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By Bishop Todd Townshend

I PRAY that these summer months have brought you some time of relaxation, rest, and restoration. For some people, this is what the summer brings. Yet for others, these months bring the hardest work—or the hardest time.

Looking around the globe we see some places where there is no relaxation, nor rest, nor restoration. The suffering in Gaza is a particularly painful humanitarian crisis. The inhumane killing of civilians, including so many children, even while they seek basic necessities of life, is a barbaric extension of war far beyond any need for self-defence. We pray with the Anglicans in that area, and around the world, for an end to this lawless cruelty.

Other ongoing atrocities also occupy our minds and engage us in prayer and active responses. Russian attacks on Ukraine continue in regular neighbourhoods and even recently targeted maternity hospitals. Warlords in places like Sudan and Haiti terrorize and murder the general populations, and the ICE squads in the USA round up people and hold them in what appear to be inhumane conditions without a commitment to the rule of law.

Add in natural disasters, like the forest fires and other obvious effects of global warming, and the world feels “out of control” in some very bad ways.

It is essential that Canada and its partners work tirelessly to restore peace and a just order. Anglicans can support many organizations, including our direct partners, to support these efforts. And at home, we can attend to those who are most negatively affected by all this trauma and fear.

Human life is lived somewhere between those things we can control and those things we cannot control. The desire to conquer, master, and “get ahead” of someone or something is very strong. For those who seek to make the world controllable (to their own benefit), the “end” justifies even the most horrible “means”. Extreme desire for controllability only leads to acts of impotent aggression and violence, bringing death and destruction while solving nothing.

So, we resist this—in ourselves and in others—with all of our might.

To encounter the world rightly, and to encounter one another rightly, requires us to open ourselves to the uncontrollable encounter with God. This is not passive—it is quite an active way of living and being. The outcomes are not known ahead of time. Faith tells us that God will lead the way and guide us in this. And the first step in this direction is to renounce the desire to make everything and everyone controllable. Then we can recognize that the basic human desire is for healthy, mutual human relationship and a healthy, mutual relationship with all of Creation.

Taking this step has been part of my own prayer work this summer. We continue pray for and stand in solidarity with those for whom these months bring the hardest work—or the hardest time. May we all know the peace of Christ.

+ Todd