Christopher J.L. Lind • A Leader in Personal, Institutional, and Social Transformation • Faith Resources

[26 Jan 09] KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, a national church based social justice organization, is calling on federal, provincial and territorial governments to adopt moral and ethical values in their responses to the global economic crisis.

The call comes in a letter to Prime Minister Harper and Canada’s First Ministers that examines how under-regulated global markets, focused solely on profit, led to a worldwide financial crisis while ignoring poverty and environmental destruction.“Economic stimulus packages that do not take into account moral imperatives will lead to the same pattern of unsustainable consumption that brought us into crisis in the first place, “ says KAIROS Executive director Mary Corkery.

KAIROS is particularly concerned that some politicians may use the financial crisis as a reason to delay anti-poverty initiatives and environmental programs.

We affirm that to be involved in the transformation of economic life is an authentic Christian calling. Christ calls the church to bear witness to God's sovereignty and presence among us. Christ calls us from the idolatries of greed and materialism to a full relationship with God, creation, and one another. Christ reveals God's suffering passion with the poor and uncovers God's reign of justice in our midst. In the practice of justice in the public economy, the covenant of the human household with God is fulfilled and God is worshipped. Economic justice in God's household includes the following dimensions. They provide a standard by which to measure contemporary economic systems, as well as a vision which can guide and inspire efforts to create greater economic justice in today's world...

- from Study Guide: Something's Wrong Somewhere more »

What order have you made today?
What light have you left there?
Who caused the dawn to know its place?
And darkness swaddled there?

Were you there when I laid the Earth?
Shout Yes if you remember!
Whose womb produces evening dew?
Who has fathered the rain?

Can you grab hold the skirts of Earth
and shake the wicked out?
Can you make garments for the clouds?
Do waves obey your hand? Were you there...

Show me the dwelling of the dark.
Show me the Sun's old home.
What number are the stars above.
Surely, you know by now! Were you there...

Can you warehouse the winter's snow?
Where is hail for sale?
Who carved the riverbanks for rain?
A streak for thunder bolts? Were you there...

Who closed the doors which hold the sea,
To help the plains make grass?
Who birthed the hoar frost of delight,
With water from the air? Were you there...

Words adapted by Christopher Lind, 2008, from the apology delivered by the then-Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Michael Peers, to the National Native Convocation Minaki, Ontario, Friday, August 6, 1993.

Tune: James Christopher 1840 (“Wondrous Love”). Listen to the tune online at Oremus.org here »

We’re sorry more than we, we can say, we can say
We’re sorry more than we, we can say
We have not shown God’s love
Caused suffering instead
We ought not to have done what we did, what we did
We ought not to have done what we did.

We are ashamed to say what was done, what was done
We are ashamed to say what was done
The Sacred was profaned
It was done in Christ’s Name
We need God to forgive, we confess, we confess
We need God to forgive, we confess.

First Nations of this land, we have failed, we have failed
First Nations of this land, we have failed
Your children left too young
Your language was not wrong
Your stories we denied in God’s name, in God’s name
Your stories we denied in God’s name.

We praise a God who can raise the dead, raise the dead
We praise a God who can raise the dead
We’ll open up ourselves
We’ll open up our wounds
We’ll lay them out before God who heals, God who heals
We’ll lay them out before God who heals.

As soon as we are home, we shall tell, we shall tell
As soon as we are home, we shall tell
All people of our hope
Of wholeness yet to come
We’ll urge them, Come Along! On this path, on this path
We’ll urge them, Come Along! On this path.

Tune: Resignation (Southern Harmony) • Listen to the tune online at Oremus.org here »
Words: Christopher Lind

Redemption is our call and song
Our bed of straw and bone
We want to be made whole again
We want to be led home.
We’ve followed Culture’s lead to more
- prosperity’s assumed;
But still we cope with hunger pangs
For God won’t be consumed.

We thrill with peaks of ecstasy
We wallow in despair.
We yearn for easy escapades
We shun the well worn stair.
Can we not summon memory’s vane
For guidance in this storm?
Yes, God has seen us here before
And mercy is the norm.

O people gather, for our strength
Is stronger than alone.
Remember we are called to build
The commonwealth of God.
The Market can be made to serve
the common good of all,
If we but join together now,
Reclaiming all its power.

Redemption is my call and song
My bed of straw and bone
I want to be made whole again
I want to be led home.
I’ve followed Culture’s lead to more
- prosperity’s assumed;
But still I cope with hunger pangs
For God won’t be consumed.

The Epilogue from Something's Wrong Somewhere: Globalization, Community and the Moral Economy of the Farm Crisis by Christopher Lind

There once was a village named Tomorrow, in a country called Next Year. This village was poor but not destitute. The people were not rich but they had never known famine either. The source of their security was the large herd of cattle they owned.

The road into the village was bounded by fences on both sides. Behind these fences, the cattle were kept. One day a visitor came from the rich nation to the south. He was the mayor of his village and he had come as part of a government sponsored program to build trading links between the two nations. He observed the fences and said: In my country we are very rich. In my country, we let the cattle run free. Cattle that run free have better tasting meat and it is also a more efficient use of the grassland.

The local mayor heard these comments and at the end of the visit declared that from now on all the fences were to be taken down so that they too could become rich. The old people in the village murmured against this innovation but they could not openly oppose their own mayor. One by one the fences were taken down and the people waited for the cattle to roam so they they could become rich.

When ten year old Justice was trampled to death by a charging bull, the children were called together and warned about playing outside. "Justice was a silly boy," they were told, and they each promised not to be so foolish. When Mercy was crushed against the village well during a stampede, the young women were called together and reprimanded for being so careless as to draw water during the daytime. "Mercy was a silly girl," they all agreed, and from then on they only drew water at night.

One hot and humid evening, when the women were all down at the well, word came that the mayor and all his family had been killed when the cattle pushed over the shed where they had gone to sleep. 'That was a very silly place to sleep," said Progress. "He should have known better." The women all nodded, each in her turn.

Finally, after a long silence, the old widow Wisdom cleared her throat. "We should all have known better," she said. "Ever since we took down the fences the cattle have had more freedom and we have had less. Now we spend the heat of the day indoors tending children, and labour at night when it is hard to see our work. While we all wait to become rich, we all grow more tired and cry more tears.

"What do you mean," called out Progress boldly. "It is not our fault these people have died. The mayor who visited us said that his nation was rich and his cattle ran free!" The old widow Wisdom slowly turned so that she could address Progress directly. "When I was a child," she said, "I lived in that very village you speak of. It is indeed a rich village but only for some. The mayor has a large family and they are very rich. They live in a walled compound that cannot be damaged by the cattle. The work at the well and in the fields is done by labourers brought from other countries that are not as rich as our neighbours to the south. If they are trampled by the cattle it is of little consequence. There are always more to replace them." The crowd of women stood very still. Even Progress was silent in the face of Wisdom.

When they returned to the village the story was repeated. The next day, everyone in the village set about rebuilding the fences and making the roads safe for the people. The village never became rich, but the time of sadness was past. In honour of the widow, the new enclosures were named after her. To this day they are called the "fences of wisdom."