Happy Canada Day!  What a privilege to find our home here in Canada.  Today, we reflect on this land that has been home to many for generations and together we pray, as we sing our national anthem, “God keep our land, glorious and free.”

As our flag beautifully waves, red and white, from many a house and place of gathering, we pause to consider our journey on this land and to this land.  We all have a story of belonging.  Mine is a story of parents, who in their teen years arrived in Canada, with their parents and families.  It is a story of them learning a new language and adapting to a new culture.  It is a story of a student preacher with a Dutch accent, on a summer placement catching the eye of the young organist with a Dutch accent.  I am grateful for God’s provisions and leadings as my parents and their families found a home here in Canada.  We truly are blessed to live in the “true north strong and free.”

Canada was established years and years before my family arrived. We acknowledge the original inhabitants of “our home and native land.”   Today we pause to honour the Aboriginal community, noting that we remain on a journey of reconciliation. My dear friends from this heritage have taught me many things.  Today, I am grateful for are their love of their land, their humour that captures my heart, and their welcome that always makes me feel accepted. 

I would ask you join me in praying a prayer I received a few years ago. Professor Climenhaga, from Providence Seminary in Manitoba, shared this graciously with me. What he had received from friends Neill and Edith Von Gunten, he passed on for my use to encourage unity and awareness. It is a beautiful prayer for our world. If you are comfortable you can follow the directions noted in this six directional prayer.

Ojibway Six Directional Prayer

Explanation:  We will at this time offer words of thanksgiving and prayer to our Lord and Creator, recalling that Christ is the center of creation, the central reality of God's plan for the world, the central reality of our lives as Christians. As we face each of the six directions, we will respond in prayer. Following each prayer, we will return to face the center, reminded each time that it is Christ who is able to bring healing and salvation and who by his Spirit is able to renew the face of the earth.

First, let us all face the center.  (pause)

Explanation: From the East, the direction of the rising sun, we offer thanks for the gifts of the Tree world. We offer thanks for new beginnings and for the gift of the yellow race. We offer thanks for the teachings of honesty and illumination.

Let us all face East (pause)

Pray: Enable us, O God, to be honest as we come to you this day, giving thanks for all you have made. Help us always to be honest in our relationship to you and to all others. Help us to be wise in our use of the resources of the earth, sharing them in justice, partaking of them in thankfulness. We give thanks to you, O God.

(Face center, pause)

Explanation: From the South come teachings of caring and sharing. We offer thanks for the gifts of the animal world. We offer thanks for the gift of the black race and the call for us to be humble. 

Let us all face South (pause)

Pray: May we walk good paths, O God, living on this earth as sisters and brothers should, showing respect for what you have created, rejoicing in one another’s blessings, and sympathizing in one another's sorrows, and together with you renewing the face of the earth. We give thanks to you, O God.  

(Face center, pause) 

Explanation: From the West come teachings of faith. We offer thanks for the gifts of the rock world and the purifying waters. We give thanks for the gift of the red race. We face West and pray that the Spirit of God will make our faith as strong as the rock and that the Holy Spirit may again breathe over the waters making them pure, making them fruitful.

Let us face West (pause)

Pray: We pray that we too may be purified so that life may be sustained and nurtured over the entire face of the earth and may our faith be strong. We give thanks to you, O God.

(Face center, pause)

Explanation: From the North come purifying winds. O God, you have been called the breath and wind of life. We give thanks for the plant world and the teachings of kindness and wisdom. We give thanks for the white race. 

Let us face North (pause)

Pray: We give thanks for our time on the earth, O God. May we live our lives so that we always honor and glorify you, with every thought, word, and deed. May we live our lives in such a way that life will be better for those who are yet to come, the unborn children. We give thanks to you, O God.  May the air we breathe be purified so that life may be sustained and nurtured over the entire face of the earth. May we always use the wisdom you have given us to treat each other with kindness.  We give thanks to you, O God.

(Face center, pause)

Explanation: Let us look to the Earth and to the center.

Let us face down (pause)

Pray:  From Above comes the unconditional love of God. Our Lord, God, you are our Maker and Creator.

Explanation: From the Earth comes the gift of life. We have been given a number of days to live on the earth and then, as we were made from the earth, we will return to the earth.

Let us all look up above us and to the center. 

Face up (pause)

Pray: May your unconditional love flow through us and into all of our relations. We give thanks that your love is like the wings of the eagle that lifts us up and gives us the strength to continue on. We give thanks to you.

 

With care and in prayer,