Message of Faith from Reverend Mary White
Good Evening and Blessings
It is with great sadness that today we carry the weight and broken spirits over the recent discovery of 215 bodies of children of First Nations buried on the land at the Kamloops Residential School.
I offer the following by Joyce Rupp from “Praying Our Goodbyes”:
Creating Creator
I do not feel
I have anything to offer to anyone.
Inside of me all is emptiness.
I can only hear the echo of sadness.
I am sitting in the ashes of desolation.
I feel swallowed in a sea of nothingness.
Come, let me know the strong refrains
of your love running through
the inner pockets of poverty.
At these times, when I feel
so powerless, so sad, and so desolate,
the power of your love
does not enthuse or enhearten me.
Take this empty spirit of mine,
fill it with hope for a more inclusive future
and faith that all will be well
for our sisters and brothers of the First Nations.
May the ancestors give them power and strength
as we two peoples, two histories:
one land, one story, together
bear the battle scars of the struggle.
Enemies, yet friends sitting side by side.
Amen
A Prayer for Peace: (author unknown)
O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you. To your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children. Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind. Let us learn to share all good things that you provide for us on this earth.
Amen
Keep safe, Keep connected.
Blessings and the strength of Love be with you.
Rev. Mary,