Groundings: Reflections

Before European contact in 1835, the population of the Haida Nation was upwards of 9000 strong. Fifty years later, disease brought by foreign merchants decimated the people, and there were less than 1500. Let that sink in. Over 80% of your community… gone. It’s an apocalypse. And yet the Haida’s experience, unbelievably, was far from…

Growing up, the environment was always Mother Earth, Yethka Makoche (a.k.a. Stoney Country). We existed within the rhythms of this land, its seasons and times of the moon: intimate times, related to the world around us where everything had a name and purpose. The names told us how we related, and how we belonged. The…

As a small child, I attended a church where members greeted each other as family. I had many “aunts” and “uncles” who I sat with during services while my mom would provide ASL interpretation. One perspective would be that this group of Deaf members, sitting at the front right edge of the church, was on…

Ezrom Mokgakala was imprisoned along with Nelson Mandela at the height of the apartheid struggle in South Africa. He shared with me his lingering doubts about his ability to fully forgive. But I was utterly convinced that he surely survived the ordeal with unparalleled moral courage, dignity, resilience, and grace.

I spent the fall of 2017 in Barbados. I was there as an urban planning intern with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was there that I first began to understand the magnitude of climate change impacts.

For much of my journey of faith, walking in the way of Christ was discussed largely on the individual level (i.e. your personal relationship with Christ). Several years ago, however, I began exploring a more communal vision of our calling and witness. I was also engaging more with social justice issues and was learning to take a more systems approach to change. In both my faith and the pursuit of social justice, I began to see the power of the collective. And perhaps more importantly, I became more aware of those ahead of me who were already well into the work.

One of the astounding things about the Bible is the way that it repeatedly gives voice to those whose stories are normally ignored, the marginalized. These are the stories our culture would like to keep hidden. They are the stories of those suffering from economic oppression (the slaves), violence (the women), exclusion (the stranger) and land loss (Indigenous peoples). But these stories are also about those who dare to name the pain, and so dare to hope for God’s newness. When we hear their voices, we too can glimpse the kingdom.

By David Burrows

From the Catalyst, Summer 2018

The Religious Social Action Coalition of Newfoundland and Labrador (RSACNL) explores the various ways that people of differing faiths continue the work of advocacy for poverty elimination. Their hope is to establish a living wage for the province, and to advocate for a mechanism to apply a fairness lens upon all provincial legislation.

Indigenous environmental wisdom is a part of a healing way forward for humanity and ecology. But to be effective it must directly connect Indigenous well-being to the wellbeing of the rest of humanity and creation. With the appreciation of Indigenous wisdom, there must be a moral and practical recognition of the living reality of Indigenous life.

Canada has a potentially vital role to play in this unfolding reality.

By Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan

We are called to welcome the stranger, because we need them. I need them, in a deep and sometimes mysterious way. This subversive biblical teaching, along with the call to welcome because we have been welcomed, breaks down the charity mindset and the delusion of self-sufficiency.