Orange

 Matthew 25:31-45 NIV – The Sheep and the Goats – “When the – Bible Gateway

A bit of a different note this week. A tougher note.

 We were talking in our Exploring Faith group this week about asking where God is when tragic things happen.   It was a good, honest discussion, and we didn’t come up with all the answers.   I don’t think we could. We know that God is always present and knows the deepest pain of our hearts.   Jesus cried at the graveside of someone He loved. God knows sorrow and pain.  In Matthew 25 we read about Christ being hungry, thirsty and in prison and often people didn’t see him there.

But why doesn’t God stop this kind of hurt?  And sometimes, in tragedies that are caused by human pride and need to control and gain power, why then does God not stop US?

We remember one such tragedy on September 30.   I’d invite you to join with me in a hard part of our journey of faith.

On September 30, we remember the legacy of residential schools in Canada by wearing orange shirts. It helps us remember the children who passed away, the survivors, the intergenerational trauma that was caused—and so much more.  The Presbyterian Church in Canada participated in the establishment and running of some of these schools.   For the past number of years, the church has sought to engage in reconciliation and living out an apology made to Canada’s Indigenous and First Nations.  But there’s more to it than that.   More than the schools.  There is a cultural absolutely necessary mindset shift that I as a white woman need to make every day.

Because there is a difference between an apology and reconciliation. Or, as I’m learning, reconciliaction.

I don’t often quote the church doctrine committee of the church, but today is different.   

While apologies from the federal government and confessional statements from the churches are important in recognizing the wrongs of the past, issuing such statements does not stop ongoing injustice directed at Indigenous peoples. (Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery in Practice-Life and Mission Agency—Justice Ministries Report 2021, p. 419-21,38)

 From advocating for investigation into federal investments that build profit unjustly from Indigenous resources, to the returning of artefacts stolen, to supporting the establishment of Indigenous-led healing centres to seek some kind of healing from residential school experience and intergenerational trauma, we know that the path to forgiving and dealing with tragedy is step by step.

When we hear Christ say “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink”, Jesus is not just talking about physical needs.   The whole passage in Matthew 25 is about recognizing God in the deepest hurts and needs another person has, and not just seeing it, but listening to what they need, and doing something about it.   People didn’t get to be with Christ by saying, ‘Oh, you’re hungry, sorry about that ‘and not feeding someone who needed it.

So let’s not just wear orange shirts for a day.   If something is wrong, let’s listen for what the other needs, and do something in humility and love and compassion, not out of a need to protect our power.  Let’s listen in humility to calls for healing, even if those stories are hard to hear.  God is there, in the middle of tragedy and hurt.  Are we listening?  Do we hear? Do we repent?

This isn’t the full answer.  It’s humbly offered as a place to step in.

If you or someone you know has been affected by this tragedy or other events, please feel free to contact us and we will help you find help in our community. I am so sorry that you are going through this.

Here is a prayer written by Indigenous leaders in our church:

Creator, Healing God
On this National Day of Truth and Reconciliation
We lament all the childhoods and lives lost through the Residential School system; all the families broken and the communities wounded.
We pray for healing for all those harmed by the schools.
As a church we have repented for our role in running Residential Schools;
But we know repentance is only the beginning
Continue guiding your church to live out our confession and work for reconciliation.
Continue moving us to act, supporting justice for Indigenous people
Help your church hear how to walk the path of truth and reconciliation
And help all of us, always, to celebrate the hope and joy of every child.
Amen

Blessings and peace for the journey,

Susan

Milkweed and monarchs

Mark 4:26-32

We have milkweed in our garden.  Finally.    I’ve tried to get it to grow from gathered seeds for the last four years, and at last there’s a whole patch.  This little one was on one of the leaves last week. 

And I thought to myself, wow.

Milkweed is a pretty tiny seed. I didn’t do anything to help it grow aside from watering it. Now, the plant is supporting a caterpillar that will eat up to 200 times its weight in about 3 days, then go on to its next instar stage, then form a chrysalis to become a monarch.

In the gospel of Mark, the author says the kingdom of God is like milkweed, or seed, in two ways.

First, milkweed seed goes all over the place when the pods are ready.   The place where mine grew isn’t even where I tried to plant some.  It’s everywhere we don’t expect. Cement, sidewalks, fields. What seems like random plantings are the work of an imaginative God who keeps creation growing beyond our attempt to control it.   Where have you seen God’s creative design in unexpected places?  Take a moment to look around, and enjoy all of the wonders in nature and God’s world that we don’t understand, but that work anyways.

Secondly, milkweed seed is tiny.   I don’t know how it grows, but in the creative imagination of God, there  is a way for butterflies to find life, shelter, and strength from a seed that is smaller than my fingernail.  The author of Mark says the reign of God is like that too.   It starts small, and it changes everything around it, supporting life.  Where might the reign of God be present in your life in small ways that are slowly growing and changing your environment? 

I marvel at Fred, our monarch caterpillar.  From egg through all of life’s stages, God is using so many small things to surround him with things he needs to live and transform to what he will be. 

 Just as God does for us.  

May you see God’s hand and heart for you in all kinds of surprising small ways this week.