Rainbow on Turtle Island

ʔəm̓i ce:p kʷətxʷiləm – Welcome! In the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language of the Musqueam people, my name, Rainbow, is   sθәqәlxenәm  (roughly pronounced  ' sthuckulhenum' ). The Musqueam people are the Indigenous people who have lived since time immemorial – an expression meaning since ‘ancient beyond memory or record’ – on the land that I’ve called ‘home’. I am a settler on this land, having immigrated roots like most Canadians, from another place. For my family and me, it has been about 30 years. For the Musqueam people, their oral histories date back to match local geology and archaeology at least 9,000 years. Yet, they warmly call me, as a new neighbour,  siyey̓e  – a word meaning ‘kin’ – not because I’m special, but because the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language actually doesn’t have a pronoun word that conceptualizes anyone as anything other than kin. We are all family. My past blogs have been largely about my musings from living abroad. This blog is ...

“In the beginning, God….”  (Genesis 1:1). This is the start of the Biblical narrative, a creation narrative of God bringing order to chaos so that life can flourish. There is separation of light from darkness, sky and water, water and land, creation of trees and vegetation, celestial lights, creatures of the seas and skies, creatures of the land, and finally, humans created in the image of Creator God (Genesis 1:27) to join him in the divine rule (Gen 1:28) and loving nurture of the created world (Gen 2:15). God saw all that he had made, especially humans, as very good, and the story continues with a cast of characters including Adam and Eve, a talking snake, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the nations of Babel, and a host of spiritual beings. It is not a history account so much as it is an epic tale, rich with symbolism, metaphor, and literary artistry that sets the stage for understanding the whole of the spiritual realm and humanity in the Biblical narrative – and wher...

Where do you meet with God? Sometimes, Christians use the term ‘thin places’ to refer to physical places where the ‘veil’ between heaven and earth are thin, and humans can experience God more directly. The Bible is full of these places. God walked with humans in the Garden of Eden, situated in reference to local rivers in each of the four directions. God met Moses on Mount Sinai, in a burning bush and a dense cloud, with a message that “the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). A throne, a place for God’s presence, was carried with the Israelites in the mobile structure of a tabernacle. It was in this sacred place, and later in the Temple built, and then rebuilt, in Jerusalem as a permanent structure and the city of Jerusalem, that God took up residence among human creatures. Within these places, were sacred duties and ceremonial practices such as cleansing and sacrifice, representative of the heart of maintaining right relationship with God. These physical ...

Throughout history, Israelite and Christian communities have been shaped by holy laws. In the Old Testament, there were around 613 Jewish laws. Some were civil laws for the culture and social governance of the Israelites; some were ceremonial laws for holiness and worship, and some were moral laws related to justice and judgment. In the New Testament, Jesus continually confronts the Pharisees for their legalistic adherence to these laws. Pointing instead to spirit, intent, and heart of the Jewish laws, Jesus boils these down to two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all our mind; love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). He further illustrates this commandment in the story of the Good Samaritan, crossing cultural animosity to show mercy to an Israelite in need, and instructs his followers to ‘Go and do likewise’ (Luke 10:25-37). In the time of the ancient Israelit...

The ‘Age of Discovery’ was an exciting, glorious time for European explorers as they sailed the ocean blue and discovered the ‘New World’. As explorers from Britain and France landed on the shores of what is Canada today, they claimed ‘finders keepers’, validated by a framework for international law called the Doctrine of Discovery, which granted European explorers with the authority to lay claim to territories in the name of their sovereign (their monarch). Specifically, the Doctrine of Discovery authorized Christian European monarchs to assert sovereignty on land not already occupied by Christians. If land was not inhabited by Christian people, it was considered terra nullius – Latin for "nobody's land". Land was seen and legally deemed to be vacant and unoccupied, not inhabited by a sovereign state, and therefore belonging to no one. But what about the 18 million Indigenous people already living within some 800 sovereign nations on Turtle Island? Since they w...

The concept of ‘covenants’  –  sacred, eternal promises that set out the terms and commitments of the partnership – runs throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, God makes covenants with humans, making a promise while asking His covenant partner to fulfill certain requirements – Noah, Abraham, the nation of Israel, and King David all entered into covenant relationships with God. These covenants were formalized in a legal agreement, solemnized by sacrifice, guaranteed by oath, and marked with signs or symbols like the rainbow (Genesis 9:13-17), circumcision (Genesis 17:11), sabbath rest (Exodus 31:13) and the enthronement of a descendant of David (Acts 2:30-33). Jesus announces the New Covenant between God and humans marked by his blood, represented in the bread and cup (Matthew 26:28).  Humans also used covenants to set out sacred commitments and partnerships with each other before God – covenant marked the commitment of friendship between Jonathan, son of ...

At the same time that the Historical Treaties were being negotiated with the commitment of good faith and respect, the newly founded country of Canada was preparing another legal instrument: The Indian Act. This piece of legislation betrayed the nation-to-nation Treaty relationship between Canada and Indigenous nations, creating instead a relationship of sovereign-to-subject. Indigenous peoples were legally made wards of the state – under the protection of a legal guardian and deemed incapable of managing their own affairs. The Indian Act, along with other policies, extinguished Indigenous self-government structures and replaced them with Canada-defined systems; separated Indigenous peoples from their traditional lands and confined them to small parcels of Crown-owned ‘reserve’ lands with restricted travel and economic activity; defined legal Indian status and terms of enfranchisement (extinguishment of status);   criminalized ceremonies, gatherings, legal representation; and mo...

The Creation narrative of Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), away from the place where God dwelt among them, sets the stage for the theme of exile that would become a defining theme of the Israelite/Jewish experience and spirituality. In the book of 2 Kings, the tribes of Israel and Judah were handed over to the imperial powers of Assyria and Babylon, who plundered and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem – the sacred place and sacred city of the Israelites. Already divided as a nation, the tribes of Israel, deported and scattered them within the Assyrian empire, never made it home. The tribes of Judah were transported to the Babylonian empire, forbidden to practice their spiritual traditions (see book of Daniel). Exiled far and held captive from their homeland, away from the divinely-given Promised Land, and without the temple, the Jewish people were not only geographically displaced and alienated in a foreign land: they had become estranged spiritually, an...

The story of humanity in the Bible is one of sin – humans rejecting and deviating from God’s perfect holiness. The Apostle Paul reminds us that all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Biblical narrative is also one of a merciful God as we humbly acknowledge confess the transgressions. Confession, from the Hebrew yadhah means ‘acknowledge’ or ‘avowal’ – an honest admission, affirmation, and declaration of the truth. The etymology of the Latin con fession, from its Greek equivalent, means ‘with’ and places the act in harmony with others; it is uniting in the statement made by someone else. God assures his faithfulness in forgiveness when we confess – speak truth about – our sins (1 John 1:9). Sin, however, is not solely spiritual, but often inseparably relational: since the days of Adam and Eve, disobedience to God and his good laws has wreaked havoc and conflict upon families, communities, and nations. For this reason, the Apostle James calls followers of Chr...

Throughout the Bible, a clear refrain says that simply confessing truth is not enough. Repent! say the prophets in exile (Ezekiel 18:30-32). Repent! says John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (Mark 1:4). Repent! commands Jesus (Matthew 3:2, 3:8; Mark 1:15) Repent! echo his disciples (Mark 6:12). Repent! call the Apostles Peter (Acts 2:38), Paul (Acts 3:19), and John (Revelation 3:19). What is this call to repent? In the Old Testament Hebrew, it is the words nacham (to turn around or to change the mind) and sub (to turn, return seek, or restore). In the New Testament, it is the Greek word metanoia , the same root of our English word metamorphosis , that means to change or transform the mind, an inward response to unmerited kindness and mercy of God in judgement of truth (Romans 2:2-4) that is tied to a decisive, pivotal outward change in actions and behaviour in a different direction. The call is to turn: If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves a...