On July 1, we celebrate the 154th Canada Day. This day is considered the country’s birthday as Canada has become independent from the British rule through the passing of the Constitution Act, 1867. The colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined to form a confederation. Though still a British colony that time, it has become self-governing and gained more political control.
This year’s festivities have been dampened by a series of discoveries of unmarked graves from two residential schools and horrifying testimonies of abuse from the Indigenous community. As we know these residential schools were designed to assimilate Indigenous children to Canadian culture. In May, story broke of the 215 children’s remains that were found in British Columbia. Just last week, another discovery of unmarked graves with as many as 751 remains, surfaced in Saskatchewan. The search is still ongoing across residential schools in all provinces and we may be hearing more discoveries soon. All these events sparked calls of cancelling this year’s celebration. The hashtag #cancelCanadaDay has been trending in recent days. These acts of genocide to erase the Indigenous group is indeed deeply saddening. Being a Filipino immigrant, just as I accept the good that my adopted country has given me and my family, I also acknowledge this dark chapter of Canada’s history and mourn this atrocity.
This tragedy reminds me of our own personal lives. We may have committed something grave that have stained our reputation to this day. While we can’t escape the consequences of our past mistakes, there’s hope to not allow these mistakes define who we are.
In church, we have been covering a new sermon series “How to influence a nation” and studying the life of an Old Testament King, Josiah. On one Sunday, we touched on Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh. I have learned that Manasseh was one of the kings who did much evil in the Lord’s sight. He brought idol worship, divination and even sacrificed his own son. He led Israel into sin and turned their back to the one true God. Because of this, the Lord allowed Israel to be taken captive by the King of Assyria. Manasseh was humiliated as he was placed with hook on his nose, bound by bronze shackles and taken to Babylon. Then something happened... in this lowest point of his life, he humbled himself, acknowledged God, the Almighty God of Israel, and pleaded for his freedom. The Lord heard him and restored back his kingdom. Manasseh was a changed king after. He removed all other gods, idols, reestablished God’s temple, and all through his remaining years, followed and worshiped one God.
This Biblical account along with countless other testimonies, show that there is hope for you and me to start anew. This is not possible though with our own efforts. Each of us is sinful and corrupt in the eyes of God and headed to eternal damnation. No amount of good works can save us from that. The good news is, there is salvation through Jesus Christ. If we acknowledge Him as our Saviour and Lord, He is the only way to be at peace with God. His sacrifice on the cross paid for our sins. The moment we acknowledge our sinfulness, ask for forgiveness and surrender our lives to Jesus, then there is transformation. We are no longer identified in our sinful nature, but we are identified in Christ. We are now children of God and heirs of His blessings. In Galatians 2:20 it says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Indeed, by believing and following Jesus Christ, we have a new identity in Him!
You and I have made many mistakes in the past. Some minor and some major that can’t be erased. We have the choice to keep being imprisoned by it or break free. I am hopeful that Canada would heal as a nation, learn from its flaws, and begin a new story of inclusion not just superficially but genuinely and sincerely. Moving forward, let our country be known to accept all cultural backgrounds and be the leader for the advocacy against racism, prejudice, and abuse of power. There’s always today and tomorrow to start a new chapter of our individual stories and that of our country.
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