The Wind Blows Where It Chooses

“The wind (spirit) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Saturday night, I was having a bit of a time questioning my faith.  I was awake a lot of the night – which seems to happen more frequently as I age – and was wondering why God seems to be most difficult to connect with at times when it would be most beneficial to make that connection.  To put it more clearly – where the heck is God when you need Him?  I could put it in non-gendered language but it feels rather right to give God a masculine pronoun in this instance.  

I certainly haven’t suffered like Job but I can certainly understand Job’s demand to make his case face-to-face with God.  In any case, as it so often happens, things seemed much more positive in the light of day.  As the dessert fathers and mothers discovered, the night does bring demons and challenges in many different forms.

Being Sunday morning, Lorna and I were off to St. James Anglican Church to ring the bell at 9:00 and attend the Morning Prayer service following.  As I have written about previously, we started ringing the bell at church on Easter Sunday morning at the request of our Primate, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, who had asked that all Anglican churches ring their bells to let people know that Jesus Christ has risen even in the midst of Corona Pandemic when churches were not open for public worship .  We decided that we would continue to do that every Sunday morning during the Corona shutdown until we were able to worship together again. 

Some time after Easter Sunday, our priest-in-charge, Rev. Sherry De Jonge, decided to hold Morning Prayer services of the Word to be recorded and broadcast on Facebook following the ringing of the bell.  These followed the Diocesan guidelines and were not open to the public.  Following the bell ringing the doors would be closed.  Yesterday was rather humid and the church was on rather stuffy so when I was closing the front doors, I decided to leave them open as a very nice breeze was blowing into the church.

As the service progressed, I went up to the lectern to lead the prayers of the people and was surprized to see a man I didn’t know sitting at the back of the church.  One of the regular attendees was absent so fortunately we did not exceed the permitted number of attendees in this time of Corona-19 which is five.  I’m not sure what the protocol would have been if we did but, in any case, all was well on that front.  Following the service, we engaged in a discussion with the visitor with all attendees including the guest wearing masks.  It turned out that he was interested in having some members of his family baptized in the church and was passing by and saw the open door so decided to join us and was able to discuss the baptismal process when public worship services resume – hopefully in September. 

Now St. James is a very small congregation and this doesn’t usually happen even in non-corona times.  So, I have to ask myself if the convergence of unusual events had something or someone directing things behind the scene.  All the circumstances coming together can, of course, be put down to coincidence, however, I must ask myself if there wasn’t a connection with my questions of the night before.  I’m not saying there is cause and effect at work here but you have to wonder.  The Spirit blows where it chooses as we are told. 

Blessings on your journey and watch out for those coincidences. 

Ringing the Bells

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

(Anthem by Leonard Cohen)

Yesterday on Easter Sunday, the bells were still ringing or perhaps I should say ringing again, after what seems like an eternity of silence.  Perhaps it was the sound of silence to call up another popular song.  There seems to be a defining sound of silence these days.  However, yesterday that silence was broken across Canada as the leader of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, called for the bells of Anglican churches to be rung at 9:00 a.m.   Lorna and I went over to St. James Anglican Church in Parkhill, Ontario and rang the bell – we only have one but that one rang out.  I hope that this let those within hearing distance recognized that this was the evidence that church bells still can ring even though church buildings have been closed for a month and we have not been gathering for worship. Before ringing the bell,  I prayed the collect prayer for Easter Morning and Lorna served as acolyte holding a candle:

Collect
Lord of life and power,
through the mighty resurrection of your Son,
you have overcome the old order of sin and death
and have made all things new in him.
May we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
reign with him in glory,
who with you and the Holy Spirit is alive,
one God, now and for ever.

Our offering of the bell ringing out was an offering even if it was not a perfect offering when compared to gathering together in worship especially on Easter Sunday.  We did not raise our voices together with those many beautiful Easter Hymns such as Jesus Christ is Risen Today, or Welcome Happy Morning.  However, we were able to tune in to the Easter Services on-line, of which there were many.  These were of varying quality as many clergy are using social media for the first time to make there worship available and, as one priest noted, he did not receive any training in how to do this in his theological studies.  However, as the great lyrics by Leonard Cohen state so wonderfully we need to forget our perfect offerings - all are acceptable to God. 

There is a deep truth in the song lyrics.  There are cracks in everything which have been made obvious at this time of self-isolation and quarantine.  We human beings do not easily embrace the cracks that appear in our lives whether it is in what we have believed is the foundation of our existence or even in our physical appearance – who is that old guy staring back at me in the mirror anyway?  However, perhaps in these days of COVID -19 we are beginning to see the light that is shining through those cracks.  We are beginning to really appreciate what is important and what is essential.  We can see that perhaps those people who are serving us and ensuring we have the necessities of life in this time of COVID-19 are the true heroes; the cleaners in the hospitals, the staff in the food stores, the truck drivers who are bringing the all the products to stock the shelves, the front line workers in hospitals and nursing homes.  All those who we now see as essential are so often the ones who are not compensated appropriately for people who are essential.  Perhaps there is some light shining through those cracks.

Blessings, stay well and keep the distance on this journey we are all on. 

The Bells of Peace

Yesterday marked the one hundredth anniversary of the armistice that ended World War 1, the Great War to end all wars.  To mark the occasion The Royal Canadian Legion in conjunction with Veterans Affairs was sponsoring the Bells of Peace.  As noted on the Legion website:

Bells of Peace marks the occasion 100 years ago, when church bells across Canada rang out to share the news: the First World War was over. As the sun goes down, a bell or bells will be rung 100 times at community locations across the country to honour the sacrifices of Canadians who served in the 1914-1918 War, and to remembers the horrors of war, the costs to society, and the promise of peace.

As bells toll to remember the 650,000 who served, close to 66,000 killed, and more than 172,000 wounded, many communities will also commemorate the local people and events that link their community to the Great War. A soundwave of bells across the nation will help tell a historical journey of Canada's service and sacrifice during the First World War.

At my home church, St. James Anglican Church, Parkhill, a group of us gathered at 5:00 pm yesterday and rang the church bell 100 times (there may have been a few extra for good measure as the count was a bit unclear at the end).  I am gratified that this endeavour was named the Bells of Peace as it is important that when we remember the sacrifices made by so many in that War to end Wars, and in so many wars and conflicts since then, that we not only honour those who sacrificed in so many different ways but also the hope and promise of peace that was embraced by so many at that time. 

As the Chaplain to Branch 341 of the Royal Canadian Legion, at the service at the cenotaph at 11:00, I read the honour role of those who gave their lives in that war was well as WW2 and the Korean War from this area.  I am grateful that no name has been added to the honour role since the Korean War.  It is important to also remember the sacrifices made by all who have served since then in so many conflicts which continue to this day.  The latest conflict involving Canadians is the Peacekeeping effort tin Mali in which a contingent of 250 Canadian soldiers are engaged in what is described as ‘complex’.  In today’s sometimes confusing political climate peacekeeping has devolved in more peacemaking that keeping.

Since the end of conflict one hundred years ago the reality of war we have become more aware of the consequences for those who have served.  Those who were involved in war zones can suffer significant and lasting serious negative impacts on their mental health as well as the physical which are often easier to see.  What was known as shell shock in WW1 is now recognized as PTSD.  The consequences on these conditions and others like it and the impact it continues to have on the veterans and their families is now much more appreciated.  It is important that the sacrifice and suffering by all who have served and continue to serve is not forgotten of diminished. 

A week ago, Lorna saw the wonderful play, Come From Away, which tells the true events of the people who were passengers commercial air planes on 9-11 and were diverted to Gander NFLD as air space over the United States was shut down.  The story of one woman particularly stood out for me.  Her son was a fire fighter in New York and she spent the time grounded in Gander trying without success to find out if he was safe. 

The anxiety and fear she experienced during those six days were dramatically presented with great force.  It was not until later that she was informed that he had died as a first responder in the Twin Towers.  I share this account not to diminish in any way the ultimate sacrifice of those who we honour today.  It is to recognize the sacrifice made by so many in so many different circumstances which should also be honoured and remembered.  It is also to recognize and honour the sacrifices by those who loved the ones who made the sacrifices.

We, who follow the Prince of Peace, are called to pray and to work for peace in this world where that often seem to be a dream and hope which is receding in the distance.   I will close with the prayer that I prayed at when we gathered to ring the Bell of Peace at St. James, the Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.