Today
on Listen Up - The Long Road to Justice: one year later and not
much progress made at a native land claim crisis that holds a Canadian
town in limbo – the claim for Caledonia.
Caledonia
has been an ongoing wound in Canada’s justice system. How do we
settle a contentious land claim between Native protestors, housing
developers, and governments?
It’s
been one year that the Caledonia land dispute has been simmering amid a
hostile take over by Six Nations Confederacy. The provincial
government stepped in to cool the situation by purchasing the land in
limbo for $15 million dollars. Now federal decisions are needed
to end the stalemate - federal talks that only go back to the
negotiation table this week. There are over 1000 First Nations
disputed land claims across Canada, and neither is giving in
easily. What the legal mess is doing is sending many to the
history books for a lesson in how to move forward in making a more
peaceful future. An Update On Caledonia How To Pray For The Land Claims Dispute In Caledonia My People International Broken Walls “Brant's Vision” by Alan Taylor Lorna's Wrap
To
help you pray for the land claims dispute in Caledonia we offer this
summary of the Healing Prayer Gathering that was held on Six Nations of
the Grand River Territory at Chiefswood Park:
“Let us come together as on people to pray for each other and for healing the hurt we have caused each other.”
Holy
One, God…we honour you…We pray for all who live to the East of us. We
thank you for new beginnings, new opportunities and for the new life
you offer. We thank you for each new day to be with you.
Thank
you for children. Help us to respect and protect your children and to
bring them up to love you. Thank you for Jesus who lived on Mother
Earth as a child.
Awaken
in us new dreams and hopes never before imagined. Thank you for h
miracles that are born with each new dawn. Creator of hope, hear our
prayers.
Holy
one, creator of all, We honour you…We pray for all who live to the
South of us. You give us deep feelings to share with each other.
Thank
you for women and for all who nurture youth. We pray for families and
thank you Jesus for his mother Mary. He nurtured others and had a
passion for justice and a respect for the gifts of women.
Warm
our lives as roots deep in the soil of the earth, and stretch out our
hearts as branches to be places of nurture and protection. Sower of
life, hear our prayers.
Holy
one, Light in our darkness, we honour you… As the sun sets in the west,
the darkness comes upon us; we thank you for all we have learned each
day we thank you for elders as they share the wisdom that comes from
you.
We
thank you for Jesus who earned your wisdom within himself and who will
meet us as earthly life darkens and lead us into the light of the
Creators presence for ever.
Guide
our steps through all ending –times. Fill us with your peace as you
enfold us with the great mystery of your grace and love. Creator of
kindness, hear our prayers.
…We
pray for all people who now live to the North of us. Thank you for snow
which covers Mother Earth while she sleeps. We are reminded of the
purity of the snow, the purity you expect in the lives of your people,
the purity which comes when you forgive our mistakes.
Thank
you for spiritual elders and assisting them in their journey among us.
Help those of us who are spiritual leaders to be conscious of the
responsibility given to us by you and y our people. Help all your
people to turn to you for forgiveness and purity of life. Thank you
Jesus, whose life and spiritual wisdom leads us on our sacred path to
wholeness.
Teach
us to use with care your gifts; to love with tenderness all our
relations as gifts from your heart. Creator of wisdom, hear our prayer…
Great
Spirit, in Jesus we find healing and connectedness. In his death and
resurrection we are given hope and life. We bring to you now those who
need to feel your resurrected presence in their sickness, hurt,
emptiness, broken relationships, unjust systems and in their longing
for peace…
Creator,
source of all healing, you hear the deepest prayers of our hearts,
touch the lives of all for whom we have prayed with the healing only
you can give.”
When neighbors can’t
agree over who owns the land they both want, there’s few alternatives.
Former Premier now turned land claim negotiator David Peterson said of
the crisis at Caledonia “at the end of the day we have three choices –
they can shoot all of us, we can shoot all of them, or we can all get
along.” Getting along is a matter of the heart. As legal teams
wrestle, we also need the church to participate in offering spiritual
care to the wounds of injustice. I take heart in hearing from those who
refuse to be stuck in the sins of land claims, residential school
actions, and who repent, apologize, and walk forward in peace, love and
forgiveness that the Creator commands us to live in. Our native
neighbors are waiting for people like you and I to apologize and repent
for historic sins. Canada has yet to issue a national apology, but
rather parcels the pain out in $5 billion a year payments. We have
done badly. An aboriginal song that sticks in my memory from covering
the story is “Jesus is good medicine”. A dying native elder told his
son to pass those words along to his people. The church still needs to
carry that message to wounds that run deep.
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On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
