Trash-talking, Tariffs, & Holy Ground

 

Take, take off your shoes You’re standing on holy ground 

Take, take off your shoes. You’re standing on holy ground 

The earth is the Lord’s And the fullness thereof 

From the waters beneath To the heavens above 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground

 On the eighth day of creation the Lord looked around 

At the power plants and freeways and the trash on the ground 

Plantations growing rubber where the grain should be high 

You couldn’t see the sun for all the smog in the sky 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground

verses from TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES by Jim Manley

Last evening we retrieved our blue boxes from the garage and sorted through our indoor recycling bin in preparation for today. It is the weekly ritual so many people complained about when programs began years ago which now is routine, even though it can be a challenge worthy of Solomon's wisdom as to what is plastic and what is paper given the coatings used. In our municipality there is no charge for household recycling but we pay for trash pickup, sort of a carrot (peelings) rather than stick as an incentive to be good citizens. 

On the subject of peelings, our compost is whisked away at the curb weekly but we have several backyard composters at work for a good part of the year. I make multiple pilgrimages to yard waste mecca Spring and Autumn with leafy stuff. When I was a kid my Dad enlisted me to rake leaves to the edge of the street where they were burned -- everybody did it. It was part of the aroma of the season but that ended because it was unregulated air pollution. 

As it happens there was a worthwhile interview on CBC Radio Metro Morning today about what we do with our refuse in these strange days of tariffs. Roughly 30 to 40% of Ontario waste crosses the border into Michigan and New York, an endless flow of what we want to be "out of sight, out of mind."  I hadn't realized that there are virtually no guidelines for  commercial waste so 80 to 90% is not recycled. Homeowners recycle about half, so we still have a long way to go.

Even with tariffs it's still cheaper to ship our trash across the border but there is a growing discussion about what happens if that option gets too expensive or is closed off. Nobody wants a landfill in their neighbourhood so we're back to considering incinerating trash. Despite the "energy from waste" claims, industrial scale incinerators are not a good idea, The scrubbers just don't remove all the toxins and those living downstream are the recipients of the nasties which can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems 

When I was a pastor in Clarington region lots of people opposed the building of an incinerator by a corporation with a lousy record for toxic emissions in other places across North America. I went to public meetings as did members of my congregation but it was built anyway with promises that garbage wouldn't be imported from other regions. 

We held a day-long environmental, Earth Care fair of sorts at our church with participation from several other local congregations and it was well attended. We had seminars on greener energy options and retrofitting church buildings and the incinerator project. A member of my congregation, a physician, was involved in the anti-incinerator coalition and offered a worthwhile presentation. We figured that if "the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24) we had responsibilities to do our part in honouring our patch of our planetary home. 

Will there be growing pressure to burn our trash? There has been talk of expanding the Clarington/Durham incinerator. Why were we banned from burning our leaves decades ago but seem willing to burn plastics and other nasty stuff now? 

Waste disposal and landfills may be necessary in our hellbent on consumerism society, but as lovers of Creation and children of the Creator we must have a care. Fifty years on, Jim Manley's song, both playful and pointed, continues to be timely. 

Well, kids you really filled the earth and then you subdued it 

But there’s nothing in my book that says you’ve got to pollute it 

So take, take, take off your shoes 

You’re standing on holy ground 

You’re standing on holy ground

Restoring a Home Where the Buffalo Roam

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day

 I'm reading the novel Eliza Sunshine by award-winning Canadian author Michelle Good -- you may know her from Five Little Indians. Good, who is Cree,  came to novel writing relatively late after years working in advocacy as a lawyer.

Eliza Sunshine is a multi-generational story beginning with a Cree family and community living in western Canada before there was a nation with that name. An essential aspect of their existence was the annual buffalo/bison hunt which they approached with a combination of pragmatism and reverence. Bison were killed for sustenance and virtually all of the carcass used. At the same time there was a sense these creatures were kin and that there was a "covenant" (Good's term) with them. When previously unknown hairy-faced men arrived their traditional way of life came to an end.

                                                                    Mound of Bison Skulls 

History tells us that European settlers, including those building railroads, engaged in mindless slaughter of bison, often taking only pelts and tongues and leaving the rest to rot. Some researchers argue that bison were also killed as a way of subjugating the Indigenous peoples who depended on them. In a few decades the vast herds numbering between 30 and 60 million across the continent were gone and less than a thousand bison remained. It has taken more than a century to bring numbers back into the hundreds of thousands but the majority are domesticated animals raised for food. 

In Canada and the US governments and Indigenous communities have been involved in this restoration. For First Nations bison are an essential aspect of their cultural and spiritual identity and the reestablishment of small herds is often an emotional enterprise. 

                                             Lake Audy, Riding Mountain National Park, bison herd

In June we were in Manitoba and spent time in Riding Mountain National Park where there is a small herd of about 40 bison. The Lake Audy bison enclosure is about 500 hectares with a road through it accessed by cattle gates. We were told that dawn and dusk were the best times for viewing so we were there early on, sighting a number of bears, coyotes, and deer on the way. But no bison. We drove slowly around the enclosure, stopping at a lookout where the only evidence was impressive excretions. As we were just about to depart there they were, grazing calmly right beside the gravel road. It was just us and the largest land mammals on the continent, including eight calves, and it was a holy moment. 

 No, we did not exit our vehicle as I've seen people do in Wyoming to get closer because they apparently had a death wish. We've probably all seen the video of the camper in Yellowstone who was tossed by a cranky bison without provocation. 

                                     Brain-dead tourist in Yellowstone National Park

Our attempts at reconciliation with Indigenous peoples won't be worth a plug buffalo nickel if we don't take into account the ecocide that was part of cultural genocide for more than a century. Restoring homes where the bufflalo/bison roam is a matter of justice and a source of hope. 

Famed documentarian Ken Burns explored the history of bison in America but there are some excellent Canadian docs as well. 

More Prayers in the Oval Office

 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,  for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and acceptable before God our Saviour...

            ! Timothy 2: 1-3 NRSVue 

This photo makes me shudder with horror. It shows twelve American Roman Catholic bishops surrounding the Father of Lies in the Oval Office, praying for the President in a scene reminiscent of moments when evangelical leaders did the same. The lone exception is Paula White the prosperity gospel televangelist who leads the White House Faith Office. If  you've ever watched her wild performative schtick you'll realize that she should be in a padded room, not anywhere near the seat of power. 

This photo and the video have undermined the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, and this is sad. In recent months a number of leading Catholics have spoken out against the mass arrests of immigrants. They have gone to detention centres to celebrate mass with those who were incarcerated and accompanied parishioners to court hearings. More recently they have condemned the hideous plan to live-stream an execution.

This Oval Office mess does not have the support of the Vatican and since it unfolded some of the bishops have apologized, although not all. One said that some of his parishioners were hurt because of the effect of Trump’s policies on their families. “We should never have been put in that position by the White House,” wrote Grob, adding that he had harboured reservations and “wish I had heeded them”. Indeed. 

Another explained that they had been invited to spend 90 minutes with government officials and told that it would be a private discussion about immigration enforcement, religious-worker visas and human dignity, with a possible chance to pray privately with the president. They weren't told that a video was being recorded and they never agreed to its release on social media, which happened almost immediately. 

Can you imagine this sort of performative prayerfest happening in the office or our Prime Minister? So much for separation of church and state.

Yes prayer is important and praying for leaders is biblical. It happens regularly in our congregation during worship but never in a partisan way. This this was clearly manipulation by the White House as the midterm elections loom. What were these bishops thinking? They were incredibly naive, well aware that they are prohibited from the appearance of  endorsing a political party. I trust that the apologies by the bishops are sincere, but they've go a lot of 'splainin' to do. 

Election Day in Israel

 

This is Election Day in Israel and it's impossible to predict what will unfold. 

By any measure incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be ousted. He is under criminal indictment for fraud, breach of trust, and taking bribes. He has attempted to undermine the Supreme Court, to the dismay of many Israelis. His government is a "deal with the devil" coalition including right wing extremists. There is plenty of evidence that in his arrogance he ignored credible warnings about the impending terrorist attacks by Hamas. The destruction of Gaza and tacit permission to attack Palestinians in the West Bank has made Israel an international pariah. 

Still, Netanyahu could emerge as Prime Minister once again. In Israel there are many political parties so coalitions are the norm rather than the exception. Governments can be elected for four years but can be brought down at any time depending on shifting allegiances. It all seems precarious, especially in such uncertain times. 

                                                                       Gadi Eisenkot rally

The principal opposition party led by General Gadi Eisenkot, former military chief of staff, seems to be a better alternative but there are no guarantees of stability. The balance may be swung by smaller parties representing the Arabs who are citizens of Israel and eligible to vote. 

Of course this election has huge implications for the citizens of Israel who are weary after years of war after war. Before the Gaza conflict began there was a deepening concern about the erosion of the rule of law and democracy. 

Jews in many parts of the world including Canada are watching with considerable interest because growing global anti-Israel sentiment has spilled over into anti-Semitism. They have no say in the election but as has always been the case, there is a vile segment of many societies including ours which will use any excuse for hatred of Jews. 

One of the most violent incidents occurred here in Belleville where the local synagogue was attacked by a gunman.  There are many Jews who are alarmed at the level of violence toward Palestinians, feeling that this is not consistent with the core values of Judaism yet they are targets of the hateful as well. 

We can hardly believe that we spent time with family who lived in Israel only months before the October 7 2023 attacks by Hamas. We visited many places that are so important to our Christian faith and to Judaism, travelling past Gaza in our travels. Our family members are back in North America after decades in Israel and a visit such as ours would be impossible now. 

 I do pray that this election can create a different path for elusive peace in the region. 

When the United Church went to Sea

Yesterday  I had one of those "passing glance" moments with an article about the restoration of a hundred year old yacht by an American which turned out to have a strong connection with the United Church of Canada. What is now the Argonaut II was built for a wealthy individual and was purchased in 1934 by the UCC to be used as a mission ship along the BC coast, rechristened as the Thomas Crosby.  Here is the the description of this denominational use:

For more than three decades, it served as a vital link to more than 50 remote ports of call on the northern B.C. coast, visiting isolated lighthouses, canneries, logging camps and First Nations villages.

It brought supplies such as food, mail and equipment, but was also a floating library and had its own projector to show movies, along with an organ for church services and weddings. The cedar-panel organ is still in the collection of the Maritime Museum of B.C.

Many of the features the church added to the yacht remain, such as stained-glass cabinet doors. The church also installed a hydraulic windlass on the bow, and added refrigeration and benches that could be converted into bunks.

In its church era, the vessel was skippered by Rev. Dr. Peter Kelly, the first Indigenous person ordained in the United Church of Canada.

                                                   Rev. Peter Kelly and his wife Gertrude

I grew up in the Baby Boom era when the United Church was a robust Christian entity, the largest Protestant denomination in the country. There were more than a million members in the early 1960s, not to mention a bazillion children, when the population of Canada was less than 20 million. There was still growth in congregations  at that time and the UCC was actively involved in evangelism and social justice outreach. 

I remember well hearing about the work of the missionary team of the Thomas Crosby and the United Church hospitals in Bella Bella and Bella Coola. It seemed rather adventurous amidst the conventions of church life. 

In that era the United Church ran dozens of clinics and hospitals across the country, including one in Baie Verte Newfoundland. A wonderful parishioner in Belleville, a highly respected surgeon now "promoted to glory" served in these hospitals in opposite ends of he country in supposed retirement. A specialist, he became a generalist in these remote communities, addressing every imaginable ailment. 

My late aunt Noreen was married to a United Church minister who used a small boat to serve coastal communities in BC and sadly drowned in a storm. She eventually married my uncle, also a UCC minister. 

There is lots to commend regarding the United Church outreach in remote communities as an expression of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is also a dark side. When I did some snooping about Rev. Thomas Crosby, who was a Methodist before the United Church was created, I discovered that he was determined to "civilize" the Indigenous people he encountered, essentially as an extension of the Residential School system. The United Church Archives issues a warning about the Thomas Crosby: 

 This image of the Thomas Crosby I was taken at a time when the boat was used as part of marine missions run by The Methodist Church of Canada. Mission boats acted as mobile mission stations. Mission institutions actively participated in colonial attitudes and teaching methods that may have contributed to loss of heritage, culture and languages. These institutions may have contributed to a legacy of harm that is still pervasive today.

The Thomas Crosby IV was sold in 1966 as remote communities became more accessible by road and air while governments took over healthcare. I wonder if there was a succession of ships involved in this service with this name through the decades or if it was refurbished with different numbers until this mission ministry ended? It certainly looks the same today. 

This is part of our history as the United Church of Canada, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It seems important to remember it all as our denomination diminishes in size and presence in this country. 

Tenzing & a Sacred Mountain

Seeing a trailer for the Apple TV film Tenzing created enough curiosity in us to give it an exploratory look and we stayed for the whole film. It is a docudrama about the earlier life of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa guide who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest, the highest peak on Planet Earth. It's unlikely that Hillary would have accomplished this unprecedented feat without Tenzing. In fact, the two climbers of the team chosen to make the final ascent failed before Tenzing and Hillary succeeded.

A recurring theme in the film is the spirituality of Tenzing whose parents placed him in a Buddhist monastery as a boy because of their desperate poverty. He decided not to become a monk but this influence informed his perception of the mountain as a living entity to be respected and consulted rather than conquered. The British were determined to succeed where other nations failed and the irony is that in the end a Nepalese and a Kiwi were able to make the push to the summit. There is a scene in which Tenzing insists that before they climb the team participates in a ceremony within a monastery to honour Chamolangma, the goddess, rather than Everest, named after a British surveyor. 

Tenzing's son confirms that his father was a deeply spiritual person and offers this in his book Touching My Father's Soul: 

The scenery in the movie is spectacular because it is filmed on location, at altitude, a considerable challenge for the actors and the crew. Climbing Everest is still a major accomplishment although the entire perilous ascent is now roped to guide the climbers. Most of them have the most advanced equipment money can buy and guiding companies have camps with chefs. In 2026 1,000 people made it to the top counting climbers and guides. It is a commercial enterprise for the well-heeled and one of the big issues is the amount of garbage and human waste left behind. It is a desecration, a grim statement about our materialistic culture, although efforts are being made to change this. 

After we watched I did a bit of research about Tensing, as I'm wont to do, and I also got thinking about the holiness, the sacredness of mountains in my spiritual tradition. Moses had multiple "mountaintop experiences" from the burning bush to receiving the Ten Commandments in the Sina wilderness i to his final resting place on Mount Nebo. And Jesus climbed a mountain, perhaps Hermon, with several of his disciples, where they had their mystical experience Christians call the Transfiguration. We could see the snowy summit of Hermon when we were in the Galilee in 2023.

See the film, if you're able, and ponder the sacred mountains of different traditions. 

                                                                    Mount Sinai at dawn 

Justice for Fungi?

 

1 This is God's wondrous world,

and to my listening ears

all nature sings, and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

This is God's wondrous world;

I rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,

God's hand the wonders wrought.

                              Voices United 296 

There is a United Nations Biodiversity Conference underway in Armenia, one of those vital gatherings of nations most of us haven't heard about because of the endless news about conflicts as well as the noxious gases emanating from south of the border. There are times when I feel almost desperate that we give so little attention to the health of our planetary home but these conversations are better than silence. 

I was pleased to see that the CBC covered the call at this conference for protection of fungi as an essential aspect of global biodiversity. And I was surprised to see a photo of Giuliana Furci, a mycologist from Chile. I mentioned in a blog a few days ago.https://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.com/2026/10/holy-wholly-entangled-life.html

I conceded that there are no mushrooms in the bible but bread and wine, the elements of one of our sacraments, depend on the marvelous fermentation brought about by yeasts, which are fungi. 

                                                                        Mycologist Giuliana Furci 

Here is an excerpt from the CBC piece with the title Biologists seek justice for forgotten kingdom of fungi: 

 As world leaders meet at a UN summit to preserve the world's animals and plants, a group of scientists is pushing to protect another diverse kingdom of species they say is too often forgotten – fungi.

The fungi on Earth weigh six times more than the world's animals combined, and there are an estimated 5 million species, ranging from edible mushrooms to microscopic organisms that play essential roles in ecosystems.

"Without fungi, the world as we know [it] wouldn't exist," says Chilean mycologist Giuliana Furci.Yet fungi traditionally haven't been included in efforts to protect plants and animals — something that struck her years ago.

"When I realized they weren't incorporated into environmental legislation, the sense of injustice was so profound," recalled Furci. Her response was to create the Fungi Foundation, which she believes is the first non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the world's fungi, in 2012. https://www.ffungi.org/

Yet fungi traditionally haven't been included in efforts to protect plants and animals — something that struck her years ago. "When I realized they weren't incorporated into environmental legislation, the sense of injustice was so profound," recalled Furci. Her response was to create the Fungi Foundation, which she believes is the first non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the world's fungi, in 2012. 

Since then, others have popped up — including Canada-based Mycosphaera — together forming the Global Fungal Conservation Network. On Wednesday, the coalition launched the Global Strategy for Fungal Conservation at the COP17 UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan, Armenia. 

We do live in the Creator's wondrous world, even though we are inclined to miss the everyday miracles. I mean, Holy Moses, doesn't the mushroom below look like a burning bush? 

                        Jack-o'-lantern mushroom in Wolfville, N.S. (Submitted by Allison Walker)