The city of Ottawa

I arrived in the city of Ottawa on Wednesday and move tomorrow, Sunday, to my final 10 days of retreat in a prayer cabin in the woods surrounding a Christian conference centre which is 25 miles west of the city. I have done the sites in what is a beautiful city. This is the capital of Canada and it has gorgeous parliament buildings. It is quite a small city and is easy to get around.

I am staying at a hostel near downtown which was a former prison. I am staying in one of the original cells which is kind of cosy! It is very hot today at 27C and humid and the cell has no windows. It is to get hotter and more humid tomorrow and a heat warning is in place!

I attended midday communion in the Anglican Cathedral on Friday. I shared in the Eucharist at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame at 5pm today. The service was bilingual, French and English, which was interesting. Tomorrow morning I hope to worship at the Ottawa Mennonite Church.

I am looking forward to getting home again to my family and to my church family. Miss them all.

Blessings, Mike

The inside of Cathédrale Notre-Dame

The outside of the Cathédrale

Changing of the guard, Canada style, at the Parliament buildings.

My cell!

A different life

I have been able to have some good times with Darren McCartney, the suffragan bishop of the Arctic, who I had known when he was in Carrickfergus.  He had recently bought a boat which we managed to get out in among the icebergs.  Normally as bishop he has to fly to each remote community but he is having a boat specially built that will enable him to sail around the communities when the sea is free of ice from August to October.  

Then today I helped him paint the outside of his house.  Not too many bishops I know would do that. It is a still a pioneering kind of place here where you just muck in to do whatever needs done.

Darren's boat and 4x4 truck, a different kind of life from other bishops.

Among the icebergs

The sea-lift ship waiting for the ice to clear.  Among other things you can see new cars being delivered.

Due to the cold water we needed to wear survival suits.  There is no harbour her so containers are craned onto a barge which is landed on the beach and its cargo removed. 

Canadian Coastguard ice-breaker.  On the left is a rifle in its cover just in case we meet a polar bear.  Polar bears can swim for 18 hours non-stop so are a real danger among the ice-flows and they are hungry at this time of year.

We took a break in this beautiful inlet.  A cup of tea, some fig rolls and  midday prayers.

Solitude

It's a beautiful evening here in Iqaluit.  Temperature is 2C and the bay is full of icebergs again, blown in by the wind on the high tide.

Sarah has arrived home this Monday evening having left Sunday lunchtime.  She flew to Ottawa, a three hour flight, then to London, a six and a half hour flight, then to Dublin, just an hour, and then a 2 hour coach journey to Belfast arriving at 6pm.  The children collected her in Belfast and brought her home. I had a short Skype call with her and she is sleep deprived so hopefully a good sleep will put her on her feet again.  Having been away for 8 weeks it will take some time to adjust back to the ways of the Metropolis of Carrickfergus after the small scale life in Iqaluit.

My time now moves into a different phase.  Part of my thinking was that I should have period of solitude and quiet and that is what I am having now.  The enforced restrictions and lack of distractions require you to think more deeply and re-establish disciplines of prayer and quiet that get lost in the busyness of life.  I now have an opportunity to have time just to listen and to recapture a deeper relationship with God.  Its hard to explain what that means in practice but I find this helps:

Mother Theresa was once asked about her prayer life.

The interviewer asked, “When you pray, what do you say to God?”

Mother Teresa replied, “I don’t talk, I simply listen.”

Believing he understood what she had just said, the interviewer next asked, “Ah, then what is it that God says to you when you pray?”

Mother Teresa replied, “He also doesn’t talk. He also simply listens.”

The greatest gift you can give someone is simply to listen to them. It is the greatest gift God gives us. He listens, as no other can, to our deepest thoughts and feelings, our dreams and fears. Correspondingly it is the greatest gift we can give God, to listen for his insight into our lives. Just praying, opening yourself to God, is an act of faith, of trust.  That is what I am going to try to do for this next few weeks.

"Be still and know that I am God."  Psalm 46:10

Blessings,

Mike

Meal planning?

Hi all,

As I leave tomorrow, this will likely be my last piece of writing.

We have had a fairly quiet week, but busy enough. Since Tuesday, we helped out in the soup kitchen every lunchtime as they were short staffed at times. I think I imagined having less to do when we were here, so I brought craft for that. But I have actually spent very little time crocheting and never did any embroidery. We have spent more time with other people than I expected and became connected to the soup kitchen for our time here. At the same time there has been more time to read and pray than at home.

Buying food here is very different than at home. There are three places to buy food (strictly speaking, I think there may be a fourth, but it sells only country food) - Baffin Canners, Arctic Ventures and North Mart. Baffin Canners is the cheapest, but carries a small stock. Strangely it has the best range of herb teas. Arctic Ventures is the nearest thing to a department store here as it has an electrical department, clothes and local books. It has less lines in food though than North Mart. So most of our shopping is dome in North Mart and it is the closest too. Although all are within walking distance. Last night we had Karen and Darren round for a meal. I found a pasta recipe off the BBC website (no recipe books here) that I liked the look of called Spicy Pasta with Broccoli and Tomato sauce. So armed with my shopping list I headed over to North Mart. Well first off there was no broccoli, so I substituted a red and a yellow pepper. Then there was no spring onion, so I substituted a red onion. Usually there are broccoli and spring onions, but the shelves were very bare last night. Then lastly there was no chilli (hard to believe I know), so after looking at the pathetic looking herbs I decided that oregano was the healthiest looking and would have to substitute for chilli!!!!!!!! Thankfully there were plenty of tomatoes, so I even had a choice of variety. Tomatoes seem to be the last thing to go here. Amazingly the Pasta with Pepper, Tomato and Herb sauce tasted fine. Garlic, cream cheese and cream do help! :)

Back in Ireland on Monday evening so see you all soon, God willing. :) :) :)

More experiences in Iqaluit

Ok, so it is my turn to write. I am a tad frustrated as I had some great photos to share, but they are locked in a brand new phone card that this rather old net book can't read. Oh well.

We have had an interesting week. On Tuesday we visited the legislature building and took the tour. Nunavut became an independent province in 1999. Most of the MLA's are Inuit. One man is in his eighties and only speaks Inuktituk. The others speak both English and Inuktituk or just English, so their interpreting equipment is very important. Apparently Inuit culture is fairly consensual. After the first person speaks others add to the conversation without arguing until consensus is reached. The politics up here is non-partisan as there are no parties.

Thursday was the only day we went to the soup kitchen and it was great to see new volunteers, people who are staying for at least the summer. There is a lot of coming and going in this community.
On Thursday afternoon we headed out for a walk onto the Tundra higher than the town and to the North. We had walked for about twenty minutes when Mike spotted a paw print that most definitely was not a dog's print, almost certainly Polar Bear. I took a photo of it and then we walked briskly back to the car. Thankfully we could see a man and his dog further out along the path we were on, returning too. Dogs out here are working dogs and should make a fuss if they sense polar bear near, so it was reassuring to see them walking calmly towards us. As a man from church who is from Saskatchewan, and has plenty of experience of bears, said, Black bears hide from humans but Polar Bears hunt humans!

We also had a meal at Karen and Darren's house with Mike and Margaret Gardner. Mike and Margaret really are remarkable people. They have worked in churches in several very remote communities before the age of computer communications. Diocesan discipline was strict. They were allowed to order a certain amount of food for the sealift each summer, but not as much as Hudson Bay workers. If they ordered too much there were random items missed off their order!  They are a very gentle English couple, yet Mike used to go out to camps on the land by dog sled in winter and he supplemented their diet by hunting.

On Friday Karen invited us to her works' IQ day. IQ in this case stands for Inuit culture and knowledge from the Elders. The setting was Sylvia Grinnell park. There was a lot of Country food available and I had some Caribou stew. It tasted good. Aalasi, an elder and lay reader from Apex church, also gave a talk on the use of local plants. She says the local women are not as healthy these days as they rely on store bought food. It was a fascinating talk. Aalasi has an incredible wealth of knowledge.

Saturday we had a gorgeous long walk along the Sylvia Grinnell river. We walked along the river and ended up just above the falls. This was a route we could not have taken a few weeks ago due to the ice. The mosquitoes are out in force so I wore Mike's bug shirt. At home biting insects love Mike, here they love me and some bites swell badly so I get to use the shirt. Most of the time I had the hood down, but as we walked along and the mozzies got worse, in my scramble to get the hood up, one was trapped in there with me. I managed to get it before it got me, but there was a very red splash of blood left on the visor. Was it my blood or Mike's blood or someone else's. It certainly didn't belong to the mosquito!

Sunday was my last full Sunday here. Mike preached at the English service and then again at the Inuktituk Praise service in the evening, this time with an interpreter. The evening service is always lovely as you can really see God moving among the people. We had lunch out with Darren and Karen at the Frobisher Inn. My chocolate cake was amazing - lots of cocoa and a sweet almond layer. That's what makes me salivate.

I have waited weeks for these flowers to at last bloom. The leaves are nice in a salad - they taste too bitter for me. Apparently the leaves make a nice side dish mixed with seal blood and blubber!

The inushuk that marks our walk beside the sea. The first time we saw it, it was surrounded by ice and the bay was frozen.

The first ship of the sea lift.

The fluffy parts of this willow tree are used as wicks in the qulliq - the local style of oil lamp. Also if collected and put inside boots, the fluffy bits help keep your feet warm and lift your mood! 

Musings

Sarah is just 9 days away from heading home.  I am staying on for a further 10 days here in Iqaluit until August 12 and then I am heading to Ottawa to stay in an isolated retreat cabin attached to a Christian Conference Centre in the countryside, 25 miles from the city.

We have really come to enjoy it here.  The people are very friendly and it is a very easy going pace of life for everyone.  For example because of the small size of the place most people go home from work for lunch. I have been involved in the services each week which I have appreciated. Darren, the bishop, never fails to take the opportunity to recruit me to take on a parish in the Diocese. He has mentioned a couple in particular.  Then this week I was at at a planning meeting with the leaders here in the Cathedral and among other things they were thinking about the fact that the Dean is retiring in the next 18 months. They said that I should come to replace him!

It is nice that my contribution here is appreciated and although there is tremendous opportunity here it has been good for me to reflect on our situation back home.  Even up here in a remote place the Christian Community has been deeply effected by the changes in culture, the move from a society where church-going was common and central, what is commonly called Christendom, to a situation where church-going has become culturally peripheral.  How do we address that? One response has been to complain about it which doesn't change anything. Another is resignation, well we will keep going with it, which will just lead to decline.

I have been thinking a lot about Jesus image of the vine and the branches.  It seems to me we need to have a restoration in confidence in our proper place in the scheme of things.  He is the vine, we are the branches.  We don't need more abilities to compete with the world.  We need to appreciate that God still loves his world in all its brokenness and he still intends to bring it to its true purpose and completion.  Each person was made by God for a purpose and, yes, many are far from their true design.  However, to quote Gerard Kelly,  God's goal as he looks at his child is "for her to thrive; to find life; to give and receive love; to prosper in her giftings and to make a wondrous contribution to her world."

For some inexplicable reason he has called us into his church to enable all that to happen.  The church, in the proper sense of the people of God, exists to bring people into their true destiny.  No other agency is going to do it.  We are increasingly dehumanised in every aspect of our lives.  Even at the level of medical care gone is the personal care of a physician.  You see any doctor who happens to be available.  In church people can come and journey with us their whole life and the people of God will journey with them through all the ups and downs continually reminding them that they are gifted and loved sons and daughters of God.

We may feel inadequate to this task. We are!  We are just the branches, the life comes from the vine. The one who created the world is still at his work.  We abide in him.

Blessings,

Mike

Parish Picnic

Had a great day yesterday. Mike preached at the English Service at 9 45am in the Cathedral. Then we headed off to Apex and Mike preached again only this time with an interpreter as the service was in Inuktitut. It was a lovely service.

After lunch we headed back over to Apex for a picnic beside the river. Darren, Karen, Mike and I were the only non Inuit there. It was a real privilege to be welcomed in to the gathering. I tried dried char, deep fried cod, fried bannock (like a doughnut without the sugar) and smoky tea. It was all good, but the tea was delicious. The lady who made it said it tasted so good because she used driftwood on her fire - others were using green plants for their fires.

Dried Arctic Char, i.e. uncooked dried fish, which tasted great.

Sitting around some of the food.

Karen is on the left. The lady with the orange scarf wrote a book on medicinal plants grown locally. I have borrowed her book from the library.

More cooking. This time it is hot-dogs.

The gorgeous setting for the picnic.

Most babies locally are carried on their mum's back in this style of garment. Basically the baby is in the hood. Toddlers are carried like this too.

Gorgeous setting for a picnic and a clear blue sky.

Making smoky tea by burning local plants.

Mike, myself and Darren.

Earlier in the day - Mike preaching in the Cathedral.

The church at Apex.

Mike with retired Bishop Paul. Bishop Paul was the first Inuit Bishop and now looks after the church at Apex.

Mike and Bishop Paul.

Mike preaching, while Abigail, Bishop Paul's wife, interprets.

Book review

Have read five novels since being away. Two were dull but enjoyable. 'Between, Georgia' was better. The independently published novel I read was a somewhat disturbing story, but the best book by a long way was 'Harvest of Rubies' by Tessa Afshar. This was a good story, not too mushy, and encouraging to my faith. Well worth a read.

Sylvia Grinnell Park Day

Today there were special activities in Sylvia Grinnell Park. We managed to be there for the free food, as usual! Mind you we stick to the cooked food. There was uncooked Arctic Char on offer. Also I am very, very pleased to at last have got a picture of wildlife.

The remains of an Arctic Char and the knife used to cut it, lying on cardboard on the floor.

Gulliq - the special lamp used in the winter. The wick is along the front right edge and the fuel is animal fat.

Red-throated loons. So pleased with these two photos. Beautiful birds and very rare at home. I have only seen them here.

Red-throated loons taking flight.

Polar Bear Frenzy

Well it has been an exciting few days! Turns out the first Polar Bear was shot on the ice outside the Bishop’s house. He and Karen were totally unaware and rather disappointed they had missed seeing the bear alive so close and about 6am.    

Thursday morning we heard at least one more polar bear had been seen and possibly shot. The story goes that a parishioner here had rung the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to report seeing the bear. When asked where the bear was now she replied 'In your car park!' So after lunch we headed out to the breakwater to see if we could see the second polar bear who had sauntered through town. We scanned the ice along with others, for about thirty minutes, but could see nothing. Wildlife officers turned up with guns, looking grumpy. But they obviously didn't know where exactly the bear was either. Then we headed round to the other side of the bay, passing on the way another couple of wildlife officers with guns. Unfortunately we had just missed seeing a pod of Beluga whales. However the Beluga Whale hunters that I chatted to assured me there would be plenty more over the next few weeks. They suggested we return for another look at 7pm for high tide. I did see some seals though. 

After tea we decided to head back over as the sun was shining. We saw one solitary seal. However we bumped into the Beluga hunters again who said the Belugas were at the headland along with more hunters. As I didn't really want to see whales being shot we headed home. However not before one of the hunters told me that when he visited Marineland, a marine zoo, at Niagara Falls he salivated at the site of the Belugas there!!!! The weather and scenery were beautiful though and we had a great day. Sadly not so the Polar bears. We are currently a bear free zone as the third one was apparently shot last night. And eaten. Raw.

The ice in the bay is slowly breaking up.

Looking from the causeway towards town - St Jude's Cathedral is in the centre. We are staying in the green building to the left of the Cathedral. 

Polar Bear Hunt!?

Well this morning we were told that a Polar Bear was sighted near the town, down near the dump and where the sled dogs are kept. We wondered if it was a wind-up of newbies but the local community Facebook page confirmed this and added that it had been chased away from the town to islands beyond the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River. Of course we got in the car to go and have a look. We found a lovely viewpoint near the satellite dishes and I took some photos as we scanned the river for signs of movement. Of course we didn't see anything but we spoke to some official looking people who confirmed its movements. The idea that we could go looking for the possibility of seeing a polar bear is pretty amazing. 

I still have seen precious little wildlife – my bird list is five species long and we have seen no mammals. Probably in part due to poor weather, the ice in the bay and the likelihood of any animal worth eating being hunted by humans. For perspective, when we were in the retreat centre in June in just two days I put five bird species on my list, gave up on trying to identify others and saw at least four types of animal.  We have now been here three weeks and five days. Below are photos I took today.

Three of the many dogs in the sled dog area.

A sled dog.

View of the hills.

At the mouth of Sylvia Grinnell River.

Some of the last ice on the river.

One side of Sylvia Grinnell Falls.

The other part of the Falls.

An Inushuk - pile of stones telling others where good hunting is to be found or food is stored.

Mouth of the river.

Fisherman on the river.

The tiny flowers of Moss-Campion.

Looking north and up river.

The river mouth.

Islands in the river mouth.

The full width of Sylvia Grinnell Falls.

Looking up river.

A few satellite dishes of the many around and in the town.