catapult magazine

Without bounds

by Will Braun

To be read at the Hermitage service of lament and hope on behalf of those gathered at the northern end (Gretna, Manitoba) of what must be the first ever simultaneous international pipeline service of lamentation.

As you gather above the pipelines in the Hermitage woods, 
            we gather at the same time 900 miles up the line. 
The oil that passes beneath you now, 
            has passed beneath the place where we stand.

We stand here to lament the threat that proposed pipelines pose to people and lands in our country, especially in northern British Columbia.

We stand here to lament the threat that our own entanglement in oil-dependence poses to the earth.

And we stand here to lament with you the particular loss you will experience at The Hermitage.

We have with us a cross made of cherry wood from the Hermitage woods,
a tangible, spirited reminder both of the forest that will be lost around you and the forest that will remain. 

We stand with you today in the space between Good Friday and Easter,
             in a space between loss and hope,
            a holy space. 

We trust for the new day to come, and we trust for God’s tender grace as we wait and work for that day.

May God bless you with that grace today.