To live as a Native American is to live in the midst of the Spirit. Hundreds of tribes coexist in the United States, each with unique language, history and culture; each proudly claiming its identity as a sovereign nation. Yet, common threads wind through the spiritual inheritances of the many tribes. These threads are manifested in the ways Native-American people experience Creator God -- in what dominant society calls "spiritual disciplines."
A major source of spiritual communion for Native-American peoples is the rhythm and balance found within all of Creation. Although experienced differently by various tribes, these rhythms have inspired Native Americans in their search for spiritual meaning. Our peoples have always seen themselves as part of the infinite rhythm and balance that surround humankind. For example, the four winds, the four directions, the Sacred Circle, the sounds and symbols of nature have long served as foci for spiritual meditation and prayer.
The four seasons provide a good example of Native-American spiritual disciplines. For those whose values reflect dominant society, the rhythm and balance of the seasons -- turning back into itself, taking its tail into its mouth, like the Alpha and the Omega -- is lost. While dominant U.S. culture manuevers the seasons -- winter is for workshops and vacations to warm climates -- Native-American culture understands the seasons as an entree into God's all-encompassing Being. For Native Americans, the seasons reflect the very nature of God. They become the stimuli for movement into deeper relationship.
The green-corn dance, a ritual of thanksgiving common to many tribes in the southeastern United States, celebrates the rebirth and renewal of all that is around us. The fruits of the earth bear witness to the power of resurrection, and we see Christ Jesus rising like the phoenix from the ashes of winter. The worship experience known as the stomp dance, common to the Muscogee Creek, Cherokee and Seminole tribes, manifests the rhythm of nature in song, dance and symbol. Songs of worship in native languages are echoed between leaders and those who rhythmically stomp. The whoosh and shake of turtle-shell rattles worn around the ankles of the women provide a beat that becomes irresistible as it gives a sense of connection for the soul.
This same sense of connection iS experienced in the singing of native hymns in native languages. Always sung without accompaniment of instruments, the sound of these songs, even to those who no longer speak their native languages, takes on a meaning deeper than just the words themselves.
In singing these songs, slowly, rhythmically, we become part of the Sacred Circle of life. We are connected to the journey of those who came before us. Our responsibility to those who will follow comes alive.
The reality of the grace of God through Christ Jesus comes to life within our own voices as we relive the words that accompanied dragging steps and sorrowful hearts to unknown reservations and territories. These journeys, known in history books as "Trails of Tears," while part of our collective story, are not the story of our lives. Our songs, our stories and our ceremony reflect the Creator's promise of renewal -- the Sacred Circle of life.
This grace is what allows, then leads Native-American peoples to worship with the great, great grandchildren of those who preached genocide.
A second source of spiritual discipline comes from knowing that Creator God made everything in Creation to be interrelated. Historically, Native-American worship expresses a mutuality of honor, rejoicing and respect that is shared between all life forms. It includes the inanimate parts of Creation that support and accompany life, such as wind, fire, earth and rain. Hear these words of worship:
"Grandfather...Guide the people that they may be as blossoms on your holy tree, and make it flourish deep in Mother Earth and make it full of leaves and singing birds." -- Black Elk, Lakota
"We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us...to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water...to all herbs, which furnish medicine for the cure of our diseases ...to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and squashes, which give us life...and lastly, to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness...." -- Iroquois prayer
These prayers, recorded in the 1800s, reflect ancient voices of Native-American peoples experiencing God through the connectedness of all life. This same sense of relationship is found in the recently published United Methodist worship resource, Voices, an intertribal book of hymns and prayers, which is available from Cokesbury Bookstores.
Today's Native Americans, who often live apart from tribal lands in order to find employment, may be separated from our own tradition by language barriers, but we still seek the spiritual disciplines that have connected us across the centuries.
Young native peoples are reaching out to grasp the same sources of spiritual strength and renewal as did their ancestors. As they reach, they find modern-day manifestations of rhythm and relationship within the Medicine Wheel, which is a Native-American vision for the new millenium. It represents the four directions, the four colors of humanity, the Sacred Circle of life, our connection to nature through the eagle feather and the centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ. The Medicine Wheel represents what it means to be a Native American.
The Rev. Anita Phillips, a member of the Cherokee Tribe, is pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Hartshorne, Okla., and St. Paul United Methodist Church in Talihina, Okla. Both churches are in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.