RESPONDING TO WAINWRIGHT

 I write these reflections two days after the horrendous fire that happened about 4pm at the training base in Wainwright, Alberta. Four service people have been killed. Thirty-eight are undergoing hospital treatment as I continue writing.

I share with God and with each reader my gratitude for the goodness of my fellow Canadians in this tragedy. All of Canada was hurt and deeply touched by this tragedy.

There are some citizens who are seriously upset with government power and regulations. But this is too narrow. Government actions are not all beneficial and well organized but we need to be reminded how good we have organized life in Canada when we stand beside so many other countries who struggle to make their societies  work.

I am thankful at the speed in which help (ambulances and firetrucks were on the scene) arrived quickly.  No matter what speed a EMT drives you cannot have a fleet of ambulances in the town of Wainwright within ten minutes! The rescue of the injured was marvellous.

The response of the helicopters and the airmen that parachuted into the football field to assist was commendable. This could not have happened if we did not have clear government structures that were well organized to respond to an emergency. 

Try to imagine if our medical system did not have any plans in place to  respond  toan emergenicy. What if an unprecedented storm blew up, or uncontrolled firee or some man gone off his rocker and starting shooting people in the streets. 

 

You can only respond if you have work-out plans and a clear line of authority to handle the crisis. Thank you for all the hard work that has been put into making these emergency plans work.

I want to be thankful to every  person who risks their own life and safety in helping others into the ambulances and all the medical staff in our hospitals.

I want to be grateful that we are a society that is wealthy enough to have these helicopers bring  medical personnel to the accident site and the ability to fly the injured to the Edmonton hospitals. Many countries in the world do not have the wealth and the technology to possess such resources. 

We have a long ways to go for all the injured to recover, but I come before God and all my fellow Canadians with gratitude.

 

 

BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE

 

 

In today’s world you need to carry in your verbal toolbox the observation, “But that’s not true.”

 

Three weeks ago during the forest fires in BC a picture of the fire came up on the evening news. The viewer beside me asked, “Is that picture real?”?

 

This picture could h ave been the creation of AI (a computer generated picture) or it could be an actual photo of the forest fire.

 

We live in a deluge of information.  It is very possible that some of the TV programs that you watch are not real people. The actors, script and situations are all AI generated. The first tool we must bring to this flood of ideas, news stories and commentates from all sorts of people, “Is this actually true?”

 

You are not being rude or unkind if you question whether something is true. You are working to establish the truths of this particular event. 

 

There are people who chatter but never check out of what they are speaking is actually true. These are the ones who take offense when you ask them if what they have just said is actually a true fact or do they just have a need to talk?

 

Be the person who seeks to receive and truth and only pass on the truth to others. If you hear it in the media, question it. 

 

Survival in today’s world means we must become critical (i.e., truth seeking) in all things. 

 

To use a good winter image, be like the Inuit in the far north of Canada. They have grown up on the land and know the water and forest well. One southern man observed, watching how the Inuit men travel over the waterways in the early part of the winter. “Watch, they know the waters so well that they never run over thin ice. They never fall into the frozen lake. Their feet are so well educated not to step in the wrong patch of snow or ice.”

We live in a church that has a long history of working towards the truth. There were vicious verbal fights in the early church over the identity of Jesus. Finally in council it was defined that Jesus was true God and true man. And this was hammered out into the Nicene Creed. Today we use the shorter version, “The Apostles’ Creed.”

 

We are always working towards the truth.  In your daily life, be a truth-worker.

 

Be critical. Be sharp towards receiving the truth.

 

Be firm and honest. There are things that you will hear today that are not true. From time to time we will have to say, “But that is not true.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE NEW POOR

 THE NEW POOR

When we look at someone or something we always have a value judgment that goes with our sight. We look at a piece of furniture (does not match anything in our house) and we say, “Well, some people might like it!”  But I certainly do not like it!

 

If we consider whose is poor in our Canadian society and we only evaluate these people in terms of their incomes we are certainly limiting our vision. There are many ways that people are poor – if we are honest enough to keep our eyes open.

 

The greatest form of poverty is not to be wanted. We see that happen in so many of our care homes for the aged. The families will “dop them off” to competent care and then rarely come to spend any time or effort with their aged parent. The loneliness is very difficult. 

 

Some family members will try to excuse themselves, “She doesn’t know who we are. She can never have a conversation with us.”

 

But this is probably the most important time the adult children can spend with their mother in her dementia. How can we help these family members see that  just to hold your mother’s hand is such a loving time. 

 

We also meed to teach family members not to go aloe to visit their aged mother in the afternoon. Take another person with you for some conversation. If you are all alome with your mother in the care home you might get bored and quit too early. 

 

The new poor are those who suffer family break up with all the hard feelimgs and sharp membrs that hamper the chance of a healing withing the family.

 

The new poor are the parents of adult children who are heavy into the fentanyl and cocaine and now sport’s gambling is wrecking havoc on peoples’ llives – especially men between 14 and 55. How much suffering is there in a parent’s heart when they see their son lose his house and vehicle through unpaid gambling debts?

 

The new poor are those who have drifted away from the Christian faith (i.e., they no longer identify with the person of Jesus Christ) but happily  claim they are ‘spiritual.’ Not having a livimg relationship with the very Son of God is a true sense of poverty.

 

Poverty has many faces!  We want to help people see the poverty (with its many faces) that surrounds them on a daily basis.

 

 

 

 

GOD, MAY I ALWAYS CHOOSE LIFE

 

There is always something so beautiful when the new-born is brought into the room. Grandmothers oue and awe over the new baby. Everyone wants to see the new baby and everyone comments on who she/he looks  like.

 

New life! It is such a moment of hope and joy. Remember that the same warmth and joy surrounded you when your mother brought you (the new-born) into the family and friends.

Your arrival was a tremendous moment of hope and joy!

 

From this moment we need to be lead to pray and seek to foster life and all its varied forms.

 

Pray that we always choose life and the thriving of human life – here at home and throughout the entire world. We want life not just for ourselves but for everyone in the deepest jungles of the Amazon to the high office towers in Toronto.

 

Pray that we treasure the life of every child in our school; no matter what their identity or their limitations. May each child be a joy in our heart for the life they will lead and the contribution they will make  to our human history.

 

Help us to value and rejoice in the life of every member of our family and to treat all the things we own as just “stuff.” Every computer and vehicle is just so much a tool to serve our daily functioning  but it is in the living of each family member that we rejoice. Pay that we keep our priorities straight: our possessions are just stuff, tools to serve us. 

 

May we keep our shopping sprees  a time to serve life and not get frantic when our shopping gets complicated.  Everything we buy is meant to serve life. May we seek to enjoy and contribute to the well-being of our family and community.

 

May you, divine maker of peace, move all humans to move away from all forms of violence and move to building community. May our striving for life all be a working towards the common good of all people in our country.

 

May our seeking of life move us to pay attention to the elderly, the people without jobs and the forgotten of our own province. May our concern for life broaden our vision and concern for others. May they always be sisters and brothers to us.

 

My only request today: May I always work to nourish, support and love all human life.

May the time I walk on this earth be care and  support for all life.

YOU MUST REDISCOVER GOD

 

As we journey through life and our spiritual life we discover that we are in the process of discovering God. 

 

Many people ( who got done as babies and made all their sacraments as children) are surprised when they discover that their understanding of God is inadequate. It is not uncommon for such persons to ask “was I taught falsely?”

 

If we want to follow the process of the Bible faithfully we see that God has no name. In the Bible if you have the power to name something or someone, you have some power over them. This is why it was the father of the family who “ named” the child. The authority structed was spoken clearly.

 

If humans could “name” God they would have power over God. No one has power over God!

 

When Moses asked God “who should I say sent me?” The answer came back, “I am” “I am with you.”  What was being spoken by the divine was that God’s name is a verb. Bod is an action, a living reality within the people. God lives and breathes in this world.

 

Our task is to discover God as he/she comes to us today. God is always a journey of disvoery.

 

This is why our Old Testament reading (Is. 55, 6-9)  is so helpful. Chew over the words “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways says the Lord.”

 

Think of the times that you have written someone off. You dropped that person to the bottom of the human pile. And then they surprised you with an incredible act of generousity. Was that God at  work moving that person to make such a substantial gift toward their fellow human beings? 

 

You prayed for your thrity-two you nephew who is heavy into the drugs. He has got fired from his last two jobs. You expected the worst in this man’s history. But today you got news that he has gone to treatment and wants to become healthy and sober.  You know that this is the prodding of God in this man’s life. God never abandoned him in all is drunken episodes.

 

This Sunday’s reading from Isaiah (chpter 55) is a wonderful gift.

 

Be calm. Be able to be surprised by God and God’s ways.

 

Now, spend some time reflecting  how God has surprised you?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNDERSTANDING PROTESTS

As I write this reflection there is a civic memorial in Gander, NFLD, for the victims of  9’11 bombing of the Trade Center in New York. 3000 people lost their lives in tis attack.

The command was issued from the government in Washington that all American airports were to be closed.

 

This is wartime emergency commands. What do you do with all the planes that are actually flying at the very moment the command was given? 

 

This is where the small airport of Gander, NFLD, (small by the standards of other very large airports) took in 38 planes. And he people of NFLD rose to the emergency and took all these people  (7000) into their homes, halls and shelters. We still are amazed how quickly the people of Gander got organized, opened their homes and took in all these ‘airplane’ orphans.

 

Now, twenty -ive years later there is a civic memorial to remember and to share pride in the generousity of the people of Gander and district.

 

But, there is serious protests that the American ambassador to Canada  (Pete Hoekstra)  will be present and speak at the event. Many people do not want the American presence. This is a protest.

 

This is democracy on its feet – carrying signs and making the dissatisfaction very public – and very loud!

 

Now, apply the dynamic of protest to the religion that Jesus called us to live. And what we protesting against?

 

Jesus worked deliberately to get rid of a religion that did all the right moves but did not have gthe correct heart. He criticized all the people who said all these long prayers but hceated the poor and the widows out their money/property.

 

He deliberately went against the grain and ate with the poor and excluded (who you ate with in that culture was always a statement of status and wealth. And Jesus associated with the unwanted ones!

 

Jesus included women in his disciples and coworkers. It is also very significant that the first witness to the resurrection of Jesus was a woman!

 

Jesus was always very critical of the wealthy who did not care about and share their good fortune with the poor and the lower working class of people.

 

Now, use the lens of protest and study the life and gospel of Jesus Christ.

What will you discover?

 

 

 

LEARNING TO PRAY THE SEASON OF CREATION

There is a danger ( a distortion) in our practice of our Christian faith that makes our prayer life so spiritual that it only concerns God and myself. It makes prayer to become like a child’s game with a long string – with only two people at either end of the string. This is shrinking the spiritual life to its being as thin as soup with nothing in it but flavoured hot water.

 

Now, God has become one of us. God has flesh, eats regular food and enjoys human friendship. The mystery of God walks the very same path on this earth as we do. And that means that God is very involved and concerned about the things we are concerned about on a daily basis.

 

This is why our prayer and worship always embraces the world. We pray with our eyes focused on the Holy Spirit and our hands holding on to the struggles of our world in all its complexities.

 

Within Christianity (with all its different traditions and identities) the past thirty years have seen the rise of the Season of Creation (September 01 until the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4). This is a time of prayer and reflection about our care for the survival and thriving of the earth and all its life processes. It began as an ecumenical concern/practice and wants to include all Christiaens in their prayer for the thriving of the earth community – human, plants, animals, water soil and all the rocks). 

 

This is prayer in the authentic Christian sense. It embraces God’s concern for the earth and every part of creation. Human concerns are part of the concern for the survival and thriving of the earth. 

 

This year the chosen them is living water. It begins from the image in Ezekeil chapter 47 verses 9 and 12. It speaks of the work of God’s concern for the earth as the small stream that becomes a strong river. The work of God becomes living water for the earth and for humanity.

 

The image of water is very significant. Water is absolutely essential for any form of life. There are places in the world today where water is beomcing scarce. Without water no human, plant for bacteria will survive.

 

This season of prayer will help us focus on our need and concern for water, clean water for humans and water for our grain fields. 

 

In our prayer we want to focus on the gift of water and what it means for all creation. We want to focus on preserving water for all living things. We want to pray over water and our responsibility to care for the well being of water.

 

The image of water will broaden our life on this earth. This concern will also take us closer to the very heart of God – who gifted us with water in the first moments of creation.