“Worshiping the Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

“Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

Presented by Rev. Kristen Lowe on 6/24/2018 At Crossroads United Methodist Church Waunakee, WI

Scripture: Luke 18: 9-14 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Matthew 5: 14-16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

A few minutes ago, the children received a gift in their bags. The gift is a native American medicine wheel. Native Americans developed the concept of the medicine wheel to illustrate their belief that life is a circle—from birth to death to rebirth—and to act as a guide to understanding self, creation, and their duties. Everything within the wheel is interrelated, and the goal is that these interconnected elements are in balance with each other. Important ceremonies always take place within a circle. “Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

Four is a significant number within Native Spirituality—four directions, four winds, four seasons, four elements, and so forth. Hence, the wheel has four quadrants, which move in a clockwise direction because that is the sun’s direction. There are numerous interpretations and uses of the wheel, As we share in this circle with others, we are asking the Creator, the healer, to heal us. We see the medicine wheel in many different forms, and the creativity expressed in a medicine wheel is a reflection of the artist who is putting themselves into the creation. As we look at the medicine wheel there are four distinct colors. Red, black, white and yellow. Again, many different meanings for the directions and colors. Sometimes they are decorated with beads or yarn or feathers. Today, you get to decorate your own medicine wheel to keep. And… you’ll notice what is in the center of the medicine wheel…. A cross.

Three years ago I had the rare privilege of taking my theological courses in a fully Native American immersive context. The people I met and the experiences I had have changed me forever. AS we celebrate Native American Sunday, I’d like to share a bit about why I am passionate about this mission. The Native American Course of Study is small and intimate. The same seminary courses are studied, but through a native American lens and with students who speak different languages. Among my colleagues were a Shawnee decendent, an Inupiaq elder and a Navajo spiritual leader. Each of these pastors would bring their own rich traditions, share prayers in their native languages and offered perspective from their experiences. What I’ve come away with is a deeper walk with the Holy Spirit (Kitchimanitou), new ways to look at the world and a sincere appreciation for the plight of our Native American brothers and sisters. I learned a lot about the history of this people that was not taught in school. “Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

One of my brothers, Norman Mark, grew up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico in the 1950s. It was a conflicting and challenging time for Norman. When I began classes with him he spoke very little. But, his spirituality was deep and evident. He became the group’s spiritual leader, sanctifying our space with sage, playing his flute as an honor to God and opening the circle for worship. I realized quickly that he had a call to pastoral ministry with his gentle ways, but would never have survived Seminary with all of it’s reading and paper writing because of the language barrier. Norman came from a home that was steeped in tradition and only spoke the Navajo language. At age 5, he was taken from his family and placed in a Navajo boarding school. It was there that Norman said he first learned about religion. He was introduced to a Cold, distant and unapproachable God who saw him as Indian and therefore not Christian and certainly not containing a soul that could experience everlasting life.“They told him that he was a new creature in Christ and he couldn’t go back to the old ways ,“No more eagle fan, no more flute or drum, no singing, no more sage, no more of my culture.” They even took his Navajo name in order to save his soul. This was typical. Most Native Americans who are 55 or older remember.

“Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

Between 1869 and the 1960s as many as 100,000 Native American children were removed from their homes, families and communities and taken to schools where they were punished for speaking their native languages and stripped of cultural practices and traditions. This reminds me very much of the pharisees from our scripture who were determined that their way of worshiping God was the only way and that they were better than others. But, you remember the tax collector shares a simple and humble prayer. His light shines brighter.

Charlie Brower, who you saw in the video, shares his story: He says, “ I was once known as 74, not Charley Brower, not Asiaqnataq (my Inupiaq name), not even "Hey You." I was sent to Wrangell Institute in Wrangell, Alaska, about a thousand miles from my home in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow, Alaska) as a 10-year-old to finish my primary education. All my clothes and everything I owned were marked with 74. I was assigned a bunk in a room of eight children from several communities throughout Alaska. Kids similar in age, all of us away from homes of caring families, and most of all away from the cultures that cared and taught us to survive. My mother died while I was still adjusting to the Wrangell Institute; I could not go home for her funeral.

Charlie and Norman are just two of the hundreds of thousands of children who went through this. And they survived. Many did not. And, as a result many boarding school survivors struggle with fitting into the cultures they come from. “Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

 Some find 'peace' in a bottle.  Some find 'goodwill' in substance abuse with friends.  Some find 'a life' attempting suicide. All struggle with this 'peace, goodwill, and life' in attempts to fit in. To fit into a society they lived in, but culturally do not belong in. Or to fit into a culture they were born into but never learned. Native Americans could not be both culturally genuine and Christian at the same time. They were told that the two were contradictory. He says that until we in churches understand this group of survivors and their offspring, we cannot offer them meaningful ways of becoming disciples for the transformation of their world. This is where being open to learning about Native American spirituality is important. This is where our culture went really wrong. The missionaries did mission to the Indians. Not with them.

Your giving to Native American Sunday makes it possible for people like Norman and Charlie, who live in poverty stricken areas and who may have language barriers, to answer their calling into pastoral ministry and then go serve in or start a Native American church where they can help heal others, integrate their culture and their spirituality – which is still fairly new, and make new disciples.

“Worshiping The Great Spirit” Native American Ministries Sunday 2018

I believe I’ve learned more from my circle than they have learned from me. The circle is family. It is deeper than family. In a circle all are equal. We look into each other’s faces when we speak. We are able to see all who are in the circle. And the circle can be ever widened. It is about God’s infinite love that has no beginning and no end. It is about being open to all kinds of ways to worship the Great Spirit. Amen!