The Joys of Christmas Music

 Christmas Day is now over and the wrapping paper has been gathered up and put out in the trash – or recycling – I’m not sure if glossy wrapping paper is recyclable but I am giving it the benefit of the doubt.  It is, however, still Christmas.  The Twelve Days of Christmas have just really begun and will culminate on Epiphany with the celebration of the arrival of the tardy Wise Men.  Perhaps they were wise because they had the patience to follow the star of Bethlehem and not rush the journey.

I am reflecting on the joys of Christmas and one of the greatest joys for me is the music.  I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on my favourite Christmas Carols and Christmas songs.  So here they are with links to versions that, I believe,  do them justice:

1.       Low How a Rose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlnGvyZwKzQ

2.       In the Bleak Mid-Winter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0aIQp9V4s

3.       What Child is This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTyuW1Q2oxU

4.       The Huron Carol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_cmnxep67k

5.       I Wonder as I Wander https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZjyf1jhKE

6.       O Little Town of Bethlehem  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PRQsiPSq64

7.       Infant Holy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_nyGKcwP4

8.       The Christmas Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhRnZZ0cJI

9.       Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44bL90HP0Ys

10.   It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bhsXykXxfg

11.   Joy to the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r3VVMUhAxU

12.   We Three Kings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg46Ui-adGU

There you are – twelve carols and songs for the Twelve Days of Christmas.   I started with one of the older ones which was first printed in 1599 and ended with We Three Kings which is celebrated on Epiphany with sacred and secular stops on the way.

There are so many wonderful ones to choose from that I could have selected one hundred and twelve or two hundred and twelve and another time I would probably have selected some different one.   I am sure you each have a list of your own you could put together. 

May your journey be blessed this Christmas Season.

 

Advent 4 Rejoice In The Lord Always

 The Sunday in Advent that celebrates lighting the candle for Joy is usually on the third Sunday.  However, just to be a bit unpredictable, St. James Anglican Church marked the Advent Sunday for Joy this past Sunday.  This is referred to as Gaudete Sunday and the candle that is lit is the pink one which is the odd candle out and stands out amongst the other ones which are purple coloured.  The joy of Advent is that of anticipation and a celebration of what is to come.  This is in the middle of Advent which is the season of preparation.  Gaudete is the Latin word for rejoice which is a reminder that we should rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4: 4).  Advent began as a season of fasting and Gaudete Sunday marks the point at which we can look in anticipation in the breaking of the fast in the celebration and celebrating of the Twelve Days of Christmas culminating with Epiphany and the arrival of those tardy Wise Men. 

We can think of the joy of Mary in the knowledge that she is the God bearer with that dubious news that she would be a pregnant unwed mother - not great news in those days.  It is that mixture of joy in the midst of all that is going on, that signifies the true meaning of joy for me – the joy that despite all that is happening in the world and perhaps in my life, God is with me and will be born again for the world and for me.

Pope Francis expressed this aspect of joy in a very down to earth way in his first Gaudete Sunday as Pope:

In his 2014 Gaudete Sunday homily, Pope Francis said that Gaudete Sunday is known as the "Sunday of joy", and that instead of fretting about "all they still haven't" done to prepare for Christmas, people should "think of all the good things life has given you."

That joy is a sign and a reminder that Jesus did not come into this world to make life a bed of roses for us.  There are still challenges and rough roads and sorrows in our lives.  But we have joy which, as the Medical Mission Sisters sang, is like the rain amidst all the ups and downs and thunder clouds gathering:

I saw rain drops on my window, joy is like the rain
Laughter runs across my pane, slips away and comes again
Joy is like the rain

I saw clouds upon a mountain, joy is like a cloud
Sometimes silver, sometimes gray, always sun not far away
Joy is like a cloud

I saw Christ in wind and thunder, joy is tried by storm
Christ asleep within my boat, whipped by wind, yet still afloat
Joy is tried by storm

I saw rain drops on a river, joy is like the rain
Bit by bit the river grows, till all at once it overflows
Joy is like the rain

I am sure it is difficult for those on the west coast who have recently experienced rivers overflowing their banks, to experience joy in the midst of their trials.  Sometimes, joy is indeed difficult to find.  However, God is there always and so joy is there also.  Let us give thanks to the Lord in all things if not for all things.   So, let us rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. 

Let us be blessed with joy on our journey to Christmas. 

Advent 3 What the World Needs Now is Love

 Yesterday we celebrated the third Sunday of Advent in our church by lighting the candle for love.  Some churches were lighting the candle for joy but we will do joy on the 4^th Sunday.  There is much that can be said about love as Jesus made it very clear the importance of love in God’s Kingdom, “You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.  If that was not enough he commanded that we must love our neighbours as ourselves. 

This priority of the place of love was not original with Jesus.  Some six hundred years previously Ezekiel declared that hearts of stone will be converted into hearts of flesh, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)   That passage resonated with me when I listened to a webinar by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Banks of Canada and England and now the UN Special Envoy on Climate and Action and Finance.  This was a presentation by St. Basil's Church in Ottawa.  It was a very thoughtful and inspiring talk which addressed the issues of the economy and climate change today and shared his vision of building a better world for all.

Mr. Carney covered a great deal of territory in a relatively short time but what particularly resonated with me can be summed up with his quote of Oscar Wilde, “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”  To my mind this is what the market driven economy is based on.  It is very good at putting a price on things but very poor at knowing the true value of things.  I believe this started, or at least, came to preeminence with the Enlightenment which led to everything having to be measured, weighed and put under the microscope to be considered valuable.  The Enlightenment brought much to be thankful for but this is what might be considered its dark side.

So, you might ask, what has this to do with love?  Well, the problem is that love cannot be measured and weighed or seen under a microscope.  Therefore, the value of love, despite all the songs and poems to the contrary, does not have a place of prominence in our market driven economy.  As was noted in the Webinar, Amazon the company has a valuation of worth billions of dollars on the stock market, but The Amazon is only given a value when it is deforested and used for farm land. 

The result of this is the ecological crisis that the world is facing today.  What the world needs now, as Burt Bacharach wrote, “is love sweet love.  It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”  If we love something we put a value on that person or thing which cannot be measured or weighted or put under the microscope.  We need to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbours – love the world that God created.  I do believe that love is what binds the universe together and will not be defeated by those forces that threaten to pull us and the world apart. 

Blessings, and let the light of the love of Christ shine through you on your journey.  

Advent 2 Good Hope for Peace on Earth

Today, we light the candle of Peace. There is considerable comfort and peace, in the assurance that all of us “share in the grace of God” together. Blessed voice in the midst of a hard place.  

That Advent Reflection from the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, marked the lighting of the Candle for Peace on the Second Sunday in Advent.  This is indeed a hard place that we find ourselves in a world that seems to be anything but peaceful.  Reflecting on this brought to my mind the beautiful carol Christmas Bells which is based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and was written during the American Civil War.  As a reminder, the carol begins (please exclude the masculine language):

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

The verse that came to my mind was actually a middle verse:

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on Earth, " I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men

That seems to me exactly what I was thinking when I thought about the birth of the Prince of Peace which we are preparing for this Advent.  Admittedly, there is peace on earth but it seems to be receding into the distance and becoming a goal which is less achievable these days.  Admittedly, there have been other times in the world in the not too distant past that peace seemed to be even a most distant hope.  When I look around, I see divisions growing deeper and wider and the chasms that divide us seeming to become insurmountable.  It has been two thousand years since the Prince of Peace was born in Bethlehem so why has not peace taken a stronger foothold in the world and in the hearts of men and women? 

How then do we, who follow the Prince of Peace, respond to this?  Last week I wrote about the lighting of the candle for Hope.  There is still hope for peace within us and in the world.  However, that hope needs to be based on concrete action and not just wishful thinking.  If we are to hope for peace, we must each seek the peace of God which passes all understanding by seeking peace within ourselves and with each other.  A commentator on cable news in the United States speaks of “good trouble.”  It is the kind of trouble which seeks to disrupt and change the unjust systems in the world – that is good hope.  For this to be good hope and good peace, it cannot be accomplished through violence.  That is the message of the Prince of Peace.  Jesus taught that you are not to return violence with violence – you are to turn the other cheek – you must love your neighbour even if he or she is the despised Samaritan. as difficult and seemingly unnatural that is.  There is a turn towards good hope in the carol a few verses later:

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
(Peace on Earth)
(Peace on Earth)
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men

That is the good hope for each of us and for the world – wrong shall fail and right will prevail - we need to work for peace through good hope and good trouble.  The carol Christmas Bells is a carol for our time and for our world today so if you have the opportunity join in and raise you voice and sing.  Here is a link to it on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOGz9WqNQoI. 

May we all be blessed with good hope for peace on earth on our journey.

 

 

Advent 1: Hope Reconsidered

Last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent.  Yes, this is the season of the church year which prepares for Christmas and does not actually jump right into the secular Christmas season after Thanksgiving- the American, or worse yet, the Canadian.  That mini-rant aside, we lit the first Advent Candle on the Advent wreath which is the candle for Hope. 

Hope seems to be something that we can always use more of – particularly in these times when we begin to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel and another variant raises its ugly head and throws up more tunnel.  This time, it is the Omicron Variant which looms large in the COVID scene with possible threats of being more transmissible and perhaps being vaccine resistant.  But we live in hope that all will be well and all manner of things will be well in God’s time if not ours.

However, is there perhaps a less positive aspect to hope?  I am a strong believer that in most things there is a negative as well as a positive.  So, is there an aspect of hope that we should reconsider and not embrace fully - an aspect of hope that is not what God intends?  I was led to this cautionary thought when I tuned into an episode of On Being on National Public Radio in the United States.  The episode is entitled the Future of Hope https://onbeing.org/programs/pico-iyer-and-elizabeth-gilbert-the-future-of-hope-3/. 

The program is a wonderful exploration of the possibilities of hope – both positive and negative.  The thing that resonated with me the most listening to the program, was that living in hope can lead us to not living in the present.  The example that was used in the program was the experience of the interviewee, Elizabeth Gilbert, who was not as fully present to her loved one who was dying.  Rather than being fully present she was living in hope for a miraculous healing.  This idea was summed up in a poem by T S Eliot which was quoted by Gilbert:

“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So, the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”  ― T.S. Eliot

This does not mean that we give up on hope.  I believe that we do still need to live in hope.  The challenge for me is to hope for the right thing.  In Advent we live in the hope that the Prince of Peace will be born in us and to the world.  We can hope for peace by doing things small and large to bring peace rather than hate into our lives and the lives of those around us.  And we will live in the knowledge that in  the words of Julien of Norwich, “All will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

May you be blessed this Advent to have hope for the right things on your journey.

What, Me Change?

 

There is a great scene at the beginning of the Red Green Show from a few years ago – well more than a few years now.  The show opened with a meeting of the Possum Lodge – a men-only organization in the fictional town of Possum Lake.  The members of the lodge take what must be the Possum Lodge Pledge (although I don’t think it was ever named that) which goes:

“I’m a man and I can change - if I have to - I guess.”

That is something men are notorious for – not changing, but I think it is more of a human trait which applies to all races, creeds, colours, or genders.  People just don’t want to change and resist change perhaps above all else – except perhaps survival – but then again I think even survival in many cases.  The members of the Possum Lodge didn’t say the pledge with much conviction as I recall. 

I have titled this edition of News and Views, “What, Me Change?”  as a riff on the cover character from Mad Magazine, Alfred E Neuman, whose tagline was “What, me worry?”   As I recall, reading Mad Magazine all those years ago, that good old Alfred probably had a lot to worry about.  In the same way, people could benefit from changing things about how they approach life and the world. 

The topic of change came to mind when I read a short poem by W. H. Auden this week:

W. H. Auden (1907–1973)

“We would rather be ruined than changed,

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.” [1]

Richard Rohr addressed this resistance to change in a recent Daily Meditation which quoted the Auden poem:

What the ego hates more than anything else is to change—even when the present situation is not working or is horrible. Instead, we do more and more of what does not work, as many others have rightly said about addicts. The reason we do anything one more time is because the last time did not really satisfy us deeply. 

I have called the ego, God’s greatest gift to humankind and its greatest curse.  We can’t live without our egos and we can’t live with them – at least we can’t live fully as God intended unless the ego finds its correct role which is to serve God rather than it wants which is for God or the gods to serve it. 

As Auden puts it so succinctly, we need to climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.  In Christian terms we need to pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.  We cling to those illusions which seem to form the prism through which we see and understand the world and make us who we believe we are.  Putting them down may not be easy but it will be the way to life which is full of joy and full of meaning.

May you be blessed to pick up your cross and put down your illusions on your journey.  

 

Ape and Essence (1)

I came across the phrase “monkey brain” again this week.  Monkey brain is a phase used to describe how our brain often works when we are trying to meditate or focus on one thing.  It seems to have a mind of its own – and it actually does.  The mind jumps from one thought to the next just when you want to quiet your mind and focus on one thing- God in the case of meditation or to empty the mind in the case of Centering Prayer.

Thinking about the monkey brain also brought to mind the idea of the monkey trap which I first encountered in a Tarzan comic when I was a pre-teen.  The monkey trap is a container with a small opening into which is put sweet morsels to attract a monkey (this would be in places where monkeys roamed wild).  The monkey would grab the sweet morsel.  However, the catch was that the monkey would be unable to pull it’s fist out as it is now too big to be extracted from the container.  The monkey would not be willing to let go of the morsel to extract its hand and was therefore caught.  The monkey trap was secured to the ground and the monkey would be eventually caught by the owner of the trap and used for whatever brought the greatest reward.  Below is a drawing of a monkey trap in operation which I found on-line.    

The use of the terms monkey brain and the monkey trap is apt because, if you have observed monkeys, they seem to always be in motion moving from one thing to the next.  Now honestly, I have not had enough direct experience observing monkeys to know if this is an accurate assessment or if they have been given a bad rap in this regard.  Like the monkey brain, we supposedly evolved human beings can display traits that seem to be very similar to our simian cousins.  We can hold onto beliefs and habits and ways of life which are not in our best interest or what God intends for us. 

However, thinking about the monkey brain, also brought to mind a novel that I read many years ago or, in this case, many summers ago.  The novel is After Many Summers by Aldous Huxley.  This is not one of the better-known works of Huxley and is probably not one of his better books.  However, it resonated with me in my youthful interest in fantasy and science fiction. 

As I recall it, the story concerns a rich man who is obsessed with trying to ensure he doesn’t die – the motif of the search for eternal life.  He spends much of his wealth in pursuit of this goal through the wonders of science.  One of his hirelings discovers a way to extend life in a significant way.  The only catch – as there always seems to be a catch in these scenarios – is that the person may have an extended life but would regress to become more ape-like, a sort of devolution of reverse Darwinism.  The last scene of the novel particularly resonated with me.  The protagonist is looking at the result of the experimentation in which two subject have reverted to a more ape-like existence.  The protagonist says something to the effect that, well, at least they seem to be enjoying themselves. 

Although I didn’t appreciate it at the time, this seems to be a strong critique by Huxley of the perhaps blind belief that science would solve all our problems. This seems to be gaining strength in parts of society as we live in hope that there will be a scientific or technological breakthrough that will mean we don’t have to change our lives dramatically to address climate change.  In effect, we are making a god of science that will answer our prayers – a long standing theme in fiction.

The thing that ties the monkey-brain and monkey trap and ape-like long life together is the understanding that monkeys/simians do not have self awareness.  Being conscious and self-aware is a God given gift but if we do not use this gift to know what God intends for us and for all of God’s creation, we will end up like the monkey in the monkey trap holding on to that sweet promise of what we desire but cannot obtain. 

One your journey may you be aware of what you are grasping in life that does not offer eternal life. 

[1] I have borrowed the title of another novel by Aldous Huxley that seems to be appropriate for these musings

Masked and Unmasked

 

Sunday, Lorna and I attended the worship service at St. John’s by the Lake Anglican Church in Grand Bend, Ontario.  The service was marking Remembrance Day and the service was well put together and had much of the content displayed in their relatively new screens.  I am still getting used to screens in church that are not Rood screens and it was nice to see that the screens were well-used for more than “just” hymn lyrics and prayers.  The videos related to Remembrance Day were very moving.  However, there were technical difficulties with stops and starts which interrupted the flow but I am sure that the kinks will be worked out with time and experience.

Unrelated to all this, was the presence of masks on the service.  We are still required to wear masks during the worship service – with the exception of those leading the service.  As people who were leading the various aspects of the service – preaching, prayers, scripture readings, announcements – they removed their masks so that the congregation could better understand what they were saying.  This was all well and good.  When members of the congregation – including me – happened to be speaking to one another wearing masks it was difficult to always hear them clearly.  As an aside I didn’t have any trouble as my hearing is pretty good despite what Lorna maintains. 

It seems to me that wearing a mask is a form of persona which all of us wear when we are out and about.  The mask will make what we are saying less clear to those we are speaking to.  In a similar but perhaps less obvious way, the persona which each of us wears and presents to others prevents that other person from clearly apprehending who we truly are. 

Let me clarify what a persona actually is.  The term was first used in psychology by Carl Jung.  It is derived from the Latin persona, referring to the masks worn by Etruscan mimes.  The persona is the personality which an individual presents to the outer world which will, to a greater or lesser extent, affect how someone will perceive you.  A priest who is wearing their priestly garb – even just a clergy shirt and collar will be perceived by others in particular ways.  The impact of this perception will be greater or lesser, more or less positive or even negative depending on the attitude of the perceiver towards organized religion in general and clergy in particular.  To see the persona-bearing individual as an individual will necessitate the perceiver seeing through the persona to the individual to enable them to see who they truly are more clearly.  Of course, I don’t believe that any of us see others as they truly are, but we can see others more fully or as fully as possible by being aware of their persona and how that affects our perception of them.  

On your journey, may you be blessed to see others more fully as they truly are – children of God. 

 

Making the Crooked Paths Straight

 O God of Compassion,

I cannot undo the past, or make it never have happened!
— neither can You. There are some things that are not possible even for You
— but not many!

I ask you, humbly, and from the bottom of my heart;
Please, God, would You write straight with my crooked lines?
Out of the serious mistakes of my life will You make something beautiful for you?

Teach me to live at peace with You, and make peace with others and even with myself.

Give me fresh vision. Let me experience your love so deeply that I am free to
face the future with a steady eye, forgiven, and strong in hope.

I came across this prayer a few weeks ago – unfortunately I didn’t note the source.[1]   It resonated with me because it addressed the experience I have which I call the “ghosts” that sometimes haunt me in the witching hours of the night.  The ghosts are memories which arrive unsought and unasked for.  In religious language they are the things I have done which I ought not to have done and the things I have not done, I ought to have done.  I could go on with there being no health in me but I won’t go that far – at least this morning.   At base they are regrets which I wish I could change but as this prayer states, I cannot undo the past, or make it never have happened!  

Even God can’t or perhaps it might be better to say won’t – I truly don’t know which.  But I do know what is possible is forgiveness.  It is possible through God in Jesus Christ to forgive – forgive myself and others for all those things in life that I regret happened.  Those ghosts are actually given by God to let me know that forgiveness for these things is not complete.  The crooked path has not yet been made straight.  Forgiveness – true forgiveness does not come easily to me and I expect it does not come easily in most cases.    However, it is a gift from God that those ghosts come to let me know that the process of forgiveness is not yet complete.  I had not originally planned to write about those ghosts on All Saints Day after a traditional night in which the ghosts and goblins roamed so freely but perhaps, I can see God’s hand in that.

May you be blessed to have reconcile with your ghosts on your journey. 

---

[1] One of my biggest and closest fans informed me that it is a prayer by Ignatius of Loyola 

 

Be Careful For Nothing and Give Thanks In All Things

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving so it is a day to give thanks (sorry if that is stating the obvious).  However, giving thanks is important as it is possible to let your troubles and things that you are naturally not thankful for dominate your thoughts and feelings.

I have noted in the past that Philippians 4: 4-9 is a good scripture passage at these times of thanksgiving.  It begins, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.”  Whenever I hear that passage, I cannot help but hear the beautiful aria from Handle’s Messiah play in my head.  I do restrain myself from breaking into an attempt to sing it out loud, at least in public.

One of the beautiful aspects of the Messiah is that the text is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.  In the NRSV the next verse is ‘Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’.  The words that come to me however, are from the KJV, ‘Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God’.  It does, after all, seem easier to remember song lyrics than prose passages.

For me, ‘Be careful for nothing: resonate much differently than “Do not worry about anything.”  Putting aside the beauty and poetry of the phrase '' Be careful for nothing”, the phrase has a deeper and more profound resonance and meaning.  It is interesting that Word prompted ‘be careful for’ and suggested I might use ‘careful   about’, or ‘carful with’, or ‘careful of’.  None of those are appropriate which is not surprizing but then either is ‘do not worry about anything’. 

‘Be careful for nothing’ does not mean that I should not take care or be careless―even though I’m sure Lorna would agree, if asked, that I can be careless about some things at times.  I understand it to mean that I should not let anything interfere with my giving thanks to God in all things.  I do not say that I give thanks to God for all things.  I am not able to go that far but, rather, I try and give thanks to God in all things.  The trial and tribulation and slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that life presents to me are not necessarily sent by God in my theology.  They can be a challenge and sometimes overwhelming, but I give thanks that God is with me on my journey in the good times and the not so good times and even when times are downright bad. 

Therefore, on this (Canadian) Thanksgiving Monday, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” 

May you be blessed this day and every day on your journey.

Truth and Reconciliation

 Last week, Canada celebrated the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities.  I have been deeply moved by the news of the discovery of the buried remains of 215 bodies at the former Kamloops Residential School.  Since then, there have been similar tragic discoveries at other sites. 

In my search for how to respond to this situation I turned to a quote by Victor Frankl, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” 

The question facing me and all Canadians is, in the space between the stimulus i.e., the revelation of this horrific example of the effect of the terrible chapter in Canadian history, and our responses, is how do we choose to respond to that information?  As a middle class, now more than middle-aged, white Canadian man, I am aware that I cannot presume to provide a response that is appropriate for the survivors, the families of the 215 children, or any member of the First Nations in Canada.  However, in my desire to respond, I am writing this reflection and offer of assistance and support. 

I was inspired by the news item of people placing shoes in memory of some of the victims whose remains were discovered.  This brought to mind my visit to the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem in 2007.  I was deeply affected by many of the exhibits which commemorated the impact on the Jewish people and the individuals who suffered and died in the Holocaust.  I was particularly moved by the exhibit of a multitude of shoes belonging to prisoners who perished in Bergen-Belsen and other camps.

That the Holocaust was a manifestation of evil is not in doubt.  I have not been aware that the Residential School system put in place by our representative has been named as a manifestation of evil.  Perhaps this has been done – I deeply hope that it has and will be recognized as just that.  It was evil and the effects of that evil are still being felt to this day in the lives of the survivors and the descendants of those who suffered that evil. 

The power of the Remembrance Centre brough home to me the need to remember in a permanent way those who suffered and sometimes died through the actions and neglect of officials in the Residential School system both as individuals and as a system.  A Residential Schools Remembrance Centre would give a permanent and concrete testimony to this terrible chapter in the history of the Canadian Nation and be a focus for collective memory and help ensure that the residents shall be remembered in our national psyche.

I do not have any concrete suggestions at this time regarding how this can be moved forward.  I do know that truth must precede reconciliation and the discovery of the unmarked graves of so many children who were captives in these institutions is a first step.   The reconciliation can and must take many forms following the truth of this tragedy. 

Let us acknowledge that truth on our journey and may those who are on this journey be blessed.

 

Talk of Love Not Hate

 

I saw Jesus on the cross on a hill called Calvary
"Do you hate mankind for what they done to you?"
He said, "Talk of love not hate, things to do - it's getting late.
I've so little time and I'm only passing through."
Passing through, passing through.
Sometimes happy, sometimes blue,
glad that I ran into you.
Tell the people that you saw me passing through.

These lyrics by Leonard Cohen came to mind as I was reading an article in our Diocesan newspaper, The Huron Church News.  The article, A brighter Spiritual awareness, by Rev. Jim Innis, noted a signboard he had seen in London which read, “May Love Always Be Stronger Than Hate.”   This is a value and understanding that is deeply needed in these times, and possibly every time since people began to walk on this earth.

However, as St, Leonard (the saint of song as I fondly think of him) states in his song Passing Through, it seems to be getting late and the need to speak of love seems all the more urgent that we not only speak of love but live out love as we pass though this time we have on earth. 

When I think about loving versus hating it can seem that hating seems to be easier to do than loving.  Can it be that it is more natural to hate others than to love them?  It is natural to find scapegoats for the things that are wrong in this world.  Rene Girard developed a scapegoat theory of how this mechanism has been at work in the world for time immemorial.  We unconsciously can collectively find an innocent victim or victims to carry the guilt for the sins of the world.  Individually, we can find ourselves consumer with hatred for someone who’s only crime is to be different than us – different in behaviour or appearance or even their attitudes and beliefs.  We can think of the strong negative emotions - okay let’s just call it hate – for people who may refuse to be vaccinated against COVID or against officials who are setting rules that appear to force people to be vaccinated against their will. 

 

It seems much easier to hate these people than love them, but is that actually the case?  Theologians and philosophers have proclaimed that love is the foundation on which the universe rests and is bound together.  Jesus Christ based his understanding of the Kingdom of God on love being the ruling principle.  He proclaimed that the commandment could be summed up in love, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

You might suppose that this was a commandment because it was not something which came naturally to people.  Therefore, we had to be commanded to do and be loving despite ourselves.  However, that is not the case.  When we consider all that love has inspired in the world – great art and poetry, love sonnets and romantic novels, and the accounts of the love between people, we know that love is a great force in this world.  IS love stronger than hate as the hope expressed in the billboard?  I have to believe it is despite some of the signs to the contrary.  Love can choose us and we can be swept off our feet and lose ourselves in the depths of love but we can also choose love.  This choice was addressed by -Br. David Vryhof of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, “Why would we choose to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? Because that is the way of God. God never stops loving, never stops blessing. Only God’s love abiding in us can love in this way, only God’s strength at work in our weakness can make us God-like in our words and actions.”

So, let’s talk of love not hate as the song proposes and let us all choose love and not hate.  After all there are things to do and it is getting late on our journey. 

Blessings. 

Whom Are You Going to Serve?

 

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Those lyrics by Bob Dylan capture what is on my mind this morning.  I have been listening to a program on CBC Ideas about the Divine Comedy of Dante.  This is a magnificent poem – probably the greatest ever written, is in three parts; Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.   I have also read the Comedy some time ago and have started the Paradiso again recently.  The theme which I have focussed on in this encounter with the poem is, as the lyrics sum up, deciding who or what you will serve. 

The Comedy is an account of Dante, the author and the protagonist of the poem, journeying through the three aspects of existence – hell, purgatory and heaven.  He does this, fortunately for his and for the multitude who have read the Comedy since, while he is alive.  It is a journey of discovery for Dante the protagonist, and possibly Dante the author, of whom he will serve. 

In the beginning Dante, in my reading, is serving himself.  He begins by using the work as a great revenge play in which he places those who are responsible for the great tragedy of his life – his exile from his beloved city of Florence.  For Dante this was a form of death – he was exiled from the ground of his being, from all forms of support, from friends and family, from finances, and perhaps even from God.  Consequently, he places those he holds responsible in hell most notably Pope Boniface VIII.  Although Pope Boniface was not dead when Dante wrote the poem, he places Boniface in the eighth circle of hell devoted to the simoniacs – those who use the church for personal financial gain. He doesn’t stop there but uses the work as an opportunity to wreak literary vengeance on a wide assortment of villains and even including a good friend in his zeal. 

This starting point on his spiritual journey was from a position where he was wanting to be in charge.  Dante’s ego believed it should be in charge and his creative genius should serve his ego.   In effect, he believes that God should serve him.  At the end of his journey of spiritual discovery, he learns that the proper place for the ego is in service to God.  This is the journey that we are all called to make. This was addressed in one of the recent offerings from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist  (SSJE). 

Conversion is about having more and more space in our mind and heart for the “other” people of this world, people whom God so loves. Jesus changed. If we are following him, we are going to need to change – it’s a life-long conversion – to not only serve Jesus but to see Jesus in the “other,” whoever is “other” to us, different from us, not “normal” to us. This is very challenging news. The good news is it’s possible, amazingly possible.  Br. Curtis Almquist.

Blessings on your journey.