Musing from a spiritual Navajo Elder

Musing from a spiritual Navajo Elder Musing from a Richard Silversmith, an emeritus pastor who lives on the Navajo Nation reservation.

Navajo clans are Water-Flows-Together, Towering House and Towering House People, Badlands People. Columnists for Do justice,

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Do Justice is a conversation starter for justice in the Christian Reformed Church. Together we're finding new ideas and perspectives, sharing better ways to engage in justice work, remembering our motivation, and growing our faith.

02/11/2025

I attended one of the seven national events of the Canada Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) held between 2007 and 2015. I listened to many of the Witnesses in the Talking Circles that shared at the events who were part of the Indian Residential Schools (TRC) Settlement Agreement. First, the (TRC) Settlement Agreement was intended to be a process in which Canadians were guided through the difficult pained discovery of the facts behind the residential school system. Secondly, the TRC was also meant to lay the foundation for lasting reconciliation across Canada.
I remember the story of an Honorary Elder Indian Residential School survivor who shared his healing experiences in a Talking Circles. What this elder said was profound and mystifying and I could not comprehend his story; however, only after contemplating his parable over the years about his words, please allow me to try and interpret what was this elder’s connotation.
The elder was sharing about his experience in a Canadian sweat lodge that “he was talking to other Indigenous elders inside their South America sweat lodge.”
I thought, did he and the South American Indigenous elder communicate via cell phones in their steamy hot sweat lodge?
First what is a sweat lodge? A sweat lodge is an ancient purification ritual that is practiced across various Indigenous cultures and can be a temporary or permanent structure characteristic to Indigenous culture and frequently used in spiritual ceremonies. The sweat lodge is often a low, dome-shaped structure, which is made of mud or cloth, depending on the culture. The inside the structure are heated hot rocks which produces steam when water is poured on them, raising the temperature to induce heavy sweating among participants, either or both male and female. It is a physical and spiritual cleansing. What makes a sweat lodge different from a salon day & steam sauna is the element of prayer.
Back to my story. This is my interpretation of what was said inside the sweat lodge by the elder to all the youth of the world. What would a wise elder say after many years of experience wisdom? What messages would a person have for the youths in today’s world?
I think that what I am trying to convey with the Canadian elder and other world Indigenous elders is a message to our youth is a collective prophetic voice that foretells the similar messages of the moral, climate and is of spiritual significance.
We are all witnessing a prophesy that we were foretold generations ago, by our ancestors through oral narratives, dances, or songs.
They and I are in unison in that we currently are at a crossroad and a change, a new age and new cycle, where our society is out of balance with spirituality. That worldly materialism is blinding us and our children to our own spiritual poverty.

What we are all saying to today’s youth that in their fruitless attempt to find meaning outside of God, that there is also an implication of imbalance.

That in a spiritual dimension, there is an emptiness that lessens our Creator’s influence on advocacy for restorative justice, climate change that includes global warming, education justice, Inter-Generational trauma, and political and economic inequality.

I think the counsel from most elders to the youth is that if there is no change in the traditional values such as ethics, moral’s, spirituality and faith, then increasingly we will be at odds when the attraction of progress, individualism, material comfort, cultural chaos and moral disintegration takes over more and more.

Such conditions are the inevitable outcomes of the choices we make which is deliberate to satisfy our self-interest instead of our shared interests.

If we are to understand and improve Indigenous wellbeing in the world, listen to elders experiences and knowledge that bringing in outsiders does not lead to long term solutions - these can only come from within communities, who need to own and control their own path to socioeconomic directives.
Premises such as community empowerment, the strengthening of cultural identity, maintenance of Indigenous languages, culturally appropriate Christianity, bi-cultural education; these human rights are what our people have been advocating for decades and for good reason.
It is with prayer that the Holy People will be able to guide our thoughts and planning into the right direction, not only as Indigenous but as people of Mother Earth.
Choctaw elder and retired Episcopal bishop Steven Charleston explains how Indigenous elders carry the wisdom of the past in service of the present and future:
“Elders are a people of the future. My culture respects the elders not only because of their wisdom, but because of their determination. The elders are tough. They have survived many struggles and many losses. Now, as they look ahead to another generation, they are determined that their sacrifices will not have been in vain, that their children’s children will not grow up in a world more broken than the one they sought to repair. The elders are voices of justice. They are champions for the earth. They defend the conscience of the community. We follow the elders because they have a passion for tomorrow. They are people of the future, not the past.”
I pray that the Indigenous youth would awaken to their greatest potential and that we would unite across cultures in this time for the sake of life on earth.
Indigenous youth often face challenges between maintaining their Indigenous roots and pursuing education and employment in cities. Youth have much to contribute to the world as empowered individuals with a profound understanding of their Indigenous identity and cultural heritage. Despite challenges, Indigenous youth can become resilient and powerful when they have a strong cultural identity.
I do not know if the Honorary Elder Indian Residential School survivor intended to communicate this or I am hearing the words of world Indigenous elders on what they are saying and hearing the rough context in which they say it.

08/07/2024

Last year I attended a Jemez Pueblo Feast Days where Traditional dances are a celebration of ancient indigenous traditions, heritage, and a commemoration of Catholic saints.

Feast days include dances, cultural events, food, arts and crafts booths. Each dance tells a different story and serves a distinctive purpose. Every dance is considered a prayer, not a presentation, and outsiders like me, are privileged to witness them.

When the Spanish came to the New Mexico area in the 1500s, they brought with them their Roman Catholic religion. Missionaries travel to this new territory to bring their faith to the Native American peoples living there, converting many. However, Native beliefs and customs persevered and became intertwined with those brought by the Spanish colonists.

Rather than going to church that day, I met and greeted many indigenous church members from many churches who chose to attend the Feast Days rather than attend their home church.
It got me wondering if Indigenous believers would share their Pueblo Feast Days experience or other ancient indigenous traditions to their western trained non-indigenous pastor?

Why do I say this.

I am pondering if the pastor sees this as an esoteric tradition. From the dictionary: Esoteric means understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest or belonging to the select few, private; secret; confidential.
Perhaps one wouldn’t share their participation without having to defend their choice with a lengthened explanation or having to write a doctoral dissertation or just explain their absent from church to the uninitiated pastor.

First, I want to be fair and say I’m focusing on the uninformed church leader, not one who is diametrically opposed to bringing Indigenous traditions into the church, that conversation is for another article.

I feel it’s importance to share my visit to the Jemez Pueblo Feast Days.

What I saw was a spiritual pilgrimage. Many dancers coming back to their ancestral homelands, The Village of Jemez Springs, most likely from modern cities. This was a chance to disconnect from daily distractions and reconnect with their spiritual selves. Despite technological advancements, the essence of these sacred journeys remains resolute. A physical journey toward a place of sacred or religious significance. Where the journey itself becomes a quest of personal reflection on their faith and to show devotion to the divine.
Pilgrimage is a journey away from that which is routine in search of something sacred.

Perhaps we can tell doubtful pastors that it was good to see numerous youths’ participation in the dance especially where there a Native American identity crisis happening and where suicides are the 2nd leading cause of death.

Dancing from sunrise to sunset, can be an intensely physical experience. The physical dimension of their annual pilgrimage will likely bring youth some level of sacrifice and discomfort, just as it is in the pilgrimage of life.

Imagining not seeing one smartphone on the young dancers.
For many pilgrims, the aches and pains associated with the journey are as enlightening as the destination. The act of dancing is often physically demanding, awakening the senses in a way that rarely happens in a teenager everyday life.

It’s about seeking answers to questions about life as a God's pilgrim. Finding connections in the families and community and discovering a sense of peace and belonging in the rhythm of their sacred dance steps.

It really means to step out of ourselves to encounter God where he has revealed himself.

02/29/2024

Before Columbus came to the America Indigenous people fasted. Fasting is not eating for a period or cutting back considerably.
Fasting was a rite widely observed among the Indigenous and practiced both in private and in connection with community ceremonies or some special need for Creator’s wisdom, guidance, and spiritual strengths.
Indigenous people fasted to bring teachings and help us to find focus, a spiritual center and nucleus in our life. To lend power to that, we believe that there are things we try to do. We must become grounded.
However, the American Diabetes Association doesn’t recommend fasting as a technique for diabetes management.
In fact, American Indians and Alaska Natives have a greater chance of having diabetes than any other US racial group according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People in Native communities face the greatest rates of diabetes and related complications of any ethnic group in the US. The long-term impact of historical trauma, alcoholism, forced relocation, and discrimination have contributed to worse health outcomes among Native people and diabetes prevention and treatment efforts.
Regarding fasting, I’m saying to myself since I’m pre-diabetic I don’t have to sustain from food during prayers, rites, ceremonies, or Lent preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. Right?
Fasting from food is not necessarily for everyone. Some health conditions keep even the most resolute from the traditional course. However, fasting is not limited to abstaining from food.
I read once a minister said, “Fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose.”
Fasting from something other than food?
If the better part of wisdom for you, in your health condition, is not to go without food, consider fasting from television, computer, social media, phone or some other regular enjoyment that would bend your heart toward greater enjoyment of Creator’s Jesus.
Disconnecting from videos, TV, radio, newspapers, even my blogs, and the Internet can help you stay focused on your purpose for fasting. You will be less tempted by the constant barrage of advertising as you become physically and emotionally challenged. Avoiding media will give you more time to focus on the wisdom of God Word and an entryway to a more mature and fruitful spiritual life.

02/06/2024

As I continue writing a series of my thoughts on Native American values this article will reflex on Spirituality.
Spirituality is a quality that all human beings have. It is the lifeblood of being human. Thus, the emphasis should not be placed on "getting it" or "becoming it" or even "growing into it"—rather we should stress the need to "discover it,” to find spirituality within ourselves, to apprehend spirituality as a quality already given and to realize that spirituality is part of what it means to be a human being. Spirituality is already a gift and never an achievement.
This is in this sense that I see in Native American values as completely spiritual because it deals with the central questions of life. How should we live as human beings? How should we react and grow as human being or as the Navajo people call human beings “five-fingered” people.
This essential ingredient of spirituality is that which stops us being merely animal (and I use the word merely not in an insulting way but rather to emphasize our distinctive human quality “that makes us "special"). I want to recognize that the glow of the Divine that exists with all people; that handprint of the Creator that make the person both unique and connected; that claim to having the mystery of God within.
In fact, most First Nation or Native American would categorize themselves as a spiritual person. Here on the Rez, I never heard of someone calling themselves a spiritual person. Perhaps because we were rooted from birth to strive to be a spiritual human being by our parent and elders.
People who have substance abuse in their life throw a shadow on the concept of spirituality and hinder the ability to connect with the divine.
People who have substance abuse can strongly affect an individual’s level of spiritual awakening, often hindering one’s progress. Regular and heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs can numb spiritual intuitions and disconnect individuals from their inner selves which is detrimental to the structures and relationships.
As a recovering alcoholic this means that I must be painstakingly convinced of my misery and danger by sin, which I spare no cost to obtain forgiveness of it.

A broken spirit and a contrite heart are those in which sorrow and affliction have done their work, and the stubbornness of pride has been replaced by the humility of penitence.

Abandoning drugs and our inflated ego can lead to improved consciousness, enhancing spiritual connections and awakenings and salvation. I hope we will all cry out to the one God who will transform all of us from ourselves to makes us more like Christ.
So, what than is Spirituality? That which enable the growth of human values that are creative and necessary for a loving and healing community. Qualities like honesty, integrity, humility, joy, humour, patience, and tolerance. Surrender, sanity, sobriety, and serenity. These are all qualities that we perceive to be advocate for human race, and when we recognize them in a person it makes us proud to be a human being.

However, Spirituality extends beyond these human attributes. It is found in music, poetry, drawing and painting, our prayers, smoke of incense, when it’s raining and the sounds from falling water from a cliff or the songs of the birds.

It is to be experienced on a mountain, in the serene desert and the rising of the sun. Most common of all, Spirituality is held in the tender and selfless love of one human being for another.

01/30/2024

I will be writing a series of my thoughts of Native American values. As in any culture values help shape life-changing decisions, future and spiritually.
When I’m exhorting God word to Indigenous people I frequently declare “I’m not teaching you anything new” about beloved traditional values taught by our elders that emulate Biblical values.
This article will focus on prayers. Indigenous people did know God. They lived in a universe in which kinship exists between all things or a “system of kinship” because they saw creation as sacred and beautiful; thus, thankfulness and gratitude were to be expressed in prayers.
If we are to understand that Indigenous people had prior knowledge of God’s invisible qualities and his eternal power and divine nature creation, as stated in Romans 1, before Europeans landed on this continent, might there be manifestation of God through Indigenous people’s prayers.
Of course, everything depends on the type of prayer and on the sincerity of the person praying. Every major world religion prescribes different prayers with different objectives for different situations. The most powerful prayers are those that abolish the ego: they acknowledge the gross imperfection of the person praying and find the transcendence of a reality that binds all God’s Creation together.
We only become enlightened as the ego dies to its disguise and we begin to worship God by spirit and truth because we see the central wholeness of God’s love and creation at the heart of everything.

01/16/2024

In the story of Jesus Christ to the indigenous tribes and hegemonic European colonists, some Indigenous people are calling for decolonization. For indigenous peoples, decolonization might mean reclaiming our indigenous languages or asking what Christianity and capitalism have done to our ways of life and then seeking to counter those oppressive systems.
For Native Americans, the process of colonization created serious spiritual, emotional problems such as intergenerational trauma and intellectual challenges for the survivors and all their descendants.
This is not to ignore the good that Christianity can do, but having been a ministry leader, I know that we spend a lot of time focusing on our missional successes instead of acknowledging our wrongdoings in the world. It is time to acknowledge them, and to work toward a new way of existing here, apart from the violence enacted upon the earth and indigenous peoples.
In Native studies, many scholars propose "decolonization" as a guiding principle for Native scholarship and activism. This work generally presumes a non-Christian framework for decolonization, because the imposition of Christianity within Native communities is understood as part of the colonial process.
I wonder if many scholars know that Jesus was born into “a time when his country was occupied by the Roman imperial. Some of the name the Indigenous people give Jesus is the Great Mystery, Great Spirit and Creator God. Can we add the adjective of Jesus as decolonized?
The question we face today is much more than remembering how historically we have loved Jesus, but whether his figure has a contemporary significance for us in our reservation disparity and if we can imagine a future through his life and example.
What would that Jesus narrative be like, when the reign of colonial conquest has finally exhausted itself and the need for truth and reconciliation will commence on indigenous tribes.
Jesus proposed a radical alternative—a profoundly new framing story that he called good news. Good news, then would mean a story that you should know about because it brings hope and healing for the Nation.

12/30/2023

If we are to understand that Indigenous people had prior knowledge of God, as stated in Romans 1, before Europeans landed on this continent, might there be manifestation of God through Indigenous people's narratives?

Indigenous people did know God. They lived in a universe in which kinship exists between all things or a “system of kinship” because they saw creation as sacred and beautiful; thus, thankfulness and gratitude were to be expressed in stories, ceremonies, rituals, and customs.

For example, let’s look at the synopsis of the Navajo creation account.

At the beginning, beings climbed up from a world of disharmony to the next world seeking hozho (Navajo word for harmony). This ascension, emergences and journey continued four more times because each world has this recurring pattern of opposition and ascension until they emerge to this present world.

This story show how they broke through the small kingdoms of worlds to an alternative and much larger world.
I believe God has implanted knowledge of Himself in all Indigenous people by his creations. This was a foreknowledge of God’s special revelations in that He would makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine Word.
Just as today, there were problems in this world with disharmony. God gives all humanity an invitation to break through and transform.

In life we all have to break through the small kingdoms of this world to an alternative and much larger world of God realm, on earth and in heaven.

12/21/2023

Winter solstices make for long nights and cold mornings – thus a time for my morning prayers as I awake.
Facing eastward toward Jerusalem, wrapped in my favorite wool blanket, I see the morning star before the dawn breaks. In fact, one of the names of Jesus is “the bright Morning Star” (Revelation).
When I pray in the morning, I recall that the mask of the ego is said to be at its thinnest. It’s as if my ego needs extra time to rouse.
As an Indigenous person, I call upon Jesus in my contemplation time. However, I am occasionally asked to give an invocation and have used additional names and titles of Jesus Christ. Some of the names of Jesus I have used from an Indigenous perspective can be found in the First Nations Version, An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament Great Spirit, Creator, Great Mystery, Maker of Life, Giver of Breath, One Above Us All, and Most Holy One . . .”
During this Advent season I think Jesus the Morning Star relates to hope and his transcendent second coming. When the morning star rises, it means the sun will rise very soon. In Christ's coming—and in an expansive sense this could apply to both his first and his second coming—God's light is about to shine forever on creation, making all wrongs right, wiping away all tears, and fulfilling the promises in Revelation 21.

Prayer
O Come, Morning Star, shine on those who sit in the in shadows. Hold in your eternal light, the souls of those in addiction. Come and dispel the darkness in our own hearts especially when we start believing that one alcoholic death, is somehow more powerful than every single hope that happened every day.

Every one of us has some sort of brokenness in our past. Perhaps we have grieved from a broken heart, went through histo...
12/15/2023

Every one of us has some sort of brokenness in our past. Perhaps we have grieved from a broken heart, went through historical trauma, loss of health, or relationships. Whether it’s from choices we have made or circumstances beyond our control, sometimes we find ourselves so deeply broken that we don’t know how things could ever be restored.
I have faced some serious moments of brokenness in my life. There were points where the pieces of me were so destroyed that they weren’t just shattered; they were ground to dust. Alcohol had taken over my life. With a broken heart and no hope, I was ready to end it all. And I tried.
God intervened at that point. Accepting God into my life changed everything. He lovingly scooped up the pieces of my spirit and painstakingly put me back.
He created a new person. Every time I suffer another break, He fills in the cracks with His love and life. God restores me and makes me complete.
When I made Navajo jewelry, I have repaired cracked turquoise stone with gold filling like the centuries-old a Japanese art of fixing broken pottery called Kintsugi.
Kintsugi is the art of repairing something that has been broken with gold, with the understanding that the object is more beautiful because it has been broken. Like the art of kintsugi, God repairs the brokenness in our lives and makes us more beautiful through the process.
Similarly, life can shatter us and leave us feeling damaged and feeling less than, however in reality, the transformation and healing can lead to the best version of ourselves. You are not broken. You are beautifully whole in God.
We must learn to be content with the way the Master Craftsman has made us and with the task He has called us to perform. He knows the end from the beginning and can direct our paths in life much better than we can ourselves.

12/08/2023

It seems odd that distinguished foreigners or “wise men” were in the story of the birth of Christ; in fact, the Magi were considered on the fringe of the society of God’s people.
Their religious practices and use of astrology resulted in the term Magi which may be applied to the occult in general which led to the term magic.
One would think the Bible would record distinguished Jewish leaders and not marginal sage who go unnamed.
Here’s the most important reality of the mystics visit: in the Christmas story, God the Father was already drawing Gentiles (someone who is not a Jew), to come and worship him as a foretaste of the resurrected Jesus Christ and to tell his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world.
Most of us are comfortable ministering to people like us, people who come from the same background, who are in the same economic bracket, who share our same cultural characteristics, whom we can relate to. For those of us who say that we follow Jesus, we often miss and overlook people whom Jesus ministered to.
What did people think when the Magi brought their strange language, traditions, and native clothing to worship toddler Jesus?
Can Native American bring their language, ethnicity, and indigenous regalia to worship child Jesus too?
Among the Eight Northern Pueblos Indians of the Southwest distinct dances take place, such as buffalo, antelope, eagle, turtle, and harvest dances during Los Matachines, they perform special dance-drama mixing North African Moorish, Spanish, and Pueblo cultures and takes place on Christmas Eve, along with a procession.
Is there one way to worship Jesus? Do we in have a bias against people from other countries or even in American on how we worship Jesus.
Jesus did not just minister to the people he knew best. He ministered to everyone, including people from the margins of society.
It is from the margins of society that we get perspectives, and voices of people who help us understand the original meanings of the Jesus narrative, because of the way people in marginal social positions experience life. They experience life differently because of differences in cultural lenses, parenting, gender, etc. While it can be difficult to step outside our cultural perspective, we can try to learn as much as we can about other cultures and people. I wonder if the Magi danced.
’Tis the season—to embody the Savior’s love toward people on the fringe and the outlying edges of our societies as we prepare the way for the Lord.

12/02/2023

I have noticed that most Indigenous people creation stories have lessons about humility. Humbleness plays a significant part in the moral teachings to early human being’s development.

More than legends, they embody a view of how the world fits together, and how human beings should behave in it.

Indigenous creation stories are among thousands of accounts for the origins of the world. Passed down orally from generation to generation from different corners of the world and can be similar.

One of the greatest virtues among Indigenous people is humbleness.
Indigenous creation stories included moral teachings such as pride.
Pride is not always expressed as a negative quality in the scriptures. It can carry a positive meaning of self-worth, self-respect, and self-confidence.
However, pride can become sinful when it is excessively self-focused and elevation of oneself in one's own mind is not healthy to a tribe, community, or churches. This kind of pride is what most often appears in the scriptures. The biblical sin of pride refers to a high or exalted attitude—the opposite of the strengths of humility, which is the appropriate attitude people ought to have with God.

Every desire to sin is an invitation to take matters into our own hands, to be our own gods, to do ‘what is right in our own eyes,’ to manipulate people and things to suit our own ends, not our neighbors, to live as if we are worthy of respect, honor and even worship. In other words, the sin underneath every sin is a prideful attempt to be like the Creator.

The dignity of human beings, and the shame of sin of pride which led to the need for redemption by Christ.

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