Sermon for June 23, 2024 - National Indigenous Day of Prayer
Before I go any further, I have to share something with you that happened this week. The General Convention of The Episcopal Church began a few days ago. This is the gathering of delegates and bishops from every diocese that takes place every three years. For the first time ever, the very first words of General Convention were a land acknowledgement. I give thanks to God for all the hard work that has happened here in Canada and that the work of truth and reconciliation is influencing the American branch of Anglicanism.
As I approach two years of living in Canada and serving this wonderful community, I am beginning to see more differences emerging in living in Canada versus the States. For example, driving speed limits are in general, slower than in the States. Or depending on the time of day, driving up and down Ellice or Sargent is akin to a NASCAR race with people zooming by, weaving in and out of lanes with buses and parked cars. Or in the culinary world, the mixture of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds, seems like an ungodly combination, and yet is amazingly delicious. And of course, there are far less random shootings, as there was yet another mass shooting at a grocery store in Arkansas, so grocery stores and movie theaters feel safer here. Where I see differences emerging the most is with Stephen and his first two years in a Canadian school system. Set aside the fact that he is in an immersion program to become fluent in more than one language, especially because such programs are harder to find in the Sates. Stephen’s exposure to educational opportunities to learn more about Canadian Indigenous peoples, cultures, way of life, and spirituality is something that was completely lacking in my own education in the States.
On our most recent trip to the Zoo, we were walking along looking at all the different animals when Stephen stopped at one of the signposts and saw a symbol he recognized from school. The symbol looked like an eagle and Steve told us that this was one of the Seven Sacred Teachings that he learned in class. We asked him more about it and he told us that the eagle means love. Then we saw the bison symbol on another signpost and Steve told us that it means courage. Before long we encountered the bear symbol and Steve once again chimed in that the bear means courage. As we were leaving the Zoo, Lauren and I were amazed and proud that our son was learning about the indigenous peoples of these lands. He is expanding his horizons to see the beauty in the diversity of God’s creation. He has already learned more than me, and He will learn so much more. Because it is in learning about others, listening and sharing our stories, that our differences fade and we come to see our common humanity in each other.
After returning home I did what most people do when looking for information, I turned to Saint Google. After searching Seven Sacred Teachings I was directed to a website run by the Southern First Nations Network of Care, which outlines the different teachings as well provides an array of resources for First Nation members in Southern Manitoba. As I went through each of the teachings and their respective animal totems, I was struck by their description of love. It says, “Love is the gift from the Eagle. Love is a force that is undeniable. With love all things are possible. It is everyone’s right to have and experience it. In terms of the Medicine Wheel, love is the hub. It is symbolic of fire and the Creator. Man is incapable of understanding the Creator; so in turn, he gave us a way to experience love and enjoy love through our children.”
So, when I sat down with our texts and prayers for today, I immediately recalled our time at the zoo and the sacred teaching on love. In our reading from Isaiah, the prophet is comforting the people, as the chapter begins with that timeless verse, “Comfort, O Comfort my people, say your God.” After speaking words of comfort and describing the enduring presence of God, in our verses this morning Isaiah describes how God’s power and love are given to us. He uses the imagery of the eagle and how we will fly and soar when we are alive in the Lord. That image of an unbound eagle soaring through a limitless sky is a perfect representation of God’s free flowing love for us. The sacred teaching uses similar imagery of the eagle as it teaches us that while we cannot fully understand the fullness of God, we can experience that fullness in love; love for ourselves, and love for others.
This expansive, all-encompassing love is at the heart of our gospel. It is love that sets all of this in motion and it is love that permeates everything in God. And Jesus tells us that it is love that motivate and emanate all things we do, especially for what we do to help and serve others. John tells us that it is this love that has come into the world and given us life, and this love, this light, shines in the darkness and the darkness and evil of this world cannot overcome the love of God. Because we are people of God, spiritual beings in physical bodies, we are called to bring about the physical manifestations of that light and love. We are called to let our light shine. When we love and serve others in God, everything we do casts a new light into the darkness, and it dispels the clouds of gloom and dread. When you let your light shine, you bring hope, warmth, peace, and healing.
Just like my son, as we wrestle with the traumatic effects of our colonial, Eurocentric exceptionalist past, we too must continue to learn about the complicated history and legacy that each and everyone of us inherited. Now is the time to continue to do the work of truth telling and reconciliation. Truth and Reconciliation is the light shining in the darkness of the past. Reconciliation may be a noun, but it is truly an action verb. It is something that we all do together. This is what being Church is all about. This is what being a disciple of Jesus means…solidarity with the sick, the poor, the marginalized, anyone and everyone who society has deemed unworthy. Active reconciliation means walking as one, to build healing, to build relationships, to build up the human family again. We do this so that we can walk together letting our light shine. We can show the world that we can reconcile, that we can be peace and healing, and that we can share this joy and this hope, this message of God’s reconciling love in Christ Jesus.
If God’s preexisting and incarnate Word says that light was the life of all people, and that the darkness did not overcome the light, then we must have faith and believe that God’s light and love will not be overcome. As Paul writes to the churches in Rome, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Nothing. Not even the depraved cruelty of our human nature can overcome the light. We must have faith and believe.
And we can do this together, each of us bound together, for this is what the Church is called to be as a family and as a community. This is our Church. This is our faith. This is our ministry and calling, to walk together as one family of God, where we support each other, bless each other, and heal together.
So, on this day, let your light shine in the darkness, and not just today, but each and every day; where peace, love, hope, blessing, forgiveness, and the grace of God flows through us and out into the world. Amen.
