Beaumont Hamel: Memorial of Hope

In this 100th Anniversary year of the Battle of the Somme, Valerie and I have had the privilege of visiting Beaumont Hamel Memorial Park in Northern France. In the battle for Beaumont Hamel, and because of the horrible losses to the regiment, communities and families of the small island and nation of Newfoundland in 1916, the identity of a people was forged. “Beaumont Hamel” is etched in the collective memory of every Newfoundlander.

When Valerie and I walked into the fields of Beaumont Hamel, it felt like home. It felt like we, as Newfoundlanders, were part of that place.

The iconic Caribou memorial and the Salt Box style interpretation centre certainly affirmed what we were feeling in our hearts. But looking out unto the trenches, battle field and cemetery, the warm feeling of home was chilled by the memory of the brutal realities of war. Standing near the famous “Danger Tree,” a landmark where the regiment was ordered to gather, the war cemetery loomed in the distance.

We read the names of many of the fallen Newfoundlander’s aloud as we prayerfully moved over that holy ground. And as we did, we had a great sense of being at one with the Newfoundlanders who lost their lives. At one with them in the one Life that is God. These are our dead. This is our land. This is our memorial. Yet as walking prayerfully around this beautiful and at the same time haunting memorial park, I was called to remember the German men who lost their lives there. At the far end of the memorial park, there is also a Scottish memorial for their fallen on that field and who eventually won the small plot of land. As I walked and sat and reflected (the bronze cast at the entrance to the park reads “Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow”), I had an expanding sense of the tragedy and senseless loss of life in war. And I had an expanding sense of being at one with not only the Newfoundlanders who lost their lives, but also with the Germans, the Scotts, and all who lost their lives at Beaumont Hamel. Much has changed in the world since 1916, yet the call to identify with the union of all souls and respect for all of life remains. Beaumont Hamel is our enduring memorial to that hope. 

Easter Love

Holy One

you call us to more.

Jesus suffers

and opens the way

to more union

with you.

From that place

of unitive life

my truest self

is without sin

my truest self

is worthy

and at one with Life.

From this calm depth

may the new creation

that I am

rise

and transform

my entire life

until I am only

Love.

Suffering Jesus

Suffering Jesus,
you offer yourself
on the cross

to set us free
from slavery
to sin,

to set us free
from the illusion
of being separate from God.

You gave your life
to reveal to us
that there is only
one life
one flow
that all share in.

It cannot be taken from us.

It is who we are.
It is what we are.

Suffering Jesus,
you offer yourself
on the cross

only to rise again,
the first fruit
of true life.

Drop the rock

         
             Who are you
            to judge another.

      You look on with distain
         a rock in your hand
         ready to condemn
         ready to sentence.

                Stoning!

                  Stone
               the woman.
                  Stone
               the sinner.
                  Stone
             all the sinners.
                  Stone
     all those who make mistakes.

                  Stone
                yourself.

                  If not,

             drop the rock!

I Share in Your I Am

Open Presence,
gentle and loving.

You invite me
into your embrace.

You call me
out of the noise and clutter of my mind
into the calm of your heart.

You are the door
through which I enter.

You are the energy
that draws me deeper.

You are the Spirit
revealing to me
that I share in your
I Am.

It is more important to Belong than it is to Believe

I’ve recently read Nadia Bolz-Weber’s “Accidental Saints: Finding God in all the wrong people.” Nadia is a tattooed and cursing Lutheran Pastor in Denver, who founded the House for All Sinners and Saints. The birth of this particular community came from the call on Nadia’s ministry to start a church community for the marginalised - a place for people who didn’t “fit in” to mainstream conservative church. Nadia tells the story of a middle aged gay woman, who did not believe in Jesus, but who found “meaning in the belonging” at the House for All Sinners and Saints. This person found purpose in simply belonging to the community. After a number of years of being a part of this inclusive church, the woman had a crisis of faith, and asks for a meeting with Nadia - she was starting to believe in Jesus! Through her experience of belonging to this Christian community, as she was, she eventually came to faith in Jesus. What a beautiful story of transformation. The Christian church, for far too long, has been very good at judging people, telling people who was in and who was out, who was welcome and who was unwelcome, how to behave and how not to behave, what to believe and what not to believe. And if you didn’t conform, you were made to feel guilty, and excluded from the “Holy Communion.” The beautiful truth is that there is no one outside of “Communion” with God - and no church denomination or world religion can change or altar that! Historically the church has been more concerned about being “correct” than about being “connected.” The Good News in Jesus is not judgement, but grace. Jesus calls us to open up to what and who we already are. We are more than our ego personalities. We are more than our moral behaviour. We are more than what we can think or conceive. Our deepest and truest self, our spiritual hearts, are one with the Divine Life. It is the one Life and Love that we all share. It is the place where everyone belongs. The call on the church today is to get better at helping all people belong…as they are and where they are. Belief in who Jesus is will come.

What is it?

What is it
to be alone with Spirit?

It is
to be alone with self
in the presence of Self

and experience love.

What is it
to know temptation?

It is
to know weakness within self
in the presence of Self

and experience compassion.

What is it
to live more fully?

It is
to be changed
by love and compassion

and experience the presence of God.