Reflecting on Beaver wisdom and Sumud

 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. – Lam. 3: 22-23

 

Most of you know that I love owls. Owls are a symbol of wisdom in the Western world. This time of year, we see graphic representations of owls wearing glasses with a graduation hat on their head and a diploma in their wing. Why the owl? Because of its keen vision and ability to see in the dark, Greeks connected the owl to intellectual insight. The owl was often depicted on the shoulder of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. Western culture has continued to symbolize wisdom with the owl.

 

The Sacred Teaching for this morning is wisdom. Indigenous knowledge represents the sacred teaching of wisdom with Beaver. Beaver represents wisdom because it uses it natural gift wisely for survival. The beaver alters its environment in an environmentally friendly way and sustainable way for the benefit of his family.

The rest of the teaching, as presented in the Eastern Synod series explains: To cherish knowledge is to know wisdom. Use your inherent gifts wisely and live your life by them. Recognize your differences and those of others in a kind and respectful way. Continuously observe the life of all things around you. Listen with clarity and a sound mind. Respect your own limitations and those of all your surroundings. Allow yourself to learn and live by your wisdom. (CRJ-Eastern Synod Resource 2024)

 

The approach to wisdom is markedly different. One symbol of wisdom is self-centred and an intellectual pursuit, formed from a paradigm of conquest. The other symbol of wisdom is other-centred and a using of gifts, formed from a paradigm of community.

Beaver as a symbol of wisdom has been gnawing at my heart since Synod Assembly was addressed by Bp. Azhar from the ELCJHL and has since been amplified by today’s reading from Lamentations.

 

Lamentations is wisdom – Beaver wisdom- in practice. The book of Lamentations is a community response to mass trauma. The Babylonian army has tramped across the land, destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, disrupted a nation, and displaced thousands of people. Lamentations is a work of blended voices, mixed emotions, and diverse opinions of God’s part in world events. Lamentations doesn’t give answers. Rather it is a space of lament - allowing a people, and individuals within a people, to acknowledge and process their deepest thoughts, confusion, fears, griefs, desperation, hopes, prayers - and to let it all out. Lament is the space given to cry to God for help, to be angry and ask God why, to give up believing in God, to strongly cling to God, to commiserate with God, to understand the situation as God’s judgement, to see God suffering with the people, to repent, to speak hope, to concentrate on maintaining faith in the suffering . Lament dances around the question of whether God’s mercy, God’s steadfast love, never ceases, even when there is war, violence, terrorism, displacement, famine. What is God’s role in these events – creating them, allowing them, crying in them, railing against them; punishing, saving some and not others, taking a side? Lament is the complexity of perspectives and the inability of our theological understandings to make sense of it all. Lament is human beings sitting side-by-side in complexity and messiness without trying to fix anything, or make a statement, or provide a theological answer to the situation.

And in that mess, in the clutches of lament … what is the Good News, the common denominator, the glue? … steadfastness.

 

Bp. Azar, in his recorded address to our Synod, repeatedly used the Arabic word, Sumud. It was the only Arabic word he used, which he followed with the English translation. Sumud is an Arabic word literally translated ‘steadfastness.’  For Bp. Azar, Lutherans in the West Bank, and Christians across the Palestinian Territories, sumud is a living cultural value. The  University of Harvard on-line ed. describes sumud; [sumud] it captures a collective response to chronic adversity and a people’s will to survive, endure, and remain connected to the land.

Bp. Azar spoke with conviction of God’s sumud, God’s steadfastness; of the sumud of the remaining Christians and Lutheran expression of church struggling in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; and he spoke of sumud of the Eastern Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada --- our steadfastness in continued prayers for them; sumud in standing side-by-side lamenting; sumud in encouraging through social media and financial support; sumud – much, much sumud- in praying for peace.

In the words of lament, on the lips of Palestinian Lutherans: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. … and on days when sumud seems heavily shadowed or far away, the knowledge of the sumud of others, us, our prayers, is the sumud that holds a people in continued sumud – and faith in God's sumud.

 

Friday was the commemoration day of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons who died around 202. Augsburg’s resource for this week, connected for me steadfastness and Beaver’s living of wisdom. Irenaeus believed that the way to remain steadfast to the truth was to hold fast to the faith handed down from the apostles. …One of the first to speak of the church as ‘catholic.’ By catholic he meant that local congregations did not exist by themselves but were linked to one another in the whole church. He also maintained that this church was not contained within any national boundary. He argued that the church’s message was for all people… (Sundays and Seasons 2024, Augsburg Fortress)

 

Steadfastness – sumud – is an embodiment of Beaver’s way of wisdom.

Faith, church, is not a singular exercise to get ourself into heaven. Faith, church, is not about an individual congregation preserving their building. Faith, church, is catholic and spans generations. Faith, church, is lamenting with siblings, remaining steadfast in faith, prayer, and support. Rms. 14 says:  We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

Use natural gifts wisely for survival. Alter your surroundings in environmentally friendly and sustainable ways that are of benefit to the whole family; be kind, respectful, observe the life of all things around you. We do not live to ourselves -

Bp. Azar spoke of embodied sumud, quoting 1 Cor 15: 58 Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

These words were used to describe the work of the ELCJHL and also a reflection and continued commissioning of the Canadian church – Bp. Azar says to us: Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

 

God, 

we watch and hear the news from the Middle East, from the land you walked in human form, and we lament. The footsteps of mercy and compassion you shared have been trampled in violence and hate. We give thanks for your sumud, to be incarnate among us; through the feet and hands of the ELCJHL and the Christian community to remain steadfast in showing mercy and compassion. We pray for our siblings, for Bp. Azar and his people, for sumud. And we pray for peace on the land and in the land; peace in hearts that have turned to stone; peace between peoples; peace in surrounding and intervening nations; peace in every grain of sand. We pray for peace.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. – Lam. 3: 22-23

Amen.

Family

 

Wednesday evening’s study group prayed the following prayer from Bp. Susan Johnson’s devotion book, Praying the Catechism: (pg200)

Reconciling God, too often we hurt or harm others, or they hurt or harm us, and we lack the will to seek reconciliation. Instead, we build up walls, enter into long and painful silences, cut off relationships, or triangulate others into our conflicts. Give us strength and courage to seek reconciliation with those we have wronged and those who have wronged us. Give us sincere words and actions, and hearts full of humility. Help us to gracefully receive either forgiveness or rejection, but do not let us further harden our hearts. Strengthen us to strive for your peace with one another. In your overflowing forgiveness we pray. Amen.

 

Strength and courage to seek reconciliation

Sincere words and actions

Gracefully receive either forgiveness or rejection

Do not let us further harden our hearts.

 

If I wrote today’s Gospel, I would have finished the story with this prayer. In telling stories about Jesus, Mark starts by locating Jesus in his travels; then Jesus went home - meaning his hometown. Then Mark does what Mark does, he introduces a real life situation -in this case introducing a physical and emotional dilemma for Jesus’ family- then immediately turns to Jesus teaching something; Mark then goes back to finish the story of the real life situation at hand. Its as though Mark understands that real life situations -heart dilemmas- need space to breathe. Hearing a story the listener is pulled in by the heartstrings, is then given something for their head to think about, before returning to matters of the heart.

Today’s Gospel focuses both heart and head to the theme of family.

 

Perhaps you have heard the following adages. Family- Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Honour your father and mother. Family is forever. Blood is thicker than water. And in more recent years the idea of ‘Chosen family.’ Family is a system of complex relationships defined in the interplay of personalities, emotions, differences of opinion, mental health and well-being, history and culture, values and ethics, et cetera.

Today we are given a snapshot of Jesus’ family. Jesus went home and was surrounded by crowds. Home was small town Nazareth, we can assume that everyone knew everyone’s business. Word spread quickly to his family, not of Jesus as a regional hero who had cured the diseased, raised the lame, and cast out demons. No, their family member was being accused of being out-of-his-mind and possessed. The family – Jesus’ mother and brothers, having been judged as ‘that’ family, embarrassed came out to find Jesus. Perhaps they came to protect him, care for him, to save him from the townspeople; to bring him home and deal with him themselves out of the public eye.

 

Honestly as Jesus’ mother, or sibling, I imagine the real potential for hurt feelings and broken (hardening) hearts. If I am honest with myself and who I am, as either mother or sibling of Jesus, I would have needed the prayer I began the sermon with. I know this because my experience of family is as a complex system of relationships that is far from being a synchronized unit. I continually need to focus and pray for:

Strength and courage to seek reconciliation

Sincere words and actions

Gracefully receive either forgiveness or rejection

Do not let us further harden our hearts.

 

Jesus had a family – a mother and brothers who cared enough to come and find him; to unconditionally love him, even if the townspeople’s accusations are true.

Their love is a bold expression when set beside Jesus’ teaching and actions.

Jesus uses his family’s arrival as an opportunity to develop a different understanding and configuration of family relationship: Who are my mother and my brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

 

Family – the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. In that crowd there were people without family or with strained family relations, without mothers or brothers to come with unconditional love. The sick, the crippled, the possessed, the unclean, the widow, the poor, those who could not work, those who begged for food – for many such life situations meant that they were without the social security of a family system. They did not belong to a household. Jesus’ teaching was liberating to think about, and hopeful for the heart. They could belong to a family – the people who formed community around Jesus.

 

Family – As the Jesus’ movement grew, particularly after his death and resurrection, the concept of family reimagined and reshaped, was an important one. It was not uncommon in the Early Church for people to leave their families, or be kicked out of their families, when becoming Christian. Difference of faith, beliefs, and practices divided families. Christian community and fellowship became one’s family.

 

Family – In Jesus’ time family was a household. A household was its own working unit – birth relations, hired hands, adopted, slaves, boarders (couch surfers); any person in the same living quarters. The household image was used for centuries as a metaphor to think about God’s kindom. God’s kindom was considered a household on a large scale. Jesus’ teaching turns to focus on spiritual households, Satan’s and God’s. Jesus talks of big plans and how God acts to bring God’s whole family under-one-roof, so to speak.  Mark records many exorcisms and the casting out of demons by Jesus hands. The action is Jesus, plundering Satan’s house, taking power and restoring the household to God’s kindom. Jesus’ teaching implies God’s household remains – the family of God.

 

The Sacred Teaching that we have focused on in the liturgy today is honesty, represented by raven or Kitchi-Sabe. The story is told that the giant Kitchi-Sabe walked among humans to remind us to remain true to our nature; to be aware of being ourselves and not someone we are not.

Honesty and family – for me, I am most honest and most myself in the presence of family – blood family, adopted family, chosen family, church family. I struggle most when the complex system of relationships that are family deteriorate or are severed; when it seems that unconditional love has limits when in human hands and hearts.

Mark’s Gospel commiserates with us that real life situations – family -  can be challenging and complex. We are given the insight that it was not Jesus but Jesus’ human family, his mother and brothers, that demonstrate unconditional love in this real life situation. This suggests there is hope for me. For the crowd, Jesus’ redefining and reimagining family, to be chosen family, faith community as family is liberating and full of grace; offering to those who do not belong unconditional love. This suggests there is place for me. The interaction with Jesus’ family and the conversation about family with the crowd turns to kindom talk. God’s household – this grand vision of one family, God’s family. This suggests there is grace for me.

 

Let us pause, to think of this faith family and give thanks; to call to mind our chosen family and give thanks; to remember our family and give thanks; to think of our households and give thanks. In an effort to live the Sacred Teaching of honesty, I pray for my family – all families- all creation:

Reconciling God, too often we hurt or harm others, or they hurt or harm us, and we lack the will to seek reconciliation. Instead, we build up walls, enter into long and painful silences, cut off relationships, or triangulate others into our conflicts. Give us strength and courage to seek reconciliation with those we have wronged and those who have wronged us. Give us sincere words and actions, and hearts full of humility. Help us to gracefully receive either forgiveness or rejection, but do not let us further harden our hearts. Strengthen us to strive for your peace with one another. In your overflowing forgiveness we pray. Amen.

Living Out God's Grace and Unconditional Love

 

There are many ways to hear a story.

This morning, we could listen to the Gospel with ears tuned-in listening for arrogance, pride, and self-importance. With this ear the story draws us in through the actions of the Pharisees and Herodians. We encounter the-people-who-thought-they-were-all-that wagging their fingers – it is not lawful!

Purposefully they watched to catch people up, to use power to judge others. On a sabbath the rules clearly say, you can not work, you can not pluck heads of grain, you can not cure a withered hand. With hardened hearts, pretentiousness, egotism, they pushed their understanding of the rules and conspired to thwart power. Their world view was blind to compassion and sabbath leisure.

 

Alternatively, we could listen to the Gospel tuning our ears with an intent on finding grace and compassion. Jesus and the disciples enjoying the sabbath, walking through the countryside, casually nibbling on the fruits at hand. Jesus and the disciples go to synagogue to honour God, to hear God’s word, to pray – to honour the sabbath day and keep it holy. Living from a sense of wholeness, purposefully Jesus watches to seek places where compassion and grace can be given. A man is healed. In the process Jesus does not shy away from holy angst at those who have chosen to live through hardened hearts.

 

There are many ways to live a life.

We can live from arrogance, pride, self-importance – with hard hearts- continually judging and seeking wrong-doing in others. We can do this in an attempt to make ourselves feel better, accomplished, or powerful.

Likewise, we can live from compassion and grace – with hands and hearts continually offering themselves to acknowledge and help others.

Today’s Gospel illustrates the Indigenous story of two wolves – where a person has both within – one that is self-serving and one that serves others. The person has the choice of which wolf they will feed.

The Sacred Teaching for today is humility, represented by Wolf.

 

A formative piece of literature for me was Farley Mowat’s, Never Cry Wolf.

Farley Mowat was a Canadian author and environmentalist who tells the story of his experience studying Arctic wolves in the Keewatin Barren Lands of Northern Manitoba. Never Cry Wolf was written at a time when wolves were being culled by government sanctioned culling projects (1948-1972). The book supported Mowat’s claim that it was not wolves devastating caribou populations in the North, but rather human hunters. His writing, although criticized by some as complete fiction, had great affect in changing negative perceptions of wolves.

Mowat wrote:

We have doomed the wolf not for what it is but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be: the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer – which is, in reality, not more than the reflected image of ourselves. We have made it the scapewolf for our own sins.

 

…repeat the quote….

 

What, who, have we doomed – Indigenous, BIPOC, the foreigner; the marginalized, the poor, the addict, the aged; Muslim, Jew, fluid-in-gender -- who have we made scapewolf- because of our perceptions, because of the way we choose to tune our ears when listening to stories, because of the perspective with which we approach living life? Do we operate as the Pharisees and Herodians, or as Jesus and the disciples?

 

Until a couple of weeks ago our operating mission statement was on a banner at the back of the church. It was a statement that went hand-in-hand with the National church’s tagline “in mission for others.” The banner read: God’s on a mission and we want to be part of it. We have lived that for well over a decade.

A few years ago, in Assembly, the ELCIC adopted a new mission statement. Since then work has been done to create a tagline and a new logo for the ELCIC.

The new tagline of ELCIC beautifully reflects and clearly states how the present church chooses to listen and read the world. You can see the tagline at the back. It says, Living out God’s grace and unconditional love.

Jesus, in this morning’s Gospel is living out God’s grace and unconditional love – Jesus and the disciples are enjoying sabbath in God’s garden, and along the way they have compassion for a man dismissed by others; God’s grace and unconditional love flows through them to see the man, call the man, heal the man.

 

The Apostle Paul reflects in his letter to the Corinthians a similar perspective and way to approach and address the world: We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

Most Sunday’s this congregation participates in the sacrament of Holy Communion. The meal is a tangible ritual where our hearts are softened – with humility we receive a small portion of bread and wine, and an abundance of God’s forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love. When we turn from the meal and when we leave this place, our perspective is focused; the large words on the banner remind us, who we are and what we are about --- living out God’s grace and unconditional love.

Here you are fed. Here you receive grace and unconditional love. Here you receive this treasure in clay jars. Here it is made clear that God’s power -God’s extraordinary power – comes to you and works through you in your offerings of grace and compassion.

 

Right now let us each reset our ears  – tuning them to listen, intent on finding grace and compassion; let us reset our hearts to embrace the heart of Jesus and the working of God’s extraordinary power through lives – living out God’s grace and unconditional love. 

When going into the world this week, we go - say the tagline with me -

LIVING OUT GOD'S GRACE AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE