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| Near Churchill, Manitoba. Image Alex Berger. |
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A GREETING
Keenly I long for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
(Psalm 119:81 TIB)
A READING
Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the one they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true that the authorities have made up their minds that this is the Messiah? Yet we all know where this fellow comes from, but when the Messiah comes, no one will know that one’s origins.” At this, Jesus, still teaching in the Temple area, cried out, “So, you think you know me and my origins! Yet I haven’t come of my own accord—was sent by One who is true, whom you don’t even know. But I do know this One, because those are my origins, and by this One I was sent.” They would have arrested Jesus then, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come.
(John 7:25-30 TIB)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
They almost wiped me off the face of the earth.
(Psalm 119:87a TIB)
A PRAYER
You who are the soul and heart of life, save us from fear—the fear of days and nights yet to be, the fear of the known and the unknown, the fear that builds high walls around our spirits and our lives, the fear that closes in and envelops us, the fear that nibbles at the edges of every satisfaction. Free us from fear of failure and success, of shame and pain, of death and fear of life as well. Open our eyes that we may see your glory in humbleness and simplicity, commonness strewn generously across our path all our days. May we recognize thee riding upon a simple beast of burden, down the crooked streets of Jerusalem. May we not require the palms of victory and praise, the accolades and shouts of the multitude to see your glory in gentleness, patience, loving kindness and, yes, pain and sometimes death. Your way of peace—of faith, hope, and love—still is our path, our joy, our way. Amen.
- adapted from "A Palm Sunday Prayer" by David Johnson
found on uua.org
VERSE OF THE DAY
In your love, keep me alive.
(Psalm 119:88a TIB)
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| The Nelson River as it meets Hudson Bay at Churchill, Manitoba. Image by David Lawrence. |
The Nelson River links Lake Winnipeg with Hudson's Bay. At the place where the river meets the Bay, there is the city of Churchill, Manitoba, famously home to polar bear tourism.
The polar bear is a powerful creature who lives on the ice of the Arctic regions and hunts for seal using the sea ice to camouflage itself. When seals rise through breathing holes to take a breath, the polar bear attacks it. But if there is no sea ice, the polar bear goes hungry. Polar bears are believed to be moving toward extinction simply because of disappearing ice.
The loss of sea ice is being caused by fossil fuel-driven global warming. Human-caused climate catastrophe is killing the polar bears by leaving them with no way to hunt. And yet, tourists still flock to the Churchill region, paying thousands of dollars for safari-like adventures that take them close to the bears in their native habitat. The bears are on display, even as they are dying off. To the adventurer, they seem fine. But in the larger story, they are not.
Jesus in Jerusalem finds himself in a similar kind of frenzy. Today's reading describes many layers of rising chaos that holds the tension of seeing him as both a longed-for messiah and a focus for assassination. Jesus is in the temple teaching, drawing disciples to him, even as he is being hunted. There is gossip and speculation, "isn't this the one they want to kill?" They talk about where he comes from: Galilleans had accents and were disliked by the Jerusalem community for a perception of their lack of sophistication; they were considered to be uneducated rabble rousers and trouble-makers. In the Gospel of Mark we hear that Herod had rounded up a number of them and had them killed to set an example. In response, Jesus claims his identity as part of God - getting him into even further trouble. The crowd is confused and divided. And more importantly, worked up.
In today's music, taken from the 1973 movie Jesus Christ Superstar, we can see those tensions building. The spectacle of Jesus is closely shadowed by the hunt for Jesus. In the song, Jesus says that if every tongue were to stop shouting, the very stones themselves would cry out to proclaim him. The stones, as part of Creation, know him. We know how the story ends for Jesus, but we don't know how it ends for the polar bears. We have the opportunity to press our politicians to care about climate change. To what extent are humans lining up to say 'crucify them' to the creatures of our planet? How can we use this week to re-examine our commitment to change?
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A STORY OF TOURISM
Although this tourism video is meant to make the expedition experience look compelling, what are the unseen costs for the bears of this exploitation? You might try turning the sound off this video, and playing today's music overtop instead. How does the mood and the overall ethics of the experience shift?
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Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
To read more about the problem of polar bears affected by climate change on Hudson Bay, go here.
At the same time, an earlier research project determined that some species of polar bears in Greenland were adapting by working from glacial ice. Whether this is a short or long-term solution is not known.
Go here to read more.
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LC† Streams of Living Justice is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!