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FEATHER: Creator God, we thank you for the rising sun and its course through the day, reminding us of the significance of every moment and event. Awaken our hearts and minds to your hand and truth within the journey of the day. Speak to us to always guide us; when we wander too far from you draw us back; keep us guarded within your circle of love and peace. Open our eyes that we might see truth in all that is around us and see your light drawing us from the darkness of our hearts. Help us to always walk in humility and be better today than we were yesterday and the day before; bless us that we might be your faithful messengers and ambassadors of your mercy and peace; bless us that we might be a blessing to others. May our prayers and service be a sweet offering rising to you always. This we pray as children of your creation in Christ. Amen. Hiy Hiy, Miigwetch.*
SAGE: Family, home and community stand significant in our lives as human beings and Christians—individually as the reason we worship, work and strive to progress, and communally as we grow, support others and are in turn nourished by them. No member of this triad stands independent; they are each drawn and bound together with a powerful force called prayer. The world around us rushes and roars, speeding headlong without regard to prayer, future and consequence, and we see this progression through daily newsfeeds. We must remember that we are called to be a people of a lived-out belief and faithful prayer, taking time to slow down enough to pray and meditate, to speak with the Almighty and listen for God’s word and guidance. This new way of being—doing all things prayerfully, letting prayer encircle all the things that are important in our private and corporate world—can and should be the expression of the life we live with faith.
I ask your prayers for our shared Indigenous ministries as we hire new staff in Toronto and open a new office in Edmonton. Please also pray for our Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP) and all members, especially the Elders, of the Sacred Circle.
*Hiy Hiy is Plains Cree and Miigwetch is Ojibway/Assiniboine for “thank you.” Both are said traditionally after a prayer, and using them together denotes respect for the first peoples of Canada’s West and East.