Next Tuesday is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is fitting that it is in the Season of Creation, particularly this year, with our focus on Peace with Creation. 

Suppose we are genuinely going to seek peace with creation. In that case, I think we have to begin by thinking about land, because it seems to me that land is what we seem to want and fight over the most, and then, of course, it's about control over everything that lives on the land, from the people to the animals and even the plants.

In the chapter entitled: Listening to the Land, in Our Home and Treaty Land, Ray writes: 

The Cree Elders say, "If the land is not healthy, then how can we be healthy? And how can we walk in a good way?" Halrold Johnson, another Nehiyawak, connected the health of the land to the stories that we tell. He pointed out that while settlers and their descendants tell stories that separate people from the land, our stories do the opposite. (P47)

What stories do we tell or have been told that separate us from the land and also from each other? And how might we rewrite some of those stories so that instead of isolating ourselves, we seek to draw closer to one another, to build relationships and seek reconciliation?

One of the resources we could use is the Calls for Action published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

There is even a children's version.

How do these help us reconsider the stories we have been told or learn about stories that have been left out of our connection to the land and to one another?

If our goal is to have peace with creation, that might mean thinking seriously about our relationship to the land that we live on and the people that we share it with.

See you on Sunday,

Marnie

Readings for next Sunday include:

JEREMIAH 32:1-3A, 6-15; PSALM 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 TIMOTHY 6:6-19; LUKE 16:19-31

The link to the readings is here.

We would love the cookbook to showcase the diversity of our community at St. Anne's, so please consider your family's favorite dish.

What do you make for your kids when they come home for dinner?

What is your most asked-for cookie or dessert?

There is a sign-up sheet outside the office for your name, the recipe you are willing to contribute, and your contact information.

Recipes can either be sent to Noella at the office at stannes@telus.net, or if you want to bring in a physical copy, we have a file in the office.

Cookbooks will be sold at the Christmas bazaar this year.

If you have any questions, please speak to Monika Follett or Cliff Caprani

You are asked to consider a prayer or poem or a drawing that responds to the theme; Peace with Creation. Then you are invited to write or draw in onto one of the pieces of fabric on the table beside the library.

At the end of September, they will be gathered up and made into a prayer quilt.

Please note that the correct date is Sunday, October 5

Bible study will begin again on Wednesday, October 8.

In person at 11am and Online at 7pm.

Each week, we will examine the readings for the upcoming Sunday, discuss what we notice, their place in the larger story, and ponder what God is trying to say to us.