Today was Indigenous Day of Prayer, the Sunday before National Indigenous Peoples Day. It was also the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, when the texts given were 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41.

Rev. Cari chose to preach on the latter, a story of Jesus, asleep in the boat of the disciples when a huge storm comes up on the Sea of Galilee. Of course, she took that text seriously, not literally.

She also referred to the picture book that Gabrielle had read in the introduction to the service, Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld, and then subsided to listen with the congregation, to the voice of her colleague, the Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne.

We are all in the midst of a “perfect storm” as Indigenous and Settler peoples. We have been for a while, but some of us have been asleep. It is time for settler people to wake up, to listen, and learn, then act at the invitation of and in collaboration with Indigenous peoples.

This sermon ends with time for reflection on the following questions:

What image of myself (or the church) will I have to let go to acknowledge this harm?
How will I stay open in order to listen?
How will my faith support me in that?

Many thanks for the collaboration of the Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, as well as Kamloops United Church and the Rev. Michael Caveney, for whom the video Carmen shared was created, and who graciously gave Crossroads permission to use.