Six Ways From Sunday

Welcome back to the Six Ways From Sunday Podcast! This first episode of the 4th season of the show explores two well known stories and how they both relate to the current state of our world and recent events. As always, we hope your own spiritual journey is enriched by this conversation, and that it creates an opening for something new to be heard, a new beginning or calling, or the seeds of growth and healing, wherever that is needed.

Heather, Justin and their two young children have been in lockdown mode since the middle of March. This is their 10th month of isolation as a family, because Justin is severely immunocompromised and would likely not survive a case of COVID-19. Heather shares what this journey has been like for her family, how they've coped with the challenges, how she's dealt with her own personal mental health struggles, and also some of the things she's learning about herself, her kids and about life in general. When we love another human being the way Heather and her kids love Justin, it's incredible what people will do. Their family's story offers a lesson and inspiration for all of us.

Most of us are fortunate to know war, conflict and violence not as our own personal memories, but as a historical concept or as a present day far away reality. Still, we know the importance of pausing to reflect and appreciate, and remember, what other have lost in order that we have the current freedoms that we enjoy. In this episode, Ben and Rev. Robin King talk about how this Remembrance Day, in the midst of a global pandemic while violence and war persist in many parts of the world and conflict persists within our own lives every day, we can all take a moment to pause, reflect and process, and hopefully begin to heal. Let's do more than just observe remembrance, let's live it out, too.

Church - that safe space where all are welcome, a sanctuary from the rest of the world where we come to find that quiet centre, connect with others, with God and with our deeper self, where we are spiritually nourished and recharged. And just when we need that more than ever, our churches are closed. But the doors are gradually starting to open back up now and we're figuring out "how to do church" in this new world while still keeping everyone safe.

In this conversation, Ben and Robin connect with Rev. Stephen Harper from Symons Valley United Church in Calgary, where they've made the difficult decision to keep the building closed until January, 2021 while continuing their live-streamed services. Calgary's faith community has been hit hard by the pandemic, and getting people back to church involves different challenges in urban locations than in rural communities. Wherever your church community is, we hope you're able to gather there safely soon.

Our world is really struggling with authority right now. The word "authority" often makes us think of control, power, governance and rule. Jesus wasn't really about any of those things though, and yet we certainly think of Jesus as having had "authority" in his ability to perform miracles, heal the sick and pour God's love into the world. Where does that kind of authority come from? And is that something all of us can tap into?

Each summer, the incredible leadership team of Robin, Lori and Brielle (with the support of many other helping hands) put on an incredible summer camp program at the Bashaw United Church and Ponoka United Church. Picture dozens and dozens of kids singing, laughing, learning and crafting! So what do you do when a global pandemic shuts down the building and all these kids in the community are sitting at home wishing they could come to church camp? In this conversation Robin and Ben talked about how they pulled off a virtual camp this summer, and more importantly, how the team used the camp to talk about some really important and difficult topics that kids are facing right now.

Want to check out the "Call Of The Wild" summer camp? It's still up on our YouTube Channel! Click here for the "Call Of The Wild" playlist of videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEFDbwRiIarCaLultlUeA4Y4XHEQEPzJz

The clock is ticking closer and closer to "midnight". The Doomsday Clock is a symbol first developed in 1947 that represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe. In 1953 when the US tested its first hydrogen bomb they moved the hands of the clock to 2 minutes to midnight. It's moved closer to or further away from midnight with every major global conflict, war, peace accord or political crisis. Today, they're saying we are now just 100 seconds away from midnight, and it's easy to see why. But how do we respond from faith to a world filled with so much fear, crisis and catastrophe? Let's talk about it.

The rules have changed again, and many churches are reopening their doors and resuming in-person worship services after 3 months of empty sanctuaries. Robin recently asked, in this week's "mid-week reflection" Facebook video, why we come to church. Seriously, why do you go to church? What do you love and value about church and what have you been missing during this pandemic while church buildings have been closed? In Bashaw and Ponoka we've been carrying on with live streaming Sunday morning services, and we've even added new weekly content including short video reflections, prayers and music meditations, but the disruption and changes have still caused us to take a deeper look at what it means to be the church. Surely it has for everyone, and hopefully that's something that will stay with all of us as we live out our faith and God's love, beyond this pandemic.

The Dene Nation has existed for over 30,000 years in Canada, with one language and many dialects. Paul Andrew, a Dene elder in Yellowknife, who describes himself as "a student of Dene spirituality" shared this Dene greeting with me: Nakale, negha dagot'e? (Good morning, how are you?) Response: Nezu (good) if things are well.

With an open heart and mind, Paul invited me into dialogue that explored where we're at today in Canada with truth and reconciliation, why it's so important to all of us, and how we can build healthy relationships that celebrate indigenous spirituality and culture for not only our own sake but for future generations.

To learn more and support reconciliation, here are a few easy actions we can all take:

To get involved with Reconciliation Canada, check out https://reconciliationcanada.ca/get-involved/how-to-get-involved/

Pam is super passionate about LGBTQ2S+ equality, faith, love, and laughter, and she uses her art and gifts as a musician, writer, playwright and speaker to educate, advocate and inspire. Recently, Pam has been part of a movement in Calgary to ban conversion therapy, and her story about that work and their recent victory, will move you. I promise!