Sermons

Part One: The Path of Courage – Indigenous People

READING ~ Ladder to the Light, An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage. By Steven Charleston. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021. P.2.
The spiritual resilience of North America’s indigenous peoples is legendary.  Our traditional religious practices were banned.  Our sacred objects were taken from us and either destroyed or put in museums as a curiosity for our conquerors.  Our families were scattered into diaspora.  Even our languages were forbidden.

But we are still here.  Our voice is still strong.  Our vision is unimpaired.  Native America knows something about resisting darkness.  It is what we have been doing for more than five hundred years.
 

TALK ~ The Path of Courage – Indigenous People

Survive                      Speak                        Sustain
Suddenly, something just upstream caught Molly’s eye. Someone was walking on the snow-covered ice. She squinted to bring the figure into focus. No, there were three people. Three women silhouetted against the snowscape in the late afternoon sun. She watched them make their way downstream in her direction. They were dressed alike, each wearing a traditional peaked cap and clutching a heavy blanket around her shoulders. But each had a distinct way of walking. One moved with fluid grace, one with long strong strides, and one had a rather fitful but stalwart gait. As they passed by, leaving footprints in the river, she knew they were her three Mollies. They were talking with one another, and she could just make outs some of their words: “Nothing done for love is wasted…. It enlarges the heart …. On the strength of such feelings, we go on.” At that moment, Molly Dellis saw that these Wabanaki foremothers were her examples of true strength after all. They were her spirit guides. They may not have defined their circumstances, but they fought against being defined by them. Although they were robbed of much that was dear, they never surrendered their dignity, their moral centers, their souls. There was, after all, something that could not be taken – spiritual freedom, the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any situation.   
~ Molly Dellis “Molly Spotted Elk” (Mary Alice Nelson Archembaud) in Women of the Dawn by Bunny McBride. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. 1999. (page 129).

The courage of Native Americans is remarkable.

By some accounts, Indigenous peoples have lived in this land for 10 to 11 thousand years —  maybe more.  When Europeans came to this continent, intent on bringing both land and people under their control, the Wabanaki people accommodated the newcomers, then suffered and perished almost to extinction in 500 years.

But, they did not disappear.  They are still here. Despite the most  ruthless treatment by settlers and colonizers, Wabanki people walk this land and live with all their non-human relations in a small parcel of their ancestral home.

I will not detail the specifics of the many horrors native people suffered at the hands of white settlers. It would take too long and I suspect none of us could endure the pain of a full recitation of the systematic and prolonged efforts by explorers, settlers, missionaries and the United States government to wipe from the face of Earth all trace of this continent’s indigenous people.

I do, however, think you know the basics.

Slaughter of whole communities.

Illness – smallpox and alcohol only being two.

Rape and forced marriage of native women.

Torture for practicing native spirituality.

Forced removal of children from their families and incarceration in distant boarding schools for the purpose of “killing the Indian to save the man.”

Declaring languages, music, art, customs, spiritual practices, and traditional hunting, fishing and agriculture illegal.

Forced changes of name from native tribal names to European names.

The wholesale stealing of native land and forced relocation to land unknown by the native people.

OK, that’s enough, yes?

In 1600 there were tens of thousands of Wabanaki people in this part of Turtle Island.

In 1900 – fewer than 1,000 remained.

Now, Maine has about 23,000 native residents.

Let me say again, the courage of Native Americans is remarkable.

The forces that sought to destroy them did not and will not succeed.

Many critical and necessary factors have contributed to the survival and continuing strength of Native Americans.

Their Path of Courage continues.

I want to mention three things that are important to their continuing presence among us and to our understanding of their courage.

The courage to survive.  Survival for Native people in the face of the extreme violence and prejudice brought to this land by colonizers and then settlers is not only surprising, it is near miraculous.

Wars, disease, loss of land, kidnapping and torture, loss of their name, culture, religion, and identity could not wipe out the Native people across this land.

The will to survive under the most horrible conditions remains a necessity and a strength.

The courage to speak.  The trauma of losing names, culture, language – really everything familiar – rendered too many voiceless and silent.  Now – people are speaking.  They are finding their voices.  They are telling the facts of their lives and the lives of their ancestors.  These are hard stories.  Devastating truths.  For healing to continue, the people must speak.  In speaking aloud everything they have endured, the negative energy may possibly dissipate and health may return and take root.

The courage to sustain.  The languages, almost lost, are coming back into use, as are native names. Ancient spiritual knowledge, wisdom and practices are once again being practiced and passed on to the next generation. The commitment to reciprocity is strong and creation is healing.

Keep these factors – the will to Survive, the ability to Speak, and the determination to Sustain – in your minds and hearts as we turn toward the Path of Courage for non-Native people.  You and me.

I’ll conclude this first part of today’s Path of Courage with words from Native American Elder and Episcopal priest, Steven Charleston:
When things were at their worst for my ancestors, when the political and social fabric of their nation was being torn apart, when many of the things they relied on were being taken away, when their history seemed out of their own control: that is when my elders embodied their deepest values. They did not have wealth or power. But they did have one another and together they had faith. That is what got them through the hardest times: their sense of being related and their belief in the Spirit. They teach us all that nothing can overcome us if we are united and faithful.
 

Part Two: The Path of Courage – Non-Indigenous People

 READING ~ A White Paper in the Spirit of a Red Paper “How to Be an Ally to Indigenous Peoples” Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Inc. PO Box 4569, Arcata, CA 95518, USA. 2017. Written by Alice Woodworth, Joe Hessenius, and Joe Parker.
An ally is: “[A] person who is a member of the dominant or majority group who works to end oppression in their (personal and professional) life through support of, and as an advocate for, the oppressed population … Allies seek to disrupt and dismantle oppression in all its forms, even when doing so could jeopardize one’s own position of relative comfort and security. Allies cannot self-define as such, but must be claimed by the group one strives to be an ally to.”
www.unsettlingminnesota.org .  (p. 42)
 

TALK ~ “The Path of Courage for Non-Indigenous People”

Receive                     Relinquish                Restore Right Relations

What about the Path of Courage for Non-Indigenous People?  What is our path?  Our path is one of becoming allies.  To be a good ally, we must develop and practice three kinds of courage ourselves.

First, we must Receive.  Their courage is to speak the truth of their experience.   Our courage is to receive all that is spoken with respect and honor.  There are difficult truths – to be told and to be received.  It is surely easy for me to advise us to be willing and respectful receivers of what is spoken, but as one who has been present during the telling of the stories of our close neighbors – the Wabanaki – I can attest to the fact that it is not easy to hear these things.  There is heart-wrenching trauma that lives with our neighbors every day.  Our ancestors perpetrated horrible acts of violence and genocide.

We ourselves have inherited their trauma, but it is nothing compared to the trauma carried by generations of Native people.

In order for reconciliation and healing to progress, they must speak and we must receive their words with an open heart and honest intentions.

Secondly, we must demonstrate the courage to Relinquish. We must be willing to give up some, or perhaps most, of the unearned inherited power and privilege that comes with being white and descended from settlers and colonizers.  As allies, we must be about the business of dismantling oppression in all its forms  – – –  even when doing so could jeopardize our own position of relative comfort and security.  (How To Be an Ally)  We will not cease to exist; we will not fall into extreme poverty, sickness and isolation as Native Americans did and sometimes continue to do.

And third, we must follow the Path of Courage toward Restoring Right Relations.  Part of practicing Right Relations is working to establish the principle of reciprocity with all aspects of life and creation.  There must be a balance and a giving back with the taking of what we need to live on this planet and among 8 billion people.  The people near by who are leading in this effort are the Wabanaki people – and they need our hearts and minds and bodies working alongside.  Not leading.  Not having the ‘better answers.’  Not putting our needs and desires above the needs of others.  There is every reason why people of white privilege are not trusted by Indigenous people. It will require courage and patience and dedication on the part of all who share this planet and share a history of life on Turtle Island to build trust and restore right relations.

We can do this hard work.  It must be intentional work.  We cannot lead the healing path, but we can engage our own healing in the process of coming into right relationships so that healing may extend beyond the personal and embrace the whole of life.

Specifically, we can learn about what Wabanaki Reach is doing to engage native and non-native people in deeper understanding.  We can ask Wabanaki Reach to lead us as we go forward together.  We can learn about the specifics of the legal actions Wabanaki people need to accomplish for their own well-being and sovereignty and we can actively support and advocate for those efforts.  We can respect the lived experiences of Indigenous people and validate their experience even though it may be greatly uncomfortable.

When the world is hurting and out of balance, we are called back into right relations by the wisdom keepers, the elders, the prophets, the ones who have been here for thousands of years.  In our own religious tradition, the prophets called the people back into right relationship.  Micah called his contemporaries back when they strayed with now familiar words that were true in the 8th century BCE and they are true now.  What, O mortal one, is required of you but to establish justice, to practice kindness, and to walk in humility with the Divine and each other.

Again, I will conclude this part of our time with the Path of Courage for Non-Native People with wisdom from Steven Charleston.
I have made my choice. I know where I stand. I believe the power of love will outlast every evil the world has ever imagined. When all the empires of Earth are laid low in the dust of time, love will still be there, still growing in every human heart, still holding humanity up to breathe the clean air of mercy. I have made my pledge. I will remain in the community of faith, in the company of others who treasure life as a sacred gift, who work for peace and practice justice. I have made up my mind. I am sure that truth will prevail and compassion will overcome indifference. My vow is forever: I put my trust in the Spirit.
May we each put our trust in the Spirit of Love and Reconciliation as we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day tomorrow. And may we continue to do so every day.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.