{"id":949,"date":"2020-04-12T07:23:52","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=949"},"modified":"2021-02-19T06:30:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T14:30:59","slug":"in-our-own-voice-two-spirit-people-reflecting-on-covid-19-9th-and-easter-sunday-installment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=949","title":{"rendered":"In Our Own Voice: Two-Spirit People Reflecting on Covid-19 – 9th and Easter Sunday Installment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Two-Spirit Journal is excited to share an Easter Sunday installment in this series where Two-Spirit people across Turtle Island share their personal observations and reflections of the current Covid-19 pandemic we are all experiencing.<\/p>\n

In this installment, we hear from\u00a0Murray Pruden<\/strong>, who works for the United Church of Canada with 14 Indigenous communities providing spiritual and administrational support.<\/p>\n

The Two-Spirit Journal welcomes any and all submissions from anyone who wants share your personal observations and reflections of how you are dealing in these uncertain times of COVID-19; if you are self-isolating, what are you doing to keep yourself busy and what do you miss the most. Send your responses (in any format) or any questions to\u00a0twospiritjournal@gmail.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two-Spirit Journal thanks everyone who has already answered this call and has sent in their responses. Keep the responses coming in, and they will be posted!<\/p>\n

Remember keep safe!<\/strong>\u00a0As\u00a0Gayle Pruden<\/strong> stated so beautifully in the second installment of this series, \u201cPraying, singing, dancing and laughing are my medicine and washing my hands, not touching my face, practicing physical distancing and finally staying home if I\u2019m sick or if I possibly came in contact with Covid-19!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image Provided by Murray Pruden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Murray Pruden<\/strong> is the Regional Indigenous Minister for the Pacific Mountain Regional Council in the United Church of Canada, and lives and work in Burnaby in the greater Vancouver area.\u00a0 He has recently completed studies at the Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, BC and the Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre in Beausejour, Manitoba.\u00a0 Murray Is Cree originally from Treaty Six in central Alberta. He believes in connection and respecting all paths of spirituality and honouring each other with our gifts.<\/p>\n

The pandemic of COVID-19 has been a time of change for us all.\u00a0 A virus does not discriminate, decide to hate or choose who to affect.\u00a0 This is a spirit, like any spirit, is here to teach humankind something important about who we are as a species, as Creator\u2019s creation.\u00a0 I feel we all have an opportunity to see the world in new vision and care, a time to unplug from the mainstream mentality of society we created and re-establish a change for the new generation.<\/p>\n

I started to isolate mid-March, when the Federal government asked us to isolate.\u00a0 And with work, it was an automatic call of action to do so. My job is a resource and representative as ministry support staff for the province of British Colombia, Yukon and a portion of Alberta.\u00a0 I oversee and give spiritual and administrational support to 14 Indigenous communities, including the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, within our region for the United Church of Canada. I work from home anyway, so it was not much of any adjustment for me; however, for the visiting and traveling to the coastal communities, it would be all business travel cancelled till we receive authorization from public health officials.\u00a0 As a spiritual leader, it is my job to support, as best I can to the communities, I represent within the Indigenous ministries stream within the United Church of Canada, in British Columbia.\u00a0 I currently live in Burnaby and enjoy what the greater Vancouver area has to offer.<\/p>\n

It being April now, and no travel to my family, friends and loved ones back in my original home territory in Alberta, I keep in touch by phone and sometimes video chat.\u00a0 My mom is who I miss the most because she\u2019s in a care facility due to her dementia and a few days ago celebrated her 75th<\/sup> birthday.\u00a0 I called her today and talked about her day and how she is doing and that one day soon, when I am able to fly down to visit her, and I will to celebrate her birthday in person, with some roses.\u00a0 She loves roses.\u00a0 But for now, she was just happy to hear my voice.\u00a0 And I am happy she still remembers who I am.<\/p>\n

This is the season of celebration for many different Faiths.\u00a0 Passover has started a few days ago for the Jewish people, Easter Sunday is almost here for many Christians and Ramadan is a few weeks away for the those of the Islamic faith.\u00a0 A time that many are used to gathering.\u00a0 And as Indigenous people, we know all about gathering as well.\u00a0 But currently it\u2019s a restriction because of need to decrease the curve in the outbreak of the COVID-19.\u00a0 So, for the communities and greater Indigenous ministries stream within our United Church of Canada, I created a printable Easter Sunday worship.\u00a0 I would like to share the Reflection.\u00a0 It is a short message that can give insight to what we can be if we have a little faith in ourselves, in others, in spiritual ways and in Creator, or to a higher belief of what the universe gives us.<\/p>\n

The Sun Rises by Murray Pruden<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus has taught us to try to achieve a loving life.\u00a0 I believe that is who he is.\u00a0 He was always serving, teaching, healing, blessing and challenging the world around him.\u00a0 Always placing his Faith ahead of him for God to lead him to where he is needed. And even more so after his crucifixion and now to his enlightened and resurrected state, his message of new possibilities of challenging the world is more profound.\u00a0 That sometimes when we look at things in our life, we can look at them not just for their physical qualities and endurance but with our spiritual eyes and receive a new vision of what the world was, is and can become.\u00a0 The challenge then becomes for us is taking that spiritual vision and making it the betterment for the all of us to live in, together.\u00a0 The challenge becomes uniting the spiritual vision with the physical sight to become the goodness we want the world to live in.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not be afraid\u201d, as Jesus tells the mourning followers.\u00a0 And this is what Jesus tells us today, do not be afraid.\u00a0 I like to add what I think Jesus would add to us today as we isolate in this time of COVID-19 pandemic: Do not be afraid\u2026 creation is with you because creation is made in each one of you. As the air lifts the eagle soaring in the sky, God our Creator will lift you in ways that you never knew possible.\u00a0 Look for that miracle and be thankful.\u00a0 But don\u2019t just look for it with your eyes, look for it also with your heart, that beats the drum of our Mother Earth.\u00a0 The answer is there and share it with all the people, with of all of creation, because we are all made of God.\u00a0 Do not be afraid.<\/p>\n

My relations, as the sun rises this day let it touch you, give you warmth on your back, comfort in the days ahead.\u00a0 This is the embrace from our Creator and from Creation to continue our journey of life, on that path that sometimes can be rough, dark, cold and a challenge.\u00a0 But as a community of spiritual faith we are not alone because we live in God\u2019s world.\u00a0 The sun will always rise to bring us back to life each day.\u00a0 That is the blessing we receive from the Land, from the Spirit and from the Creator. Do not be afraid, our new day has just begun. Thanks be to God. Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Two-Spirit Journal is excited to share an Easter Sunday installment in this series where Two-Spirit people across Turtle Island share their personal observations and reflections of the current Covid-19 pandemic we are all experiencing. In this installment, we hear from Murray Pruden, who works for the United Church of Canada with 14 Indigenous communities providing …Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5,15,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-current-events","category-identity","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=949"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1011,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949\/revisions\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}