The Mighty St. John - "there is a river"

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
    God will help it when the morning dawns.

                                            Psalm 46:4-5 NRSV

I attended the national meeting of the United Church called General Council only once during my decades of ministry. It was held in Fredericton, New Brunswick and a couple of important things occurred during that meeting. The Right Reverend Stan MacKay was elected moderator, becoming the first Aboriginal person to lead a Mainline Protestant denomination in Canada. There was also an often emotional debate about same-gender "unions" as they were termed then, the precursor to same-gender marriage, which is now the law of the land. I asked to be part of the working group presenting to the court.

The theme of this 42nd General Council was "There is a River" taken from Psalm 46, a pslam which also includes the phrase "be still and know that I am God." Each session began with "there is a river" worship and reflection, and of course we were not far from one of Canada's mightiest rivers, the St. John.

I was a strongly eco-faith guy even back then and I found it frustrating that while this was the theme, and a good one, we never went near the St. John, or heard anything about it's history or ecology. We certainly didn't go there for a "There is a River" worship session, nor did we call on Native leaders to share with us about the importance of the river, even though we elected an Aboriginal moderator. I did venture away from the University of New Brunswick a couple of times to spend time along the river.



All of this came to mind with news that the St. John River is rising, as it does in the Spring. There is already significant flooding along its banks and the downtown of the city of Fredericton may be inundated, the first time waters have been this high in a decade. We tend to think we can control the power of nature and then are humbled by its strength.

We can pray for all those affected by these floods and those who put themselves in harm's way to offer assistance. We could also pray that as Christians we always ask how the metaphors of our faith can be "grounded" and "watered" in a sense of place, to make that connection.

In a time when human-made climate change is altering the patterns and rhythms of the planet and its creatures, its more important that ever. We can be still and consider how God is inviting us to make a difference.