6/1/2008
Not Seeking Glory
If we truly follow
the way of Christ,
we will find the Cross
as well as the Resurrection.
The Path of Jesus,
which we freely choose to follow,
has no trace
of glory or honor or pomp.
It calls for a confidence and faith,
beyond that.
Spirit and Lifestyle
Sandwiched between long sections that speak in modern terms of
poverty, skills, human activity and development, this short paragraph
seems out of place. Just as the disciples balked when Jesus spoke of
carrying one's cross and following him and didn't understand when He
unmercifully rebuked them for seeking to secure glory, honor or pomp,
we want to quickly pass over and forget this uncomfortable paragraph.
And yet, we who call ourselves Christians and use the Gospels as our
guides will find that message presented to us over and over again.
It's not any easier today than it was then. It's not fashionable
today to be motivated in our work by our Faith.
Last Thursday evening I went to a lecture by David Thompson, a Public
Policy Researcher with the University of Alberta's Parkland
Institute. The series of 8 weekly lectures by various speakers is
part of an inter-session university course, but last Thursday, there
were no students since they were spending the week in Fort McMurray
studying the effects of the Tarsands. We were 15 or so members of
the general public, most of us regular attendees at Parkland events.
Therefor, Thompson went quickly through his slide presentation on
Parkland's Latest Research in Oil and Gas Sector and Labour in
Alberta and then opened the floor to comments on how Parkland should
go ahead. Some of us were rather discouraged because a series of
letters to the Editor in the morning paper ridiculed Global Warming
and the role the Tarsands in greenhouse gas production. There were
great suggestions well received by participants and presenter alike.
Finally, Cheri, Parkland's Program Director, mentioned the Earth
Charter. Some didn't know of it and so she listed its contents and
how it was prepared with the participation of thousands of persons,
most from the Majority World, and then she said that it was endorsed
by many church and religious groups. A collective gasp, groan,
dismissal, a "what good can possibly come out of Galilee?" sound. End
of discussion.
Do you sometimes hate to say, when asked with whom you went to Africa
or Central America? Volunteer Missionary Movement draws a glazing
over, an end to the interest expressed in your work, a dismissal. You
want to jump in there and defend yourself from any connection with a
Christian missionary endeavour: "Oh, but I didn't go there to convert
people." "Oh I'm not with that guy Jesus."
Yes it does call "for a confidence and faith, beyond that."
Two requests from El Salvador:
To support a community of 98 families threatened with eviction from
land promised to them --- cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com for information
on letters to write.
International Observer Mission for legislative, municipal and
presidential elections in El Salvador, January and March 2009 ---
misionelectoral_cis@yahoo.com
Earth Charter www.earthcharter.org
Cecily
6/10/2008
Celebrating a Life
We are invited
to be fully and actively involved
in all areas
of human activity and development:
education, medicine, agriculture,
craftwork and building.
We are the carpenters,
the catechists, the nurses,
the community builders, the doctors
and the farmers.
These are the skills
with which we have been blessed,
the latents
which we have received.
We are not to bury them,
but to freely share them,
so that people might live with dignity
and be helped to reach
their full human potential.
Spirit and Lifestyle
June 1 and 2, I went to the prayers and funeral of Ed Carson. Two
different churches with standing room only. Ed died two months short
of his 50th birthday. His daughter Quetzala celebrated her 16th
birthday at Ed's bedside in palliative care a couple days before he
died following less than a year fighting cancer. Quetzala gave the
eulogy at both services. At the funeral, his parents, his six
brothers and one sister and their families, and many, many friends as
well two rows of students. The school had their own celebration of
Ed's life. Absent his Nicaraguan family - his wife's Maria-Elena's
family as well as the handicapped youth with whom Ed lived for three
years and whom he visited each summer. They would have filled a
church as well there.
Ed's life fits so well with this passage of Spirit and Lifestyle. He
learned social justice from a teacher, Hank Zyp who together with his
wife, Tillie, began two NGOs to work for social justice both at home
in Canada and in the Majority World. Ed studied to teach ESL and went
to Nigeria to train teachers. He then went to Nicaragua with Change
for Children. That's where he found a great project working with
handicapped kids and adults. He married his boss, Maria-Elena, and a
few years later returned to Canada with his wife and daughter. He had
gone back to university to specialize in special education and for
fifteen years he taught "his" kids whom he loved with all of his
expansive heart. As a youngster he had worked at the Northlands with
horses - cleaning the stables and he fell in love with horses. As an
adult he discovered Little Bits Riding Club and worked with them for
many years to provide riding every Monday morning for his kids and
even for summer camps.
I have some memories of Ed. I first met him in Nicaragua while I was
with Witness for Peace. We went to mass at Batahola where VMs Laura
and Christine are now. Ed would arrive in the white van with 10 or
more of his kids - always late - but how special it was to have these
kids (many of them adults) there. It meant so much to them and to us.
Another memory is a summer evening when we had a meeting at the St.
Angela gym. Ed was our host. It was his school but he was no where to
be seen. Oops! there he was with a small army of kids and adults at
the back of the church painting a mural on the wall. I went back to
see the mural on June 2 before going into the church.
June 6, we have a Fiesta - an event as a legacy to Ed - to raise
funds for a mural project that joins together Nicaraguan and Canadian
youth. Everyone will be there. And Quetzala will sing some of her songs.
How much potential we have, each one of us. I would love to do a web
of how each person - at the funeral and at the fiesta - is connected
to all the others!
I'm sending this a little early since I am leaving July 7 for one
week in the Canadian southern Rockies.
Cecily
6/16/2008
Sharing
It is not a matter
of charity or good deeds.
It is a basic Christian obligation
to justice.
What we have to offer
is what we have been freely given.
We live with the people.
We work with the people.
We rejoice with the people.
We become part of the people.
Our sharing becomes
a journey we walk together
towards liberation, community
and a reaching out together for
growth and fulfillment.
But we do not impose ourselves
or our way of doing things.
We are available, rather
to go wherever we are invited
in the world,
Aware, at the same time,
that we ourselves are challenged to grow
through receiving and learning from those
to whom we serve.
Spirit and Lifestyle
A quotation I saw this week spoke to this passage. Swiss theologian
Maurice Zundel wrote in his book Your Word is Like a Source: "... the
only action that counts is the action of presence. There is only one
thing that is necessary, that is efficacious, that we can accomplish,
it is the silent gift of ourselves, the self-effacement that allows
God to shine through."
This week, Canada has apologized to the First Nations for the abuse
of residential schools. I expected many letters about the sincerity
of an apology for a past even when so many of our native people are
living in injustice, in poverty, in reserves lacking potable water,
adequate housing, and social services and in cities where they face
racial discrimination. Instead, letters poured to the newspapers
blaming the victims. Under the heading: "Ottawa has apologized, now
let's talk about native self-reliance," letters invoked a re-
colonization, a making over of indigenous people to another set of
values: "we need to engender the values of hard work and independence
and self-reliance," "non-aboriginal families are struggling to pay
high taxes that will never go down if we have to keep supporting a
group of people who could try a little harder to make it on their
own, taking this burden off our shoulders once and for all," "no one
pays me for any injustices I have suffered," "I'm tired of every
group that was ever wronged demanding money. I didn't wrong them; why
are they after me?"
How different are these harsh words from those of Spirit and
Lifestyle and Maurice Zundel.
Please keep in your prayers a friend, an 81 year old man with
Alzeimer's, who wandered off two days ago into the countryside, his
family and the searchers.
Cecily
6/17/2008
Roy Berg was found alive last evening, 48 hours after he wandered
off. He was in a bird sanctuary 5 kilometres from his daughter's
home, which used to be his own home. He was dehydrated and airlifted
20 km to a hospital in Edmonton as a precaution. I am so relieved.
Thank you, Cecily
6/24/2008
Human Relationship
Our work
entails human relationship,
working and growing together
to build a more
humane and loving world,
filled with the Spirit of God
Who sends us.
We are aware
that through our service,
we receive far more
than we are able to give.
We realize that
we are enriched
by our encounter
with people of other cultures
and beliefs.
We come to discover that
we too are poor in many ways.
Spirit and Lifestyle
On Friday I went to St. Angela's School for the launch of the
Children's Rights and Multiculturalism Mural. The Celebration of Life
for Edward Carson (August 18 1958 - May 29 2008) was winding down. I
found the students of the elementary school sitting on the floor of
the gym looking at a slide show of photos taken of Ed during his 16
years teaching special education and during visits to Nicaragua. I
realized you can't accumulate so many photos unless Ed was
continually surrounded by kids, hugging kids, fooling around in clown
and Santa costumes.
It was only when we emerged from the gym into the bright and sunny
outdoors that I noted the t-shirts, hundreds of tie-dyed t-shirts in
all colours of the rainbow. Ed had worked with his kids to make the t-
shirts that marked his class apart, not for their mental and physical
disabilities, but for their enthusiasm and love of life. Today's
teachers worked long into the night to assure that each child had a
tie-dyed shirt. The 90 ft by 9 ft mural on the second-floor exterior
wall of the school is impressive. It's hard to believe that it was
painted by so many in such a short time. (I'll let you know when it
appears on our website!). Because Ed kept migrating between Canada
and Nicaragua, the mural had hundreds of birds weaving ribbons of
colour from one end to the other. Each bird is the creation of one of
the students of St. Angela's. In the centre, the beautiful Quetzal,
the sacred bird of Central America for whom Ed's 16 year old
daughter, Quetzala, was named.
"We know this mural will tell everyone who sees it that we are a
school that supports all of the children and all of the cultures in
our community and that children have self worth and are special. It
will serve as a source of inspiration for us to continue following in
Ed's footsteps." Ecole St. Angela School staff.
Cecily
|
|