An Anniversary of Gratitude and Contrition

 

                                         By the Mediterranean Sea on our last day in Israel, April 2023

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[b] on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5: 1-12 NRSVue 

We realized this morning that today marks the anniversary of our return day from a vacation in Israel three years ago. We had been invited many times by one of Ruth's sisters and her husband who had lived there for years. They are a loving and hospitable couple but their conservative theology made us wary of visiting along with the uncertainty about security in Israel and our sense of the oppression of Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. After leading groups to Israel as a pastor decades ago I wanted to explore less travelled spots to have a sense of the biblical landscape rather than the regular tourist stops. They promised we would do so and they certainly delivered, much to our delight. We will always appreciate this. 

We realized quickly that we couldn't talk about religion or politics without tensions emerging and they seemed unwilling or uninformed to speak about the plight of Palestinian Christians, our siblings in Christ. During our rambling we drove on a highway adjacent to the West Bank, less than a kilometre from the security barrier. As we headed into the Negev Desert we weren't far from Gaza and for all our enjoyment we were also uneasy.

                                                       Two crazy old Canucks in the Negev Desert

Six months later, to the day of our arrival in Israel, the horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel unfolded, followed by what is now two and a half years of retaliation by the IDF resulting in  the deaths of 70 to 80 thousand Palestinians and endless misery for more than two million more. We feel that what has transpired is genocide even though that is a controversial term. 

Our breakfast conversation was around the uneasiness we continue to feel about our trip. As Ruth asked, were we turning a blind eye to what we knew was the effective repression and imprisonment of Palestinians in the two territories? Essentially we learned nothing new about their plight while we were there. When we spent time in the Galilee we were within kilometres of Lebanon as well and now we are keenly aware of the misery experienced by more than a million displaced people who will have no homes to return to even if a peace agreement holds. 

I suppose we'll live with a combination of gratitude and contrition for our time there. We will certainly continue to pray for peace in the region and respond to those in need as we can along the way. The photo below is from one of several spots overlooking the Sea of Galilee associated with the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Christ help us all. 

Creation in Stained Glass

 

There are stained glass windows that are astonishing in their age, their creativity, and their beauty. They are figuratively windows into the sacred and in centuries past they told the biblical story to illiterate Christians. 

Then there are the vast majority of these glass storybooks which are honestly mundane and unoriginal. There is a United Church north of Belleville with two depictions of the "behold I stand at the door and knock" Jesus across the sanctuary from each other, a true head-scratcher. Were these gifts from competing prominent families in the congregation? Were those in leadership at the time afraid to say no to the obvious repetition? 

So many stained glass windows are images of Jesus, understandably, as Good Shepherd and other familiar gospel metaphors. Someone new to the faith might be surprised to discover that Jesus was a white guy with Anglo Saxon features rather than a Middle Eastern peasant. 

Rarely -- almost never? -- are we offered explicit scenes from the natural world or Creation as more than a vague backdrop, even though our Trinitarian faith upholds God as Creator. The double- lancet window seen above is a rare exception and it's yours for $2 million USD. In 1899 this Tiffany window was installed in the Second Congregational Church of Winsted in Connecticut in memory of a wealthy couple. The congregation will auction off the colorful artwork featuring a stunning waterfall and sunset because they need the money to continue their ministry and mission. 

According to the Smithsonian Magazine: 

One side of the window features a waterfall flowing down brown rocks, while the other shows lilies, irises and other lush green plants. The background depicts an orange sunset fading into a moody blue sky behind a strip of purple mountains. A circular top section features a bejeweled gold crown. The words “John Boyd 1799-1881” and “Emily W. Boyd 1805-1842” appear beneath the panels.

It seems to me that this is a significant loss for this community of faith, but we live in demanding times for churches. It's probably wiser to sell now than wait until the congregation ages out and the church closes but I wonder if this was a contentious decision. And there are two other Tiffany windows in the sanctuary. 

During Earth Month we can be mindful of the ways our congregations acknowledge and celebrate Creation visually as we can also do during Creation Time in the Fall. 

Watch and Wonder on Earth Day

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[a] and they will teach you,
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

Job 12:7-10 NRSVue

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,

all things wise and wonderful:  in love, God made them all.

1 Each little flower that opens, each little bird that sings,

God made their glowing colours, God made their tiny wings.  R

                                                Voices United 291

Happy Earth Day, the 56th edition by my reckoning.  

Yesterday we went to a local Conservation Area for a modest ramble that took us to the Moira River. We were pleased to see a pair of bald eagles on their massive nest next to the rapids. On our return walk we heard and saw a Houdini-like pileated woodpecker. The eagles and this species of woodpecker are in recovery in Ontario, a hopeful sign. During the drive back to Belleville we watched a blue heron fly overhead, only our second of the season

In our yard there has been lots of activity related to Spring. Our neighbourhood male red-bellied woodpecker now brashly announces his presence by rat-a-tatting on the eavestrough before feasting at the peanut feeder. The other day I watched a pair of tiny golden-crowned kinglets flitting in the lilac hedge. And again this year we are figuring out how to keep the feisty robins from nesting on one of our outside light fixtures. 

During a bitterly cold cycle along the Bay of Quinte the other day I was about to turn back in defeat when I saw scores of swallow swooping low over an inlet in search of insects. My outlook was transformed...well, improved. 

We don't consider ourselves birders by the standards of those who keep lists and brave extreme weather in pursuit of their hobby. Many of them have an astonishing ability to identify birds we just can't figure out, although the Merlin app has gone a long way to levelling the playing field for less knowledgeable enthusiasts. 

I've started into an interesting book by Ragan Sutterfield, an American Episcopal priest, Watch and Wonder: Birding as a Spiritual Practice. As soon as I saw the title I knew that resistance was futile and I ordered a copy. Sutterfield considers his birding, a lifelong pursuit, to be a contemplative practice as a Christian and invites us to consider this approach. He organizes the book chapters according to the twelve months of the year with headings including hospitality, abundance (April), grief, and vision. I look forward to delving further into what is already proving to be a wise and insightful and reverent exploration. 

I've shared that during Lent I invited the Trenton United congregation to note their avian sightings in what we called Bird-Brained with St. Francis in Lent. It was great that during those weeks folk would sidle up on a Sunday morning and share what they had seen. 

There is so much discouraging news about the degradation of our planetary home, including grim reports on the drastic reduction of the number of migratory birds each year -- shockingly in the billions. Still, we are invited by Jesus to consider the birds to overcome anxiety and worry. And we can learn from them about resilience. 

The title of Sutterfield's book, Watch and Wonder, is perfect for our time. Wonder is a form of humility and praise for the Creator and Creation. This glorious morning we'll head out for a paddle in another favourite conservation area and who knows what we'll see. 

Trump's Bible -- Read it and Weep

President Donald Trump formulating his next online diatribe while faith leaders gather around him  in the Oval Office.

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.  When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locust to devour the land or send pestilence among my people,  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.  For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.  As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne, as I made a covenant with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’ 

 “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you, and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.  And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’ ”

2 Chronicles 7:12-22 NRSVue 

Do not be overly alarmed if at 7:00 this evening the sky should go black as midnight and thunder roars. This will be a sign of God's displeasure as President Trump reads a pre-corded scripture passage from the Oval Office. This will be part of a week-long "America Reads the Bible event to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Trump's blasphemous two-and-a-half minute reading from 2 Chronicles is part of this initiative involving about 500 people from varying walks of life and celebrity. Of course, reading scripture is not blasphemous but coming from a leader who chose Easter morning to fire off a profanity laced threat of hell against Iran was, and to ask a man who has probably never turned to the bible for guidance and wisdom in his life to now participate in this project is. This Hebrew scripture passage includes  verses beloved by Christian Nationalists:  

...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 

You may recall that during his first term Trump ordered peaceful protesters gathered in a public square in Washington DC to be cleared by force so that he could march, unannounced, to an Anglican Church where he glowered and brandished a bible as though it was an assault rifle. When asked if was his bible he responded that it was a bible. Trump has also sold bibles because he really needs the money.

Trump isn't known for his humility, except, perhaps in his own mind, but maybe he will be prophetic without knowing it. The passage promises that those who serve other gods will be plucked up and cast from God's sight. The opinion polls are not good for the Mob Boss in Chief, so we can only hope. 

So, what is the shortest verse in the bible? "Jesus wept." John 11:35 

Irreverent, Holy Ravens in Earth Month

                                                                              Huxley the Raven 

Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. 

Luke 12: 24 NRSVue

Have you heard the story about Huxley the rescue raven and his loud sneeze?  Huxley has lived at the Good Caws Crow Rescue in Prince George, BC, for about 18 months and can mimic the obnoxious allergy sneeze of the owner so perfectly that her husband is confused at times, sure that she left the property. 

This situation came to mind as I read about ravens in Adam Nicholson's Bird School: A Beginner in the Wood. There is evidence of a relationship between ravens and humans going back thousands of years, a symbiotic relationship predating cats and dogs. They can be mouthy, aggressive, playful, mutually supportive, social, adaptable, and generally akin to humans in various ways. Nicholson contends that if we were birds we would be ravens. 

                                                               Raven and the First Men -- Bill Reid 

Indigenous peoples get this and the raven of myth is the trickster and central to creation stories. When we visited Haida Gwaii ravens and eagles were everywhere so its not surprising that they are the two principal clans. Southern Ontario is generally crow country but when we lived in Sudbury we heard and saw lots of ravens as we rambled about and they are marvelous flyers, perhaps most evident during mating season. I've actually read a book about the raven master and ravens of the Tower of London. 

The bible has some important ravens as well. Noah sends a raven forth from the ark after 40 days to survey the watery world. My personal letterhead, rarely used anymore, features an ark with a raven in flight because I figured congregations should always be asking what our mission should be, 

Elijah was fed by ravens in the wilderness. And in Luke's version of Jesus'  "don't worry" teaching the generic birds of Matthew are specifically ravens. We are in Earth Month and approaching Earth Day (Wednesday) so why not give a holy shout-out to irreverent ravens? 

While the terms for a group of ravens include an "unkindness" and "conspiracy" I prefer "storytelling." 

 So Elijah went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.

Elijah 17: 5-6 NRSVue 

                              Prophet Elijah fed by a raven 1318-1321 Gracanica Monastery Belgrade 

Earth Sunday & the Web of Creation

 

Opening Song

Then Let Us Sing #2 “A Strand in the Web of Life”

A strand in the web of life let me be 

a string on the harp that the Spirit plays

at one with the sky and the earth and the sea

in the web of life let me be, let me be

in the web of life let me be, let me be

Maria Case

This is Earth Sunday, the day on which many Christian congregations in the United Church acknowledge Earth Day, which is April 22nd. Before many denominations including the UCC began celebrating Creation Time/Creationtide/Season of Creation through September each year there was Creation Sunday. 

As a pastor I introduced Earth Sunday services of worship at least 30 years ago and in the early days I was on my own when it came to liturgical resources. Now the United Church provides them from year to year. Here are a few of the elements from this year's service which include a chorus from the recently published music resource Then Let Us Sing. 

While there is a lot of "mother" here -- can you imagine multiple references to "father"? -- I appreciate the creativity. And it's good to be reminded that as humans we are part of the astonishingly intricate and beautiful web of Creation. We are called to live with awareness and respect. 

The Call to Live with Respect

We, humans, are but one strand in a web of life, and only one being among many relations. The land and waters are not resources to be exhausted. Serious disruption and harm has been caused by colonization and extractivism in the material and the spiritual. 

We, as followers of Christ, seek balance, the repairing of relations and to live with respect in Creation today and for seven generations. And we call on all people to do likewise, for the sake of Mother Earth.

Opening Prayer

Our kin, the flora and fauna are calling,

The earth, the sea, and the sky join in,

Mother earth is hurting

they cry

We need you to act with us

they call

We need you to join us in the restoring Creation

So that our mother may flourish once more.

We need you, they plead.

Discerning God,

How do we faithfully respond to these calls?

[moment of silence]

What would you have us do?

How would you like us to act?

Guide us, we pray and lead us towards transformative actions.

Amen.

Guardrails for Medical Assistance in Dying

 

This past week the Ontario government decided to reduce the size of the body that reviews complex medically assisted death and to alter its scope. The 16-member committee could be less than half that number and some of those who have been let go claim that it is because of their caution about certain cases and that the new format will be less rigorous. 

Ontario’s Solicitor-General and the Chief Coroner claim that the new group will reflect a diversity of views and uphold transparency. While I tend not to trust the Ford government on anything I have no reason to believe that this is an attempt to expand the scope of MAID or to hurry people out of this life. Why is the change necessary, though, knowing that the committee is only two years into its existence? Will a smaller group which meets less often ensure that the complex cases, including those involving mental health issues, be able to do an adequate job? 

As a Christian I want our governments to protect the poor and the vulnerable at the end of life and don't want any person to feel compelled to choose Medical Assistance in Dying as an act of desperation. At the same time I've come to believe that offering the option of MAID under carefully developed guidelines can be an act of mercy. Extending life under all circumstances is not compassion. We are certainly not intended to play God in taking life but is requiring people to live with no reasonable chance of quality for their remaining days fulfilling God's intention? 

The Globe and Mail ran an editorial two days ago with the headline: The guardrails of MAID need vigilant scrutiny. This is true and it's important for all of us to be informed and vigilant. 

When MAID became law eleven years ago the United Church issued a reasoned statement and then another a year or so later. Congregations and members where invited to respond to a government survey and we did so at Trenton United Church. I also led a discussion and study series on MAID and hospice/palliative care which was well attended.  

It seems to me that it's time that our denomination formulates another statement to address changing realities and encourages more discussion within congregations.