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| Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island, Nunavut. Image by Rick Derevan |
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A GREETING
Your steadfast love, O God, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
(Psalm 36:5)
A READING
Then they went on to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the Temple and began driving out those engaged in selling and buying. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the stalls of those selling doves; moreover, he would not permit anyone to carry goods through the Temple area. Then he began to teach them: “Doesn’t scripture say, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples’? But you have turned it into a den of thieves!” The chief priests and the religious scholars heard about this and began looking for a way to destroy him. At the same time, they were fearful because the whole crowd was under the spell of his teaching.
(Mark 11:15-19 TIB)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself in strength, O arm of God!
Rise up, as in former days,
as in times long past!
(Isaiah 51:9a TIB)
A HYMN LYRIC
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus—
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free—
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me
Is the current of His love—
Leading onward, leading homeward
To His glorious rest above.
- from "O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus," by S.T. Francis
VERSE OF THE DAY
God loves justice and right and fills the earth with love.
(Psalm 33:5)
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| Grennell Glacier, Nunavut. Image by Gregory Smith. |
As we leave Hudson Bay, its waters mingle with the North Atlantic current, a warm flow of water that is a residual branch of the Gulf Stream. Eventually as these waters make their way into the Northwest Passage and the Barrow Strait, they meet the East-to-West Current whose surface waters are the most significant in reflecting or holding the warmed atmosphere. It is this current that controls how much ice is formed and how strong it is.
This week we are making a transition from one primary theme to another. As the waters recede, the immersion into the story of Jesus and the disciples in these days comes forward. The Northwest Passage is our last stop in following the streams of living justice, as it returns us to the region in which we began. It returns us also to the geopolitical realities of our time, as we come back to the rush of many nations to invest and exploit the Arctic seabed.
How might we imagine the powerful drilling rods going into the sea floor — like the wounding of Christ, the piercing of his side? Where in the story might we find the profound impact of these plans on the traditions and livelihood of Inuit communities? What is the climate and cultural Via Dolorosa of our own time?
In today’s reading, Jesus rids the temple of the moneychangers. Jesus is responding to the exploitation of those for whom sacrificial offerings were part of what kept people in right relationship with God. He sees those who can’t pay being pushed away, and those who can being exploited to pay more. Can right relationship to God be bought?
The temple is a place of worship and ritual. Jesus, however, several times describes himself as the temple. If we think of all of Creation as the body of Jesus, the temple of our life on earth in which the Word is present, then who might be the moneychanger equivalents he would be driving out now? As the ice of the Northwest Passage recedes, as the polar bears die off, as the Inuit are forced to lose even more of what they know, and as the mining and drilling begin, what is our own response?
How can we use these next days to re-story our own commitment to justice? If we imagine Jesus carrying Creation in his body, who are we in the story?
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THE FUTURE OF THE ARCTIC
Made a year ago, this short video from The Financial Post describes the spiral that is caused by wanting to drill for the very resource that is causing the Arctic ice to melt.
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Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
Full lyrics for O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus can be found here.
For an excellent overview of the pros and cons of of mining and drilling in the Arctic seabed, go here. The website belongs to Esimtech, a company that tries to make simulators for petroleum engineering.
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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!