

 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8: 18-25 NRSVue 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Praying for Christians in Syria

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

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

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

 Published On: June 25, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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