Messages to the Saskatoon Doukhobor Society

Re: Annual Meeting December 8th, 2007 

I would like to congratulate all of you in the work you have done during the past year. Meetings, bread-baking, singing, the Annual Commemoration of the Doukhobor Peace Day, and the general outreach are all noble activities that are worthy of you as Spirit Wrestlers. Thank you for your generous work and goodwill. Our benefactor Lev N. Tolstoy would have been pleased because he, like you, emphasized that ‘The Kingdom of God is Within You’. 

At the same time, I know that continuity is a concern in the Society. We are not many, but we have the power of our heritage as well as the tools of cooperation and love to make things happen. We are the yeast for a new world of hope and peace. 

As I outlined in an earlier letter, I believe the time has come for the wider Saskatoon area Doukhobors to seriously consider the construction of a Doukhobor Peace Library and Museum on site connected by a corridor to the Doukhobor Community Home. Please explore this possibility for funding from local, provincial, national and international sources. This facility will not only be a record of the powerful innovations of our past ancestors, but it will provide a wonderful resource for both young and old, such as doing research, assisting students in making class presentations and in general serving as a Centre of Doukhobor Learning in North America. 

Re: Message to the Sunday sobranie in Saskatoon December 9, 2007 

Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters: 

As we gather for this festive Christmas Holiday Season and the New Year, let us give thanks for our bountiful harvest:

1. The accomplishments and gifts of the past year,
2. The joys of having old friends and meeting new ones,
3. The magic of our community to cooperate together in song, in work and in  outreach,
4. The commitment to build bridges of understanding,
5. The strength of the power of Love in our lives, and
6. The hope of our work in cultivating peace for all. 
   

We as Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors are gardeners who know the meaning of life and death. Our forefathers burnt their guns in 1895. As true pioneers, they have vividly and painfully plowed the path of love for us and the world’s children. We are the children of that noble and courageous heritage. Let’s not forget that. Let’s do our part to tenderly cultivate the soil and nurture the tender roots of wisdom to alleviate the struggling and ailing world. 

Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places in our global community are crying out for a helping hand. Let’s use our intelligence and our hearts. Guns, bombs, missiles, land mines, and the military industrial complex cannot guarantee us a caring nonkilling society. That is why we in this beautiful sobranie in Saskatoon cannot sit idly by and allow institutionalized atrocities to take place. We as the power of one group can make a difference.  

We are the carriers of the DNA of life. Let us remember this as we celebrate another year and give thanks for the joys and love that we have spread around the world.