The Cliff Cathedral at Bon Echo

                                                 photo: Ruth Mundy

Yesterday morning we decided to go for a paddle and by 7:30 we were on the road to Bon Echo Provincial Park, an hour north of Napanee, Ontario. Parks are open for day use again, but it is isn't always clear whether the gates to campgrounds will be open to give access to the water. At Bon Echo the gate was locked but a staff member emerged to helpfully direct us just up the highway to a public boat launch. We paddled back into the park and across Mazinaw Lake to the cliffs on the east side which are 100 metres high. These rock faces are known for their red ochre Algonquin First Nation petroglyphs, 

Because the park entrance was closed and it was early on a Thursday morning we were alone as we paddled along the cliff. No boats of any kind, no human voices, no human sounds, We have visited some of the great cathedrals of Europe and this experience rivalled anything we experienced there.

We were at the cliffs three months ago, having skied in, which was a first for us, and on that occasion we were along as well. . Yesterday was our first springtime visit and we were delighted to see that the bushes and grasses which cling to the rock are actually flowering trees and plants. There were dragonflies everywhere and above we could hear what I'm quite sure was the peregrine falcons which nest there. 



                                          photo: Ruth Mundy

I have no hesitation in describing all this as a religious experience. In other centuries architects designed cathedrals to inspire awe and wonder and praise for God. We did praise the Creator as we moved quietly along the lake. 

A hundred years ago there was a lodge at the narrows of Mazinaw Lake, now in the park. It was owned by a religious man who brought in contingents of Methodist pastors. Attendance at Sunday worship was required! We were certainly in a worshipful spirit yesterday, grateful to the Creator for this gift to the senses. 



                                       photo: Ruth Mundy

Loving My Neighbourhood Bees...& Dandelions

A few years ago we were asked and even implored not to remove milkweed from our private properties and both homeowners and municipalities were encouraged to plant it instead. Why? Monarch butterflies were under threat (still are) and without milkweed they can't propagate. 

Now we are invited to let those pesky dandelions which are vilified as weeds but our kids and grandkids consider flowers grow. Why? For the sake of the bees this time. Whether its European honey bees, an introduced species, or indigenous bees, including bumblebees, they have to have a food source as well. 

This can be a tough sell in suburbia. In our court of nine homes three are owned by lawn worshippers with sprinkler systems and where every weed is dispatched with the help of chemicals. Fortunately we don't live next to the one who scolds her adjacent neighbours for what she considers poor lawn hygiene. My immediate neighbour doctors our lawn when he does his so the overall effect is pristine. 

The sign above is the brainchild of a P.E.I. beekeeper who wants homeowners to leave there dandelions be...bee?: 

"It's the first abundant source of food for the bees in the springtime, until the clover comes out and the rest of the wildflowers," says Troy Fraser, who keeps bees and recently started a pollination service. It sets the stage for their development, for the queen to start laying her eggs and developing her nest … you need that foraging force, the numbers in the hive to really boost up, so they can actually pollinate quite well."

I'll admit that already this year I've dispatched hundreds of dandelions in our back yard, but their name is legion. I dig 'em up, and more emerge. We also have bumblebees and other species which I don't see out front. I wonder why? When I fix patches out back I plant clover instead of grass. It is also green and it flowers, which those bees love. 

When Jesus tells me to love my neighbour as myself I figure it includes being a responsible and kind person to the humans who live near me. At the same time those bees should be regarded as  neighbours and surely I should be a Good Samaritan to them as well.

 Excuse me while I go out and knock off some more dandelions...

Ooh, I Love Turtles!

A long time ago Nestle's had a commercial for one of their confections called Turtles. There which there were dancing turtles in top hats and a crooning blonde who told us that she loved them. It's surreal in retrospect but I can still sing the jingle.

I do love turtles, both the treat and the reptile, and I'm fortunate that both can be found close at hand . Yesterday I went for a waterfront cycle across the city and saw turtles for the first time in 2020. Since seven of the eight turtle species in Ontario are threatened it gladdens my heart to see them when we are paddling or along a shoreline. I have been known to stop traffic on highway 2 to help a turtle cross the road and delivered one from railway tracks with the bell clanging and lights flashing. 



Turtles Flaunting Physical Distancing Rules along Belleville Waterfront

When I got home yesterday I discovered that it was World Turtle Day. Serendipity? Providence? Too many of these days? They seem to have been slow to emerge from the icy depths of our cool Spring, so the timing was perfect.

While there are turtle doves in scripture I don't think there are any references to turtles. I do know that Turtle Island is central to some expressions of indigenous spirituality and I like the icon of RC saint Ketari Tekakwitha holding the turtle representing our planetary home. Creation would be incomplete and diminished without turtles, so we can do our best to care for them, don't you think? 

Check out this link for the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre

https://ontarioturtle.ca/















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4IyoI77j1Q

Loosening Your Belt to Lose Weight?

Over the past two months I have been pleasantly surprised by the response to the COVID-19 scourge by Premier Doug Ford and the Conservative government of Ontario. After a lot of blundering about in the china shop Ford had the wisdom to close nearly all shops and public places (including churches) and borders as well. Recently there have been a couple of speed wobbles as the premier took a "do as I say, not as I do" approach and the tragedy of nursing home deaths may have been mitigated by adequate inspection and funding. Still, a B+ is a strong grade when everyone is essentially making up their responses to a crisis day by day. 

There are reminders that prior to the Ford government was Regressive Conservative when it came to environmental issues, willfully cancelling green energy projects despite huge costs to taxpayers for cancelled projects. You may not have noticed that the government has also relaxed environmental regulations in a number of areas, a goofy and destructive choice which is supposedly helping polluting industries because of the pandemic-induced economic crisis. Dirty air and water is a bad idea whether we're at work or at home.

Yesterday the ballyhoo announcement was about widening Canada's busiest highway, the 401, to the east of Toronto, near Cambridge. Supposedly ten lanes will move people faster and safer than six.  My immediate comment to Ruth, my wife, is that it will put more cars on the road and tempt people to move farther from already congested Toronto so they can commute. Yet there seems to be no money to improve public transit and extend the GO train line into that area. Dumb and dumber. 



Sure enough, many others are voicing the same concerns, including those who are experts on transportation. One quoted the late urban activist Jane Jacobs who once said that this sort of decision is like loosening your belt to lose weight. It just doesn't work that way!

It may seem like a stretch to say that the decision to widen a multi-lane highway is a spiritual matter, but I figure it is. We're all praying that the pandemic will abate and that some semblance of "normal" will resume. But we may have to accept that it will be a "new normal" in virtually every aspect of life. 

While we can be grateful for positive government action in response to a crisis we also need strong leadership to implement change for the sake of a healthier society for all. As a Christian I'm praying for this as well, but I also have the privilege of exercising my right to vote when the time comes. 

Cherishing Bees is a Religious Experience!

Bees and honey show up surprisingly often in the world's religions with references in the writings and traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. The people of Israel crossed the Jordan River into a land "flowing with milk and honey." In times past the honey bee was a symbol for Jesus as the Christ and I once framed an Easter Sunday service around bees, having been a beekeeper myself for a couple of years.

St Ambrose compared the communal life of a Christian community to a beehive, so it shouldn't be surprising that monasteries through the centuries have not only cultivated bees but been pioneers as apiarists. A  19th century Congregationalist minister named Langstroth invented the rectangular hives we're accustomed to seeing along the edges of fields.



European bees are widespread, imports to North America which produce honey and pollinate many crops. There are thousands of different species of bees around the world and many of them are under threat, sad to say. Without them we'd be in a very sticky situation in terms of food production. An astonishing 75% of the planet's crops are pollinated by bees. They include 87 of the leading 115 global food crops with a value of more than $200 billion (US) annually. 

Today is World Bee Day (I kid you not) and the theme is Save the Bees. While its important to figure out how to stop poisoning bees out of existence (humans are a menace!) we can also celebrate the importance and wonder of these industrious and exquisite little creatures which somehow strike fear into the hearts of many of us. 

I've seen endangered bumble bees in our yard during this past week and it warms my heart. Actually, it's kind of a religious experience.There is now a Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count and you can participate. 

https://foecanada.org/the-bee-cause/bumble-bee-count/

Thank God, the Creator,  for bees in their marvellous variety, and long may they thrive for their sake and that of so many other creatures!

Blessing the Fleet in Uncertain Times

Lobster Season begins on Newfoundland's West Coast -- photo Stan Collins

The four Atlantic provinces have different starting dates for various fisheries but lobster season has begun in many places. Usually this cause for celebration and in some communities residents come to the wharves for an early morning send-off of the boats and crews. Often there is some form of religious ceremony called a Blessing of the Fleet as gratitude for the bounty of the sea and of the desire for God's protection in a precarious enterprise. 

Many fisheries have been in serious decline for decades, due to over-fishing, and it has hit the economies of those provinces hard. This year there is the additional blow of a pandemic which has dried up markets.People just aren't buying, even frozen fish. And lobsters are a luxury item which people are reluctant to purchase in uncertain times. 



I would encourage you to include in your prayers  fisher-folk and all those who are involved in what is still a roughly seven billion dollar industry in this country. I began my ministry in outport Newfoundland, so I still have a soft spot for the courageous people who go down to the sea in ships. And Jesus was partial to fishermen himself. 



Blessing of the Fleet Cape Breton

Here is a portion of a Blessing of the Fleet from the Mission to the Seafarers, Canada.

A basin of water and a cedar branch should be set-up to use to bless the vessels as they pass.

Prayer of Blessing

Today we gather to bless these ships and these boats; those who work on them; those who protect our country; those who protect our citizens; those who provide food from these waters; and those who use these waters for family and pleasure. Let us pray.

God of boundless love, at the beginning of creation your spirit hovered over the deep. You called forth every creature and the seas teamed with life. Your son Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee, brought his disciples to safety, and filled the nets of his disciples. He has given us the rich harvest of salvation. 

Bless these ships and these boats, the equipment and all who serve on them and who would use them. Protect them from the dangers of wind and rain and of the perils of the deep. Bring us all to the harbour of light and peace. May the saving power of our Lord guide and protect us all. In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Naval/Mariners' Hymn

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the Sea

O Christ, whose voice the waters heard,
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
And walkest on the foaming deep,
And calm amid the storm didst sleep;
O hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the Sea

Common Prayer for Our Common Home

In May of 2015 the Vatican and Pope Francis issued an encyclical on the environment called Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home. It's curious that even though the Roman Catholic Church ditched the Latin mass in the 1960's there is a persistent use in Vatican documents which conveys inaccessibility, to my mind. Laudato Si translates as "praise be to you" and is from the opening of the canticle of St Francis, the patron saint of the environment.

In July of that year I went to an island situated off another island, the province of Newfoundland, with the express purpose of reading Laudato Si carefully and prayerfully. It was a cold July on Change Islands with single digit daily temperatures but I bundled up and sat outside for my reading, overlooking a cove from which people have fished for centuries. I walked shoreline trails as well and took in the raw beauty of a place where tourism has largely become am economic substitute for what was once a robust fishery. The population has plummeted and only a handful of families and children remain. 

In the Fall of 2015, during Creation Time in the Christian year, I led a study of Laudato Si which reinforced what a thoughtful document it is with folk who appreciated the connection between Christianity and the environment as Creation, as well as the importance of understanding science as a complement to faith rather than an enemy. 

Last September we spent time on Change Islands again and I reread Laudato Si.and was once again impressed by its scope and theological depth. I'm not sure if any other Christian denomination has created a document of such range. I don't agree with everything in Laudato Si, but it stood up well to a second reading. 

The copy I have was a download from the internet although there are now print copies easy to find through...you know. Since lots of us have time on our hands these days, why not read it? It deserves our attention and I'm sure the Creator would be pleased. 

This Saturday marks the beginning of the fifth anniversary of the encyclical and Laudato Si Week. 

Here is the Laudato Si anniverary website, a link to the document, and a prayer for the week. Perhaps we could all say it each day. No, I haven't converted to Roman Catholicism, but I am staunchly ecumenical and love our common planetary home!

https://laudatosiweek.org/

https://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf

Good News for Storks and Humans

Mr. Stork on delivery -- Dumbo ( Disney 1941)

The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
the Lebanon cedars He planted,
where the birds make their nest,
the stork who home is the cypresses.

Psalm 104:16-17 -- Robert Alter

There isn't a lot of good news on any front these days but I was encouraged to read that storks, a broad-winged, majestic species of bird, have successfully hatched eggs in Britain for the first time in 600 years. Fittingly, they've done so near the village of Storrington, known as Estorchestone or “homestead of the white storks” in the Domesday Book of the the 11th century. 

Storks make their migratory flight from Africa to Europe along the Rift Valley, which includes the Dead Sea and Jordan River valley in Israel. I've watched soaring flocks of storks in Israel and it is a mesmerizing sight. These British birds have been bred in captivity and reintroduced to their traditional nesting area. 



Storks in Britain

Not surprisingly, since they would have been observed and admired in flight, there are several references to storks in the bible. One of my favourite psalms, 104, celebrates the variety and beauty of Creation for its own sake, and the storks get a shout-out amongst many other species.

It was the ancient Greeks who associated storks with birth, probably because the birds often nest close to buildings, and even on the roofs of homes and churches.

Perhaps I like this story because the stork will visit our family with daughter Jocelyn and husband Jeff expecting their second child in a matter of days. It is an exciting time for storks and humans

The Birds and the Bees

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[a] and they will teach you;
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

Job 12:7-10(NRSV)

Not long ago, on a cold, beak morning,we walked across the rubble-strewn site of a former factory on the Belleville waterfront. It's ugly by most standards and after a lot of money spent in remediation it is still polluted. Yet we were taken by the number of bird species (at least twenty) including ospreys. 

We walked out onto a human-made spit which was probably created for shipping by water and is now being reclaimed by shrubs and small trees. Suddenly a small flock of swallows erupted from a tree immediately beside us and flew low along the water. It was an enchanting sight, although we were aware that these beleaguered birds were likely conserving energy in the blustery weather without the necessary food source of insects. We've never seen swallow this close at hand before and the moment lifted our spirits. 

We've been getting so many mixed and confusing messages about being outdoors over the past two months although there is now a recognition that getting out there is essential for our physical and mentail health. Beginning today provincial parks will be opened for day use and bird-watching is listed as one of the okay activities. 



Mourning Cloak Butterfly

During our rambles we've seen a few butterflies, including the early Mourning Cloaks. We got excited about a bumblebee in our backyard, which demonstrated that we're a little desperate for entertainment. This is also a spiritual experience for us, an awareness of the profound mystery and predictable cycles of the natural world which we also see through the faith lens of Creator and Creation. Once again I return to those verses in the book of Job which encourage us to pay attention to the world around is for wisdom. 

We're hoping that before long the hummingbirds will return to the feeder we put out a couple of days ago. And that a monarch butterfly or two will find their way to the milkweed which will grow in our backyard

I'm trying to imagine the extraordinary spectacle of millions of butterflies congregating in Mexico for the winter, many of which are already making their way northward in the tag-team journey to Canada. Here is the link to astounding PBS film footage taken by a hummingbird drone:

https://kottke.org/20/04/watch-a-monarch-butterfly-swarm-filmed-by-a-drone-disguised-as-a-hummingbird

Hopeful Gardening

Site of our CDC Belleville Community Garden Bed

So many 60's musicians have shuffled off to Rock and Roll Heaven in the past 24 months -- often in their 60's -- that hearing of one who was merely injured is a relief.  Brian May, the guitarist for the band Queen (actually formed in 1970) over-shared this past week that he “managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds in a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening.” Yikes! of course he deigned not to give us the gory details after piquing our horror. 

Now that millions of pandemic hermits have learned how to bake bread the next trend seems to be gardening. Fortunately both are excellent endeavours. Whether it's flowers or vegetables, gardening is an earthy, life-giving pursuit. Veggie gardening can bring both deep satisfaction and a full stomach. 

It's a relief to hear that many municipalities have decided to open up community gardens as long as the participants maintain appropriate physical distance. We have three raised vegetable beds in our backyard and this year we will also tend a bed in a nearby municipal garden. They have already shared the distancing Ten Commandments, which shouldn't be too much of a challenge. 



Sudbury Garden-starter packets

In some places these pandemic gardens are being referred to as Victory gardens, a reminder that during WW2 many people grew their own produce as part of the war effort. I like that in Sudbury vegetable garden starter kits are being distributed for free through the Little Free Libraries on streets throughout the city. 

The Christian scriptures begin in a garden (Genesis) and end in one (Revelation). Jesus prayed in a garden before his arrest and crucifixion, and was mistaken for a gardener on Resurrection morning. What more evidence and endorsement do we need for this sacred enterprise? 

For years part of Ruth's Mother's Day gift would be a garden implement or gift certificate to a nursery. I was always a bit hesitant but she insisted that this was what she wanted. I've turned over the soil in our beds, and she's already been planting the hardy stuff, so we live in hope! 

The Group of Seven, Solitude and Splendour

Franklin Carmichael – Cranberry Lake (1931)

This past week, on May 7th, the McMichael Art Gallery, a marvellous ark of Canadian painting and sculpture and other forms of artistic expression celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first exhibit by the Group of Seven painters. As you probably know, the Group of Seven was actually more than seven because of changing membership over time, and the artist who was instrumental in their formation, Tom Thomson, drowned before they took on this identity. 



A.Y. Jackson Grace Lake 

These artists are dear to my heart. I served a downtown congregation in Sudbury, Ontario, for eleven years, and while my ministry was urban, our family regularly "worshipped" in wild places of the north where Group of Seven members regularly travelled to sketch and paint. We took the train into Algoma country with canoe aboard, then paddled back to Lake Superior. On a number of occasions we paddled past Franklin Carmichael's cabin on Cranberry Lake, and made the long portages into Grace and Nellie lakes. Our family regularly explored Killarney Park which contains OSA (Ontario Society of Artists) and A.Y. Jackson lakes 

We weren't secret pantheists, but these settings were both refuge and cathedral for us, revealing the glory of God in solitude and splendour. There were times when thunder storms put the fear o' God in all of us while we were camping in the back country, but in a wondrous way. 



My condolences to the McMichael, considering the splendid exhibit mounted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Group of Seven which was closed down. along with the gallery, because of COVID-19. We are so grateful that we were able to enjoy it back in February. That day I returned to the spot in the gallery where I figure my parents took my picture alongside an aged AY Jackson, who lived there in the 1960's.. 

And of course, any events for this past week couldn't occur as planned. Still, my heart and soul are lifted with the reminder of all this distinctive group of artists offer to all of us. 

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-39-metro-morning/clip/15775143-art-gallery-of-ontario-marking-100-years-since-group-of-sevens-first-toronto-exhibition

Migratory Bird Day & Creation's Wonder

Back in February this night time image from over Florida was shared by the United States National Weather Service. It captures a vast flyover of birds, 145 kilometres in diameter, which was an early part of the Spring migration northward.

Here in Southern Ontario birds have been arriving or moving through to their summer nesting places. Even with the disturbing decline of songbirds and other bird species in North America, billions still make this extraordinary pilgrimage, some from the tip of South America to the Arctic. Two days ago a Baltimore Oriole visited one of our feeders for a pit-stop, then was gone. I'm hoping that the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds will show up soon. 

This migration and those akin to it around the planet are what I consider natural miracles, the rhythmic cycles of life of which we are often barely aware. Yes, I realize that these migrations are an aspect of evolution, although scientists still have a limited understanding of why and how. I also celebrate the Creator when I witness the return of creatures. There are also magnificent migrations of butterflies and dragonflies. 



 During these pandemic days more people are paying greater attention to birds because they have the time to be attentive, and because of the cessation of urban noise which allows them to be heard. The ability to pay attention is an essential aspect of the contemplative life. Surely watching birds allows all of us to become contemplatives, to a degree, whatever our religious sensibilities. 

The excellent nature writer, Tim Dee, has a new book called Greenery in which he observes "Birds don’t carry bags. Nor passports. That is often the first thing I say when people ask me why I like them so much.” 

Tomorrow is World Migratory Bird Day with the theme Birds Connect Our World. It brings to mind the words of the United Church statement of faith called A Song of Faith

Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery,

   of living things, diverse and interdependent,

   of complex patterns of growth and evolution,

   of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls,

we sing of God the Creator,

the Maker and Source of all that is.

Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator,

   who is both in creation and beyond it.

All parts of creation, animate and inanimate, are related.

All creation is good.

We sing of the Creator,

   who made humans to live and move

   and have their being in God.

Baltimore Oriole

Turning to Old Turtle in a Time of Crisis

There are many important markers in the natural world that speak to me of Spring. The red-winged blackbirds, with their loud, "look at me" songs are usually the first and hardiest of the returnees.My spirit lifts when I see the first blue heron and kingfisher as we paddle. The buds on tree, trilliums, marsh marigolds -- all of them have a powerful psychological and  spiritual effect on me which is difficult to put into words. 

Now I'm looking for the first turtles of which there are several species in our area. They have a certain ancient, dinosaur-like quality to them, especially snapping turtles. 

I also appreciate that the turtle is an important symbol of the earth in its diversity and interconnectedness in different Indigenous cultures and I've written about this a number of times.  There is something about the current pandemic crisis which has got me thinking about that big-picture Turtle Island metaphor, even as I keep my eyes open for a first turtle sighting during our solitary rambles.



I got out two children's books which I find meaningful and used with kids along the way, the second f which was a gift from a co-worker years back. Old Turtle was an award-winner back in the early 90's and it explores how different creatures imagine God to be through various senses. Eventually the wise old turtle offers that another species, humans, will argue about who God is, even as they desecrate the planet on which they live. The invitation is to experience God in all things and to "live with respect in Creation", as our United Church Creed encourages.

We need this message now, more than ever. In our confusing "stay inside, get outside" moment we can appreciate the beauty and complexity of Turtle Island, even if don't leave our backyards. And we will eventually emerge from the pandemic with an opportunity to reconfigure how we go about our daily lives and establish priorities. This coronavirus could open our eyes to the far greater impact of the collapse of ecosystems.Scripture regularly invites us to live with humility and simplicity, which we can  ignore at our peril. While Jesus never spoke of turtles, he did ask us to learn from the birds and the flowers about living beyond anxiety and realizing when enough is enough.

We can draw on a deeper wisdom for our sake and that of Turtle Island. 

Remember, only search for turtles at a responsible distance!

Moby Dick & the Return of Right Whales

Right Whale 2019

Could it be true, or is just another of those bizarre dreams some of us experiencing during our pandemic-haunted nights? Yes, it's true! After months of listening, mostly in our vehicle we have completed what many have set out to do, only to falter along the way. Twenty-four hours of a classic American novel, Moby Dick, all 135 chapters, plus an epilogue. Never have we encountered a novel which was at the same time brilliantly written and mind-numbingly tedious, at least in some portions. At times we felt we could go no further but stubbornly journeyed on to the dramatic conclusion. 

Herman Melville was a remarkable man with an astounding breadth of knowledge for a person of his era. He was also intriguingly ahead of his time in the generosity of outlook when it came to other races and religions. 

As a result the narrator of the story, Ishmael, speculates and explicates and pontificates about many subjects, including the volume of whale-hunting throughout the far reaches of the oceans of the planet. Ishmael addresses the possibility of extinction, only to dismiss the possibility. He cites the hunting of elephants in Asia as an example of a species that is killed in abundance but is essentially "too big to fail", a supposition which was sadly untrue. He also makes reference to the bison of the great plains of North America. One hundred and seventy years after the publication of Moby Dick, bison, elephants, and whales are threatened and their abundance and size has not protected them from human predation.

 Even for someone such as Melville with his astonishing knowledge and vision, the prospect of exhausting the seemingly inexhaustible was beyond his ken. 

We can be grateful that a number of whale species have recovered after relentless destruction in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ironically, the discovery and use of fossil oil was a reprieve for the denizens of the deep. Some species are still threatened, including the Right whales which recently returned to the Bay of Fundy. There are so few now that the birth of ten calves is cause for celebration. 

I wonder what the thoughtful Melville, who obviously pondered God as Creator and Sustainer, would think about the planet we inhabit today, where so many species are gone or diminished? Actually,  I'm somewhat grateful that he can't comment!

Saint John Muir

John Muir -- St. Gregory of Nyassa Episcopal Church

I hadn't realized until two weeks ago how close environmental icon John Muir's birthday (April 21st) is to Earth Day (April 22nd). In what I figure is a happy coincidence, we are reminded that a century before the founding of Earth Day the Scottish born Muir was rambling about the wilderrness of Canada and the United States. He ecstatically immersed himself in the beauty of the natural world and eventually working to protect areas which are now part of Yosemite National Park in the States, as well as founding the Sierra Club. Early in the 20th century, In his mid-sixties, Muir took President Theodore Roosevelt camping for three days in Yosemite and the experience deepened the president's commitment to the national park system.



President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir

Before this year's Earth Day I saw the heading Saint John Muir and it captured my attention. We often associate Saint Francis of Assisi with a love and respect for Creation and he is the patron saint of the environment in the Roman Catholic church. Muir was raised as a Protestant and had a rather conflicted relationship with religion because of the way he was indoctrinated into the Christian faith. His fundamentalist father required him to memorize scripture (he could recite all of the New Testament and much of the Old) and would beat him when he faltered. Yet Muir regularly acknowledged the Creator and in my estimation he was a Creation mystic. He used God-talk in his writing and made allusions to biblical passages:

In the Divine Calendar this is still the morning of Creation...The last days of the glacial winter are not yet past; we live in "creation's dawn.The morning stars still sing together, and the world, though made, is still being made and becoming more beautiful every day. 



I went back to Richard Cartwright Austin's thoughtful book about Muir's spirituality called Baptized into Wilderness. I also discovered that Muir is celebrated as a "saint" in "The Dancing Saints Icons" project at Saint Gregory of Nyassa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He is portrayed in a pantheon of 100 less conventional saintly figures in a grand mural within the sanctuary. I would love to see this!

I'll happily convey some form of sainthood on Muir, or at the very least I'll admire his earthy spirituality. As a Groundling Christian baptized and born again into wild places, could I have any other outlook? 

The Dawn Chorus as Creator's Choir

Eric Ravilious

Birds are singing, woods are ringing,
with thy praises blessed King:
Lake and mountain, field and fountain,
to thy throne their tributes bring...

Yesterday millions of Christians connected with their congregations for worship in the privacy of their own homes. Because of COVID-19 we are" avoiding each other like the plague", to use an old expression. Still, we are finding ways to be in community while doing the loving thing by not physically getting together. 

In lots of those congregations music is part of the virtual service. In our Trenton United Church congregation musician Dianne offers a selection to inspire and encourage, but the choir can't be together. We've noticed that at a nearby evangelical church a few vehicles are tucked out of sight behind the church building on Sunday mornings and  it's likely that a few members of the praise group are doing their musical thing for broadcast, hopefully in a responsible manner. 

The first Sunday in May is the annual International Dawn Chorus Day, a celebration of the remarkable phenomenon of birds singing to greet the new day. How appropriate that this chorus or choir was an alternative when human voices were silenced in most of our worship experiences. 



We were in two conservation areas very early in the morning and the birds were in full voice, augmented by the very vocal frogs. It was glorious and tremendously uplifting. A hymn from my childhood came to mind, Birds are Singing, Woods are Ringing. We can do without the very male monarchial language but the imagery of creation praising the Creator sure works for me. And the fun All God's Creatures got a Place in the Choir follows the theme. 

Have you been aware of the strengthening dawn chorus, or are you not an early riser? Does birdsong lift your spirit? 

All God's creatures got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on a telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now

All God's creatures got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on a telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now

Listen to the top where the little bird sings
On the melodies and the high notes ringing,
And the hoot owl cries over everything
And the blackbird disagrees...