Native Americans: Remembrance, Reconciliation and Restoration

My soul proclaims the greatness of God, My spirit rejoices in God my Creator; For the Creator of all has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and God’s name is holy. The Creator has mercy on those who fear God in every generation. And has shown us power, scattering the proud in their conceit. God has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. The Creator of all has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty. God has come to the help of the tribe of Israel, and has remembered his promise of mercy, The promise made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.

Mary said yes to God, although it meant that the life she knew, and the life her people had prepared her for was to be changed forever. She was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her and she said yes to God, knowing the consequences of her yes would tear at the fabric of her world. We know that her yes tore open the constraints of the fabric of the whole world, ushering in a new world incarnated in Christ. This was more than a clash of cultures; it was the beginning of a radical change. I would like to invite you to reflect with me on what it might mean for the Christian Church as we stand here in this year 2007, on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the settlers at Jamestown, now in present day Virginia. That moment in history was the beginning of what is now the Worldwide Anglican Communion, the first moment of Anglican mission overseas, and with it the world as it was known changed radically. It changed for those who traversed to America in those tiny ships and it changes forever for the people who welcomed and cared for those first settlers. I want to reflect on how we are called as Christian people to look back and remember how we were, and how our affirmations (and rejections) changed the world. I want also to reflect on the encounter of cultures and perspectives, and how we can begin the process of reconciliation and restoration in our time. My approach will be through the particular lens of Indigenous narrative, whereby the author explores and argues, not through a traditional academic or philosophical structure, but rather through a series of narratives (or stories) which help to clarify and explain through example, icon and symbol. Narrative reasoning is our traditional (native or indigenous) approach to pedagogical method and theological discourse.

In May of this year, I was asked to be the speaker for the Gathering of Tribes Unity Service in Virginia. It was held at Henricus, Virginia, the settlement where Pocahontas was baptized and later married to John Rolfe. The eight tribes of Virginia were represented there, along with the governor, local and state representatives as well as visitors from England and across the United States. They came to see a reenactment of the young woman who said yes to God, who took on the burden of moving into the future, with little control or insight into where it would all lead. She was a young woman who four hundred years ago stood at the difficult and painful intersection of culture and power. She stood at the cross roads where need and greed encountered warmth, welcome and home. Misunderstanding, confusion and desire faced off against curiosity and inclusion. At that historic moment of the birthplace of our church and nation, she answered the call to be the bridge between peoples and their Creator. She said yes to God, at great risk to herself and has been rejected by some of her people to this day. At this gathering, people were coming together to remember their past, but also to challenge us all as we face a future together which includes federal and local governments, tribes and churches across our nation and the world...