Devotional for Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday

Interview with Tiffany Immingan

Oh, Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

You have loosed my bonds

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord...in the courts of the house of the Lord...

Praise the Lord! (Psalm 116: 16-17, 18a, 19, NRSV)

Tiffany connecting with the Gulf of Alaska.

Let us connect.

Tiffany Immingan is an energetic young woman from Savoonga, Alaska. Savoonga is on the St. Lawrence Island in the Gulf of Alaska, south of the Arctic Ocean. As she notes proudly on her shirt, she is Siberian Yupik, an indigenous, (Eskimo) native. Yupik means "true people."  Very important in their culture are whales and walrus, connecting them to Creation in a very intimate way.

She is a member of the Alaska Community Action on Toxins, and as such, is an advocate for the health of her wider community and for our beautiful Earth. She represented Yukon Presbytery, coming to the 222 General Assembly in Detroit with Executive Presbyter, Rev. Dr. Curtis Karns, to serve as an overture advocate for the Precautionary Principle Overture. There she relayed the message that due to climate change and ocean warming, their village has suffered, in ways such as not being able to locate walruses, very important to their lifestyle. She came 4000 miles to help support Presbyterians, on behalf of Creation, as a plea for us all to care for our planet and each other.

I am grateful for Tiffany, for Curt, and for all who advocate in a sense of 'thanksgiving

sacrifice'.  Thanks be to God....

Tiffany sharing time with a whale carcass.

Let us reflect.

On this night, our Lord Jesus gathered around table, preparing to sacrifice himself for us all, indeed all of Creation, so that we might be healed and whole.

Yet we as children of our Creator, turn away. We forsake Christ. We forsake Creation. We do not hold each other up...nor hold each other accountable.

We may not travel 4 miles, not to mention 4000 miles, to advocate for healing and restoration.

We ask for forgiveness, for strength, for guidance.

Let us pray.

Lord,
Tonight we pray.  We mourn. We hold vigil.  We sit alongside our Lord in the Garden.
Help us Lord, to stay awake.  Help us Lord, to know how to be sacrifice.
Grant us mercy.  Grant us wisdom.
Grant us a depth of soul-seeking so that we may know you, hear you, and feel your presence in each other; in the walrus, in the whale, in the Ocean, in all of Creation.
In the name the One who came, comes, and will come again. Amen.

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Tiffany Immingan was interviewed by Presbyterians for Earth Care Moderator, Diane Waddell.