World Peace and the Korean Peninsula

Ecumenical Prayer service for Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula in Gospel Church in Seoul, August 2019.

 

Photo: Grégoire de Fombelle/WCC

There is an important event underway in South Korea, what is described as an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation. The theme is World Peace and the Korean Peninsula. The Church as a Community of Healing, Reconciliation, and Peacebuilding. 

You are probably aware that North Korea and South Korea have been divided since the 1950s after the conclusion of a war in which Canada participated and more than 500 Canadian military personnel died. 

North Korea continues to be a totalitarian regime cut off from most of the world while South Korea is a democracy with a robust Christian community of about 14.5 million. Over the years there have been tentative efforts toward reconciliation and family reunification but this has been a difficult road. 

In 2022 the United Church was invited to participate in an ecumenical appeal where 10,000 of our members would sign a petition for peace on the Korean Peninsula. The United Church had a missionary presence in South Korea for a long time but eventually renounced all properties run by the denomination and developed a different relationship with the churches there. While there are admirable goals for the petition it didn't seem to get much attention in the UCC and didn't meet the goal. I signed it but I really wondered why given the current North Korean regime. Hey, sometimes the gesture matters as much for oneself as for the outcome.

 Here are the main points:

End the Korean War and establish a peace agreement. 

Create a Korean Peninsula and a world free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat. 

 Resolve the conflict with dialogue and cooperation instead of sanctions and pressure. 

 Break from the vicious cycle of the arms race and invest in human security and environmental sustainability. 

The irony is that the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas is heavily armed and guarded yet has become an ecological "ark" where many species flourish without human interference. 

Will peace ever prevail on the Korean Peninsula? God only knows. 

A Fair World Requires a Fair Map

 

Amnesty International

@amnesty

The UN voted in favour of a resolution to formally phase out the commonly used 16th century Mercato world map. The resolution rightfully acknowledges that the map’s distortions contribute to a ‘symbolic minimisation’ of Africa, perpetuating historical biases. The resolution encourages governments, schools, tech companies and international organizations to use the Equal Earth projection going forward, which depicts Africa and other continents accurately. In the words of Togo’s foreign minister Robert Dussey who spearheaded the resolution, "a fair world begins with a fair map."

1 God's got the whole world in his hands.

God's  got the whole world in his hands.
God's got the whole world in his hands.
God's got the whole world in his hands.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
    the world, and those who live in it,
2 for he has founded it on the seas
    and established it on the rivers.

                        Psalm 24:1-2 NRSVue

I remember when back in the early 1970s a new world map was created and presented called the Peter's Projection. Most of my generation had grown up with the Mercator Projection developed in the 16th century by a Flemish mapmaker of that name. What is now known as the Gall-Peter's Projection offered a more accurate depiction of different parts of the planet and it was hailed by many organizations, including Christian denominations such as the United Church. Even still,  Africa was undersized in comparison to other continents. 

There is a proposal for adopting a more accurate global map called the Equal Earth Projection. Here are the first paragraphs from a New York Times piece: 

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday endorsed a world map that depicts the size of Africa more accurately than the map most commonly used now.

The assembly approved a resolution favoring the Equal Earth projection, a map that supporters say shows the true size of countries, over the familiar Mercator map, which shrinks regions near the Equator. It passed with 164 votes in favor and six abstentions, according to the United Nations.

The only nation that voted against the resolution was the United States, which said the map promoted an “ideological agenda” and was a distraction from the “genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations.”

While it is bizarre that the United States would object to honest and fair depiction of the planet, honesty and fairness seem to be low on the agenda for the current administration.

One might figure that any nation desiring justice, especially those that claim to be rooted in the Judeo/Christian tradition would support this development. We live in a time when African nations are stepping forward to challenge the colonial past and asset themselves on the world stage. Perhaps it's the ugly slavery past that rankles the US.

I'll be interested to see how faith communities including Christian denominations respond to this UN proposal, if they do at all. Christians should always have an ideological agenda based on justice and equality. 

A Divine Vision of Meaningful Labour

                                            Christ in the Carpenter's Shop -- Gerrit van Honthorst

 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” 

                                            Mark 6: 1-3 NRSVue

We were part of the congregation at Trenton United yesterday and as is usually the case in many churches on the extended Labour Day Weekend there wasn't a big crowd on hand. Still, Rev. Isaac presided for our worship while Dianne was the music leader, with help with some friends, and it was a thoughtful service all round. Lots of people work on holiday weekends and we hope that they are adequately compensated for their labour. 

The reason we celebrate Labour Day today is to honour meaningful work and those who were committed to protecting the rights of workers. During my years of ministry I took Monday as a day off and no one ever suggested that I should receive Tuesday as well on our so-called long weekends...but I'm not bitter. There have been efforts to establish a union for clergy and other church workers in the United Church but the movement never gained traction. 

As Christ-followers we remind ourselves that God chose to be with us as a human, a premise that is preposterous to many but it is part of the appeal of Christianity to me. And he had a job, identified as carpenter in the verses above. There are plenty of paintings of Jesus apprenticing for this trade with his father Joseph but poor Joe doesn't get a family mention here in Mark. 

I preached on the theme of work on a number of Labour Day Weekend Sundays and approached the subject from different perspectives. What would I say in 2026? Maybe I would reflect on the rise and some would argue the threat of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to honest human labour. 

Some pundits are sounding the caution that AI will result in the disappearance of tens of  millions of jobs world-wide and create a crisis for those who are approaching the labour market. Some billionaires are open in speculating that AI will change their industries and shrink their workforces. There is no sense that they consider those job losses as unethical or immoral. Perhaps they're too busy building rockets and buying castles. 

I'm grateful that Pope Leo's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, considers what lies ahead with AI. The irony that the quote above was shared on X is not lost on me. The complexities of these new developments in artificial intelligence make may make the notion of traditional trades such as carpentry seem almost quaint yet communities of faith do need to ponder the ethics of technology. 

While this may seem overwhelming we are called to be discerning and faithful in every "brave new world" we find ourselves in. I may sit outside on this glorious day and ponder it all. Happy Labour Day!

Living Water at Trenton United

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.

      Psalm 1: 1-3 NRSVue

After I posted my Lake Ontario musings on Friday I opened the weekly Trenton United email and was pleased to see that Rev. Isaac is picking up on the Season of Creation them of Living Water with a focus on Lake Ontario. Trenton United is close to the Trent River where it flows into the Bay of Quinte. Our annual outdoor service is along the shore of the bay and we have planted trees by the river. 

Here is the invitation to attend and to bring along some water for participation. 

Greetings, Friends,

We give names to rivers, lakes, and oceans. Those names can help us belong, but they can also become tools for control.

This Sunday, let’s allow the recent conversations about Lake Ontario become a doorway into some larger questions.

Who gets to name the waters? What histories do those names carry? And how do we respond when anger and sadness about the present meet much older stories of justice and renewal?

Join us this Sunday as we begin the Season of Creation in the Middle Auditorium at 10 a.m., and if you are able, please bring a water bottle filled with some tap water from your home to help us for our Spirit Exchange.

Blessings,  
Rev. Isaac (he/him)

Demons, the Antichrist, & Following Christ

 

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

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles?  In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Matthew 7:15-20 NRSVue

There are weeks where it is as though we hear a tsunami of crazy...stuff...from south of the border. So much so that it's just better to tune out. At the same time, I figure it is important to pay attention to what I feel is the faux Christian rhetoric that emanates from the mouths of those in political leadership. 

Vice-President JD Vance, a professed Roman Catholic, held forth on religious matters in an interview about his recent book Communion on Monday. Vance has expressed some weird views along the way about Christianity and I've wondered if he is playing to the base which could choose him as the next President (shudder here.)  For instance, does he really believe that if his Hindu wife Usha, mother of his children, doesn't accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour she is going to hell? 

Forbes magazine offered some tidbits from the interview and they are unsettling:

In a discussion about “end times,” Vance said he would not be “shocked if the antichrist was walking among us” and said he tries to live like the “end times are coming . . . it’s just a question of whether they’re coming thousands of years down the road or a few months down the road.”

Vance revisited the topic of UFOs after he raised eyebrows in March when he told podcaster Benny Johnson, “I”m obsessed with this . . . I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons.” Vance touched on the topic in his interview with Crawford: “I don’t have the file that says ‘this wasn’t a UFO, it was actually a demon,’” adding, “my attitude is . . . isn’t it as likely that there are angels or demons if there are extraterrestrials? But like I don’t have like a top secret file that sort of proves that one way or the other.”

Talking about the supposed "end times" and the "antichrist" is catnip for a lot of conservative Christians and Christian nationalists. The Left Behind novel series sold millions of copies with their lurid and non-biblical description of the dark period leading to the return of Christ. Yes, there are references to an antichrist entity in Revelation but it was probably a code-like reference to the oppressive Roman Empire. 

The reason we should be concerned about rather than dismissive of these musings is because we already see the grim outcome of demonizing groups in the United States. And the rhetoric about the antichrist is ultimately violent and could encourage violence in God's name. 

There is an considerable irony here, isn't there?  I've suggested before that while Trump is not the antichrist, he is anti-Christ in almost every aspect of his being. He has successfully led America and millions of supposed Christ-followers toward suspicion and cruelty, hatred and violence. He has no love for anyone other than himself. Vance is his minion at the moment but he has the potential to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing" President before long, and walking amongst us even now. 

Living Water and Lake Ontario

                                                                              Ruth Mundy photo 

This calm, gorgeous, late summer morning we launched our kayaks onto the Bay of Quinte, a long arm of Lake ONTARIO. Yup, the one and only Lake Ontario foolishly claimed as Lake You-Know-What by the Buffoon-in-Chief of the United States. 

While we were still on the shore we watched an osprey harass two squawking blue herons. As we paddled we saw egrets, kingfishers, a common term, diving. There were lots of Monarch butterflies about to make the arduous journey across this inland sea. We made our way toward the Tyendinaga Reserve, Mohawk Territory, and the mouth of the Salmon River. Once again we were virtually alone and we thanked the Creator. 

While indignant Canadians are swearing (figuratively and literally) their fealty to this shared Great Lake the truth is that we have a long history of treating the waters and the First Peoples shabbily. About a quarter of Canadians live in relative proximity to Lake Ontario and over the centuries settlers have filled in its wetlands, industrialized its shoreline, and treated its tributaries as open sewers. 

Ontario is the most polluted of the five Great Lakes and as a consequence the only one without any appreciable commercial fishery, although our household does purchase pickerel from a commercial fisher family in Prince Edward County. People do play along its shores at Provincial Parks but few municipalities have public beaches, including Belleville, our home. 

                                 Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, centre, in brown

The name Ontario is Indigenous, likely meaning shining water or beautiful water, but Indigenous peoples along its shores on both sides of the border have been treated contemptuously over time. Treaties with them were made by colonial powers only to be broken. In our area fishing rights in the Trent and Moira and Salmon Rivers were established, only to be taken away. The Salmon River has no Atlantic salmon, a species driven to extinction in Lake Ontario 120 years ago. Today Tyendinaga is the only Indigenous reserve or reservation actually on the lake in either country

As we paddled in the beauty we could see increasing stands of phragmites and windrows of quagga mussels along open areas of shoreline. These are two of many invasive species. 

I'm glad that Ontarians and Canadians are declaring that this Great Lake will remain Ontario. It would be wonderful if this increases our awareness and desire to protect and restore its shining waters. I love that Prime Minister Carney used the term "hydronyms" to declare our commitment to the term Lake Ontario. I hope that a clever a printing company is making a bundle from its My Hydronyms are Lake and Ontario tee-shirts -- I can't get on to the website, let alone order one. 

During our paddle I pondered this year's Creation Time/Season of Creation/Creationtide theme which is Living Water. Indigenous peoples understood that there is a spiritual element, and hold reverence, for Lake Ontario. As Christians who can learn with humility from their example, let's care for our Living Waters. 

                                                                              Ruth Mundy photo