Oh, Canada



Oh, Canada
Publicly presented, at YWAM/JEM Canada’s
2014 Rendezvous in Pinawa, Manitoba

Sea-crossing Euro-powers, pawns of principalities
Colonial outposts of warring Christendom
Immigrant alliances misaligned in forgotten treaties
Clans and tribes, wanderers, adventures and scoundrels
Deafly resistant to Creators’ visionary myth
Straining to co-exist without nerves of compassion
In peril, but oblivious to mystic rescue
If “We stand on guard for Thee”
No longer will patriotic passion hold our gaze,
Nor global affection for being fair,
If “We stand on guard for Thee”
Neither our multi-cultural mosaic without a gardener’s care,
Nor cosmic favour in abundant natural resources
Naked reality -we worship Thee from Here
A northern/western land, not eastern, nor southern
Land-locked forests. mountains and prairies
Divinely bounded from Sea to Sea to Sea
Dominion decreed by a distant Crown’s Law,
A-drift today in a tide of globalized currents
And shape-shifting multiculturalism
Skewing our national self this way and that
Wait! Our gardens grow in this glaciered soil,
Long stewarded by countless generations before the plow
Awaiting cosmic re-creation in patient hope
Un-praying fans we sing
“God keep our land glorious and free”
A thin-spirited and patriotic veneer,
Hiding colonial injustice with political apologies
Masking fear of the other in feigned politeness
The Incarnate One heals all through an adoption gift
Opening cataract-blinded eyes to see clearly the unseen
And deafened ears to hear Earth’s moaning
Soul yielding to the laser scalpel of Tri-une Grace
God Save this Land!
God Save Creation!
God save Us and All-Our-Relations!
Metis nation unsure of any power of benevolence
Bowing stiffly in awe of the Shining One
Yielding to receive the Resurrected King
Who held us all in Friday’s crucifying cauldron
Silently harrowing Holy Saturday’s darkness
Knowing new Sabbath’s-joy would come in atomic power
(Enduring the Cross, absorbing our Shame)
Triumphing in shocking cosmic coronation
LORD of all the Nations, Grace is with You!
LORD of All, Shalom is from You!
LORD  of True North’s patchwork of Nations
“We stand on guard for Thee”!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faith-Support

What Do You Mean When You Say You Live By “Faith-Support”? Over the years one of the issues that keeps on reoccurring with most of our family, friends, and even our supporting churches is the question of what it means to live by “faith support”. My father-in-law has never been able to figure this out. Recently, he asked me again when I would get a “real job”? Of course he means a job that pays a set hourly wage and is much more predictable in terms of income. It doesn’t communicate at all for me to say I do work on the average 50 hours a week on Youth With A Mission related issues. And when I explain that YWAM doesn’t pay me to do this, but in effect I pay myself to do it, my very real job with very real challenges seems all the more incomprehensible. So, how did this system come about? And is it working for us? The faith-support mission system is a product from the era of missions called the modern missions movement (less than 200 ...
Read more

Thoughts on the Grace of God, Re-mixed

Image
A number of years ago someone mentioned to me that I had a grace-based approach to ministry. I took that as a sincere compliment only to find out later that the intent was more a criticism than praise. My critic's perception was that I was “too soft on sin” and consequently, the sinner had no fear of the Lord and lived out their own-way-ness (pride) in an unchecked manner. I understand the problem. Recently, I had someone very close to me apologize for some very ungodly actions and attitudes. What would I do? Would I forgive unreservedly as Christ has done for me, or would I let the person squirm a bit as I “contemplated” my response. I ended up forgiving and pronouncing blessing, but I did walk away with the sense that justice had not been done. (At least from my perspective). Especially, since the sin-in-question was willful and repeated over a long period of time. How would my forgiveness affect any real change? Or is it my for...
Read more

Leadership Letter #4

March 2007 Last week I spent a very stimulating week at the YWAM North American Council Meetings at the Leadership Learning Center in Richmond, Virginia. These meetings had an unexpected spin to them, since Jim Stier, the YWAM Americas Field Director, was present to facilitate some major dialoging regarding the values we aspire to as a sodality in North America. The bulk of this letter will focus on the process we went through and a very insightful early morning trip to the Airport. What Does a YWAM Base Leader Need to Do? Early Sunday morning Dmitri from the Richmond base picked us up to shuttle the “early-birds” to the airport. During the course of our ride Dmitri (originally from Belarus) asked me for the 3 most important things a YWAM base leader needs to know to survive some of the rigors of YWAM community leading. I surprised myself with three clearly articulated insights and I ha...
Read more