A Prayer for a Life Well Lived

Yesterday I went to a memorial service for Jean Scott.  There was a prayer in the bulletin by Thomas |Merton that was one that Jean meditated on every night before she turned out the lights. If this was the prayer of Jean's heart no wonder she was such an amazing woman! 

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does indeed please you.  And I hope I have that desire  in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road through I may know nothing about it.  Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."  

                                        Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Jean Scott

Prior to 1929, women in Canada were not considered ‘persons’ – at least not in the fullest legal sense of the word.

Section 24 of the British North America Act (at that time, Canada’s constitution, the source of its highest laws) said that only ‘qualified persons’ could be appointed to the Canadian Senate. The Canadian government had consistently interpreted this phrase as meaning men only.

Naturally, suffragists like Emily Murphy were outraged. This interpretation suggested women were not ‘qualified persons’. Determined and ready to fight, Emily found a way. She discovered a little known provision in the Supreme Court of Canada Act that said any five persons acting as a unit could petition the Supreme Court for an interpretation of any part of the constitution. So on a fine summer’s day on August 27, 1927 she invited four of the brightest and most determined women activists she knew to her Edmonton home. On Emily’s veranda, the Famous 5 signed a letter petitioning the Supreme Court to look into the matter of whether the government could appoint a female senator.

The matter quickly became known as the ‘Persons’ Case. It was debated on March 14, 1928, with the Supreme Court eventually ruling that women were not “qualified persons” as it related to Section 24 of the BNA act.

The Famous 5, however, were not daunted. At the time, there was one authority even higher than the Supreme Court of Canada: The Privy Council in England. So they petitioned the Privy Council to rule on the matter. On October 18, 1929, Lord Sankey arrived to a packed courtroom in London to read the Privy Council’s judgement. To the relief and joy of the Famous 5 and women across Canada, the Privy Council said that yes, women were indeed persons and could become Senators.

From the Famous Five Foundation http://www.famous5.ca/index.php/the-famous-5-women/the-persons-case/

The Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case were created in 1979 to mark the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking Persons Case, which changed the course of history for women in Canada. Every year five women are given a medal in recognition of their work on behalf of women. In 1990 Jean Scott from Chilliwack, BC won the award. Always a forerunner, Jean Scott has spoken out for women's rights, especially the rights of female wage-earners, both in her job as a labour negotiator, and as a member of many women's groups. She has also worked with others to establish women’s shelters.  One in Hope, British Columbia bears her name. 

When I arrived in Chilliwack the 96 year old Jean was the motivating force for a gathering of remembrance in Chilliwack on the anniversary of the massacre of 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. For Jean it was important to remember and take action to protect human dignity and life.

Jean always fought for the rights of others. She worked not only on behalf of women, but also on behalf of men. She was a strong supporter of the union movement and anything that benefited the ordinary person.

Tomorrow there is a memorial service for Jean.  We will remember the contribution this amazing woman made to life. We will remember that life is not just what you get out of it, but what you give to make life better for others. We will remember an amazing woman whose spirit was strong and whose mind was sharp for the almost 103 years that she lived among us.  

A Ritual to Read to One Another by William Stafford

I love this deep and meaningful poem by American poet William Stafford. It speaks to me of the importance of being who we really are and the importance of letting others be who they are.  It is only as we get in touch with the treasure of our own true self that we can be truly awake and offer the world around the gift that is ours and ours alone to give.  

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wander's the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider-
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking of the line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give-yes or no, or maybe-should be clear:
the darkness around us is deep.

Night by Elie Wiesel

The book Night by Elie Wiesel has been on my to-read list for a very long time. Elie Wiesel tells of a desperate struggle for survival and how far people will go to keep on living for another day.  Elie Wiesel writes from his own experience as a 15 year old boy who survives the brutality of a Nazi concentration camp.  What makes this story so powerful is that Elie does not just talk about what happened, but tells you how it felt to be there with such raw intensity that you stand appalled in the midst of the story. 

A theme throughout the book is relationships between fathers and sons. Elie enters the concentration camp with a grim determination to stay near his father on whom he feels his life depends.  Near the end of the book he struggles with a sense of wanting to distance himself from his father who has become a detriment to his own survival. In spite of these feelings he continues to fight for his father's life.  One very stark story that Elie shares  which is particularly gut wrenching is of an old man clutching a crust of bread to his chest. The man’s son comes and violently rips it away.  The old man says, “Don’t you remember me. I am your father.”  Others come and violently take the bread away from the son. Both father and son end up dead.   

A very haunting part of the story for me as a person of faith is the death of God.  When an angelic looking boy is hanged someone asks, “Where is God?”  Elie responds by saying, “Where is he? Here he is – he is hanging on the gallows.  What I think Elie means is that his faith in a God of love dies on the gallows with that boy.  This question resonates for me as a Christian. We all ask ourselves where God is in the face of suffering. I too would say that God was hanging on the gallows, but when I say that I would mean that God suffers with everyone who is a victim of the world’s brokenness.  I am reminded of a prayer, “Crucified savior, naked God, you hang disgraced and powerless.  Grieving, we dare to hope, as we wait at the cross with your mother and your friend.”   

There is an important question that arises when we read a book like this. The question  being what we would do to survive.  The history of the world suggests most of us would let go of our humanity in a bid for survival.  The studies done by Milgram on obedience suggest that there may not be as much separating us from the Nazi prison guards as we like to think.  We need to ponder this question.   There are some things worse than death.  Becoming a person you detest is one of those things.  

A Couragous Joyous Love Filled Life

It was my privilege to lead a celebration of life for Ruth Robinson when she died at 92.  It was a wonder that Ruth lived that long for she had the worst health of anyone I have ever known. Ruth was written up in a Medical Journal because of her many complicated health problems. The family was told several times that Ruth was not going to make it through the night. In spite of these challenges Ruth radiated joy. I have permission to share two poems that Ruth wrote.

I Am Blessed

I am thinking today of the blessing I have,

And find that as they unfold

I feel overwhelmed by their numbers,

And their value more precious than gold. 

 

Today

Looking outside my window I see

a new day and only I can tell you

what kind of day it will be.

It can be busy, happy, laughing and gay

It can be dull, unhappy and grey.

My mind is the determining key.

For I am the person I myself will be.

I can be kind and thoughtful

I can do what I can to help others.

Or I can think just of myself.

I can enjoy what I do and make it fun.

Or I can complain and be miserable and

make it hard on someone.

I can be patient and loving and kind

I can hold out my held and be helpful,

Willing to understand other’s problems

and be with them whenever I can.

I have faith in myself and God willing

I will make the best of every day I live. 

Poems by Evangeline Paterson

I was at a workshop on Saturday where the leader shared this poem by Evangeline Paterson. I loved this poem.  It really spoke to me about how life feels sometimes.  

The water that I live in

is full of piranha
and it doesn't do
to have a bleeding heart
in this locality.
Please God
get me out of this water
or give me a shell
or teeth...
Just don't leave me here
with nothing
but the conviction
that piranha
are all God's children too. 

Another wonderful poem by Evangeline Paterson.  I think Evangeline is becoming my favorite poet.  Unfortunately her books of poetry are out of print. 


I used to think   —   loving life so greatly   —  
That to die would be like leaving a party
Before the end.
Now I know that the party is really happening
Somewhere else;
That the light and the music   —
Escaping in snatches to make the pulse beat and the tempo quicken   —
Come from a long way away.
And I know too that when I get there
The music will never end.

—   Evangeline Paterson

Good Clean Water Needs to Be Protected

In a poem entitled Mass for the Rivers Ian McDonald says: 

It is not your fault you mix with everything

You pick up whatever you flow through

Everything the rain catches coming down

Everything tiny silvery streaks of droplets soak from the ground and bring to your banks in quick rivulets.

It is not your fault you mix with everything

Becoming more and less than yourself mile by mile.

Solvents from the factory

Tailings from the mine

Fertilizer from the field

Shit from the feedlot

Waste from the leaking tanks the army base left behind

Sewage from the city’s raw flush.

You take it all in; it changes you.  And it is not your fault. 

You bead on my sun-blocked arm,

My paddle cuts into your brown flowing current,

Tiny condoms float by, bobbing up and down in the waves without apology.

But it is not your fault. 

Safe clean drinking water was something we took for granted as children.  We turned on the sprinkler and ran through it without any thought of conservation. We delighted in the minnows that swam in tiny creeks alongside the road. Those tiny creeks and minnows are not there any more.

One day I hiked into a spot on a river that feeds Lake Cowichan.  The person I was with had hiked into that spot before.  In his previous trip there were fish fry everywhere.  We saw one or two.  The change was related to poor forestry practices.  Instead of the gravel that fish need for spawning the river was full of boulders that had been washed into it because of clear cutting.  In the spring and fall there is the sound of bowling balls as the rocks washed into the river from clear cutting bang against one another on their way further down river.   Clear cutting has meant that many of the rivers that used to run all year now go dry in the summer.

There was the day when I saw two well-dressed respectable looking senior ladies open the trunk of their car and take out garbage to dump in the Fraser River.  A lot of people dump their garbage in the river as the clean-up society can tell you. 

I also have a story from the ocean. We went fishing one day and there were lots of fish. Over night a tanker purged its bilge and the next day there were no fish to be found. We went for miles and in every direction we looked there was oil floating on the surface.  One of the reasons I do not support increased tanker traffic carrying bitumen to China is I know that this will happen again and again and again.   

How long can we keep doing these things and not put ourselves at risk?  I know lots of people who say don’t worry about the earth because it has an amazing ability to heal itself.  That feels like we are playing a dangerous game with our very lives.  We don’t know how much is too much. We won’t know until it is too late. 

People treat water as an expendable resource that does not need to be cherished and valued.  Yet water is our most valuable resource.  More important that the gas we pump it into the ground to bring to the surface.  Without water no life is possible.  Without it the human body cannot last long. 

Water refreshes us.  It renews us.  It is an essential component of healing.   It cleanses us.  It is a metaphor for a healthy and life-giving spirituality.  Water is something we need every day.  Life demands it.  So care for the earth and its waters. And take a moment to think about the spiritual water you need to refresh and restore you soul.