WE EMBRACE THE WORLD

                                  

 

Religion has a downside. We can use our religious faith to avoid dealing with reality. We can limit what religion is supposed to accomplish in human life. The most obvious example of misuse is the to avoid coming to grips with the evil that humans do. People can use their religious faith to practice daily prayer, share in the Sunday worship and help the homeless. We can practice our religion in the security of our religious buildings/traditions and avoid the black side of human life.

 

We have a long history of very devout Christians making war against each other. We have an almost five-hundred year history of practicing slavery, all the while going to Church every Sunday. Criticism has been fairly leveled at Christianity in the Americas for its continued practice of racism. And in our generation we are slowly coming to  grips with the sins of humanity against the earth (i.e., global warming and the abuse of the resources of the earth).

 

The presence and the movement of God is not limited to church buildings or sacred practices. God’s ever-creative presence fills all parts of the earth and all sections of human society. 

 

We must never hesitate to stand in situations where people are not paid a living wage (i.e., so many of our sweatshops in the Third World)  and  ask,  “Why are these people exploited for their cheap labour and we in the First World over-consume inexpensive clothing?

 

Why have we as human beings so glamorized the practice of war? Why have certain corporations made  substantial profits by manufacturing war equipment? Why would we not take all that tax money that we spend on war and use it to feed the hungry of this world? 

 

Never hesitate to ask your fellow Christian why First Nations women suffer neglect and serious poverty. At this point I am thinking of the “missing and murdered women,” of whom the majority are of First Nations descent. Why do poor women suffer such violence?

 

Our people can be very generous in their gifts toward the food banks. But ask your fellow Christian, ‘In a country so rich as ours, why is there hunger?’ 

 

People may want to isolate God into church buildings. We do this and neglect the moving presence of God among the poor and suffering of this world. One of the strongest complaints that God makes throughout the Scriptures is the neglect of the poor and the suffering. 

 

A mature and healthy spirituality stands on the street corner and recognizes the suffering of others. The gospel calls us to brutal honesty about the injustices and exploitations that are happening within our Canadian society. We want to listen to the suffering of the earth which finds its forest being stripped bare, its waters polluted and the air becoming unhealthy. 

 

What does God want of us in these instances of injustice and exploitation? What is the Spirit of God moving us to bringing this world to a more just society and a more sustainable earth?

 

How do we find God in the places where we so often avoid? 

OUR STRONG MOTHERS

                                      

The experience of a young mother in Meadow Lake taught me much about life. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon on my hospital rounds. She had her newborn (second child) on the bed in front of her crossed legs. In the brief moments she observed, looking at her newborn, “My Mother always said she could die for her children.” Then lifting her finger in the air, she added, “Now, I understand!”

 

As we mark Mother’s Day this weekend, we need to pay attention to the mystery that is motherhood. Each mother has her own story. Each one has the mystery we must try to appreciate. Everyone needs to give thanksgiving for their own mother, and give thanksgiving for all her dedication, and, thanksgiving for her deficiencies.

 

When I read the history of our prairie provinces, I always feel that the stories of the brave and determined women are not told. They were women who were determined to survive but also that their families would thrive. How many of these women gave courage to their husbands, their children (of various ages) and the community at large when the Dirty Thirties hit? How many brave and industrious women managed to put food on the table, educate their children and nourish the life of the larger community? 

 

And survived without complaining or morphing into self-pity? What resilience!

 

Today, we need to hear the stories of brave mothers who are single-handedly raising their children, working a part-time job, trying to go to school to upgrade and getting the children off to day care early every morning. Where are the stories of these brave mothers?

 

And where are the stories of the brave grandmothers who are in their mid-fifties who step up to raise a grandchild that is about to be taken from its mother because of severe drug addiction? What do we have to say about this grandmother starting  child-rearing all over again? What courage is exhibited here?

 

And what of the mothers who make great sacrifices, financial and emotionally, to try to get their addicted son (he may be in his mid-thirties) into a drug rehabilitation program?  What commitment do we experience here?

 

There is so much we do not understand about motherhood. We need this Mother’s Day to reflect and embrace the mystery of motherhood. We need to embrace the mystery, the love and dedication of our own mother. Hopefully each year we will gain a better understanding of this ever-so-human a mystery.

 

This Sunday, just thank God for the gift of your mother. Just dance with joy that you have been so loved.

 

TWENTY-EIGHT OVERDOSES IN REGINA

                                              

I have a strong concern in our Canadian society of the opioid/ fentanyl epidemic that has ravaged our society since the year 20216. It was disheartening to read in the news this past week that the first two months of this year, January and February, registered twenty-eight overdoes death in the city of Regina. Two years ago there were only four deaths within the same time period.

 

With the Covid crisis absorbing all the oxygen in the media, the opioid epidemic has almost disappeared from the screen. There are far more deaths from opioids / bad drugs than there are from the Covid virus.

 

I ask myself, what can I do? What contribution can I make to improve the situation?

 

Along with our governments, our health facilities and our families, I stand almost helpless. We cannot control what people take to get high or use to numb the terrible pain of their addiction. As a society there is no way we can legislate our way out of this. Will education help the population become more aware of the danger that drug consumption entails?

 

It is a very dangerous world out there for anyone who uses drugs. Added to the danger is the fact that these synthetic drugs are very cheap to make. The scene is complicated with more powerful synthetic drugs that have come into use. We can only look forward in horror to what new drugs might be developed in the near future. 

 

Every family in Canada is only one family away from a case of serious addiction or of an overdose. It is not at all uncommon to have a non-user, pop a pill offered from a friend and this first timer might result in a fatal overdose.  Twenty-eight overdoes in a small city like Regina is very sobering!

 

Within the Church we cannot pretend that this is not a serious issue for our families. We want to be sympathetic and willing to accompany any family that struggles with the addictions one of their members may be trapped in. We want to be right up front with admitting our impotence in this regard. As a faith community, we have much to learn.

 

We want to educate and help family members understand what is going on. We want to be taught what drug addiction means and the implications it has on family life. 

 

But at the bottom line, I (along with many other church members), are standing in a helpless situation begging God for help. Confronted by the fentanyl crisis I have never felt the need for God’s help in such a strong way. 

,Sustaining the earth: what does your religion offer?

                    

On Thursday evening, about 5:30 pm, as I was preparing supper, I looked out the kitchen window and the wind hit full force against the house and trees. This is what is like to live in society today.  We are living in a time of strong social struggle. The winds are hitting us from both directions. Part of the population resists any recognition that humanity is on a race to falling off the cliff in collapse of the earth structures. The other half recognizes the change humanity must make to the ways it exploits the riches of the earth. 

 

Scientists, over the past sixty years, have been warning humanity of the dangers of global warming, the pollution of our fresh waters and the depletion of the soil and the huge plastic waste floating in the oceans. 

 

Human beings have a long history of resisting the truth because it demands that we must make some drastic changes to our way of life. Humans only embrace a new or inconvenient truth when it is advantageous to them. 

 

Of all the people you associate with, people who identify themselves as spiritual or people who identify with a particular religious tradition, ask them: And what does you religious teaching and experience offer to humanity to work to sustain the earth into the future? What gives you strength, energy and direction to keep the earth thriving? 

 

Christianity has much to offer to sustaining the earth and turning us away from collapse. 

 

First, we must repent of turning away from our attitude toward creation during these past five hundred years. Our religious belief in the value and importance of creation is not new; it was forgotten for so many centuries The firm conviction that creation is the first revelation of God’s love and compassion must be reclaimed. All our churches must return to our roots in God’s first revelation to sustain and create the world.

 

Secondly, we must regain a living sense of God’s sustaining power and love for every part of creation. Every bacteria that exists has been created, loved and sustained by God. We do not have to invent any new prayers that bring us in touch with creation. We just have to be aware of our own tradition in regard to creation. Christians do not have to invent the wheel! 

 

Christians have to recognize that human beings are not over and against the natural world. For the past five centuries we have exploited and abused the gifts of the earth. For too long we have used the earth as if it were ours to use and dispose as we saw fit.

 

We are being shaken into reality. We are kin with all creation. We are part of the great fabric of the created world. If the birds do not thrive, then we humans will not thrive. The entire web of life (from the most minuscule to the large human brain) is interconnected. In the very true sense of the word, we are all in this together.

Our Christian roots give us the tools and the energy to work towards a sustaining earth. Our faith and prayer can give us strong energy to work to sustain the earth. One of the unsung blessings is that now all who identify as the followers of Christ have something in common. We all have our religious roots to give us and empower us to work toward sustaining the earth.

 

We must reclaim what is an essential part of our religious tradition.

ON NOT NEEDING CHURCH

                           

The older generation has difficulty understanding the young mothers who do not vaccinate their children against so many possible diseases. We come from the generation where our mothers had gone through the polio scare. When a vaccine to immunize against polio became available, our mothers lined us up immediately.

 

An interview done with health people in Quebec showed that when the nurse approached the young mother about vaccination of her baby she received the explanation that “there are no measles around. No one has measles.” In the logic of the young mother, why would I vaccinate my child for the disease that does not exist? 

 

In all honesty, the young mothers do not see any need for vaccinations to protect against disease that do not exist (in their own minds that is). 

 

This insight moves over to ‘why belong to a church, service group or the larger community’ when I have no need of these? As an individual I can look after myself completely. 

 

Church is always the first community that people choose not to connect with or participate in. All our volunteer organizations, political parties, school groups and much of family life are disappearing from our society. When people need something they will come but to make a personal contribution by participation and hard work within the community, that is something else!

 

In this individualistic culture, you are on your own. In the past seven decades the social structures have broken down and disappeared. Who tells you how to marry, how to raise your children and to look after the people in your neighborhood? This has been exacerbated by the high mobility that employment brings. It is not uncommon to have the aged parents here in Saskatchewan, one daughter living in England, one daughter in Halifax and the other daughter in Whitehorse. Who is here to help when Mother is taken by ambulance to the emergency ward in the middle of the night?

 

When people identify themselves as spiritual and are very satisfied that their faith is good, they lead a good life, why would I look for a faith community? And there is such a strong perception that Church demands much of us. Why would I want to belong to something that will limit my lifestyle?

 

Our society and culture are headed into a narrow, severe loneliness in our future. There we will be, rich moneywise  but so alone! No one needs us and we are distant from everyone else.

 

Only when people experience a deep emptiness in their lives will they turn back to community. Only then will we recreate the communities we need to thrive as human beings: a faith community, a school community, a town or city community. 

 

Just because an individual may walk away from community does not mean their demanding human needs have disappeared. We are living on the junk food of individualism, while all the while our bodies are crying out for community, for belonging and for identity.

 

We need a second look to where we are going as a society.

 

 

 

 

 

A CHURCH FENCED OFF?

 

An government action that we have not seen except in times of war is a church being fenced off, barring the entry of any persons until April 27.  What is going on in Alberta? The RCMP accompanied the fencing company that began erecting the fence around the church building at 6:00 AM this past Wednesday. 

 

There has been much controversy over the past twelve months between supporters of the church and citizens in the district. The health authorities have tried to work with the pastor and people of the church to meet the health regulations that have been given to worshipping communities throughout Alberta. 

 

Grace Life Church in Parkland County (West of Edmonton) has refused to comply with directives given by the Alberta health authorities to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Their pastor, James Coats, has already spent thirty-five days in prison for violating the law. 

 

What an ego!

 

The people of the church strongly claim that they have a fundamental right to freedom of worship. This means that no one, including civic authorities, can interfere with the exercise of this fundamental human right. 

 

This is correct – but limited!.

 

All citizens have an equal responsibility to care for the well-being of their fellow citizens. We do not have only rights; we have equal responsibilities. It is the absence of any talk of responsibility for the common good that makes all the arguments of the above church congregation empty and very selfish. 

 

The government authorities and the citizens of Alberta are working to protect and promote the common good. Every citizen has a responsibility to protect the health and well-being of their neighbor. 

 

In every disagreement within a society we must be aware that a positive value (i.e., the right to freedom of religion) can be misused and abused by self-serving people. The good can be misused for very sinister purposes! You, the reader, must make an informed decision about the right or wrongness of the actions of this particular Alberta church.

 

Secondly, the parishioners and pastor of  Grace  Life Church must examine why all the other worshipping communities (Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Hindu and Sikh) in Alberta have agreed to work with the directives given by the Alberta Health Department. Are they misguided? All worshipping communities are suffering in this year of pandemic. Some are on the verge of financial collapse. We want to recognize the strong sense of social responsibility these worshipping communities have for the common good of the people of Alberta. Cooperation with the health directives indicates the strong sense of social responsibility that is present in our worshipping communities.

 

The fence will probably not end the conflict west of Edmonton but I want to name this irresponsible non-compliance of the Church for what it is: selfish and motivated by a grossly exaggerated sense of self-importance. 

MAY YOUR EASTER EXPLODE

                                      

It is always hard to see the reality that is right in front of us. How many times do we fume over a speeding ticket but are ever so reluctant to take ownership that ‘we cut corners when we drive.” Everywhere in the world there are strong population shifts. There are different people who are now becoming citizens in my country! But how many people lament that ‘life is not the same,’ which means, there not are enough of my own kind living in this country? How many countries are putting up walls around their borders to try to prevent the change in population?

 

Our Christian faith is all about how God is breaking in (one God’s terms) and giving us a new reality. One of the downsides growing up Christian is to think that how we grasp our religion today is all there is!

 

The Resurrection of Jesus always upsets everything! No one expected this! If the resurrection is true, it is really unbelievable. As the women and men who first followed Jesus began to experience him their world changed radically. This was not just the great healer and teacher returned to life (he eats breakfast with them), but this is the outpouring of God. God has broken into our human reality. All that Jesus said and did is the revelation of God. To get to know the risen Jesus is to encounter God.

 

Our salvation is in the mystery of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both events belong together. Over the past centuries  almost all our attention was devoted to only the first part of the mystery, the death and suffering of Jesus. For many Christians they had a spirituality of the cross with the resurrection being accidental to their faith experience. This was very incomplete. In this century we want to be reclaim the mystery of salvation and celebrate with equal energy the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

 

We need to be reclaimed by the resurrection of Jesus. It must become in our lives a faith-explosion of God pouring out the very life of the Son into our bones and our thoughts. The resurrection is always the giving of the very life of the divine Jesus into our lives. It broke open the lives and the hearts of the first disciples. The resurrection  now breaks open our lives.

 

This is not just something that we must preach with enthusiasm in our church buildings but it must take root and blossom in our daily lives. Each person who has been joined to Jesus in Baptism shares in the very life and resurrection of Jesus. Each person must become the living continuation of the great mystery of the resurrected Christ.

 

Be the life of the risen Jesus in your daily speech when we seek to speak the good things about other people and are able to walk with them through their struggles, whether it be in their relationships, or their unemployment or simply having a good word to say about everyone. 

 

Live the resurrected Jesus by your willingness to listen to the struggles of your twenty-two year ole nephew who does not know which way his life should go. He struggles with a group of friends whom he knows are not good for him. Be the listening heart and be ready to be the firm voice when he needs some clear direction. 

 

Easter was never meant to be a quiet, sunny day. This is all about God erupting in our lives. This is God extending the mystery of salvation in and through the person of Jesus, Son of God. Now, his very life is given to us. We are meant to be the living continuation of the life and mission of Jesus.

 

May this Easter be explosive in your life.