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| Image by Troy Thompson |
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A GREETING
My God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
(Psalm 30:2)
A READING
As for me, I was like a canal from a river,
like a water channel into a garden.
I said, ‘I will water my garden
and drench my flower-beds.’
And lo, my canal became a river,
and my river a sea.
I will again make instruction shine forth like the dawn,
and I will make it clear from far away.
I will again pour out teaching like prophecy,
and leave it to all future generations.
Observe that I have not laboured for myself alone,
but for all who seek wisdom.
(Sirach 24:30-34)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water
(Psalm 65:9)
A POEM
I believe
that prayer is a source of peace
she travels like a friend
because she speaks in silence
the language of the heart.
She doesn't ask
she shares the depth
of the moment.
- from "On the Road Again 2," by Rita Mestokosho
found on lesvoixdelapoesie.ca. Read the whole poem in French on the link.
VERSES FOR THE DAY
Over waves of the sea, over all the earth,
and over every people and nation I have held sway.
Among all these I sought a resting-place;
in whose territory should I abide?
(Sirach 24:6-7)
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| Image by Asif Ali |
Today is International Women's Day, when we pause to reflect on the struggles and achievements of those who identify as women all over the world. Today's reading from Sirach helps us to reflect especially on the wisdom of those who are knowledge keepers in their communities, cultures and contexts. In the biblical story, wisdom is personified in the feminine, and is held in highest regard as being close to the creative energy of God.
The women of scripture have endured and survived in the stories that they tell, despite the marginal amount of space they occupy and the lack of detail about who they are. Somehow, we still feel like we know Deborah and Esther, Judith and Miriam, and Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus. They are obscured: often we do not hear their names and never any real sense of their geography or place. But each of these figures endures, purely out of the force of the story they helped shape and were a part of, and the role they played in it.
In many indigenous cultures, women are held as matriarchs and offer prominent leadership to their communities. Women carry the cultural memory of the community and women are often leaders as well. In today’s music we hear from four women who represent the polar communities in Canada and Greenland: Diyet (Southern Tutchone, from the Yukon), Nive Nielson (Inuk, Greenland), Leela Gilday (Dene, Northwest Territories), and Sylvia Cloutier (Inuit, Nunavut). (This documentary on the four musicians describes the cultural experience each brings to their ensemble.) In their song, North Star, each woman takes a turn describing the influence of her culture on her song. “We grew strong and wise and we understood our worth,” sings Diyet. In her poem, French Innu poet Rita Mestokosho describes ‘prayer’ as being like a female friend who “speaks in the language of the heart.”
Special justice days like International Women’s Day exist to help lift up those who are on the margins. They awaken us to the struggles that many face in every day life. Who are the women who have awakened knowledge in you, and helped you become more fully who you are? How can you offer them a gesture of thanks today?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
The Rights of Nature movement is an ecologically-minded grass roots movement working to protect natural bodies of nature that are subject to harm by human activity. They do this by seeking legal 'personhood' for that which is endangered. While there are other ways to try to save and protect lands, the significant difference of this process is that groups do not have to prove harm to specific human beings. One of the key reasons for the movement is to help Indigenous peoples protect their homelands. Harm to nature can therefore become a direct cause for legal action. The Magpie River in Quebec has recently become a focal point of this movement. The Innu people are the primary custodians of the river, which stretches from northern Québec and Labrador to the St. Lawrence. Its fast current has made it a focus of dam project interest and Hydro Québec created a dam there that ran from 2009 - 2017 before it was sold to a private energy company. The dam construction raised the river levels and changed ecosystems and wildlife habitat. From time to time there have been substantial plans for further dam development up and down the river. Therefore, in 2021, the municipality of Minganie and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit passed separate resolutions that granted the status of 'personhood' to the Magpie, the first time a river has been granted such rights in Canada. The river remains one of the most untouched and pristine rivers, not only in Canada, but in the world. Watch a free CBC Gem documentary, I Am the Magpie River. Find out more about the Indigenous perspectives that helped shape this milestone moment in this article from Candian Geographic, in which the river has a voice, and notices the women on the shore chanting for its healing.
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| Caption from the linked Canadian Geographic article: "Rita Mestokosho, wearing a traditional Innu bonnet, sings a healing chant for the Mutehekau Shipu and other rivers. The Third Falls, seen here, is a powerful place favoured for communing with the living spirits connected to the land." |
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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project 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, and on Twitter. 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!