Earlier this spring I told WildFire that the thing I’m looking forward to most/hoping for this summer is to watch the massive fireworks display on Canada Day at Ashbridges Bay with my friends. It’s been a tradition for ages and has always meant a lot to me!
But now, tomorrow is Canada Day and I’m finding myself in a very different place.
In light of Making Every Effort and maturing in our faith; understanding the need to be open to receive the gift of correction… this year just feels wildly different.
Given the fact that there have been well over 1,000 unmarked graves discovered in the past month… with more locations currently undergoing investigations… celebrating doesn’t feel like the obvious choice anymore.
How can I celebrate when what we’re discovering is actually not new news… when our Indigenous brothers and sisters have actually been sharing these same horrible stories with us for decades?! Why did we (Settlers/immigrants of Turtle Island/Canada) need this evidence to take the darkness of our history as a country seriously?
And at the same time… how can I not give thanks for living in a country where I’m not persecuted for my faith? How can I not be grateful for the way Canada received my grandparents when they arrived here?
We have seen Jesus bringing correction, time and time again, throughout Scripture and I believe Jesus is offering us correction in our Canadian context, here and now. I also believe that this will look like many different things! God knows exactly where we’re at and he’s kind and gentle in his correction; in his forgiveness.
As we do this, in the midst of so many contradicting and moving pieces, we must not cease our worship.
We must not run away from a Father we know to be good because others have seen him grossly misrepresented. We must not reject Jesus because his name incites fear and triggers trauma for countless Indigenous People who live here with us. Who we live here with.
I’m not asking you to cancel your Canada Day plans… I am asking that you make this Canada Day look different than the ones that came before.
I am challenging us to ask more questions.
I am challenging us to research more of Canada’s history; to find the voices we haven’t heard before and to pause long enough to hear their stories.
Let’s listen to podcasts, read books and take time to learn.
My prayer for us, LifeSpring, is that our hearts would not be hardened or desensitized as we do so. Rather, that our hearts would continue to be softened! That the Spirit of God would massage our hearts of stone. That the Holy Spirit would make the presence of God known to us, even as we are led into places of further lament. That we would join God in his heartbreak over what has taken place. That we would cry out and intercede for something better.
For a better and brighter future for the First Nations, for the Metis and for the Inuit people; for all of us to learn how to truly care for one another. That this year Canada Day would mark the beginning of a new Canada.
One in which truth would rise to the surface, no matter how atrocious it may be, and that we would humble ourselves and to receive correction! That Canada would become a place known for relentlessly pursuing reconciliation until we have, together, made right what has been so terribly wronged.
As we head into Canada Day tomorrow, may we do so with humility.
May we cry out for repentance and receive the forgiveness we know God will extend to us.
May we dare to reimagine a brighter and more reconciled future for Canada!
And then may we intercede as we never have before for the future of this country we get to call home.
In our celebrations may we never take for granted being able to see and hold and love our children, our nieces and nephews, our grandchildren. We’ve seen for the past little while with Covid how hard it is to be apart from family. How hard it is to be forced to be apart from the ones we love.
May we never take for granted our reunions.
May we never celebrate without remembering and crying out for those who are still suffering.
May we be people who do not run away from areas of tension but lean into them.
Rejoicing continually and praying for breakthrough to come.
Lord, we ask, together, that this Canada Day would not bring about further division in this country but that it would somehow bring us all together. Bringing us together in our lament and in our sorrow for what has been done; in a greater appreciation for all we’ve been blessed with, and in our dreams of an even brighter future.
May we continue pressing forward in reconciliation.
Thank you for being our Hope, Jesus.
Thank you for making a way, for searching our hearts, for pointing out the things in us that offend you and for leading us on this eternal path.
We love you and ask that your will be done here. Amen.