- What word would you use to describe your historic relationship with creation? Why? Two words to describe my historic relationship with creation are, “healing” and “privilege.” Growing up in a rural Southern Ontario in a village that was surrounded by rich farmland, forests and rivers, I would go to the land to work and play; having an inner sense that the land was a place of healing and nurture. On the flip side of that however, as I started working on farms and orchards after school, my friends and I got to know some of the many migrant workers who came to the farms in our community to work from abroad (mostly from Jamaica and Mexico). Their housing conditions were shocking, and you could hear people in our village talking about these workers in racist and derogatory terms. Through these experiences I increasingly began to realize how privileged myself and my community were to have the access to good land, while migrant workers had to struggle to make a living in a foreign country.
- How do you envision an embodied, sacred relationship with creation? I recently read a book called “Watershed Discipleship” ed. by Chad Meyers. It’s helping me to see an embodied, sacred relationship with water and the land through the lens of discipleship. For me that means, learning about and contributing towards regeneration and restoration of creation in my community and area in and around Vancouver Island.
- Who in your context can help you move toward what you envision? It seems like the help comes from several directions; I can definitely use all the help I can get! I look to the many good people and agencies in our town and area who are involved in environmental advocacy and food security. My partner and I are trying to learn more about gardening and growing food from local experts and looking at ways that our church can contribute to food security. I continue to listen and learn from local Indigenous elders and learn more about (and eat) traditional foods. There’s a saying here that “when the tide is out, the table is set.” I’ve been fortunate to have the chance to go clam digging, harvest and dry seaweed, and learn some traditional ways of preparing salmon.
1 comment
Alistair, I so appreciate your direct, honest answers here. I too can use all the help I can get, which even saying out loud feels like an act of humility that I’d like to practice more.