By Laurel Dykstra
in those days before the flood
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage
My scarred and raging
weary-eyed beloveds
ordinary defiant
with your teaching-outfit selfies
purple hair
fancy waistcoats
songs in a new range
carpentry projects
surfboards
magic card tricks
raspberry canes
You are magnificent Continue reading “Pastoral Letter”
By Kyle Mitchell
I work on a farm and do a lot of farm-based education with youth. One of my weekly joys right now is walking the farm and leading kids on a tasting tour. We try carrots, sorrel, sugar snap peas, mint, cucumbers, blue borage flowers – which taste like cucumbers oddly enough. I point to a potato plant and ask kids to guess what the plant is. They guess – An apple plant? Tomato? Lettuce? When I dig down with the garden fork and begin to pull up on the plant, I can barely hold in my excitement. I know the squeals and gasps that will shortly ensue when they realize that, “it’s potatoes!” “Can we eat them?” Wait, no, we need to cook them first, I think? Mental note for later, “Google ‘can you eat raw potatoes’”. Continue reading “You Must Be Re-Natured”
Proper 11(16)
Genesis 18:1-10a
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
By Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie
When I first looked at these readings, it was the day when the UN High Commission on Refugees released the latest figures. “An unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 25.9 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.” The agency also reported that “There are also millions of stateless people who have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.”
Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Remembering to listen in turbulent times”
By Shelby Smith
On June 8th I was baptized by my home church, the Wilderness Way Community in Portland, OR. I was asked to reflect on why I was choosing to be baptized.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”—Micah 6:8
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”—Phil 4:13
The Bible and its legacy is full of contradictions and conflicts and also beauty and strength. In 2014, when I came to Wilderness Way I found myself feeling dry and broken. That feeling was an extended phase that continued for some time. I had a relationship with God but Jesus and Christianity was completely off the table. Except the occasional times when I would pick up the Bible, read some passages—and feel disgusted or bored or confused and walk away again. I wrestled with a lot of shoulds, anger and fears. I struggled to do justice, to love kindness and the walk humbly with God. I struggled acutely with all three of these. Continue reading “This Baptism”
Proper 10(15) C
Amos 7:7-17
By Matthew Humphrey
“See I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people.”
So Amos prophecies in today’s lectionary reading. This shepherd-turned prophet emerges from South of the Border to unleash a fiery word upon Israel and King Jeroboam. Like Hosea before him, he professes, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a shepherd, and a dresser of sycamore-trees.” This location that makes him the choice instrument of God’s word to Israel. Continue reading “Wild Church: Plumb Lines and Prophets”
By Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie (June 13, 2019)
The State says they want to make things right with First Nations
Yet their actions lead to more and more desolation
Reconciliation’s just a word to those who hold power
As policies continue to make relationships sour Continue reading “Trans Mountain Lament”
By Ric Hudgens
The first week of June I joined with fifteen other “ministers” for a six-day eco-ministry intensive. This retreat was sponsored by Ecology of Awakening and the Chaplaincy Institute and funded by the Riverstyx Foundation.
These sixteen religious leaders all recognized the need to re-hear our original calls to ministry. Our communities are anxious and fatigued. We minister among them in times of crisis, injustice, polarizing and sometimes paralyzing despair.
Can we embody a faith-rooted activism that protects the sacredness of the Earth?
If the Earth community is to flourish, if our future is to be regenerative, then we must change at a very core level. We need prophetic imaginations that affirm the whole of life and not merely promote our brand, or expand our tribe. Continue reading “Eco-ministry”
Pentecost 2C
The Demon Legion
By Obery Hendricks
An excerpt from “Guerilla Exegesis: ‘Struggle’ As A Scholarly Vocation,” Libertating Biblical Study (Cascade, 2011).
Guerrilla exegesis is transgressive. Irreverent. Asks questions: Silly Wabbit, how can the possessive demonic presence called “Legion” in Mark 5, the occupying presence tht wrought the bitter pathology of oppression in Mark’s community and sought to remain in possession of the country, not the man (v. 10), be anything but the Roman military? Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Guerilla Exegesis”
By Lydia Wylie-Kellermann
I had never noticed how the melting snow of spring makes way for bones. One May morning, we wake early to walk the few acres of woods in the thumb of Michigan. Every few minutes, someone calls out “over here!” and we all rush over with our eyes on the composting leaves. A spine bone here. A skull there. Teeth still nestled in a jaw bone. A river otter? Fox? Racoon? Isaac tries to fit the bones back together in place and using his overly abundant 6-year-old animal knowledge attempts to determine the mysterious creatures. Later he will riffle through pages of his animal track books for further guessing. Cedar on the other hand just wants to fill his small arms with bones until he has so many he asks me to carry the extras. It’s not my first instinct to hold skulls in my hand with any delight or ease. Continue reading “Learning from Laughter and the Trees: An Armful of Bones”
On June 21 Canadians celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day and many churches observe a day of prayer. Rene Inkster reflects on the readings appointed for the Anglican Church.
Isaiah 40:25-31
Psalm 19
Philippians 4:4-9
John 1:1-18
I pray that my words will be acceptable to You, Creator; and to the people who read them.
Psalm 19:7-9
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean; the ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
Bowsur, tawnchi, hello. I am a mixed blood person, born in Regina, Saskatchewan and also a Canadian history researcher. My name is Rene Inkster. I honour my Cree, Scottish and Métis heritage. Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: First Peoples Day Reflections”
Radical Discipleship 