June 21, 2026, National Indigenous Day of Prayer
Good morning, today is the final Sunday of my internship here at All Saints. When I came to All Saints, I was a stranger to you, but my internship does not end on strangerhood…it ends on love. We reconciled our differences and instead of changing one another, we learned about one another. We became one body and I feel like I have learned how to love as All Saints loves. You have taught me how to be an All Saints Anglican and ultimately I have become grafted into the Parish of All Saints. Luckily, the Diocese of Rupertsland and the city of Winnipeg is rather small, so our goodbye is not forever; hello again may be just around the corner.
Speaking of teaching, our psalm begins with these words;
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
the sky proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day makes utterance,
night to night speaks out.
The teaching of GOD is perfect,
renewing life;
the decrees of GOD are enduring,
making the simple wise.” (Ps. 19:2-3,8, JPS)
Psalm 19, is categorized by its latter theme, the Torah, which is often defined as “Law”, but a better word to define it is “teaching” because when you are under the Torah, you are a student of it, it “teaches” you. Though Psalm 19 is categorized as a Torah Psalm it functions with God’s 2 books, the book of Nature and the Book of Scripture. You heard those two books in my opening reading of Psalm 19, but the Torah is an important theme to the Psalmists and a central theme for not just the Old Testament, but for the New Testament.
The God found in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, is not a different God or how God used to be. It is the same God that comes down, taking on flesh and is the light that is the life of all people. As our Gospel author says, this is the Word of God, this is the glory in which the heavens declare. The Law or teaching or Word is more than just rules, rather it is the essence in which we live. As George Lindbeck states in his work The Nature of Doctrine, “A scriptural world is thus able to absorb the universe. It supplies the interpretive framework within which believers seek to live their lives and understand reality…” Our scriptures, especially the Psalms, do not paint a world that is on its way only, but the one we currently live in. We experience the 2 books, the book of Nature and the book of Scripture.
If you will allow it, I would like to take us on a bit of a wander through the Torah as we make our way toward reconciliation. Before we jump into our journey, let us be joined together with these words, “I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I might know Your decrees.” (Ps. 119:125, JPS). These words are the posture that we will have over the course of our journey.
At the beginning of our journey let us start in Leviticus, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow as yourself: I am GOD. (Lev. 19:18, JPS), let’s take a moment and think about that word, fellow. It has two other references in Leviticus 19[1]. The first is in reference to the one who is a fellow Israelite and the second is in reference to the stranger amongst them. We see this coming together of both Israel and of the stranger on the basis of Israel’s strangerhood in the land of Egypt and on the basis of God’s work of salvation for them in their slavery in Egypt[2]. It seems very simple, love your fellow, citizen, stranger and neighbour.
On our next stop in the journey, we go two books over to Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 6, we are met with the Shema. This significant prayer[3] is recited twice daily for the Jewish people and is one of unity. Starting with the words, “Hear, O Israel! The ETERNAL is our God, the ETERNAL alone. You shall love the ETERNAL your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5, JPS) The Shema serves as a reminder, one to view the unity of God where we hear that God is one, both the one and only God to Israel, but also the one and only God for all the nations in the prophets and in the epistles.[4] We are told to love the LORD our God, the eternal, with our whole being.
As we ponder loving our neighbour and loving our God, we make our final stop in our journey to St. Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is met with an expert on the law and he’s asked “which commandment is the most important?” Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind. And you should love your neighbor as yourself. On these two hang all of the Law and the prophets.[5]
Now, for the three of us who actually like the “Book of Alternative Services”, we hear these words and think about the affirmation of faith, but for Jesus, these two laws, separated by the scrolls, are interconnected through Love. Love is what hangs all of the Law and the Prophets. To love God is to love the one whom love springs forth. It is to love the very definition of love. To love your neighbour is to love the same as you, to love the one who was created in the same name as you. We were created out of love; the divine love in which God creates, and we are formed by the love of our neighbours.
As an intern, I have learned love. And not to say that I didn't know love but rather I have learned how to love in the way that All Saints love. I have learned through not just observing but being hands on. I have participated in the work of hospitality and the way they put care into everything they do, I have participated in the work of CYF and way they walk with the families of All Saints, I have gotten the opportunities to be with Rob and see how he cares for all of you. I have sat, prayed, sung and eaten with you being formed by conversation and experienced love by all of you.
As today is National indigenous Day of Prayer, to love my indigenous neighbour, a fellow, is to learn how they love and what they love. It is to listen to them in their grief, sorrow and joys. It is to be in relationship (sit) with them.
This is where reconciliation starts, it starts with love. It starts with recognizing that we have not followed the Law, we have not loved our God with all our hearts, with all our strength, with all our minds because we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We have not learned what they loved and have been too focused on what we love. To not love our neighbour is to see them as lesser than. The change is to lower ourselves in hope that they may be lifted higher than us. It is not groveling or cringing at what we did, but rather, coming to the ones we have done it to, humbly, in hopes that love might lead us toward reconciliation. We need to come to the table as if we know nothing but are hoping to learn. Our strives are to be good listeners, good learners, good question askers, and finally good lovers.
As we conclude and contemplate on how love may lead us, hear these words:
“Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me; then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offence. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” (Psa. 19:13-14, NRSV)
[1] “You shall not defraud your fellow. (Lev. 19:13, JPS)”; “The strangers who reside with you shall be to
you as your citizens; you shall love each one as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I
the ETERNAL am your God. (Lev. 19:34, JPS)”
[2] Note to the reader: You should read the full chapter of Leviticus 19 to see how God informs Israel to love
their neighbour. You can also see this in the book of Ruth and how Ruth and Naomi interpret the law
differently.
[3] The Shema, Judaism's most famous prayer, is actually not a prayer at all. Rather it is a declaration of
God's unity and other central doctrines of Judaism. It involves reciting three passages from the Torah, one
of which is interrupted by another ancient phrase, the origins of which are outside the Bible. (Definition:
The Shema via sefaria.org/topics/shema)
[4] “The Eternal our G-d, the Eternal is One. This means: the Eternal, Who is [now, only] our G-d and not
the G-d of the [other] nations, will eventually be acknowledged as the One [and only] Eternal, as it is said,
In that day shall the Eternal be One, and His Name One.” Rabbi Nathan’s working of what oneness
means to the Israelites in the Pentateuch, but also referring to prophets looking to the grafting of the
gentiles and also working on Rabbi Rashi’s language.
[5] cf. Matthew 22:35:40