LIBERATION LECTIONARY ~ NATIVE HERITAGE MONTH

“Sometimes the stories wait for you to begin” - Kenzie Allen

Still Our Stories

Daily Readings from Philippians 3

Sunday Philippians 3.1 “Further, my dear siblings, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”

Monday Philippians 3.3 “We are the sign of the Covenant. We worship God in the Spirit. We rejoice only in Jesus Christ, and we put no confidence in material things.”
Tuesday Philippians 3.7-9 ​​”But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as useless, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

Wednesday Philippians 3.10-11 “Now I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Thursday Philippians 3.12-14 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Friends, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and striving forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Friday Philippians 3.15-16 “Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

Saturday Philippians 3.18-21 “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the Gospel. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Meditation & Prayer

First Nations Reading of the Word

This Native Heritage Month we are reading from the book of Philippians. We recommend reading it in the First Nations Version of the New Testament. For our meditation practice this week, we are reading the First Nations version of Romans 8. Here is a section of that chapter for your meditation time.

“But there is hope, for Creator has a plan to restore human beings. Then all of creation will share in the freedom of the life of beauty and harmony given to all of Creator’s children. It is plain to see that all creation is still groaning in pain like a mother giving birth. And even we who have first tasted of the Spirit are groaning on the inside, as we wait for Creator to finish the purpose for which he took us into his family, by giving us our new bodies that will never die.”

“In all these things, Creator is working to bring good to the ones who love him, the ones he chose according to ancient purpose. The Great Spirit chose them, invited them, set them right with him and gave them a life that shines with beauty and honor”

“What more can be said? If Creator stands with us, who can stand against us? If the Great Spirit did not hold back his own Son, but instead gave him up for us all, will he then hold back on anything else?”

“What could come between us and the power of this kind of love? Could times of sorrow and suffering do it? How about not having enough food to eat or clothes to wear? What about danger from weapons and warfare?” "“One thing I know for sure. Nothing can separate us from Creator’s love. Not death or life. Not spirit messengers or dark spirit rulers. Nothing from the spirit world above or on the earth below. Nothing today or in the days to come. Not one thing in all creation can separate us from Creator’s great love, a love that is ours in the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free, Our Honored Chief!”

- Small Man to the Sacred Family in the Village of Iron

Poem: But We Are Still Here

The babies on our backs can’t know what’s left behind. The muddy shores where quahogs wait to be pried from their mooring, the forests of home no longer home. 

It’s earth you walk on, lined with greed. It’s just history—if you bleed on it, it’s yours. It’s just land, so walk on it. It’s just a neck, so walk on that, too.

But you who freedom-yearn, on the Edge of the Woods we welcome. We wipe your eyes of the long walk dust, that you may see the generations ahead. We offer safe passage, though Turtle’s back is shrinking, still.

We protect the water, what remains, because we, too, know thirst—and endure.

Kenzie Allen, Descendant of Oneida Nation Wisconsin, Recipient of the James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets.

Discussion: 

“The babies on our backs… home no longer home” in Kenzie Allen’s poem, is this possibly a reference to droves of nations carrying their children, food rations and a few personal items as they are forced to leave their lands?

Can you imagine? All you can take with you is what fits on your back and in your hands. How would you endure? How can the dwellers and invaders of Native lands be respectful of the people who have true rights to the places we call home?

What if our stories began with the powerful love of Creator, that nothing can separate us from? How would our interactions change - with family, strangers, friends, the known and unknown of our lives? How has the Holy Spirit shifted your story? How does God’s love shape your story’s intersections with creation? Do you love the world as God so loves it?

What does that love look like in your actions?

Artwork by Birungi Kawooya