By Sister Doreen, SSJD
“Prayer transcends time, language and tradition and this Day of Prayer invites all to reflect on the deep spiritual threads that connect us—to one another, to creation and to the Creator.” (Archbishop and Elder of the Sacred Circle, Chris Harper)
(Information taken from the Anglican Church of Canada resources for the Indigenous Day of Prayer for pondering and prayer.)
Along the journey of healing and right relationship we have experienced visions and guides along the way. Central in all of these expressions is that healing and reconciliation are not matters simply to be ‘dealt with’ either by or for indigenous communities only, but involve our relationships one to another, as members of the Body of Christ living in the histories and present realities of this land.
The waters of baptism draw us into Jesus’ life and into each others’ lives. The waters of our worship life shape us, and like a river, carry us out from font and table into the world. On these same waters we are carried back to where we gather again to celebrate God’s saving presence among us. The relationship between our experiences of the ministry of reconciliation and our offering of praise to God for that gift is one that is a living one.
Take a look at the Graphic design. What you see is a composite that reflects something of the life of Covenant-and-Partnership that we are seeking to walk out. On the edges you will see the form of the Celtic cross that graces the fronts of the Book of Alternative Services and the hymn books Common Praise and Sing a New Creation. Inside the cross is a braid of sweetgrass woven into a circle that creates the frame for the medicine wheel. The quadrants of the circle, with their distinctive colours are symbolic of the four teachings common to many Indigenous cultures in North America. At the centre, in the green circle are three ‘centering’ principles.
The Graphic design has four sets of ‘principles’ for planning worship because it seeks to lift up those aspects of our life together as a church to which we need to attend in our relationships as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together on a journey. It is about patterns in the life of our community, set in Worship in the Vision of New Agape.
The Gift of Beginning – Preparation, Gathering: are reminders to be attentive to time, space, and people – healing takes place person to person, community to community and planning ought to take the time to foster comfortable, safe, worshipful space.
The Gift of Remembering – Story-telling, Listening: it is in and through stories that we know and are known to each other. When we take time to truly listen with our hearts, as we are called to do with Scripture, we draw the teller of the story into our hearts. This is risky, but God’s gift of God’s own story gives us the grace to give ourselves in listening.
The Gift of Quiet – Going within, with Humility, Turning to God: when we truly listen to another’s story – of we allow that person to touch us – something makes a claim on us, and listening moves into reflection. What is there in the way that these stories – the Scriptural story, a persons’ story – that is speaking a word of grace to me? A word of confrontation with sin in myself and society? Of needs in my own life and in the life of the church? Space and time needs to be given within worship for the ‘quiet’ of ‘going within’.
The Gift of Commitment – Going Forth: the cyclical, repeating journeys of reconciliation and healing burst forth from time to time with wisdom, love and hope that are bread for the journeys to come. We need to take the time to celebrate those moments when embrace comes after estrangement, when signs of new life can be seen around us.
Prayer
Creator God, from you every family in heaven and earth takes its name.
You have rooted and grounded us in your covenant love,
And empowered us by your Spirit to speak the truth in love,
And to walk in your way toward justice and wholeness.
Mercifully grant that your people journeying together in partnership,
May be strengthened and guided to help one another to grow into the full stature of Christ,
Who is our light and our life. Amen.Holy Friend,
Steadying in wisdom
Prophetic in struggle
Constant in kindness
Courting us with hope
Guiding in revelation
Be with us and help us to be with each other.
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.