O Canada, Oh Compassion

 

This is the newest member of our extended family who was born two weekends ago, the first child for her parents. I am being careful to be as vague as possible to ensure privacy. Months before they were born a heart defect was identified which would require corrective surgery almost immediately. A complication was that mother went into labour a month early so this precious soul weighed 5.5 pounds at birth. Within a day it was established that their heart wasn't up to the challenge and six-hour surgery took place through the night at Sick Kids hospital in Toronto. While the surgical team felt it went well, two weeks later literally every assisted heartbeat is being monitored. 

We Canadians live in an astonishing country. Not only is this world-class care, the parents won't have to fight with an insurance company over coverage or risk bankruptcy over the costs. 

We are all attempting to fathom the madness of the Mob Boss in Chief from across the border affecting every sphere of our lives. There has been a lot of clever, defiant humour and it has been good to laugh out loud. There has been a fair amount of chest-thumping and patriotism as well. We put up our Canadian flags when the former prime ministers invited us to do so. 

As worthwhile as this has been, a fragile newborn getting the best of care speaks to me more of what I hope for in this our "home on native land." Canada has become an increasingly secular nation in many respects and Americans tend to wear their brand of Christianity on their sleeves. This is a good time to remind ourselves that universal health care was a dream brought to fruition by Tommy Douglas, an immigrant from Scotland. Douglas was a Baptist pastor who became one of those dreaded "socialists" and changed our country based on his gospel convictions. Back in 2004 he was voted the Greatest Canadian in a national competition in which the Not-So-Great One was number 10. Sure, the list was all men, nearly all white, so we could do better. Still, I love that an immigrant socialist is considered our greatest citizen. 

That photo, above, reminds me of what Canada is about. I don't mind the "elbows up" meme as a statement about our feistiness but "arms around" works for me even better. 

With Christ in the Spiritual Wilderness of 2025

                                                  Christ in the Wilderness Virginia Maria Romero

 Then the devil led [Jesus] up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,
    and serve only him.’ ”

Luke 4: 5-8 NRSVue

 The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you...

                    Deuteronomy 6: 13- 14 NRSVue

 This is the first Sunday of Lent, the season of the Christian year which prepares us for the sombre commemoration of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter. In liturgical traditions it is a given that the gospel lesson will tell the story of Jesus' 40-day testing in the wilderness amidst the wild beasts, hence the forty days of Lent. The three synoptic gospels all share this story early, Matthew and Luke saying that it is the devil who tempts Jesus, while in Mark it is Satan -- same evil presence, different name. 

One of the temptations is for Jesus to become ruler of the world, but he responds to the devil with Hebrew scripture verses saying that you can only serve one God. 

You may not be surprised to hear that my mind went to a certain evil tempter as I read this passage in 2025. I thought of the  AI video created as political satire but reposted by our modern day Prince of Darkness. It shows Palestinians on the shattered streets of Gaza followed by a transformed Gaza-a-Lago resort, Trump's proposal. There is a golden statue of the supreme ruler at the conclusion. The president missed the irony. 

Another name for Satan/Devil is Beelzebub, or Lord of the Flies, a title used by William Golding for his novel about boys stranded on an island who descend into savagery. 

As we enter Lent this year we might ponder who and what we are tempted to worship and what it means to be Christ-followers in a "might makes right" world where despots are adored and the "meek shall inherit the Earth" is ignored. 

It does seem as though we have entered a spiritual wilderness from which there is no escape. We may feel be-wildered and be-devilled these days, but Lent reminds us thatour wilderness sojourn leads us to new life in Christ. 

                                                       Christ in the Wilderness -- Purvis Young

 

To Know the Dark

 

I'm a big fan of the evocative icons created by Kelly Latimore and the varied writings of Wendell Berry. This tweet with an image and a poem leading us from Ash Wednesday, to Christ in the Wilderness on the first Sunday of Lent, to the Garden of Gethsemane as Holy Week concludes really speak to me. 

To go in the dark

 with a light 

is to know the light. 

To know the dark, 

go dark. 

 Go without sight, 

and find that the dark, 

too, 

blooms and sings, 

and is traveled by dark feet 

and dark wings. 

 – “To Know the Dark” by Wendell Berry, from “Terrapin: Poems” 

 Icon: Christ in the Wilderness Prints, Digital Downloads and Prayer Candles: http://kellylatimoreicons.com

World Day of Prayer

 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.

 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.

    My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.[b]
 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end—I am still with you.

Psalm 139: 1-2, 13-18 NRSVue

I posted a blog entry for today but I decided to write another because I glanced over at my trusty United Church calendar and realized that this is the World Day of Prayer. This used to be a big deal in mainline churches and as the Women's World Day of Prayer there were often ecumenical services, one of the few times in the year when Christians came together across denominational lines. The practice is to have groups from different places on the planet prepare the resources for the day and all participating gatherings employing them in their worship services. Here is the description for this year: 

The women of Cook Islands have prepared the service this year. We are encouraged to reflect on the changes and challenges faced by this country as it approaches its 60th year of independent government. The writing team has shared how the Cook Islanders found a way to beautifully blend their Polynesian heritage with Christian faith introduced just over 200 years ago.

World Day of Prayer is an international, inter-church event that began almost 100 years ago bridging social, geographic, and political barriers in over 170 countries. The weekend of prayer begins in Samoa and then travels in many languages throughout the world — through Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Together we pursue justice, peace, and reconciliation by standing together in prayer and action.

Offerings received through the World Day of Prayer transform our prayers into action in the form of project grants empowering women and children in our own country and throughout the world. All regions share in the grants, with consideration given to greatest need. Through WDP offerings, WICC has distributed around 3 million dollars for small projects in the past 40 years. The vision is to restore hope to women and children touched by injustice.

The theme scripture passage is from Psalm 139, an affirmation of the Creator's love for each one of us from the beginning. After our blustery morning walk I think I would prefer to be praying on a Cook Island beach today!

Giving Up Sexism for Lent

 

Yesterday I noted that observing Lent was not a Protestant practice until the latter part of the 20th century and doing so may have come about because of the rise of ecumenism. Some Roman Catholics and some Protestants decided that playing nicely together was something of which Jesus would approve. 

RC Lent seemed to be focussed on giving stuff up, abstinence and fasting, presumably to bring spiritual awareness. An older monk in a monastery told me that when he joined his order there was lots of heavy physical labour and it was not uncommon for a brother to faint in the fields due to hunger. Starving the faithful didn't sound particularly spiritual to me.

In recent years some Christians have been inventive, choosing to abstain from social media or purchasing unnecessary goods. They may take on more charitable giving or observe an environmentally aware Lent. Why not? 

How about giving up or turning away from sexism and misogyny for Lent?  A Roman Catholic women's organization fed up with doing most of the work within the church but shut out from meaningful leadership are calling for a Lenten "strike" during which they won't fulfil the tasks that are taken for granted and they won't attend Mass either. Here is the Religious News Service description: 

(RNS) — As Lent began on Ash Wednesday (March 5), Catholic women frustrated over being disenfranchised by the church despite promises of greater recognition are going on strike, withholding numerous services and ministries to their Catholic parishes, schools and universities.

Organized by the Women’s Ordination Conference, a 50-year-old group based in Rome that advocates for women to be made priests, bishops and deacons, the Catholic Women Strike is planned to go through Easter, April 20. It also includes a day of action on March 9, where women are invited to protest and advocate for greater inclusion and influence in the church.

“We’re calling the women of the Catholic Church to join together in striking from sexism by withholding labor, time and financial resources from the church during Lent,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference. 

The conference has prepared a toolkit to answer questions about how to participate in the strike, suggesting that women refrain from attending Mass, send letters to their local priest or bishop highlighting the need for recognition of women’s roles or withhold donations and work.

The ailing Pope Francis has made the right noises and even instituted a few measures toward a more inclusive church but the efforts have been strongly resisted by traditionalist. It's not as though Roman Catholicism has a corner on misogyny. Many Protestant denominations are the same -- let women do the work and claim that God put men in charge. In the Southern Baptist Convention a couple of their largest congregations were given the boot because they began ordaining women and giving them significant leadership roles. 

Call it a strike or fasting or spiritual abstinence, it seems like a worthwhile Lenten endeavour.

Shout out; do not hold back! this Lenten Season

 

False and True Worship 

Shout out; do not hold back!  Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.
 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their side.
 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers.
 You fast only to quarrel and to fight  and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.

Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

 Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

 the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday.

 The Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your needs in parched places
    and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water whose waters never fail.

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to live in.

Isaiah 58: 1-13 NRSVue 

This is Ash Wednesday in the Christian liturgical calendar, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent. This was an observance once associated with Roman Catholics who wore what we Protestants thought was a bizarre smudge of black in the shape of a cross on their foreheads. And they had this weird practice of fasting during Lent --ugh.  Now it is commonplace for other Christian expressions to observe Ash Wednesday and Lent, even evangelical churches. 

I looked at the reading for the day and found this passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah about the true practice of fasting which is not just making a show of abstinence. I included it all here because it is such a powerful call to compassion, mercy, dignity for the down-trodden. 

These are gloomy times when nations are growing increasingly authoritarian and xenophobic. It is acceptable to harden hearts and show contempt for those who are suffering. The yoke of oppression is foisted upon migrants, the elderly, the poor.

Today I am thinking of Bishop Mariann Budde who a few weeks ago appealed for mercy to those on the margins, invoking the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. In her Sermon in the Cathedral she bravely looked to the most powerful person in the world and said: 

 Now I grant you that unity, in this broad, expansive sense, is aspirational, and it’s a lot to pray for – a big ask of our God, worthy of the best of who we are and can be. But there isn’t much to be gained by our prayers if we act in ways that further deepen and exploit the divisions among us. Our Scriptures are quite clear that God is never impressed with prayers when actions are not informed by them. Nor does God spare us from the consequences of our deeds, which, in the end, matter more than the words we pray...

Let me make one final plea, Mr President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives.

And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

Lent can be a time for quiet reflection and penitence. Perhaps this year it can be a season for making our voices heard and to be Christ's light in the darkness. The Isaiah passage begins: Shout out; do not hold back!  Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

In whatever ways we can let's walk the Lenten road of mercy, knowing that we find our way to Resurrection Hope. 

 

No Other Land

 

There have been years when we've seen most or all of the Best Picture candidates for the Oscars before the glittering telecast. Not this year. In fact, Conclave was the only one. Our local multi-plex is much more inclined toward low-brow blockbusters than Indie films and we just didn't go elsewhere to see some of the nominees.

One documentary we really want to see is the Oscar winner, No Other Land. We may be waiting awhile because even though it has won a number of awards it doesn't have a North American distributor and it isn't streaming anywhere. That's because it's about the decades-long occupation by Israel of what's known as the West Bank. We've heard so much about Gaza during the the past 17 months, home to 2.1 million Palestinians. There are roughly 4 million people in the West Bank, with 3.3 million Palestinians and 700,000 Jewish settlers in what the United Nations has declared illegal settlements. Here is the description of the film from Al-Jazeera: 

No Other Land, which chronicles settler violence and the Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank, won the Oscar for best documentary on Sunday night.The film has won dozens of prizes since its release last year, including at the Berlin Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

The film was produced from 2019 to 2023 and comprises mostly personal camcorder footage filmed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra, 28, who documents the Israeli military’s destruction of his hometown, Masafer Yatta in a small, rugged region in the southern occupied West Bank.

The film highlights Israeli demolitions of homes in the village, which the Israeli military wants to turn into a military training zone. Its footage shows the Israeli military razing a school and filling water wells with cement, so residents cannot rebuild.

Adra made the film with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who co-directed it along with Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor.

So, a doc made by an Israeli and a Palestinian which can't get a distributor because it addresses some stark realities that go back to 1967 and even before then. The BBC described the Oscar presentation and the response of the film-makers. 

The acceptance speech at the 97th Academy Awards was one of the most overtly political moments of the night.

Yuval Abraham said his life was very different to that of his colleague, Palestinian journalist Basel Adra. "When I look at Basel, I see my brother, but we are unequal," Abraham told the audience. 

Their win comes amid a fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, pausing fighting for an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.As they won their Oscar on Sunday night, Abraham and Adra took to the stage with colleagues Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal to pick up the award. 

Abraham said: "There is a different path, a political solution, without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.  

And I have to say, as I am here, the foreign policy in this country (the US) is helping to block this path." The audience cheered. Adra thanked the Academy and said he became a father two months ago."I hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I am living now, always fearing settlers' violence, home demolitions and forceful displacements." 

Two years ago while in Israel we drove within a few hundred metres of the West Bank separation fence several times as Ruth's family members lived close at hand. We could see the settlements but we couldn't have any meaningful conversation about the situation because most residents of Israel have strong opinions about the sequestration of Palestinians.and don't want to talk about injustices

.As a Christian I want to be informed and to find ways to respond. Amongst those Palestinians are Christians in Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus, who deserve our support as well. 

Leonard Cohen and the Mezuzahs

 

 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 

Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 

Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 NRSVue

I find celebrity auctions to be a curious phenomenon, especially when enthusiastic buyers spend big bucks for ephemera that would seem silly if there wasn't the famous-person cache. Over the weekend there was an auction for odds and sods owned by the late poet, songwriter, and music legend, Leonard Cohen. Some items were treasures, others trash, and a couple were religious. A notebook sold for a remarkable $120,000 USD. 

 Cohen grew up in Jewish Montreal, was often mystically spiritual in his lyrics, and spent years exploring Buddhism. On his last album he returned to his Montreal synagogue roots and the choir from Congregation Shaar Hashomyim sings, hauntingly, on You Want It Darker. He is buried in the cemetery of the synagogue.

It turned out that there were two of Cohen's mezuzahs in the auction, the small containers attached to the doorframes of Jewish households and doors inside as well. They contain verses of scripture, two particular passages from Deuteronomy.  There have been times when displaying a mezuzah could be life-threatening for Jews during times of persecution. There was even a situation in the States where a condo board included mezuzahs on the list of banned objects outside units, a dumb prohibition overturned in court on the grounds of religious freedom.  

The two mezuzahs sold for $7,800 ($11,000 Cdn) — more than 10 times above estimates. Go figure. I can imagine Leonard offering a wry smile and a slight turn of his head. 

Bye the way, Cohen offered thoughts about Christianity along the way, commenting that he was fond of Jesus who was, after all, a Jew: 

As I understand it, into the heart of every Christian, Christ comes and Christ goes. When, by his Grace, the landscape of the heart becomes vast and deep and limitless, then Christ makes His abode in that graceful heart, and His Will prevails. The experience is recognized as Peace.

Worshipping in Wonder

     

                                     Artist Sandi Hester memorized & used these verses for inspiration 

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,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

Yes, these are verses I've foisted upon you a number of times in the past but I never get tired of them, even if you might.

 Yesterday Ruth suggested that we sit down together with our February calendar page for the Listening and Looking with Jesus project at Trenton United. You may have read in earlier blog entries that I invited the congregation to participate in this endeavour, handing out calendar pages and an explanatory blurb to about 40 people who were interested. 

The concept was to pay attention to the natural world from inside or outside during the month, a notion following on an interview I heard on CBC RadioThe Current. Matt Galloway interviewed Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore who is doing a psych project with students at Concordia University in Edmonton on how being intentionally attentive to nature may alter mood and reduce anxiety. I contacted Dr. Passmore to let her know that her project had inspired me and she was and is delighted that we've taken this on and wants to hear about the outcome. 

Since Rev Isaac is away today I'm the worship leader and our entire service, in word and song,  will be on this theme. We'll create the Prayers of the People from the observations everyone is invited to offer. Trenton UC folk are remarkably willing to share within the service and I'm looking forward to this.

Ruth and I have already started into the month of March because we enjoyed hearing what the other had observed, some days almost identical while others were entirely different. 

 I may update you on how it goes, providing people show up!

Once again, here is how I framed the invitation:

Listening and Looking with Jesus…in February!

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.” ― poet Mary Oliver

 "When people notice nature, and not necessarily even just spend extra time, but just [notice] it, we know it enhances our positive emotions…"

Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore -associate professor of psychology at the Concordia University of Edmonton who studies the correlation between nature & well-being

You are invited to take time each day during the month of February to pay attention to the natural world we Christians call Creation. We will look, listen, engage all of our senses, for a few minutes or longer during this shortest month. You might:

Notice your houseplants or the lengthening days from the comfort indoors

Pay attention to the birds at feeders (or the squirrels!)

Go for a walk, skate, ski & consider tracks in the snow, ice on the bay/river, the changing sky, birdsong

Create a snow angel (providing you can get back up again!)

Jot down what you experienced in the squares of the February calendar page, or perhaps create a tiny drawing.

On Sunday March 2 you’ll have the opportunity after worship to share what was meaningful for you as you paid attention to the world around you.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear… Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. Matthew 6: 25 -26 NRSVue

CBC The Current interview with Dr. Passmore

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/noticing-nature-experts-1.7434315

Ramadan & Interfaith Acceptance

 

Yesterday, as the Muslim observance of Ramadan got underway,  I received a newletter from my seminary alma mater, Emmanuel College in Toronto. It included a photo of banners now hanging in the foyer which would not have been a possibility when I was a student from 1977 to 1980, the latter being the year of my graduation and ordination as a United Church minister. 

Two of the those four banners have been resurrected from the past, if you can excuse a Christian pun, after years in storage.  They could actually be Jewish because they feature quotations from the book of the prophet Isaiah in the Hebrew scriptures. To one side is a banner representing Islam while on the other side is one representing the Buddhist faith. This multi-faith visual reflects the changes that have occurred in the shared use of the building in downtown Toronto but the interfaith, interdisciplinary ethos that simply wasn't part of the college in my time. 

According to the text accompanying the photo: 

2025 is a banner year for Emmanuel College, as it will celebrate the centenary of the United Church of Canada and the 10th and 15th anniversaries of the Buddhist and Muslim foci of the Master of Psychospiritual Studies.

Fittingly, four new banners have been hung in the college’s entrance, one each celebrating the Muslim and Buddhist faiths, alongside a pair of Christian banners. 

“The banners are part of the college’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion as they visibly recognize our diverse traditions and different identities in artistic and inclusive ways," said Emmanuel Principal Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg. 

When I first heard about these programs at Emmanuel I wasn't sure what to make of them, even though through the years I've become increasingly convinced that interfaith conversation is vital to a peaceable world. In reading and conversation with those from other faiths my perspective has been enriched and this doesn't require me to compromise who I am as a Christian. 

A worshipper looks through a theodolite to spot the new crescent moon to determine the start of Ramadan, in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Friday. (Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters)

If I'm honest I was slowest in relinquishing wariness about Islam because of some of the horrors of Islamist extremism even though I know that toxic behaviour exists in every religion. It has been my positive experiences with Muslims through the years that has changed my outlook and my heart. 

In April two years ago we arrived in Israel and immediately went with our family members who lived there to Jerusalem. We went hearing the cautions about the unusual confluence of Ramadan, Passover, and Holy Week/Easter. There was military presence everywhere.in the Old City but fortunately, providentially, there were no incidents. Everyone minded their religious business and we took it all in. We were blessedly ignorant of  the terrible violence that would unfold in six months.

More than ever we need to promote and exhibit respect between religions when the temptation is to stereotype and dwell in suspicion. I'm convinced that this is what Jesus who is God-with-us as Christians and a revered prophet in Islam wants of us. 

I've heard that during Ramadan 2025 charity or zakat in many mosques will be directed toward aid in Gaza where so many are barely existing in dire need of food and shelter. I wonder about donating to Islamic Relief Canada and I see that World Central Kitchen is making the connection to Ramadan as well:

Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, communal gathering, and unwavering compassion. It’s also a season where unity can create profound change, especially for people in urgent need. We believe food is a universal human right, and there’s no better time than Ramadan to translate this belief into action.