Some friends suggested we view The Return: Life After Isis produced for CBC’s The Passionate Eye. The documentary is disturbing but important to watch. Director Alba Sotorra spent two years filming in north eastern Syria in the al-Roja refugee camp which holds some 60,000 women and children and among them, and separated from the rest, are several hundred ISIS 'brides' who were persuaded to join the ISIS cause through its global social media propaganda machine. These women and their children are there in the care of the Kurdish authorities and many have been rejected by their home countries and are now left in limbo. The film raises many complex questions for governments and families caught up in this difficult reality. So much sorrow and brokenness. It makes me look at my life and say, “therefore by the grace of God.” Will authorities be able to find grace for these women and a practical and acceptable way back from these terrible choices and the already painful consequences. Can we find in ourselves the tenderness of Jesus for these women? A longer version of the documentary is available on Hot Docs and runs 90 minutes.
We were listening today to a web presentation with Mark Glanville based around his book Refuge Reimagined. Hearing again the global refugee statistics is both alarming and overwhelming. How do we respond to this crisis and more particularly how does the Church respond? Mark said at one point, “ In order for the church in the West to heal we must discover the tenderness of Jesus.” It struck a chord for me, I think because of a documentary we watched a few days ago. The images and voices remain with me.
Some friends suggested we view The Return: Life After Isis produced for CBC’s The Passionate Eye. The documentary is disturbing but important to watch. Director Alba Sotorra spent two years filming in north eastern Syria in the al-Roja refugee camp which holds some 60,000 women and children and among them, and separated from the rest, are several hundred ISIS 'brides' who were persuaded to join the ISIS cause through its global social media propaganda machine. These women and their children are there in the care of the Kurdish authorities and many have been rejected by their home countries and are now left in limbo. The film raises many complex questions for governments and families caught up in this difficult reality. So much sorrow and brokenness. It makes me look at my life and say, “therefore by the grace of God.” Will authorities be able to find grace for these women and a practical and acceptable way back from these terrible choices and the already painful consequences. Can we find in ourselves the tenderness of Jesus for these women? A longer version of the documentary is available on Hot Docs and runs 90 minutes.
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We’ve been listening to the audio book , Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author reads her own book, and it is simply mesmerizing. She has a wonderful reading voice and the wisdom that comes from the author is humbling. Her love for the earth and all her relations comes from a deep sense of its built in reciprocity. The earth, our mother, will care for us even as we care for her. Below is just a taste of some of her wisdom. “Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them. Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer. Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need. Take only that which is given. Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm. Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share. Give thanks for what you have been given. Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken. Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.” Below are 100 Ways to Improve your life according this list from the UK's The Guardian. 1 Exercise on a Monday night (nothing fun happens on a Monday night). 2 On the fence about a purchase? Wait 72 hours before you buy it. 3 Tip: the quickest supermarket queue is always behind the fullest trolley (greeting, paying and packing take longer than you think). 4 Bring fruit to work. Bring fruit to bed! 5 Consider going down to four days a week. It’s likely a disproportionate amount of your fifth day’s work is taxed anyway, so you’ll lose way less than a fifth of your take-home pay. 6 Everyone has an emotional blind spot when they fight. Work out what yours is, and remember it. 7 Plant spring bulbs, even if they’re just in a pot. 8 Send a voice note instead of a text; they sound like personal mini podcasts. 9 Keep a bird feeder by a window, ideally the kitchen. It’ll pass the time when you’re washing up. 10 Always bring ice to house parties (there’s never enough). 11 Get the lighting right: turn off the overhead one, turn on lots of lamps (but turn off when you leave the room). 12 Sharpen your knives. 13 Feeling sluggish at work? Try the Pomodoro technique: 25 minutes on, five-minute break, and repeat. 14 Buy a cheap blender and use it to finely chop onions (it saves on time and tears). 15 Keep your children’s drawings and paintings. Put the best ones in frames. 16 Set aside 10 minutes a day to do something you really enjoy – be it reading a book or playing Halo. 17 Don’t be weird about how to stack the dishwasher. 18 Reuse all plastic bags – even bread bags. Much of the packaging you can’t reuse can be taken to larger branches of supermarkets for recycling. 19 Take a photo of the tag you are given when leaving your coat in a cloakroom. 20 Can’t sleep? Try a relaxing soak with lavender bath oil before bed. 21 Add the milk at least one minute after the tea has brewed. 22 Laugh shamelessly at your own jokes. 23 It might sound obvious, but a pint of water before bed after a big night avoids a clanger of a hanger. 24 Start a Saturday morning with some classical music – it sets the tone for a calm weekend. 25 Look closely. 26 Set time limits for your apps. Just go to the settings on your smartphone and add a limit – for example, if you have an iPhone turn on Screen Time. 27 If possible, take the stairs. 28 Always be willing to miss the next train. 29 Eat meat once a week, max. Ideally less. 30 Be polite to rude strangers – it’s oddly thrilling. 31 Ask questions, and listen to the answers. 32 Connect with nature: stand outside barefoot for a few minutes – even when it’s cold. 33 Join your local library – and use it. Find yours here. 34 Go for a walk without your phone. 35 Eat salted butter (life’s too short for unsalted). 36 Stretch in the morning. And maybe in the evening. 37 If you’re going less than a mile, walk or cycle. About half of car journeys are under two miles, yet these 38 Sleep with your phone in a different room (and buy an alarm clock). 39 Send postcards from your holidays. Send them even if you’re not on holiday. 40 Instead of buying new shoes, get old ones resoled and buy new laces. 41 Buy a plant. Think you’ll kill it? Buy a fake one. 42 Don’t have Twitter on your phone. 43 If you find an item of clothing you love and are certain you will wear for ever, buy three. 44 Try taking a cold shower (30 seconds to two minutes) before your hot one. It’s good for your health – both physical and mental. 45 Text to say thank you. 46 Read a poem every day. Keep a compendium, such as A Poem for Every Day of the Year, by your bed. 47 Take out your headphones when walking – listen to the world. 48 Buy secondhand. 49 Buy in person! 50 Learn how to floss properly. 51 If something in the world is making you angry, write (politely) to your MP – they will read it. 52 Say hello to your neighbours. 53 Learn the basics of repairing your clothes. 54 Always bring something – wine, flowers – to a dinner/birthday party, even if they say not to. 55 Learn the names of 10 trees. 56 Call an old friend out of the blue. 57 Every so often, search your email for the word “unsubscribe” and then use it on as many as you can. 58 Buy a newspaper. (Ideally this one.) 59 Always have dessert. 60 Drop your shoulders. 61 Make something from scratch. Works best if it’s something you’d normally buy, such as a dress or a bag. 62 Go to bed earlier – but don’t take your phone with you. 63 Volunteer. Go to gov.uk/government/get-involved for ideas. 64 Dry your cutlery with a cloth (it keeps it shiny). 65 Instead of buying a morning coffee, set up a daily transfer of £2 from a current into a savings account and forget about it. Use it to treat yourself to something different later. 66 Don’t save things for “best”. Wear them – enjoy them. 67 Sing! 68 Think about your posture: don’t slouch, and don’t cross your legs. 69 Hang your clothes up. Ideally on non-wire hangers (it’s better for them). 70 Skinny-dip with friends. 71 Switch your phone off on holiday (or at least delete your work email app). 72 Always use freshly ground pepper. 73 Thank a teacher who changed your life. 74 Respect your youngers. 75 Keep your keys in the same place. 76 Ditch the plastic cartons and find a milkman 77 Rent rather than buy a suit/dress for that forthcoming wedding (even if it’s your own). 78 Always book an extra day off after a holiday. 79 Ignore the algorithm – listen to music outside your usual taste. 80 Mute or leave a WhatsApp group chat. 81 Learn a TikTok dance (but don’t post it on TikTok). 82 Cook something you’ve never attempted before. 83 Join a local litter-picking group. 84 Handwash that thing you’ve never cleaned. 85 Don’t get a pet/do get a pet. 86 Nap. 87 Learn how to breathe deeply: in through the nose, out through the mouth, making the exhale longer than the inhale. 88 Buy a bike and use it. Learn how to fix it, too. 89 Politely decline invitations if you don’t want to go. 90 If you do go, have an exit strategy (can we recommend a French exit, where you slip out unseen). 91 If in doubt, add cheese. 92 Don’t look at your phone at dinner. 93 Do that one thing you’ve been putting off. 94 Give compliments widely and freely. 95 Set up an affordable standing order to a charity. RNLI and Greenpeace spring to mind … 96 Keep a book in your bag to avoid the temptation to doomscroll. 97 Listen to the albums you loved as a teenager. 98 Make a friend from a different generation. 99 Staying over at a friend’s place? Strip the bed in the morning. 100 For instant cheer, wear yellow. From UK's The Guardian How many congregations can say that their pastors have been to jail and are proud of that fact? How many would be pleased to see their pastor's mug shot on a news headline, arrested for protesting some injustice or in jail on some trumped up charge?. Would you hire someone as your lead pastor who had been arrested 29 times? We wouldn't seriously consider calling such a pastor to our congregation would we? We all know the answer to that question. And yet we follow in the footsteps of someone who was arrested on trumped up charges, led massive "protest" rallies that threatened the empire and took every opportunity to call out injustice. No mug shots taken. in A.D. 33. Our leaders need to find themselves in jails and in the front lines of protest marches. We all need to find ourselves in those places, challenging injustices and working for reconciliation and fighting for those on the margins. Last fall we went mushroom picking just outside of Powell River and just a world away in the rainforests of BC. Though I feel deep in my bones that I am prairie boy, since my first encounters more than 40 years ago, the sensual experience of the rainforests on our coast are truly amazing and magical to me. How does one capture it? Our son Joshua's interior landscape is more formed by this landscape and it certainly feels like it when you get to walk into one of his paintings. Take a walk deep into his world on this new website here. It’s that time of year that I both anticipate with joy and trepidation. Pruning time for me. There is something deeply satisfying about moving from branch to branch, tree to tree, cutting back selectively to give the trees and bushes their best chance for a good harvest. The other part of me knows that I will be out there in the damp and cold on sometimes shaky ladders, reaching out further than I should for one more snip of my Felcos. A couple of years ago I broke a couple of ribs holding on as the ladder slid into the tree trunk. I started my Spring pruning yesterday, on what would have been my fathers-in-law’s 102nd birthday. He too was a dedicated pruner and fruit grower. By the time I am done all the pruning I will have a large fire pile of clippings. Unlike other years where I mostly prune in solitude, I downloaded a podcast by Robin Wall Klimmerer, author of the beautiful book, Braiding Sweetgrass. She talks was about the mostly unknown world of mosses. The old apple tree I was pruning is a forest of mosses and it was rather delightful to be learning about mosses as I gave the apple tree its annual trim. Klimmerer has a deep and sacred sense that we are one with the created world. We are partners with the Creator as we bring out its abundance. An apple tree planted and not pruned will grow but over time its fruit will be smaller and smaller, and it will produce little. When I work together with the tree, understanding how it bears fruit, how it will be pollinated and how to protect it from diseases, together with the Creator a bountiful harvest will come. It leads me to humility and gratitude. To quote John Philip Newell in Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, “A major feature of the [Celtic] wisdom tradition we have been drawing on in these pages is gratitude. Remembering that what shines most deeply in the face of a newborn child is sacredness, and this sacredness, deep within each of us, infuses every creature and life-form lead to a deep posture of gratitude. Gratefulness for the sacredness of one another and the earth, including gratitude for the gifts of sight and sound, of touch and taste and scent that we may know one another and the body of the earth, is what we are being invited to reawaken to. It will change the way we live and relate and act.” We got through the summer heat dome, a plague of summer fires in the province, serious flooding in the Fraser Valley, Merritt and Princeton in the fall but the cold stretch of the last few weeks did a number on some water pipes and we had water pouring into our bedroom on the last day on the Sunshine Coast over Christmas. It all turned out to be a lesson in reciprocity, as I had written earlier in Decolonizing Wealth. We were just getting on the first of two ferries that get us back to Swallowfield from Powell River, when we got a text from S. who was looking after our place, to give her a call. When we got through, she informed us of a frozen water line that had burst in the ceiling of our bedroom. She immediately called our friend K. K. is a plumber by trade and he got here within a few minutes with E. We felt rather needy and helpless, getting texts over the next four hours before we got home. The three of them had done a day’s water damage restoration before we got home at 3 pm. That’s day’s work and then some. Ten days later the carpets are dry and back in place, the ceiling repaired and painted. We are so grateful for the kind of friends who will drop everything and jump into the work that needs to be done, no doubt putting aside their plans for that day. It would be one thing if this was the only time. It was not. We want to be the kind of friends and neighbors that would do the same. Drop everything in a time of need and jump in with both feet. |
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