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“In the last days it will be, God declares, 
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 
and your young men shall see visions, 
    and your old men shall dream dreams.“

Acts 2:17 

Half a dozen Canadian churches have been set on fire or burned down in the past 12 months.  This arson has come at a time when multiple unmarked graves have been found across the nation on the grounds of now-defunct residential schools. Operated by multiple churches, including the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and United, the Canadian schools were part of a 20th-century government program to assimilate its First Nation community.

The government forced students to attend these schools.  At a young age, they separated children from their families.  Once there, they were forbidden from speaking their native language and punished severely if they ran away.  Many died at the school from disease and suffered from hunger and physical abuse.

Thats just the surface of the problem.  These wrongs won’t go away quickly or easily.  Today, we are working and hoping that we can find a way forward.  But it is going to take an act of God, to motivate us to find that way. 

There is a tipi set up in Canmore today.  It is a sign that First Nations people want to share their day with us, their culture with us.  It is a sign of a new beginning.  

In the last days, God declares, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”  

This week would you make it your business to pray for our First Nations brothers and sisters.  Pray for healing in our nation, healing in our hearts and healing in our minds.  Will you pray that our sons and daughters will prophesy God’s way forward to building a better Canada?  A better church?  A stronger bond across our nation. 

 

As ever,

Howard