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| Image by Jay Huang |
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A GREETING
Hear my prayer, O God, and my cry for help!
Listen to my weeping, and don’t ignore me.
(Psalm 39:12)
A READING
Thus says God:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and bitter weeping.
Rachel, weeping for her children,
refuses to be comforted,
for her children are no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:15;17)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Never let love and faithfulness abandon you—
wear them like a necklace around your neck;
inscribe them on the tablet of your heart.
(Proverbs 3:3)
A POETIC REFLECTION
For you today, my friends, I raise sacred smoke. For you who are troubled, confused, doubtful, lonely, afraid, addicted, unwell, bothered or alone, I raise sacred smoke. For those of you in sorrow, grief or pain, I raise sacred smoke. For those who work for people, for change, for spiritual evolution, for the upward and outward growth of our common humanity and the well-being of our planet, I raise sacred smoke. For those of you in joy, in the glow of small or great triumphs, who live in love, faith, courage and respect, I raise sacred smoke. And, in the act of all of this, I raise it also for myself.
- from Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations by Richard Wagamese
VERSE OF THE DAY
This way you’ll walk the roads of good people
and stay on the paths of the just—
because it is the upright who will inhabit the earth,
and the upright will call it home.
(Proverbs 2:20-21)
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| "Motherly Love," by Dee-Jay Monika Rumbolt Rumbolt is an Inuk-Métis artist from the south coast of Labrador. The painting helps her to reconcile her own experience of motherhood with the hardships her own mother had to face. Follow the link to read more. |
Today we reflect on what it is like when a human body -- is missing. Too many Indigenous people in our land live with this reality for any number of reasons. Some may be missing loved ones who are alive but lost through forced separations caused by displacement, as when communities are moved owing to loss of potable water. Others may have family members in the prison systems, where Indigenous people are disproportionately represented. Still others experience the pain of having loved ones who have disappeared without a trace.
The children of today's music video live near the Highway of Tears in British Columbia, a 450-mile stretch of Highway 16 linking two cities on either side of the province where a high number of people have disappeared over the past decades. For these children, the story of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people is never far from their families and lived realities. The drama they imagine/re-enact is one that is familiar within the lived experience of their communities.
For many Indigenous families, finding the remains of loved ones offers the chance to bring closure to painful losses. This is why there are protests and calls to action to search waters and waste places. The struggle to explain and understand what has happened becomes tangible if the loved one is recovered.
Lent and Holy Week offer a chance for us to reflect and change this narrative. As we draw closer to Holy Week and anticipate those events, we can confront the murderous impulses in ourselves and our communities by confessing them and bringing them to Jesus. In following the story of his death and resurrection we can be born anew into a desire to see this trend of tragedy transformed.
How can we uphold those families who feel the gap of a lost loved one?
How can we lift up their voices calling for answers?
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| Image by Giuseppe Milo |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy 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!