A Call for Prayer and Repentance on Behalf of Our Nation
My dear fellow members of the Anglican Network in Canada,
On May 12, 2021 we hosted an online ANiC-wide Prayer meeting, for which many of you were able to join us. The theme verse we focused on was 2 Chronicles 7:14:
“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
That evening we pleaded with the Lord to intervene; to arrest and remove from this world and this land the COVID-19 pandemic. Canon Garth Hunt, our Canon for Prayer Support, led us in a meditation on our theme verse and rightly emphasized that the God’s promise of salvation and the healing of the land first called upon His people to “humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways”.
In these last few days all of Canada has rightly been shocked and brokenhearted at the discovery of some 215 dear children, all buried outside of a residential school site in Kamloops, British Columbia. And it may well be there are more dear, lost children who are yet to be found outside other residential schools across our country.
We are rightly appalled, dismayed and ashamed at these discoveries, at so many levels.
We know that it is in the mercies of the Lord that He allows light to shine in darkness and things that were hidden to be exposed, that they might be seen for what they are and hearts set instead on Christ.
Repentance is rightly called for:
because all children should be protected as precious and never be disposed of as if they are nothing. The Lord himself considers them precious and Jesus declared: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6)
because First Nations and all Indigenous people must not be forgotten nor neglected nor pushed to the sidelines of this land in which the rest of us have been so blessed to share and dwell
because, tragically, the Church shares in responsibility in all of this.
As we humble ourselves, repent and seek God’s face, how incredible it is that this same God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die for our sake, not to condemn us but that we may find forgiveness, salvation and life by believing in His Name. And when the Lord disciplines us, his children, exposing our sinfulness, he does so not because He lacks love for us, but because of the great and abundant love He has for us.
Consider this excerpt from Hebrews 12:
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.’
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.”
Hebrews 12:5-7
Of all people, the Church understands the need and the blessing of the Lord’s discipline; and the life, health and blessing that comes from true repentance.
There is much, much more that could be said about this, and more facts to be learned, but at a minimum, we can and should respond to this horrible discovery in Kamloops with lament and repentance.
My fellow bishops and I, of our ANiC House of Bishops, are calling on all our ANiC congregations (even our beloved New England congregations) to dedicate some part of your worship this Sunday, June 6, 2021 for a time of prayer and repentance on behalf of our nation; that we might humble ourselves and seek the Lord’s face, and on behalf of our nation and the Church, turn from our evil ways. Let us pray that the Lord Jesus would send revival to His Church and a great turning in the hearts of people to saving faith in His Holy Name.
As He referenced a desperate situation in the Old Testament of judgment and the Lord’s means of salvation, Jesus prophesied about Himself, His Cross, Resurrection and Ascension saying:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:14-15
This Sunday and always let us pray to the Lord:
Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy
And let us rededicate ourselves to welcome, protect and love children and youth into the Kingdom.
In the wonderful name of Jesus, our only hope,
+Charlie
The Right Reverend Charlie Masters
Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Network in Canada