Salmon, Cedar, Water

the Sacred Life Spirit that moved us to action is also stirring and moving others to do good

By Galina Freed

Every year, members of my faith community, Salal + Cedar, join members of the Indigenous community in Chilliwack for their annual Salmon, Cedar, and Water ceremony. This year was my first time joining.

There’s something uniquely special about meeting the new year with like-minded people. Not many of us knew each other, but we all gathered to be in this place near the Blue Heron Nature Reserve to acknowledge the past and to greet the uncertain future together by setting our intentions for the new year.

There is so much I could say about this. About how easy it was to imagine a time when humans could turn into animals, a time when humanity saw itself as a part of nature, not as something separate from it. And about how easy it was to believe that, whenever we walk in nature, we do not walk alone, as we are surrounded by our non-human family – all around us, above us, and below us.

But the main thing that stood out to me from Eddie Gardner’s teaching was the invitation to not be fearful or distressed at the state of the world, because other people everywhere are doing good things.  I took it to mean to be a call to trust.

It is, indeed, easy to be discouraged and distressed when we begin to believe that we are the only ones working for justice, or doing the “right stuff”.  However bleak things may seem from time to time, it is important to trust that we are not alone, and to recognize that the Sacred Life Spirit that moved us to action is also stirring and moving others to do good.  

May the new year bring joy, hope, and power to you, your families, and your communities. May God’s Sacred Life Spirit work in you and in people around you, and may we see the fruit of that work in the year to come. 

May God’s Sacred Life Spirit work in you and in people around you, and may we see the fruit of that work in the year to come.