Spirited Reflections
A terrible beauty
December 20, 2019
By Paul Hansen After a week of profound experiences of occupation of a people, check points, human degradation, a formal liturgical moment was needed. I had come to name my experience of the first week in Palestine: A Terrible Beauty….
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Middle East, Spirited Reflections
Peace and goodwill to all peoples: KAIROS Christmas video
December 18, 2019
In days leading up to Christmas, I walked through the streets of Bethlehem with Palestinians for whom it is home. In this place of present day occupation, where people struggle to live in dignity and peace, you can’t help but…
Post filed in: Executive Director, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: What happened to “O Little Town of Bethlehem”?
December 17, 2019
Micah 5:2 gives us the wording for our hymn – “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah, but from you will come for me one who will be ruler of Israel, whose origins are from of old,…
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You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others…
December 13, 2019
(Matt. 5:14,16) By Andreas Thiel What sort of courageous people did we encounter today? Not an inappropriate question to pose, considering that each day in the West Bank brings us face to face with individuals and groups that yield fresh…
Post filed in: Gender Justice/Women of Courage, Middle East, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Celebrating advent, peace and International Human Rights
December 11, 2019
“O Come, o come, Emmanuel – fill the world with heaven’s peace.” These words come from the well-known advent hymn based on the ancient liturgical “O Antiphons.” The scriptures Isaiah 11:1-9, Matthew 3:1-17 support this Advent Peace theme. The reading…
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Spirited Reflection: Reflections on La Tienda de la Casa Comûn and the Special Synod on Amazonia
November 28, 2019
Words have power. We daily witness this power, both for good and for harm – for life and for death. Words can also communicate a shift in approach and a new vision such as those presented in Laudato Si’ as…
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Spirited Reflection: The blanket speech – leading forward in reconciliation
November 19, 2019
Janet Gray, hearty dedicated KAIROS collaborator in Victoria, BC, shared the following with us:“I just supported Amber Santarelli,a young Grade 12 First Nation student from Port Alberni, BC, in leading a KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) for her peers and classmates…
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Listen to the Children: A worship resource for justice seekers is now available
November 14, 2019
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Reflexión: El Amazonas y yo
October 29, 2019
“Regresa ahora al lugar donde Dios te ha dado la responsabilidad. Recuerda la paz y el amor que hemos celebrado. Y no dejen de mostrar a todas las personas la nueva vida que ya está entre nosotros ”. -Bendición, Michael…
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Spirited Reflection: Message on the Amazon from Rome
October 28, 2019
“Return now to the place where God has given you responsibility. Remember the peace and love we have celebrated. And do not fail to show, to all people, the new life that is already among us.” Blessing, Michael Ingham, Bishop…
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Spirited Reflection: One day every four years
October 17, 2019
(or. . . As a spiritually grounded millennial who grew up in the United Church – why vote?) It’s often said that people shouldn’t talk about religion or politics at family gatherings, at church meetings or on the campaign trail….
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Spirited reflection: Let’s name that for which we are so thankful
October 10, 2019
What am I grateful for? Gratitude can be hard to find in the stress, pain and panic of our broken, aching world. I have long admired those who make time for a gratitude journal. There, sometimes online so others can…
Post filed in: Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Orange Shirt Day as solidarity and visibility
September 29, 2019
Orange Shirt Day began in 1973 when six year old Phyllis Webstad entered the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in BC. Young Phyllis was wearing a brand new orange shirt for her first day of school – new clothes being…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: It is the eve of the Climate Strike and all through the house…
September 26, 2019
The brilliance of this autumn has been exceptional while spending these gloriously long dusks on the land and water. To build connections in community, with the plants, the elements and people, to further those connections in community spaces, educational forums,…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Season of Creation
September 19, 2019
Not all Christians may be aware of it, but the period of September 1 to October 4 is recognized as the Season of Creation by most Christian Churches in the world. This yearly celebration of Creation seems to be such…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: The climate apocalypse
September 16, 2019
Apocalypse: unveiling, revelation. This is now the effect of the repeated and ever more ominous warnings from scientists over the past thirty years concerning effects of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The reality outlined in their…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Travelling the Amazon rainforest
September 9, 2019
Last night as I drifted to sleep… my heart hurt — I had nightmares and tossed and turned wondering how we got here. Not just in Alberta, but in the US, in Brazil, and all over the world – fascism…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Choose Life: Protecting our oceans in these times
August 22, 2019
This reflection from the Christian tradition is drawn from a sermon at the Church of the Holy Trinity Toronto on August 18, 2019. That sermon was based on four readings: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as…
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Spirited Reflection: Intergenerational social change
August 9, 2019
August 12 is designated International Youth Day by the UN, an annual celebration of young women’s and men’s roles as essential partners in change, and an opportunity to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth. If you’re reading…
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A special call for Spirited Reflections for Climate Action September 2019!
August 6, 2019
In Line with – the Global Climate Strike, Sept. 27the UNITED NATIONS UN Climate Change Summit 2019, Sept. 23we have named September as Climate Action Month- KAIROS is calling for Spirited Reflections focussed on climate justice. If you are willing…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Spirited Reflections
Reflexión: Loque significa caminar en tierra robada; una reflexión sobre el ejercicio de mantas de KAIROS
July 9, 2019
Como hija de inmigrantes nicaragüenses, no soy ajena a las historias de dictaduras respaldadas por los Estados Unidos y tampoco sus masacres. Las historias contadas durante el ejercicio de mantas de KAIROS en su versión guatemalteca me hicieron llorar de…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: What it means to walk on stolen land
July 9, 2019
The Guatemalan KAIROS Blanket Exercise (adapted from the Canadian version) was recently held in Toronto. Two others have commented on the impact of the exercise— one as a settler, one as a First Nations woman, and now, a third as…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
September is Climate Action Month
July 8, 2019
KAIROS is promoting September as Climate Action Month to explore the climate crisis and highlight the work of our members and networks. On each day in September, an event, blog post, environmental challenge – or some combination of all three!…
Post filed in: Ecological Justice, Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Jesus outside the gate
July 3, 2019
On June 7, in what is likely to be his last meeting of the KAIROS steering committee as a representative of The United Church of Canada, Jim Hodgson, shared this reflection. In this reflection, I am inspired by Mary Pezzulo’s…
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Spirited Reflection: It’s about time…
June 25, 2019
We live in a culture where there are many different types of time: chronological or calendar time; justice time(“that should have happened years ago”); convenient time(“when I get around to it”); “when the time comes”, fantasy time; “there is no…
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Spirited Reflection: Ancestors, Imagined
June 21, 2019
Recently, I was fortunate to witness the Guatemalan expression of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise while in Toronto, Ontario. As a First Nations woman, I was struck by the similarities of this story of colonization to the one I had come…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Imagine
June 20, 2019
At a recent KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE), the facilitator commented that he often wonders what Canada would look like today if, instead of having forced Indigenous communities to adapt to colonial ways, the European colonists had assimilated the ways of…
Post filed in: Indigenous Rights, Spirited Reflections
Spirited Reflection: Mourn and organize
June 13, 2019
An excerpt from Jennifer Henry’s Opening Remarks, Streams of Justice at the KAIROS Atlantic Gathering in May I begin in gratitude…and from memory . . . In a crowded Scarborough church, with a table full of candles, and media pushing…
Post filed in: Regional News, Spirited Reflections
