This summer Fiona and I enjoyed a holiday of discovery in the Canadian Rockies, and what an incredible experience! Not only every day, but rounding every corner, brought a new experience which often left us spellbound. The scenery was magnificent – range upon range of snow capped mountains with icefields and glaciers producing the clearest water and lakes of incredible colour, changing in the sunlight, and waterfalls cascading into rivers running through every valley. There was wildlife such as we had never seen before:- bears, wolf, elk, mountain goats and bighorn sheep, hoary marmet and smallest chipmunk, bald eagle, turkey vulture and ospreys, salmon leaping waterfalls and carpeting their shallow spawning grounds, and, off Victoria, a pod of 30 – 40 Orca Whales. The vast variety was there also in wild flowers from alpine meadows to lush valleys. The whole experience was ‘mind blowing’ and expanded horizons as to what could possibly be expected. That was also true of the people – everywhere such a total mix of ethnic origin it was impossible to tell who was visitor and who was resident. Different customs and cultures, and, pervading everything, often below the surface, the influence of the ‘first nation’, the Innuit heritage, so at one and entwined with the natural environment.
On an interpretive trail, through rain forest, bordering the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island, we came across a board with these words:- “ ‘When you look down from the mountain, my chief’s hahulthi goes as far as the eye can see’ (Elder of Toquaht First Nation). Hahulthi (a chief’s traditional territory) includes: the land, the ocean, the people and everything living and non-living within. On behalf of his people, the chief’s responsibility is to care for his territory for generations to come. He achieves this through hishuk ish ts’awalk (everything is one), which embodies iisaak (respect) and spiritual connection to all life forms.” Elsewhere we were told by someone that his father would regularly go 3 days drive along unmade forest tracks, leave his truck and just go ‘walkabout’ in true wilderness. An Information Centre invited us to consider visiting a person’s home. Would you start rearranging the furniture, clearing out the bits that got in your way or determining the programme? This was the closest I have ever felt to being in a true wilderness environment where the natural world dominates the artificial and – yes, I did feel just like a visitor – this was ‘home’ to the flora and fauna that existed there in sensitive ‘eco’ balance and needed to be treated with respect and understanding. Here the rhythm and cycle of the seasons, and the forces of nature, determined priorities and agendas and could not be ignored. It would be sacrilege to impose urban culture and clutter on it.
October is the month we celebrate our Harvest Festival, and, as I write, the World Trade Talks in Mexico have just collapsed. The Innuit people of Canada should shame us into recognising our Christian duty to recognise and proclaim the message of God’s Kingdom. (Though sadly, many of them have lost their vision too.) We believe God created the whole world and all that is in it – that all of life is God’s gift and is ‘infused’ with his Spirit. We also believe that Jesus came to reconcile us to God, that we might all be one in him in mutual respect and cooperation. As we step back to look at our world, we see the threat of chaos as people greedily exploit dwindling resources and pollute the atmosphere. We see the ‘strong’ impose rules which enforce their domination, and consign the ‘weak’ to continuing oppression and poverty. Harvest is a time to recapture a sense of wonder and worship at the beauty and bounty of God’s creation. It is also a time to reaffirm the Christian principle of stewardship – that we shall be held accountable for how we use the gifts entrusted to us in our ‘visit’ to this world. It is a time to pray and work to establish God’s Kingdom of righteousness, justice and mercy on earth – as in heaven.
Yours sincerely
Peter Lee
