Elbows Up for Canadian Climate Action

 In Canada we are in the home stretch for the federal election with the Conservatives and Liberals duking it out to form the next government. The main opposition for both of them is the Trump Party with the American emperor posing the biggest threat for Canadian sovereignty. 

While the NDP and the Greens have been speaking up for the environment as a leading issue its down the list for a lot of Canadians and neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals are offering anything substantial in their platforms other than vague "aspirational" ideas. While the Liberals are probably the "least worst" party with a chance of winning that isn't saying much. Both suggest that we can pipeline our way out of dependency on the US for our oil and gas exports. 

You may have seen late last week that Canada's municipal politicians have spoken out to whoever forms government after the election, offering an Elbows Up for Climate Action manifesto. https://elbowsupforclimate.ca/

Here is how the CBC reports it:

Municipal politicians across Canada have written a letter to the five main federal party leaders calling for climate-related actions they say would improve the country's resilience to environmental calamities. 

The group includes Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, Jasper, Alta., Mayor Richard Ireland, former Toronto mayor David Miller, Princeton, B.C., Mayor Spencer Coyne and Ben Hendriksen, the deputy mayor of Yellowknife. A total of 128 mayors, deputy mayors, city councillors and area directors signed on.

In the  letter published Friday, the mayors and councillors say their ideas would create jobs and use Canadian steel, aluminum and lumber — sectors of the economy threatened by American tariffs — and appear to take aim at the Liberals' and Conservatives' focus on resource extraction projects to make the economy less dependent on the U.S.

The group wants the next federal government to build a national electric grid that includes the North, move ahead with a high-speed rail network, build two million non-market "green homes," make homes and buildings more energy efficient and fund a "national resilience, response and recovery strategy."

Today I heard a spokesperson for firefighters across the country who noted that wildfire season is about to begin and that political leaders need to establish a federal action plan. This makes a lot of sense to me but again there is no recognition of this priority by the frontrunner parties. 

I have already voted but I agonized over my decision. We have four grandchildren and I want them to have a future that isn't dystopian. As a Christian I want my vote to count toward "living with respect in Creation", to once again use a phrase from the United Church "New" Creed. I'm concerned that my prayers are going unanswered in what the UCC has identified as Earth Week. https://united-church.ca/news/together-love-creation-earth-week-2025

Political parties may conveniently push the climate emergency into the background but it isn't going away. Maybe it's time that they listen to municipal leaders and firefighters and Indigenous peoples and environmental scientists and even a few theologians. 

Dementia and Rituals for Leave-taking

 

                                                                           Jen Hsieh

A long-time friend and a close family member have been experiencing dementia for several years now. One has Alzheimers and both are dealing with rapidly advancing memory loss. It's just sad to watch this process, as it was for my late mother. All were or are wonderful persons with deep and sustaining Christian faith but the various forms of dementia have no boundaries of race, creed, or colour. 

We have been fortunate to this point that friend and family member still recognize us, as my mother did virtually to the end of her days. It can be a cruel blow to companions and caregivers when that is no longer the case. As a minister I saw persons who were in lengthy loving relationships turn on their partners, sometimes violently. 

A recent New York Times article had the heading

THE NEW OLD AGE --

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                 When They Don’t Recognize You Anymore

People with dementia often forget even close family members as the disease advances. “It can throw people into an existential crisis,” one expert said.

 The piece explores how devastating this particular loss can be and how we might respond:

Ms. [Alison] Lynn encourages participants in her groups to also find personal rituals to mark the loss of recognition and other reverse milestones. “Maybe they light a candle. Maybe they say a prayer,” she said. 

Someone who would sit shiva, part of the Jewish mourning ritual, might gather a small group of friends or family to reminisce and share stories, even though the loved one with dementia hasn’t died. 

“To have someone else participate can be very validating,” Ms. Lynn said. “It says, ‘I see the pain you’re going through.’”

In all my years of pastoral support and leading study groups on dementia it never occurred to me to offer friends and family these wider pools for ritual gathering. Yes, I prayed with immediate loved ones and the person living with dementia. At times we would sing or repeat the 23rd Psalm because old hymns and familiar passages often remain in memory when much else disappears. We would share in communion together as well. 

Still, it makes a lot of sense to include others before a funeral or memorial. Ya live and ya learn. 

Earth Day & the Legacy of Pope Francis

                                                             Earth Day Poster -- Montreal 1970

This is Earth Day, the global celebration of our planetary home that first took place on April 22nd 1970, in part as a response to the unnatural disaster of a blown oil derrick off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The resulting oil slick killed seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions.

Earth Day is always a combination of the good, the bad, and ugly. We are grateful for the astonishing complexity of the natural world, chastened by our abuses, determined to do better. 

Christians and other people of faith also acknowledge both Creator and Creation. In the United Church of Canada many congregations include an Earth Sunday, usually the Sunday closest to Earth Day. This year the United Church has established Together for the Love of Creation and invited our "communities of faith, networks, and regions...to initiate and participate in climate justice events during the week of April 20‒27 to pray, learn, and act for the love of Creation." https://fortheloveofcreation.ca/earth-week-2025/

                                                  United Church Moderator Carmen Lansdowne 

Yesterday we received the sad but not surprising news that Pope Francis had died at the age of 88. The pope was the first to adopt this name in recognition of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment. During his pontificate Pope Francis was committed to honouring Creation. His greatest achievement was his 2015 environmental encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. It seems appropriate that Francis died between Easter Sunday and Earth Day given his deep commitment to the Risen Christ and caring for Creation. 

To recognize the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si a group of us revisited the document during a three-week study and we used the excellent book, The Ten Green Commandments of Laudato Si as a guide. Here are those directives from Laudato Si as identified by author Joshtrum Isaac Kureethadam. We can all read them and take them to heart:

The main messages of the encyclical can be summed up in terms of “ten green commandments” from Pope Francis. Here they are: 

I. Earth, our common home, is in peril. Take care of it. 

II. Listen to the cry of the poor who are the disproportionate victims of the crisis of our common home. 

III. Rediscover a theological vision of the natural world as good news (gospel). 

IV. Recognize that the abuse of creation is ecological sin. 

V. Acknowledge the deeper human roots of the crisis of our common home. 

VI. Develop an integral ecology as we are all interrelated and interdependent. 

VII. Learn a new way of dwelling in our common home and manage it more responsibly through a new economics and a new political culture. 

VIII. Educate toward ecological citizenship through change of lifestyles. 

IX. Embrace an ecological spirituality that leads to communion with all of God’s creatures. 

X. Care for our common home by cultivating the ecological virtues of praise, gratitude, care, justice, work, sobriety, and humility.

Farewell & Godspeed to Pope Francis

 

Yesterday Pope Francis, appearing from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, blessed those present after a Vatican aide delivered a papal speech on his behalf. Yara Nardis/Reuters

Last evening I watched the evening news with our 12-year-old grandson who is an astute young man. His family doesn't have old-school TV so he hasn't seen Pope Francis in a while and when there was a piece on the pontiff waving to the Easter crowd in St. Peter's Square he was surprised at his fraility. "He looks so different" was his comment, and that was true. This morning I'll let him know that Pope Francis died overnight, having survived his lengthy battle with pneumonia to make it to a final celebration of Christ's resurrection.

I admired Pope Francis even though at times we was bewildering. He would take steps forward on the inclusion of women in leadership, kindness toward LGBTQ2S+ persons, and contrition toward Indigenous peoples only to slip sideways or backwards. He never really altered church doctrine in key areas but to be fair he was facing immense resistance to change. In a Roman Catholic church that asserts papal infallibility he was relentlessly attacked by conservatives who were disrepectful and conniving. It was shameful and it's hard to imagine the outcome of the conclave to decide on his replacement. 

So much will be written about the ministry and legacy of Pope Francis. I will always be grateful for his environmental encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. This year marks the 10th anniversary of this vital and comprehensive document.

It is fitting that perhaps his last significant statement was a rebuke of the Trump administration for its wretched treatment of migrants. He instructed American bishops to resist what is occurring and when Vice President Vance visited the Vatican on the weekend he directed a cardinal to diplomaticaly school him on the gospel imperative of compassion. Francis still made time to meet with Vance and his family. 

Pope Francis washes the feet of an inmate at the Rebibbia women's prison on the outskirts of Rome as he celebrates the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper on March 28, 2024. The pontiff washed the feet of 12 inmates at the prison, all women.. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

On Maundy Thursday Pope Francis visited a prison, something he has done throughout his pontificate. He was not able to wash the feet of inmates, something he has done in the past, but he spoke with individuals about their lives and gave out bibles. 

His commitment to the poor and the marginalized was evident to the end and it was impressive. We've heard that the Orange Menace has suggested a military parade in honour of his own 79th birthday, yet another example of his narcissism. The contrast brings to mind the Roman military parade entering Jerusalem  from the west 2,000 years ago while Jesus made his way into the city from the east, humbly mounted on a donkey. It was the compassionate way of Christ, not Roman might that prevailed.

Thank you, Francis, for following Jesus. 

Pope Francis makes remarks as he gives an apology for the treatment of First Nations children in Canada's Residential School system, during his visit to Edmonton in 2022. 

Cole Burston/Getty Images

An Easter Prayer for Palestinians in the Holy Land

 

                                                               Easter Morning -- Georges Roualt

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb...

John 20:1 NRSVue

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! 

This will be the call and response in churches around the world today, or variations on this declaration. This year is unusual in that Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians will be celebrating Easter on the same Sunday. Because of the vagaries of the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with the phases of the moon thrown in, Easter is truly a moveable feast. 

The bleak irony is that this year a relatively small number of Christians who have lived their entire lives in the land where Jesus was born, carried out his ministry, was crucified and raised from the dead will be able to visit holy sites in Jerusalem. Palestinian and Arab Christians who have a history of peaceable coexistence in Israel and the Occupied Territories are restricted in their movement and often harrassed by the military and ultra-Orthodox Jews. The official stance of the Israeli government is commitment to religious freedom but the influence of those on the political and religious right belies this. According to an article in The Guardian:

..religious intolerance and antichristian sentiment has been made mainstream by Israeli political leadership – the ultra-hardline national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, described Israelis spitting on Christians as “an old Jewish tradition” – and old suspicions have escalated into brazen, all-out violence. There have also been growing incidences of settler groups attempting to seize Christian land in Jerusalem. In 2023, the Holy Land Roman Catholic patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa accused the government of establishing a “cultural and political atmosphere that can justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians”...

Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian Christian political analyst and the author of Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004, said that despite the mounting harassment they faced, the diminishing numbers of Christians left in the West Bank and the unrelenting horrors of the war in Gaza, he still viewed Easter as a time of hope and “the timely message that life defeats death”. 

“As Palestinian Christians, we know that this generation will either make it or break it,” said Abu Eid. “So making clear to the Israeli occupation that we are going to stay, that we will celebrate the same religious events that we’ve been celebrating for centuries is both a national mandate and a religious mission that we have. Keeping our Christian traditions alive, praying – they have become an act of resistance.”

Two years ago we were in Jerusalem on Easter weekend and attended Sunday worship at the Garden Tomb site. Despite tensions in the city we moved about with relative freedom even though we were visitors from a distant place. 

In a few hours we will gather in celebration with other Christians enjoying a freedom I won't take for granted. And I'll say a prayer for brothers and sisters in Christ who desire that same freedom. 

 Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! 

Peep if you Love Easter!

 

Many congregational choirs consider Easter as the "big deal" occasion for music. At least they once did because choirs have fallen on hard times in many traditional faith communities while contemporary worship is often focussed on praise group leadership.

 I was fortunate to serve several larger congregations with budgets for music which allowed us to bring in brass and timpani players to augment Easter morning music. These instruments along with the pipe organ and guests to fill out choir sections really were fitting for the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. 

These days I'm partial to the choirs of the wetlands with a heavenly host of frogs and toads giving voice to the Creator. Okay, their songs are more horny than heavenly but they are a wonderful declaration of abundant life. It's estimated that 70% of Ontario's wetlands have disappeared to development so hearing these all but invisible reptiles really is hopeful. This year their songs are happily coinciding with Easter. I heard an expert this morning describe the decibel level in the midst of a marsh full of frogs and toads as the equivalent of a heavy metal concert rather than a church service. 

You might remember that it was April of last year when lots us were seeking out good viewing spots for the path of totality to view  for the solar eclipse. We made our way to a large field in Prince Edward County bordering on an extensive marsh. When the darkness swept across the area the Spring peepers yelled their tiny heads off and then quieted down in a wave as light returned. It was an experience I'll never forget. 

I don't think I've ever seen a Spring peeper but they can't be more elusive than a tenor for most choirs these days. 

I appreciate that readers farther to the north are still waiting for these harbingers of Spring but they are coming! Here is a link to a video with various Ontario frog and toad songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=FFtkIRWbNeE

Crucial Good Friday

                                                                  Tree of Life -- Blake Debassige

 1 Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand:

the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,

a home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,

from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day.

Crucial: definition 

1

a

: IMPORTANT, SIGNIFICANT

… what use we make of them will be the crucial question.—Stanley Kubrick

Vitamins are crucial for maintaining good health.

b

: important or essential as resolving a crisis : DECISIVE

She played a crucial role in the negotiations.

c

: marked by final determination of a doubtful issue

the crucial game of a series

2

archaic : CRUCIFORM

While I was getting my hair cut yesterday I asked my barber if she would be working today as well. She said that because she doesn't have children she doesn't mind being open for business on the holiday and she was fully booked. There was no mention from either of us that this would be Good Friday, the most solemn day in the Christian calendar, and the notion that this is meant to be a time of sober reflection on the crucifixion of Jesus. I wasn't prepared to go there, rightly or wrongly. We're not exactly on those terms of theological exploration. 

Her casual indifference to the meaning of Good Friday is not surprising. Our secularized and pluralistic society takes this statutory holiday with a shrug -- who's going to complain about a day off? I was a bit surprised to find out that the YMCA is closed today but open on Easter. How did that get decided? 

I should also note that during nearly four decades of congregational ministry Good Friday was never a well attended service compared to Easter morning. I did serve congregations where we would have in the neighbourhood of 100 worshippers and others where combining with other churches meant that there were hundreds more. But lots of devout people were happy to jump from Palm Sunday to Resurrection morning. 

Good Friday's reminder of a cruel death is unappealing, as it should be. Who wants that sort of reminder, let alone the profound mystery of God Incarnate as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" ? There are plenty of different interpretations of what the cross means for Christians, even different definitions of atonement.

As the years have gone by the crucifixion has remained crucial to my faith (same Latin root). I have made my peace with the tension of engaging in respectful interfaith conversation while also holding the conviction that the sorrowful events of Calvary are necessary to identifying as a Christian. Jesus was an earthy and earthly human who was wrongly executed by a merciless regime. He was also the embodiment of the Creator, as the Redeemer. I am content to have all these sometime confusing aspects swirl around even though I miss the simple and perhaps simplistic convictions of my earnest youth. 

I would also say that I am increasingly mindful that the specificity of the crucifixion at a particular place and time two thousand years ago has significance for the planet in all times --"for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son..."  It is crucial for Christians to open their eyes to the meaning of Good Friday for all creatures and the planet. 

2 Upon the cross of Jesus my eyes at times can see

the very dying form of one who suffered there for me; 

and from my smitten heart, with tears, two wonders I confess,

the wonder of his glorious love, and my unworthiness.

3 I take, O cross, your shadow for my abiding place;

I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of his face,

content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss,

my sinful self my only shame, my glory all, the cross.

                                                                  White Crucifixion -- Marc Chagall 

Canada's Leadership Hopefuls & Religious Freedom

 Last night the leaders of most of the Canadian political parties for the upcoming election came together for a French language debate in Montreal. It sounds as though PM Carney managed not to embarrass himself in a language he doesn't speak well. Pierre Poilievre toned down his often aggressive style. Jagmeet Singh got feisty. Blanchet poked away at the others, knowing that his party is going nowhere fast. In the end it was pretty much "no harm, no foul".

As I listened to the post mortem analysis this morning I heard nothing about what is a Quebec reality, Bill 21, the laicity law, but an issue all Canadians should care about. This is legally imposed secularism, a restriction on publicly expressed religious freedom, including dress. Article 6 of the law prohibits some civil servants from wearing “clothing, a symbol, jewelry, adornments, accessories or headwear” that is connected to a religious belief or could be “reasonably considered” as such. This would include the Muslim hijab, a Jewish kippah, a Christian cross. 

For years the federal government has danced around this law, saying as little as possible, even though federally the law upholds freedom of religion. Mark Carney has followed in the Liberal footsteps of the past decade, hemming and hawing about regional autonomy. 

A week ago Robyn Urback of the Globe and Mail offered her take on the subject with the intriguing headline: A wedge has emerged on religious freedom. Pierre Poilievre is on the right side of it. She offers: 

Mr. Poilievre has been clear about his opposition to Bill 21 since he ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2022. And to his credit, he said the same thing, in French, just last week during Radio-Canada’s Cinq chefs, une élection program. “We shouldn’t have a state that forces people to wear or not wear something,” he said. When pressed by one of the interviewers on whether that should include people in positions of authority, he noted that a member of the RCMP that has been assigned to protect his family wears a turban. “He’s ready to save my life. He’s ready to save my children’s lives by giving his. Am I going to say that he shouldn’t have a job because he wears a turban? I don’t agree.”

Excellent point Pierre,as much as it pains me to concede this. During this election campaign we've heard repeatedly that the central issue is how our next Prime Minister will deal with the agressive president of the United States, nearly always in the context of trade between our two countries. In my view it is also about the values we hold, including multi-culturalism, diversity, and religious freedom. As the current leaders in the US have demonized DEI and launched into a draconian expulsion of migrants and those deemed un-American because they not White or Christian our own leadership hopefuls need to be clear about their views. Hasn't Mr. Carney written a book called Values? 

As a Christian I'm convinced that freedom of religious expression is essential in a democracy. On this Maundy Thursday we can remember that Jesus, whom we recognize as the Christ, came together for a Jewish Passover meal before his arrest and crucifixion. Freedom for me must be freedom for all. 

God's Architect: Gaudi & Sainthood

 

I have long been fascinated by an unfinished church in Spain, one that I will never get to visit in person. It is the Sagrada Familia -- Holy Family -- the architectural vision of Antoni Gaudi who began the construction nearly a century ago. Gaudi was fantastical in many of his designs and creations and this basilica is no exception. It is a hugely popular tourist site and visitors must book in advance with the earliest availability into May. 

Now the Vatican has put forth Gaudi for sainthood, an eye-opener, especially for those of us Protestants who are dubious about the designation of anyone as a saint. According to a Washington Post article: 

Pope Francis has elevated Antoni Gaudí to “venerable” status — bringing the modernist Spanish architect, who dedicated his life to building the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, a step closer to sainthood.

Francis approved a decree recognizing Gaudí’s “heroic virtues” and declaring him "venerable" — the second step on the path to canonization — the Vatican said Monday in a statement. 

The move follows a more than 30-year campaign to promote Gaudí’s beatification.

Gaudi, who was a practicing Catholic, spent more than four decades of his life working on the Sagrada Familia, or “Holy Family.” Though it remains unfinished, the basilica is visited by millionts of people each year and parts of it were declared a  Unesco World Heritage site. Gaudí died before he could complete it.

A contemporary described Gaudi as "God's architect", but there so many questions here. Why not just let sleeping architects rest in peace, simply admiring his God-given gifts? To receive the saintly designation at least two attributed miracles must be ascribed to the individual, so surely this will be a stretch? And dear Pope Francis, why announce this during Holy Week? 

I'm sure we'll hear more along the way and I'll probably continue to shake my head while appreciating Gaudi's vision. The poor soul died a tragic death at age 74, after being run over by a tram on his way to regular morning confession and mass. He dressed shabbily in old age and probably didn't receive the medical care he needed. He had no family, although his funeral drew a large crowd.

If only one of those miracles could have been self-directed. 

Here are the translated words from his gravestone:

Antoni Gaudí Cornet. From Reus. At the age of 74, a man of exemplary life, and an extraordinary craftsman, the author of this marvelous work, the church, died piously in Barcelona on the tenth day of June 1926; henceforward the ashes of so great a man await the resurrection of the dead. May he rest in peace.

                                        

                                                                                Antoni Gaudi 

As Comes the Breath of Spring, Once Again

 

1 As comes the breath of spring with light and mirth and song,

so does your Spirit bring new days brave, free, and strong.

You come with thrill of life to chase hence winter's breath,

to hush to peace the strife of sin that ends in death.

2 You come like dawning day with flaming truth and love,

to chase all glooms away, to brace our wills to prove

how wise, how good to choose, the truth and its brave fight,

to prize it, win or lose, and live on your delight.

I love all the seasons in Canada, at least when our human-altered climate behaves itself and allows Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter to reveal their true character. We enjoyed our wintry February although we didn't admit this to everyone.

While at other times I might have declared that I don't have a favourite I now feel that Spring speaks to my soul the most because even though the rhythms of the seasons are no longer dependable this is the time of emergence, the resurrection moments of Creation in this hemisphere that reflect the Resurrection hope of Easter. 

While it seems that Spring has been slow to take hold here are a few of the signs we've witnessed in these weeks since March 21st. 

    Bald eagle pair

    Painted turtles

    Loon in flight (heard)

    Multiple pairs of ospreys 

    Buds on backyard lilacs, pagoda dogwood, tulip tree, serviceberry

    Wood ducks and mergansers

    Spring peepers & Chorus frogs (heard)

    Lengthening days

    Wilson's snipe (heard)

    Red-winged blackbirds

    Garlic shoots in a raised bed

    Otter

    Blue herons

    Dawn chorus, dawn chorus, dawn chorus!

In the days ahead the list will lengthen and we'll do our best to pay attention as a form of prayer and to celebrate each occasion. We've been out in our canoe a couple of times, once on the Bay of Quinte, and there have been plenty of delights despite the predominant earth tones and trees without leaves. 

 I've included one of my favourite hymns with words nearly a century old. I'm glad that the fresh breath of Spring does give chase to Winter's halitosis. And yes, Christ, newborn, gives strength and joy. 

3 You come like songs at morn that fill the earth with joy,

till we, in Christ newborn, new strength in praise employ.

You come to rouse the heart from drifting to despair,

through high hopes to impart  life with an ampler air.

4 You breathe and there is health; you move and there is power;

you whisper, there is wealth of love, your richest dower.

Your presence is to us like summer in the soul;

your joy shines forth and then life blossoms to its goal.

Crucifying Jesus in Ukraine

A Ukrainian serviceman walks at the site of a Russian airstrike in Sumy, Ukraine, on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

3 Ride on, ride on, while well aware

that those who shout and wave and stare

are mortals who, with common breath,

can crave for life and lust for death.

4 Ride on, ride on, though blind with tears,

though voiceless now and deaf to jeers.

Your path is clear, though few can tell

their garments pave the road to hell.

Ruth intended to be out of town this past weekend but her plans changed. This meant that we were able to attend Palm/Passion Sunday worship at Trenton United Church. Most of the time living with one vehicle suits us just fine and I do get find ways to get around but I wasn't up to cycling the 22 kilometres each way for the service.

Later in the day we heard that 7,400 kilometres away 34 people in the Ukrainian city of Sumy were killed by a Russian ballistic missile, some of whom were Christians on their way to Palm Sunday worship. One of two missiles hit a trolley bus full of passengers and two of the dead were children. Many more were injured. 

This senseless war of unprovoked aggression by Russia regularly targets civilians. It is supported by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church even though more than 600 places of worship in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed and half of those are Orthodox. 

Many world leaders condemned this attack, including Prime Minister Mark Carney. Inexplicably President Donald Trump described it as a "mistake" when it is clear that Russia intends to target and terrorize civilians.

 According to a Roman Catholic news service: 

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, the largest organization of religious leaders in Ukraine, also condemned the strikes, which took place amid both the Jewish holiday of Passover (April 12-20, 2025) and the Christian observance of Holy Week.

“Despite the festal period associated with the celebration of the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, the Russian state continues to terrorize Ukrainian cities and villages day and night with drone and missile attacks, as well as shelling,” said the council in a statement.

The council added, “Such actions demonstrate that nothing is sacred for the state that declares itself to be ‘Holy Rus,'” referencing a longstanding theological and political concept that positions Russia as a defender of traditional Christian values.

I'm not big on the notion of hell but I'll entertain the possibility of reserved spots for clergy who support the murder of children on such an important day in the Christian calendar, or any other day for that matter. What possesses people to harbour such hatred in the name of the God of love and reconciliation in Jesus Christ? They crucify Jesus again with their actions. 

We sang some wonderful hymns yesterday although not the one I've included here which speaks so strongly to this bleak moment in history 

5 Ride on, ride on, God's love demands.

Justice and peace lie in your hands.

Evil and angel voices rhyme:

you are the man and this the time. 

A police officer inspects bodies at the site of Russian airstrike in Sumy, Ukraine, on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. (OSV News photo/Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram handout via Reuters)