Pope Leo & his Barber

                                                      Pope Leo and his barber, Mario Reyes

I've been attempting to make an appointment with my barber of the past six or seven years, a guy I trust to tame my beard amd trim the lost cause of the top of my head.  He seems to be booked up perpetually, but I'll keep trying. 

Hey, everyone wants a barber/hairdresser they can trust...even the Pope. I came upon a tweet (are they still tweets?) about Pope Leo's Peruvian barber, Mario Reyes, a 37-year old guy who moved to Rome three years ago. You may be aware that while Robert Francis Prevost, aka "da Pope", grew up in Chicago he spent many years in Peru where he was highly respected and a beloved figure. He is considered the Peruvian pope by Catholics in that nation. 

Since my knowledge of Italian is virtually non-existent and I can't figure out when or where the relationship started or how to activate translation on La Stampa article I'm not able to share more. I'm just tickled that another person with white hair and a receding hairline is human enough to want a trusted barber, even if he is the pope. 

The Enduring Importance of the Vimy Memorial

Returning to France … gives us the feeling that we are treading on sacred ground, as we think of the countless thousands who lie sleeping here …We can never forget those heroic lives and the endless stories of bravery which make up the saga of the war. Acts of heroism were almost the everyday of life.”

Honorary Lt.-Col. the Rev. C.C. Owen, speaking at the unveiling of the Vimy Memorial in July 1936.

 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

                  John 15:13-15 NRSVue

I noticed that July 26 was the anniversary of the dedication of the Vimy Memorial in France, the sombre testament to the tens of thousands of young Canadians who died during WWI. In 1922 France gave 250 acres around the highest point at Vimy Ridge and it took eleven years to build once construction began.  I visited this monument and surrounding cemeteries when I was 25 and was overwhelmed by the realization that many of these men were younger than I was when they died "for King and Country. 

                                             Excellent novel about the creation of the Vimy Memorial

A couple of years before my retirement I spoke on the role of chaplains during the supposed Great War. Some of them saw their service as an opportunity to attract these men to church after they returned home, but so many were traumatized by their experiences and bitter that the government treated them so shabbily.

Others became committed pacifists, or at least anti-war, and experienced criticism for their outspokenness. Some lost positions in congregations as war loomed again in the 1930s. The Vimy Memorial was dedicated a mere three years before WWII consumed the world again and thousands more Canadians died. 

In the years following WWI centotaphs and memorials were established in hundreds of communities across the country and there are so many older churches with plaques honouring those who served and those who died. There was a sense that this these sacrifices were sacred and shouldn't be forgotten.  I wonder where they go when those buildings are closed? 

This may be a sleepy time of the year when it comes to these occasions but we would do well to remember and honour those gave everything for others. We are aware of the folly and brutality of war in so many places. God help our violent species. 

                                                               A Pacifist Song of the Era

Israel's Missing Moral Compass

Countries around the world are condemning the starvation of innocent people in Gaza through the inaction of the Israeli government in providing sufficient aid. This is important, although God knows why it has taken so long. Since Israel took over food distribution hundreds of Gazans have been shot while attempting to get aid, and there are reports of children dying from malnutrition. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has called Israel's denial of humanitarian aid in Gaza a violation of international law. and is pressing for Israel's control of aid distribution to be replaced. Again, why has this taken so long? 

The few people still allowed to provide humanitarian releif says that nearly half a million Gazans now face catastrophic levels of food insecurity and that roughly 100,000 children and women are facing severe acute malnutrition.

This past Thursday an Israeli government minister claimed that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in the territory and was seeking to expel its population. According to the New York Times: 

Amichay Eliyahu, a far-right lawmaker who leads Israel’s Heritage Ministry, said in a radio interview that “there is no nation that feeds its enemies,” adding that “the British didn’t feed the Nazis, nor did the Americans feed the Japanese, nor do the Russians feed the Ukrainians now.” He concluded that the government was “rushing toward Gaza being wiped out,” while also “driving out the population that educated its people on the ideas of ‘Mein Kampf,’” an antisemitic text written by Adolf Hitler.

There are still people who insist that Israel is not engaged in ethnic cleansing or genocide, admittedly strong terms. Yet what does this sound like to you? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allows right-wing ministers to make these outrageous assertions because they are propping up his corrupt and immoral government. 

Israel has now announced a "strategic pause" in Gaza, whatever that means. Netanyahu claims that there is no starvation in Gaza, a terrible lie. Perhaps a cessation of the mass murder will mean that people will receive the food and water they need for survival.

Not long ago actor Mandy Patinkin,  who describes himself as Jewish with a dash of Buddhist, made strong comments during an interview about what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank: 

“I ask Jews to consider what this man Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government is doing to the Jewish people all over the world.” 

“They are endangering not only the State of Israel, which I care deeply about and want to exist, but endangering the Jewish population all over the world. To watch what is happening, for the Jewish people to allow this to happen to children and civilians of all ages in Gaza, for whatever reason, is unconscionable and unthinkable.” 

“And I ask you Jews, everywhere, all over the world, to spend some time alone and think, Is this acceptable and sustainable? How could it be done to you and your ancestors and you turn around and you do it to someone else?.” 

Amen. 

Finding Happiness in a Gimme More World

 

O Lord, what are humans that you regard them,

    or mortals that you think of them?

They are like a breath;
    their days are like a passing shadow.

 

 Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;
    happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

                           Psalm 144: 3-4, 15 NRSVue

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be, 

and when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

                        Simple Gifts Voices United 353 V 1

We were zipping along a major highway recently when we passed a transport truck emblazoned with the credo seen above.  The truck was apparently brimming with happiness for all. I'm fairly sure there was a halo and rainbow hovering above the vehicle. 

In North America we are generally drowning in stuff and we're warned that our kids and grandkids will be shovelling it into dumpsters when those of us who are Baby Boomers die off. Our treasures will be their trash headache. Meanwhile, there is plastic everywhere, including our oceans and our bloodstreams, because we make so much of it. 

                                                               An Unholy Labubu Trinity 

We are in the reduce and divest stage of life but the process is slow and wanting certain stuff can be so seductive. As I write, the family chat is lighting up about finding  Labubus which have supplanted Squishmallows as the latest "must have" for young uns with birthdays approaching. It just doesn't end. 

 Should there actually be red horns above that logo? Don't worry, be happy...

[Verse 3]
Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
But don't worry
Be happy
'Cause when you worry, your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don't worry
Be happy, don't worry, be happy now

St. Bobby of McFerrin 

                                              Happiness is always a matter of perspective

What Does it Mean to Give Generously?

He has told you, O mortal, what is good, 

and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness 

and to walk humbly with your God?

    Micah 6:8 NRSVue

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

     2 Corinthians 9: 6-7 NRSVue

There is a new and intrtriguing book called Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the shaping of American Jewish Life.  From what I can tell it examines the history of Jewish giving in the United States, the traditional "punching above their weight" for Jews across economic circumstances, as well as shifts in the focus of generosity in recent years. 

Two Jewish concepts came to mind as I read a review. One is the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam which means, essentially "mending the world." The other, mentioned in the book is Tzedakah, meaning "righteousness" or "justice." This is the responsibility to go beyond mere charitable acts to acting justly and ethically toward others. Tzedakah is a core Jewish value. 

As I did some snooping I came upon the "Eight Levels of Charity" identified by Maimonides, the 12thC Jewish philosopher. We would do well in the Christian community to ask how we are shaped by these important principles of Jewish generosity and how they are imperatives for the ways in which we give. 

Here are the breakdown of the eight levels, from least to most meritorious:

Giving grudgingly: The lowest level, where the giver offers charity with reluctance and negativity. 

Giving less than one should, but cheerfully: While the amount is insufficient, the giver maintains a positive attitude. 

Giving, but only when asked: The giver provides assistance only when directly approached for help. 

Giving before being asked: The giver anticipates the need and offers help before being requested. 

Giving anonymously to a known recipient: The giver is known to the recipient but the recipient doesn't know who gave the gift. 

Giving anonymously to an unknown recipient: Neither the giver nor the recipient knows the other's identity. 

Giving indirectly: This involves contributing to a communal fund managed by responsible individuals, where the giver and recipient are not directly linked. 

The highest level: This involves actively preventing poverty by offering a substantial gift or loan, teaching a trade, or providing support to establish a livelihood, thus enabling the individual to become self-sufficient. 

Prayers for Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland

 

Around 1:00 p.m. Sunday, water bombers could be seen from the Banting Park area, collecting water from the ocean to put out the Musgrave Harbour wildfire. (Submitted by Peter Barfoot)

O God, our refuge and strength, our help in times of trouble. 

We lift our prayers to you now that your creation is suffering. 
Have mercy on the lands ravaged by fires. 
Calm the winds that fan the flames, and send rain to the parched lands. 
Comfort all who have had to leave their homes; give them solace as they wait for news.
Give peace to those under evacuation alerts. 
Bless all those who help and support the evacuees. 
Protect all those who are fighting the fires, and keep them safe in difficult circumstances. 
Protect all whose health is at risk because of the smoke. 
Heal the people, heal the nature, and heal the land. 
God, in your unending mercy, we ask you to hear our prayers. 
Amen. 

We have been watching the weather forecast for a small outport village in Newfoundland for the past few days. Musgrave Harbour, less than a thousand souls, is a fishing community with a wharf and a few shops and not alot more. There is a gem of a public park named after one of the co-discoverers of insulin, Frederick Banting, whose World War II plane crashed near Musgrave Harbour in 1941, resulting in his untimely death. Both the village and the park have been evacuated because of the threat of a wildfire but a few days ago we were relieved to see that there was sustained rainfall, which surely would make a difference.

When I was ordained as a United Church minister in 1980 we moved from downtown Toronto to Carmanville NL, another outport not far along the shore from Musgrave Harbour. While we lived there we visited the long white sand beach of Banting Park before it was given this name. We took our youth group kids there and eventually returned with our young family. When we rgo back to Newfoundland, as we will next month, we will be on Change Islands,  just west of Fogo Island, and not far by water from Musgrave Harbour. 

Newfoundlanders are not strangers to wildfires and in the early 1960s there was a major fire in this area with the effects still visible when we moved there. But ask folk in the province if temperatures are higher and drought more common and they will respond with an emphatic yes. These are people who are attuned to weather and most agree that climate change is a signficant factor on land and in the sea.

As with so many other rural communities across the country, wildfires cause major disruptions and destruction even though the residents are not significant contributors to the causes of climate instability. While these communities may seem inconsequential to those of us in urban centres far away they have been home to generations of families.

The prayer above is from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in British Columbia, across the country, and yet it certainly applies to the threat in Newfoundland. 

Good News today that the evacuation order has been lifted.

Doing Time in Kingston Penitentiary

  

                                                            Kingston Penitentiary

The crowd joined in attacking[Paul and Silas],  and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.  Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.  

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

                              Acts 16: 22-26 NRSVue

On the weekend our younger daughter, Emily, was in Kingston with a group of friends and they decided to do a tour of the Penitentiary. Kingston Pen, once a maximum security federal prison, has been closed to inmates for more than a decade but continues on as a tourist attraction and as a movie and TV set. It has been described as the Alcatraz of Canada, but don't tell that to the Orange Menace.

Emily was aware that I did a chaplaincy internship at KP while I was at seminary, not quite the usual summer placement on the prairies. She was surprised to discover that I was 24 at the time (hey, we were all young once) and wanted to know what she might look for. I told her that while they would take the tour through a solitary confinement unit reserved for the those singled out for additional punishment or protection they wouldn't see "the hole" where I was assigned. I made my daily excursion down the stairs to the set of a dozen or so narrow cells where guards who were not impressed by chaplains in general gave me reluctant access. I couldn't find any photos of that miserable place. 

As some readers will know, those months of chaplaincy changed my outlook on those we incarcerate as a society and altered my perception of human nature --"there but for the grace of God go I", quite literally. I learned that inmates were human beings from every background, although the poor and those with learning disabilities were highly over-represented and the justice system had usually failed them. 

In recent days we've heard about the failure of the Canadian prisons and provincial jails in providing even the basics of daily living. They are overcrowded and understaffed, creating highly volatile environments. A recent report indicates that inmates have shorter lifespans and the issues of drug addiction are serious.  

When the Quakers of the 19th century in the US invented prisons where inmates would become "penitent" they were considered innovative. Nearly two centuries later "modern" prisons in North America tend to be gloomy and violent institutions where spiritual reform is in short supply.Yes, most of them deserved to be incarcerated but our jails and prisons are not the answer. 

As Christians we can forget that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostle Paul were jailed or imprisoned. Paul wrote New Testament letters while in the hoosgow, or under house arrest. While we were in Israel in 2023 we visited the prison in Caesarea Maritima, under excavation  While we might argue that they were prisoners of conscience, incarceration is never just about the reasons for being there.

There was a relatively happy ending to the story from Acts, above, but that isn't the reality for so many who end up in jail or prison.  I've heard a fair number of Christians offer harsh perspectives about locking people up and throwing away the key. 

We can all do better, including our Ontario premier. 

                                                Caesarea Maritima Prison 

An International Call for a Gaza Ceasefire

 

Finally, finally Canada has joined with other nations in issuing what they describe as an "urgent message" regarding the carnage in Gaza where scores of people are being injured and killed daily as they desperately seek food aid

In recent days I've expressed my dismay at Canada's unwillingness to provide temporary humanitarian visas to Palestinians attempting to flee the danger and condemned the Israeli shelling of the lone Catholic church in Gaza city. 

We have been invited repeatedly to pray for an end to the killing and starvation tactics. Will this statement be part of the answer? Of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his minions are condemning the condemnation. Here is it, with the United States glaringly absent: 

We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now. The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.

The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.

We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.

The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law. The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release.

A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families. We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs [non-governmental organisations] to do their life-saving work safely and effectively. We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law.

Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a “humanitarian city” are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law. We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The E1 settlement plan announced by Israel’s civil administration, if implemented, would divide a Palestinian state in two, marking a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution.

Meanwhile, settlement building across the West Bank including east Jerusalem has accelerated while settler violence against Palestinians has soared. This must stop. We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.

Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this. We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.

This statement has been signed by: The foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Plus the EU commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management.