Twenty-eight United Methodist women of Native American heritage gathered on February 24-27 in Baltimore for a consultation on wellness. The women affirmed the rich spiritual resources of their native traditions and Christian faith as they created an informal network of caring communities among themselves. The consultation had as its theme, "God, I am on Vacation!" and was sponsored by the Native American and Indian Ministries of the General Board of Global Ministries.

Leading the opening worship, the Rev. Tweedy Sombrero pointed out that in the Navajo tradition sand painting is used as a part of healing ceremonies. The medicine man creates the sand painting on a blanket inside a house, and the person who is sick sits on it as prayers are spoken and sung. The person is urged to think of being well and becoming well, releasing his or her ailments into the sand.

Before sunrise, this person and the medicine man walk to a place where the latter shakes the sand out of the blanket. The person watches as the sand falls on the earth, then walks back with the medicine man and waits for him to put the blanket away. After that, they both proceed to the top of a hill where the person sits and receives prayers of blessing for wellness from the medicine man.

Native American traditions are full of rituals for healing. Drawing links between her Navajo heritage and her Christian faith, Sombrero highlighted Jesus' concern for the sick. Taking the gospel story about the woman with the flow of blood, Sombrero compared the woman's desire to touch Jesus' garment with the act of throwing out the sand from the blanket. She held up as acts of faith both the woman's impulse to touch and the Navajo ritual of watching the sand being thrown onto the ground.

Sombrero, who is the first Native American woman to be ordained clergy in The United Methodist Church, stressed the necessity in both traditions of establishing a spiritual foundation which she referred to as "soulistic health." At the close of the consultation, she spoke about the promise of the Holy Spirit to empower people of all nations. "Let us use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be well, and to go out and teach others to be well," she said.

In small group workshops, the women analyzed the challenges and issues that confront Native American communities, and determined ways in which churches could help. According to Ms. Melba Checote Eads, a member of the Creek tribe, Native people are still suffering from the trauma of forced removal that the United States government instituted in the 1820s trauma that manifests itself in the high incidence of alcoholism, child abuse, child neglect, and violence in these communities.

"But healing can come from within us, too," Eads told her group. "There is a big movement to pray for the land. This land is our mother. And we are the indigenous people of this land."

Eads also acknowledged that there has been a division between Native and Christian traditions, and argued, "There is no reason why we have to separate ourselves." The Rev. Marion Moore-Colgan, a Mohawk, further enhanced the concept of claiming one's Native roots while affirming the Christian faith, as she reflected on the concept of "inner peace" in the Bible and its coherence with Native beliefs. "The rhythm of the land reminds us of our sacred linkage to our God," she said, lifting Psalms 85:8-13 and its reference to God speaking peace to the people.

The rhythm of the consultation itself echoed the sacredness of the ties that the women developed among themselves as they collected soda tabs for someone's fundraising project, unwanted hotel toiletries for someone else's ministry to the homeless, and crafts materials for an outreach ministry. Consistent with the consultation theme, they tried out various stress reduction techniques and explored their creativity in making banners, Easter ornaments, and sweatshirt designs. "Women's wisdom" bubbled and overflowed as some participants gave testimonies of how mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and elder women of the tribes empowered and gave them support.

In a meditation focusing on "honoring ourselves," Ms. Diana LaRocque used scripture references, self-help principles, and "survival kits" with prayer cloths, sand paper, rubber bands, and other objects to represent various spiritual resources accessible to those who seek God's help. Emphasizing how Native people tend to be good listeners, Ms. Anne Marshall facilitated a workshop on women as peacemakers, focusing on a process of conflict resolution that could assure each party in conflict a certain sense of "winning."

But for Ms. Cynthia Kent, executive secretary for Native American and Indigenous Ministries of the GBGM, the most important thing was the creation of a community of gifted, skilled, and talented women who have learned to trust each other and can now serve as resources for one another.

"The consultation gave an arena for people to talk to each other. My office will be a conduit of information and resources for them, but these women who are developing their own leadership skills are going to set their own agenda when they return to their conferences and jurisdictions," Kent said. Projecting that jurisdictional events involving the consultation participants will be held in 2001, followed by a national gathering in 2002, Kent added, "I will be assisting them in whatever direction they want to go."

April 11, 2000

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