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Chief Seattle, discrimination, humanity, immigrants, indigenous people, spirituality, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
In the United States, today has been traditionally celebrated (since 1892) as Columbus Day. This title was adopted as such at a time when Italian immigrants were vilified and faced religious and ethnic discrimination, notably in the year after a mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans by a mob in New Orleans. Over the years there has been a rising of challenge, not for the representation of the people who came to the United States searching for safety and acceptance in their new home but about the man, Christopher Columbus, who led the expedition to this “New World” but who, ironically, had never set foot in this country; Columbus anchored in the Bahamas! (npr.org)
In a growing trend, over 100 cities, towns and counties in 10 states across the country including this year the D.C. Council of the nation’s capital, are celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In 1992, speaking about the growing shift, Loni Hancock, then mayor of Berkeley, California (the first U.S. City to switch), said the following:
“I think that to fully understand and take responsibility for who we are as a people in this land made it very important to be clear about who was here and reflect on what happened in our history after that, in terms of the displacement and oftentimes genocide of those people. How that might have reflected a general discounting of the history and the humanity of non-white people of many kinds in this country and to take responsibility for our history.” (npr.org)
May this trend continue to take hold across our land as we open ourselves to the deep spirituality of our Native brothers and sisters in the manner of Chief Seattle who said:
“All things share the same breath – the beast, the tree, the man…the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports…” and “Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
The beginning of a new week is always a good time to take a breath and see what lies ahead. That task presupposes a look at the calendar to be sure we have noted all the “goings-on” and the preparation necessary for each event. I’m reminded of that practice by the first line from this morning’s psalm that prays: Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. (PS 90:12) The first clause of that sentence sounds like the necessity of knowing what day and date it is (something that escapes me sometimes lately) but the second clause adds a goal to the “numbering.” It implies good time management but also good choices about how we are spending the time that we have.
Last evening I went to the Baccalaureate worship service for graduating seniors of the high school where I spent my first thirteen years as a teacher. It took place in the largest church in our area. (We used to call it “The Stardust Ballroom” because seating is in the round and there is recessed lighting throughout – a very “modern” venue in the 1970s.) Although the population of the school has diminished greatly over the years, the church was quite crowded with families that probably included some of my students who are now celebrating their grandchildren’s commencement. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the service which ran like clockwork and included excellent (and brief) speakers for welcoming and thanking those in attendance, great lectors and beautiful music suitable to the youth but also very reverent. Two of the musical selections, solos by members of the class, were actually jaw-dropping. The first was a lovely young lady with a voice bigger than she was and then a young man, accompanied by a great cellist from his class, who sang the traditional and well-loved Latin hymn, Panis angelicus, which reached the entire church simply by the power of his voice. I was told that he has received a full scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music.
This early rising time – 5:20 again this morning – seems a throwback to when I was first in the convent! At issue now, however, is the fact that I wake up at this time after only five or six hours of sleep (when my “normal” is eight) and am not able to go back for more rest, which has serious consequences later in the day. With my coffee just now I decided to make a list of important things not to forget for today and tomorrow. No wonder I’ve already entered a mental marathon! Within about three minutes I had 25 things on my list! They aren’t all very time-consuming, but still…
This afternoon I am scheduled to be guest speaker to a Women’s Group of about 15 to 20 people. In discussing a topic, the contact person said the members are always interested in information about resources in the community and that perhaps I ought to talk about our spirituality center. In writing up a “blurb” about the proposed topic, I titled it The Spiritual Side of Life. I’ve been thinking about it off and on for the past month and have had some difficulty settling on how to frame the topic. I realized yesterday that my thesis sentence would have to be something about the fact that there are no sides! Spiritual is who and what we are, spiritual beings in physical form, “made in the image and likeness of God.”
I had the privilege once of meeting Oren Lyon, the Native American “Faithkeeper” of the Onondaga Nation who lives just south of the city of Syracuse, New York about 80 miles from my home. I was pleasantly surprised that Alan Cohen wrote today about the role of “Faithkeeper” as it is embodied by Oren Lyon and others like him. This person in the tribe consistently holds the higher vision, having been designated to be the voice of hope, an inspiration to remember the bigger picture when others forget it. Cohen remarks that “each of us needs to be a Faithkeeper. When others around us go into fear or confusion, we serve best by remembering the light and holding peace.” When in the presence of Oren Lyon, it was easy to sense what this means and why he holds such a designation for his people.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 