Day-by-Day With the Creator

 Day-by-Day with the Creator: Getting Started 

February 25 & March 4 at 10 AM

 

There is a wealth of books which are daily reading, retreat, sensory, and seasonal guides for the connection between love of Creator and Creation in regular devotional reflection.

 Some of them are intended to be used outdoors but that isn't necessary. 

Which one makes sense for you? 

 

Join a discussion during two sessions led by David Mundy on some of the best of the bunch. 

No book purchase is required and you'll be introduced to samples from these guides to help you decide what might be best for you.

By the dawn's early light Ruth and I were removing snow from our driveway and decks for what may not  be the thousandth time this Winter but certainly felt like it. As readers know, we love snow but we are now in the "enough already!" season, anticipating some signs of...what do we call it?... oh yes, Spring. 

Today I'll drive to Trenton to lead a study/conversation on the subject described above and I have no idea if there will be any interest, other than on my part. I came to realize that I had many of this sort of guide, most of them excellent and varied in approach. 

As always the preparation was good for rekindling my own passion for a subject and I know from life experience that having guides for devotional reading and reflecting are helpful. I'm not sure how many others will feel motivated to join me, but away I go, into the wild, white yonder. 

A Solemn Anniversary for Ukraine

 Holy, Holy, Holy God of life, justice, and love, You who hear the cries of the suffering and remain faithful, We come before You in prayer, united with our brothers and sisters in Christ—those near to us and those across Canada. 

Today we lift before You, with particular urgency, the people of Ukraine: women, men, elders, and children created in Your image and likeness, now enduring the suffering of war, trauma, and grief. 

We lift before You the children who have been forcibly taken from their families. Protect them, preserve their identity, and bring them home. We remember also prisoners of war, held in captivity and far from comfort and care. Be near to them, strengthen them, and guard their lives. We remember Your Church—its clergy and faithful, worshipping under threat. Sustain them in courage, witness, and hope. 

We commend to Your compassionate mercy the land of Ukraine itself—its cities, villages, and homes, its rivers, fields, mountains and seas—part of your beautiful world now scarred by violence, destruction, and loss. 

God of justice and truth, we pray for a just and sustainable peace and for righteousness and justice to prevail over evil and hatred. 

Bring an end to this war, bring peace, justice and healing to Ukraine. And turn the hearts of those who perpetrate this war toward repentance and restoration. 

In these days of lament, O Lord, we live in hope that you will strengthen Your Church with your holy faithfulness and creativity to act with compassion, courage, and generosity as instruments of your active healing. 

Grant that we might participate with all that we are in the beating of swords into ploughshares so that for all people and creation justice will roll down like water and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream. This we pray in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen

On the weekend an annual event called Savour the Chill took place in downtown Belleville involving restaurants competing with their best soups. In the end both the judges and the "peoples choice" included The Kefana in the top three. The Kefana is a Ukrainian restaurant which has established its presence in the past few years and is also contracted to provide meals for the outreach program in the downtown. The restaurant is a strong supporter of Ukrainian culture and independence in light of what is now a brutal four-year attempt at invasion by Russia.

We know that along with a long history of Ukrainian presence in Canada there are many people who fled the country to other nations because of the war, including here. The estimate is six million displaced citizens in total, some who now hope to take up permanent residence in Canada while others who hope to return someday. 

World Central Kitchen volunteers dole out bowls of hot stew to Ukrainians without heat thanks to Russia’s targeting of energy infrastructure. Caitlin Doornbos/NY Post

On this fourth anniversary of the conflict we can join in the prayer from the Canadian Council of Churches to mark this solemn occasion. Russia is waging a military assault on many fronts and is using drones and missiles to destroy sources of heat and light for millions of civilians. The brutality is stunning and democratic nations must continue to support the people of Ukraine. 

We can also pray that 300,000 displaced Ukrainians living here under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program. are allowed to renew permits which begin expiring late next month. 

Eddie Carvery & Black History in Canada

I saw last week that Eddie Carvery, described by an author as the Hermit of Africville, had died at the age of 79. Eddie was the lone Black resident who continued to live on land that once belonged to the Carvery family, a name once synomymous with the Black community which existed on the Bedford Basin adjacent to Halifax. 

The city refused to provide proper services such as sewer and water to the village and in the 1950s situated a garbage dump nearby. A rail line was pushed through the community. In 1965 the residents were removed by the city and their community bulldozed, including the Seaview African Baptist Church, established in 1849. 

In 2002 Heritage Minister Sheila Copps came to Africville to announce that the park where Africville once stood would be a national historic site and this promise was eventually fulfilled. We lived in Halifax at the time and I was there that day and I imagine Eddie was as well. It was a powerful moment.as former residents and their children and grandchildren sang. 

Eddie began his occupation in 1970 and lived to the end in a trailer on the land even though it was supposedly illegal. The historical site was eventually established and a replica of the Baptist church now stands there, serving as a place of worship and interpretation centre for both Black history and the racism that ended the community.

Eddie Carvery was determined to hold on to the claim to this land and as quixotic as his quest was he should be remembered with respect during this Black History Month and beyond.

Here is the link to a blog I wrote about Africville a few years ago 

https://lionlamb-bowmanville .blogspot.com/2020/02/africville-black-history-month.html

                                               The Original Seaview Baptist Church

I Have a Dream

                                                 Joseph's Dream -- Rembrandt

 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt  and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

Matthew 2:13-18 NRSVue

I have a dream
A song to sing
To help me cope
With anything
If you see the wonder
Of a fairy tale
You can take the future
Even if you fail

[Chorus]
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream.

I have a dream -- Abba!

Yesterday's Globe and Mail newspaper had the colour splash photo and headline Going for Gold and most Canadians know that the Olympic men's hockey final is this morning. 

There was another article tucked away in this edition about dreams and it was a good reminder that most of us have a dream life, although it is often submerged. The author, Karen van Kampen is the author of The Brain Never Sleeps: Why We Dream and What It Means for Our Health. Here is an excerpt from the article:

But what about our dreams? Why does it matter that many of us are dream deprived? In this accelerated world where busyness is currency, we don’t stop and think about our dreams, and we’re robbing ourselves of their many benefits. Dreams fuel the body and the mind while we sleep and also into the next day. Instead of dismissing these nightly stories as nonsense, we should prioritize our dream sleep and value our dreams to improve our waking lives.

The dreaming brain is busy at work while we sleep, helping to consolidate memories and strengthen learning. In dreams, we practise new skills and have our own study sessions as we review new information to make memories stick. One idea is that dreams help us remember by connecting recent events with our current catalogue of memories, which gives this new information deeper meaning. “It’s the equivalent to our brain opening all these drawers in our semantic knowledge and our autobiographical memories and going, does it fit in here and here and here?” says Montreal dream researcher Antonio Zadra. “That’s how we build our knowledge of the world. And it does it in a way that we can’t do in wakefulness because we don’t have that neurochemistry when we are awake.”

                                               Jacob's Ladder -- Herrad of Landsberg -- 12thC nun

I found this piece intriguing because we are going through a tumultuous time in our family with illness in body, mind and spirit for several people we love. There have been deaths in our extended family as well. We realize that we're living in a mild and not-so-mild state of apprehension much of the time. Not surprisingly, I suppose, I've experienced several months of the wildest and most unsettling dreams I can recall. They are vivid and sometimes I awaken because of them, although I don't remember them later, for the most part. 

In our Western culture we tend to use the term "dreams" as a metaphor for wishes, or hopes, rather than actual dreams. Yet in many aboriginal cultures dreams are valued and interpreted. Where does Dr King's biblically inspired vision fall into all this? 

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. 

Martin Luther King Jr. 

I wish that I'd done a series of sermons on the dreams of the bible because there are a lot of them. There was Joseph, and Jacob, and anothr Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. A lot of "Js" here! These weren't just "that was bizarre" dreams. They changed the trajectory of our Judeo/Christian faith 

Decades ago I earnestly started a dream journal and kept it at my bedside. I was inspired by a book by Morton Kelsey but I soon fell off the dream wagon. Maybe I need to revive the practice. For now I'll "dream" of a gold medal for Canada, even though a loss would be a nightmare. 

Black History & The Faith Dreams of a Free People

 It seems that every year I renew my resolve to read lots of books about Black History during the designated month of February. And as I get closer to the end of the month I feel somewhat guilty that I haven't done better in my reading and in my writing through this blog. 

I have books that I haven't yet delved into but one I read last summer while in outport Newfoundland is called Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Miles. The title alone captivated me but this creative biographical book was praised in reviews so I bought it and took it with us on vacation.

I was far from disappointed and there is an almost mystical quality to the way Miles explores the life of Tubman who came into this world as Araminta or "Minty" Ross. Miles maintains that 

Harriet Tubman is arguably the most famous Blackwoman ecologist in U.S. history, although she has not traditionally been viewed that way. She was a student of organisms(human and nonhuman), habitats, and inter-relationships. Her sources of strength were as much natural as they were "supernatural." And more than that, her "repeated journeys into slaveholding America" required "ecological confidence" in the words of Kimberly Ruffin. She studied the elements of nature around her, connecting with plants, trees, animals, and stars...

I could quote so much more but the confines of a blog entry limit me. What is astonishing is that while Harriet Tubman was illiterate she had a profound knowledge of scripture and a never-ending sense of God's presence with her, providing the courage to liberate herself from slavery and many others, journeying from the safety of Canada and the free states back into danger in order to do so. 

One reviewer desribes the book as brilliant and spectacular and I certainly agree. 

I have yet to read another acquistion about Tubman, the Pulitzer Prize winner titled Combee by Edda Fields Black.  Sooo many books, so little time...

Jesse Jackson: "I am Somebody!"

 

                                                     Jesse Jackson on Sesame Street 1972
I am...somebody! 

This was the beginning of a stirring "call and response" used in many settings, including Sesame Street, by Baptist preacher, Civil Rights activist, and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Jackson died earlier this week at the age of 84. He had faded from public view as he aged and dealt with Parkinson's Disease yet he was a significant figure in America for many years.

 From left, civil rights advocates Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 3, 1968, a day before King was assassinated. (Charles Kelly/AP)

Jackson was accused by critics of being a performer, of stretching the truth at times, and of personal moral failure, but he was at the front lines of change during the turbulent 1960s and beyond. Of course, similar accusations have been made against Civil Rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jesse grew up poor and Black in the South and found his was into the non-violent movement of Dr. King that often put him in danger. 

While Jackson's two attempts at securing the Democratic presidential nomination failed he arguably opened the way for President Barack Obama, even though they didn't always get along. 

I admired Jackson despite the criticisms and he deserves to be recognized for his oratorical prowess and ability to help the dispossessed believe that they mattered. That is so important to an authentic gospel message that is still needed today.

I heard Dr. Jackson when he came to Sudbury's Laurentian University in the early1990s as a guest of the lecture series. It wasn't long after he'd appeared on Saturday Night Live, the late night sketch comedy show. Theodore Geisel -- Dr. Seuss -- had recently died so Jackson read a portion of Green Eggs and Ham as part of the SNL news report. During the Q & A at Laurentian someone in the audience asked him to reprise that moment and actually had a copy of the book with him but Jackson graciously declined. 

Thank God for Jesse Jackson. 

A Board of Peace?

President Donald Trump and other world leaders attend the signing ceremony of the Peace Charter for Gaza at the 56th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2026. Credit - Harun Ozalp—Anadolu/Getty Images

They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,

    saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.

            Jeremiah 6: 14 NRSVue 

We're all in favour of peace in our world, aren't we, including those of us who are followers of Jesus, the Christ, the Prince of Peace? We celebrate the end of conflicts and engage in peacemaking through international bodies.

So, shouldn't we be enthusiastic about the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace convened in the United States today. This is the "brain child" -- is this an oxymoron -- of President Trump who has decided that the United Nations Security Council which deliberates within a building in his country isn't up to the challenge of brokering peace in the world. This board will be the greatest ever, because that's the way he talks, and he will chair it and be the boss of everyone else. Those who choose to participate are expected to pony up billions of dollars to be part of the club.

The original notion was to develop and effect a reconstruction plan for devastated Gaza but since then it has careened all over the map, quite literally. Most European countries have declined invitations to take part, in some cases noting that their constitutions do not allow them to be part of a body with one nation calling the shots. Some will send observers. Canada was invited and then disinvited (pout, pout) a development I consider a badge of honour. 

Among the nations agreeing to get on board are Saudi Arabia and Turkey, hardly shining examples of peace and good government. Israel, the country which has destroyed Gaza will also be represented. Russia also received an invitation but there is the small issue of an international warrant for Putin's arrest as a war criminal. It seems that there will be a number of foxes in this henhouse. 

Scripture, both in the Older Testament and the New Testament, offers warnings about bogus

 claims of peace by false prophets. Hmm. While I suppose we can pray that some good comes from this meeting and the ones to follow, seeing is believing. 

Oh yes, the Vatican has declined the invitation to join the Board of Peace, to the annoyance of the White House.