As B mentioned, I shifted this week
from full-time to part-time. And as
I shifted into that, I took some of the extra time I had this week to search in
the wilderness, like the crowd Jesus is talking to in today’s gospel.
In my searching I found: prayer and
ceremony, holy ground, and sacred work.
The wilderness I went to was in
what we know as North Dakota. A
colleague of mine in the Presbyterian Church and I left on Wednesday night and
travelled through the night to Standing Rock. We went for different reasons and the same reason. We went because we felt God calling us
to be with the people gathered at Standing Rock.
We didn’t go with great expectations
of overthrowing something. We didn’t go with much of an idea of what we would
find. We read up and we did our
homework, but mostly we went knowing we would camp, probably in the snow. And both of us were grateful for
it. And we brought it back just
for you. I know, my gift for you.
We went and when we got there, we
arrived in the morning and we had an orientation and they had a couple meetings
and gatherings to help people who were recent arrivals. They’ve had such an influx, that they
do this every day to help people figure out what it means to be at Oceti
Sakowin Camp.
And the orientation began, as all
of the gatherings that we had did, with prayer. They invited any of the Lakota, Dakota, or Nakota Elders who
were there to share a prayer if they wanted. And if they didn’t, then they opened it up to any indigenous
elders, and then people of color, and then anyone to share a prayer to both
begin and end our time together.
But it wasn’t just that we prayed
at the beginning and at the end.
There were signs up everywhere and the message that was repeated over
and over again, is that we were there for prayer and ceremony. So often in the news we talk about
Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline and we think that it’s all this
political thing and there’s conflict and there’s violence and nonviolence and
everybody is so tense and wound up.
But that’s not what’s happening at the camps.
The entire place is a place of
prayer and ceremony, so when we went to meetings, we were going to meetings
that were prayers. There were two fires
set up in our camp that were Sacred Fires that burned continuously. And there was a person for each who
guarded the fire and tended it. We
offered tobacco and sage and sweetgrass.
We gathered around to sing, to pray. There were drum circles.
People came from all over and brought
things. Brought their own
struggles and brought their own prayers.
And we worked. We worked in prayer, so that when we
were moving donations around in the kitchen and organizing, it was prayer. So that when we were stacking wood and
clearing the snow off of it, so that it would be ready to use for the Sacred
Fire when it needed to be refueled, it was prayer.
When we were doing dishes in the
kitchen and doing the roll your sleeves up with wet hands dance, it was
prayer. Everything we did was prayer.
While we were there, there was a
group that did do a direct action, in addition to simply being present as a
direct action.
The Morton County Sherriff’s
department had put out a list of donations that they were requesting. At the top of the list were thoughts
and prayers and then it had disposable plates and silverware, snacks to eat,
handwarmers, those sorts of things.
The Indigenous Environmental Network and the Indigenous Peoples Power
Project put out a statement
before going, and they said, “The Oceti Sakowin camp is a prayer camp, and a
resilient, self-sufficient community. The camp is full of abundance-- in
spirit, in humanity, and in resources. Oceti Sakowin has enough to share.
Generosity is an original teaching for the Lakota.”
So they went to the Morton County
Sherriff’s department and they prayed for the sherriff’s department and they
gave them what they had requested on their donations list.
I’ve never understood what 1
Thessalonians means when it says, “16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
That was what I learned there. I’m sure I learned more and will find
more things in the days and weeks to come, but we really and truly prayed
without ceasing there.
We prayed when we gathered in the
morning before the sun was up, before we could see anything except the lights
from the sherriff’s department shining on us.
We gathered and sang songs and
prayed. There was smudging. And then we had a water ceremony and we
lifted up the water that is life.
Something that we know about as Christians—this water that is life. This water that is infused with God’s
presence and God’s Spirit. For us,
we claim this most clearly in the waters of Baptism.
As water pours over beloved
children of God, claiming them in full and abundant love. So we lifted up this water
together—water from what we know as the Canonball River and water that people
had brought from their own homes.
We lifted it up and we shared it.
And then we went to the river together. And as we went, we sang water songs. We would occasionally pause to declare
that “Water is life. Mni Waconi. Agua es vida.” In the language of the people
present, we declared that water is life.
We went to the river and offered
tobacco and prayers at the water’s edge and we sang more songs and we prayed
more prayers. And as we sang and
as we prayed, the sun came up over the hill across the water and we gave thanks
for the sun, which we hadn’t seen since we had arrived.
It reminded me of our reading from
Isaiah: “1The wilderness and the dry land shall
be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; … waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the
desert; … the ransomed of the Sovereign
shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
As we returned, we gave a ride to
someone who was ultimately heading to Philadelphia. They joined us as far as Minneapolis. As we were going back and reflecting on
our time, she asked a question that had come up throughout our time from a
variety of people. “how do we
continue to do everything in prayer and ceremony as we’re leaving Standing Rock?”
It is my question. It is my prayer.
How do we come here and shovel the
snow as prayer? Sing songs as
prayer? Cook food, clean food,
clean bathrooms as prayer? To
drive as prayer—and not just the kind that’s afraid of going off the road in snowy
icy snowy weather? To work as
prayer?
To know that everywhere we go and
everything we do is prayer and ceremony.
The ground we are standing on is holy sacred ground. Not because we make it so, but because
God made it so when God created all that is.
And so, as we move into this
week. As we move through Advent,
especially, and into Christmas, my prayer for you is that your life, your
waking, your sleeping, your moving, your resting, may be prayer and ceremony as
well.
Amen.
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For more information, please visit the following links:
On the decision by the Army Corp of Engineers not to grant an easement: http://standwithstandingrock.net/standing-rock-sioux-tribes-statement-u-s-army-corps-engineers-decision-not-grant-easement/
On more information, including a link to Transfer Energy Partners' response: http://sacredstonecamp.org/blog/2016/12/2/obama-administration-denies-final-easement-whats-next
For information on the camp we stayed at: http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org/
For more information on Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline: http://standwithstandingrock.net/
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