Lessons and Friendships at Rosebud Reservation

Two weeks ago, I was assisting with the Diocese of Nebraska's Youth Mission Trip to the Sicangu Lakota people's Rosebud Reservation. A few years old, it echoes my Omaha church, St. Andrew's much longer, nearly 20 year partnership with a historic Oglalla Lakota church in Pine Ridge. We were blessed to have Rev. Tom Jones, with long experience in both trips and many dedicated youth and adult leaders along with us, including a special group from St. Michael's church in North Carolina. St. Michael's is a growing dynamic community looking for new opportunities for service, and their members have been searching for some time to establish a meaningful service relationship with the Native American community through churches with trusted relationships already in place on the ground. You can view many more pictures, and get a day by day update at Fr. Tom's blog here; I'll share a few of my own images and highlights for the week.










I met up with the group Sunday night, after they'd been able to attend a special Powwow and be guided in some dances by tribal members; I had a chance to meet everyone and get a sense of the work for the week ahead. We would be working this year out of the Church of Jesus in the town of Rosebud; this is the oldest Episcopal church on the reservation, and very close to the original tribal agency. We also had a chance one day to visit the Episcopal Mission in Mission, SD where our youth had had a chance to do some work last year, and the Tribal Museum.

Church of Jesus, Our Hosts in Rosebud SD

Beautiful chapel at the nearby mission; the ceiling is all cedar, a sacred plant for the Lakota,
and there is a traditional drum to the left of the altar for special worship events.

Powwow Arbor at the Mission, which our Youth had a chance to help paint last year.

We started each day at the Church of Jesus, running a Vacation Bible School for the area children who came and also engaging in a work project at the direction of local members of the congregation. Don Eagle, a leader at Church of Jesus and his granddaughter were with us nearly the whole week and crucial in directing and taking part in the project for their building (which ended up being re-installing a ramp that would allow safer access in the winter). I spent most of my time working with the kids, but also had a chance to help clean the Vicarage next door so their replacement pastor will have a comfortable place to live.

Don Eagle puts the finishing touches on the church's new ramp.












I admit, I was personally a little uncertain about running a "Bible Camp" at first given the complicated cultural dynamics, but was pleased with the sensitivity and respect our whole team nurtured, including many "learning moments" with our youth each night. Our ethos, as Fr. Tom stated beautifully later was not to "Bring Jesus to the Reservation and convert people," but to "humbly expect to meet Him already there in the people we meet." Our youth and adults alike encountered, and learned from issues of cultural differences, the challenge of building trust and being guests in their community. There were some beautiful moments though, as we saw kids forming meaningful relationships even in the short time we had, and the joy we saw in kids faces as we played games and sang silly songs.

One particularly memorable story involved one of our more "energetic" guests; this boy (whose name will of course remain anonymous) gave a few of our youth a hard time, even getting rough on our second day with a few of the girls. But we had a serious discussion of how to show extra love to youth who act out, even while setting boundaries so everyone was safe. Our kids really took it to heart, and I personally witnessed several people who were upset with him the day before let him know they were "glad he came back," or sit beside him during an activity to give him extra attention. The final day, this young man was one of the saddest to see us go- and asked several of our kids to ride back with him in the van. It was a humbling experience for everyone.

We were also richly blessed to have Rev. Two Hawks, a retired Episcopal Priest and past Tribal Chairman with us one afternoon to share a little about life on the reservation and Lakota culture. There was some concern from our adults about how the younger children would sit through such a talk, but we were all blown away by the respect shown an elder (something our culture could learn a thing or two from) by kids of all ages, and moved by his words. Rev. Two Hawks shared his experiences serving his people in ministry and also leadership in areas of health, culture and his tribes ongoing struggles to preserve their language. He was actually involved in the government in the time they set up Sinte Gleska University a dynamic educational institution. One of the most poignant things he said, however was recalling his people's experience of being pushed into reservation life- "It was like being caged," he noted, after living for centuries with freedom and self-sufficiency. He also shared, however the great desire and gratitude of his people for committed professionals willing to dedicate time to their community today. We were all richly honored by his time with us.

Our team poses with our hosts at the weeks' end

I was not able to join our youth for the final tubing trip, as I had a spill and a minor arm injury earlier in the week, but was able to say farewell and say a riverside early-morning prayer for them at the Fort Niobara Wildlife Refuge, a beautiful preserve for Buffalo and Elk I fell in love with my way out here. I gave thanks to my Creator, the local church in Valentine that housed us, and the Sicangu Lakota people for their hospitality as we worked and learned in their sacred homeland.

"Images of Hope" (Sermon Week of Sunday July 24th 2011)

This was a sermon I preached at our two parishes this past weekend; Below are some links to the lectionary readings for the week, and a picture of the little stone church I tell a story about!
-Kieran

Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

I’d like to start today with a story about Stain Glass Windows. As I mentioned in my first sermon, I went through a “season of questioning” in college; feeling like the Christian faith of my youth didn’t “fit” with the questions I was facing, even as I was trying to graduate and figure out my calling. But I was still seeking God, and happened to be taking a few religion classes my last Fall semester. Bookworm that I am, I long ago mastered the trick of walking and reading, and I’d often walk into the little nearby New Jersey town with my nose in a book for one of my classes. One day, as I read of a mystic’s wanderings through many strange deserts and cities, I felt a sense of homesickness myself. I looked up and noticed a little Episcopal church. Now I’d never been IN an Episcopal church before, and didn’t know much about them, but something about it seemed so inviting. It was one of those little sprawling English country-style stone churches, with lots of side doors like a monastery and a simple garden to one side to pray in. And, of course a red door, which I was pleasantly surprised to find unlocked, even though the sun was just starting to set.

So I made my way in, and suddenly felt very peaceful. I didn’t know the first thing about this church, but the images and beauty that greeted gave me hints about the people who prayed there. I saw a little side-room with beautiful Icons of Jesus and cushions to pray- and then I walked into the darkened church itself. It reminded me of the big Catholic churches I grew up in, yet gentler somehow in the quiet dark stone and evening light. I noticed a side altar with a candle lit, telling me the people here believed Jesus was present in a special way in Communion. And I was thrilled to see a little prayer nook with St. Francis, my own Patron Saint which made me feel like I was surrounded by old friends. Feeling welcomed, I continued back, glancing at the stain glass windows on each side. The soft evening light was flickering through, making the whole room feel safe and peaceful. I felt the urge to pray, and looked for a seat that felt right—only to run right into a stunning image of Jesus. This wasn’t a tortured man on the cross, or a distant king, just Jesus standing with the sun-setting behind him, arms welcoming and the gentle hills of Galilee behind him. It reminded me of the Good Shepherd and was opposite another window showed a soft sunset over a forest stream.

I decided to pray next to Jesus that day… and found myself coming back many more times, a different book in my hand each week. Even though it would be a long time before I even met any of the people in that church- and I had not had a church home for some time, something in that space welcomed me, with arms outstretched. It became a place of healing for me, a Sanctuary where I could bring my struggles, and through those sunlit windows God somehow seemed more REAL that He did in the harsh world outside. Those images and the sacred space they created gave me hope to slowly see God again at a tough point.

The Episcopal church is good at using images to give people hope—and in doing so, we find ourselves in good company with the Ancient Church. In Rome, beneath the ground where Christians would gather to pray, honor their dead and sometimes hide from persecution we have some of the oldest Christian art- beautiful images of Jesus, the saints, and beloved friends they had buried there. The earliest Christians surrounded themselves with their friends, to give hope that God was there, working in and through them when the whole world seemed against them. The Eastern churches would continue this tradition by literally filling their buildings wall to ceiling with Icons, sacred paintings that are seen as “windows” into God’s Mysteries. In Western Europe, stain glass would become our “Icons,” literal windows that took light and brought it in to fill dark churches with God’s wonders. All give peeks into God’s world, and help people find trust to continue living their lives for God in hard places.

Jesus, through his parables this week also gives us some powerful images. A few weeks ago I shared how these strange parables, like stain glass teach us about God’s Mysteries—they help us picture a truth that is hard to understand, something that doesn’t follow normal logic. All of today’s parables are telling us about something very important to Jesus, God’s Kingdom, and the part we are to play in it. Now, people sometimes get confused because in today’s Gospel it says “Kingdom of Heaven.” But Jesus is NOT talking about waiting until we get to Heaven to build God’s Kingdom. Other Gospels use the word “Kingdom of God,” and we know in Jesus’ time “Heaven” was a respectful way to speak of God (like how we say “the White House” when the President gives statements).

Now God’s Kingdom is one of the things Jesus talks about more than almost anything else, and it always has a sort of funny “double vision.” It IS something beautiful coming just around the corner—but its also, somehow mysteriously already HAPPENING all around us. And both things are very much still a part of CREATION. Last week we heard Paul talk about how God plans to save all Creation, not just human souls. Somehow Heaven is going happen ON Earth in a New Creation… and we, in our small struggles are mysteriously helping it get rolling.

The Ancient Christians did believe that people who died now would go to be with God for a time… but RESSURECTION means Jesus is coming back, to make all things new, including our bodies. So what we do in those bodies matters A LOT! A great example of this is a classic book and movie, “the Robe.” It came from the same era as Charleston Heston’s 10 Commandments and other classic Bible movies, and imagines the story of a soldier who crucified Jesus and got his cloak, only to find himself drawn to follow him, and even face death as a Christian. But the movie, Hollywood often does misses something; it focuses more on the woman he loves and their decision to face persecution together. But the movie makes the same mistake of focusing on Heaven over the work of God’s Kingdom HERE. In the book, before he dies the soldier goes to a little village full of arguments and fights. He lives among them for several years, and teaches them the simple Ways of the man he crucified. The whole town is changed, and a glimpse of Heaven happens on Earth. God’s Kingdom is something he faces death in hope of—but which he got a glimpse of as God used him to help a whole community act more like Jesus.

Jesus’ stories today, which are actually rather strange, give us hints of this “double vision.” A mustard tree, I was told in seminary is not actually a very impressive- like a redwood or cedar of Lebanon. Its more like a bushy weed, that creeps in everywhere and gave ancient farmers a hard time. But it also makes a home for creatures who need one. God’s Kingdom, creeping in like weeds below the rich and powerful, and giving shelter to those in need? Actually sounds like how the church got its start—and what happens when Christians act as the GOOD kind of troublemakers today. But it sure isn’t the way I’d plan a garden!

What about the story of the pearl and the treasure? These two are similar, but both sound a little foolish to your average businessman. Building God’s Kingdom apparently means throwing away all your worldly possessions for one “big deal.” The Pearl-buyer doesn’t even buy the Pearl cheap and sell it back at a profit- we’re left to assume he paid “the Great Price” for it. So now he’s a homeless pearl owner! The treasure-hunter’s a little more shrewd- maybe he DOES know how much he found. But then he risks burying it on someone else’s land and hoping they’ll cut him a deal! Even if it all works out its’ clear the guy will be sleeping in that field for a few nights, since he sold his house! (though, in a funny way the burial image also echoes Baptism—sharing in Christ’s death to live forever).

This may seem like bad business sense… but in God’s economy things are apparently different. We may live now, but we’re being asked to be God’s stock-agents for an Eternal Kingdom. A Kingdom where the things we do on Earth matter VERY much, but where things are priced differently. Caring for the poor beats silver, and helping a beat up guy on the street can buy out the whole gold market. We’re building a Kingdom not just for Earth, but which Jesus later tells Peter and the Disciples “not even the Gates of Hell can stand against.” Pretty ambitious business plan!

In a final story, one of those Disciples, Thomas is said to have made it all the way to India, and Christians there have many stories about him. In one he is hired by a King who heard he was a Jewish architect, and asks him to build a new palace in a distant city. He sends Thomas money and expects updates every year. Thomas tells him his Palace is growing greater and greater, and asks for more money. But when the King returns, he finds Thomas has been feeding thousands of poor people instead. He’s furious, but Thomas tells him he built him a palace in God’s Kingdom, one that would last forever. Thomas would eventually be killed in India—but his piece of God’s Kingdom remains to this day there. Pretty bold faith from a many we know as a “Doubter.”

Of course, Jesus knows we need to eat. I don’t think he expects everyone to literally dump all our savings into empty fields. But He DOES expect each of us to follow Him in building that Kingdom… and warns us it WILL take sacrifices… sometimes big ones. Above all, to plan our futures with GOD’S plans in mind, not those of this world.

Sometimes that may even mean the ultimate sacrifice. Paul reminds us of this, in one final image from his letter today. He wrote this letter to Roman Christians after a long life of ministry, and many “close calls.” Here, in a moment of audacious hope he states “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Living as a Christian in this world may seem pretty crazy at times. But God gives us glimpses, thought stain glass and the living images of those who gave before, to trust our savings are not just safe—but backed by the love of Jesus. So let’s get out there and invest like lunatics!

"Wrestling With the Trinity" (Sermon for Week of Sunday June 19th 2011)

This was my first sermon with St. Mary's and St. Michael's and All Angels this summer, and was on the slightly intimidating day of Trinity Sunday! But everyone seemed to enjoy it, and it was a nice challenge to rise too. Below are week's readings and also an Orthodox Trinity Icon and a Celtic Trinity.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Good morning. When Fr. Randy and I were looking at my plan for the summer, he said “why don’t we have you preach Trinity Sunday.” Nice relaxing introduction, lets toss Kieran into one of the weightiest questions of Christian theology right off the bat. Make him prove he earned that fancy Harvard seminary degree!

But in all seriousness, I’m honored to be able to share with you today. The Trinity—the Christian belief in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is a weighty, but also beautiful teaching of our faith—though sadly, perhaps for that reason, it has inspired some of the bloodiest debates in times past. Wrestling with some of that Church history, in fact proved a challenge to me in my own faith journey. But I’ve also come to realize religious truth often shines through most clearly in stories, in the lives of our fellow human beings. Their imperfect lives still give us glimpses of God in the things they were willing to live and die for—and perhaps keep us humbler and kinder when we disagree today. As the late Peter Gomes, the legendary Black Preacher of Harvard’s chapel said “Christian truth is advanced not by… bone crushing logic… but in the living flesh of human beings.” Its in this hopeful spirit I will try and share a few thoughts with you today: looking first at our scriptures, and then the stories of few two that help me understand the Trinity—and I ask all of your kindness in not reporting me to any Inquisitions if I mess up!!

So what’s so important about the Trinity? Well, it makes sense that at some point Christians wanted to explain what KIND of God they worshipped. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, but it isn’t written as a neat instruction manual. It gives us glimpses through poetry, songs and stories things that are hard to put into words—and which Anglicans, like many Christians respect the early work of Apostles and Church Mothers and Fathers for helping us to understand. The Bible points at what theologians came to call MYSTERIES of God. Mysteries not as crimes to be solved in a paperback novel, but an older sort of Mystery—a truth or experience so amazing we can spend the rest of our lives being amazed and transformed by it. But like chasing the setting sun, or a rainbow, the Mysteries of God are also greater than anything we can “grab” in this life. They speak of a God real but vaster than we can imagine. Many ancient ideas of theology are PARADOXES, which seem to hold opposites together, but actually point to truths too big for our minds to understand in any other way. The Trinity, the idea that there are 3 PERSONS of God, each telling us something deeply important about God, but are also somehow all one, is one of those. Some of the most painful fights in the Church’s past tried to make that idea seem more “reasonable,” but risked losing the beauty of the Mystery.

Coming to think about faith and Mystery this way helped to shape MY story. In my last term of college I found myself wrestling with faith. I’d ran into ideas and groups of Christians who, though I still love many of them as friends today—presented me with questions that shook me to my core, especially in seeing some of the hurtful ways the Church has often treated people of other faiths or cultures. The God I grew up believing to be Love seemed far away, and even the Bible or church became painful for a season. I faced struggle but also many blessings in this time of “exile,” surprises and relationships that helped me along my way. One of the most important surprises, was to eventually find myself growing closer again to Jesus as I started to reread the Gospels. Something in Jesus always seemed to turn things upside down, to inspire people to love God and the needy around them while also always challenging them. I realized that Jesus’ teachings, when you really take them seriously had more surprises then I realized and captured my experience of a recklessly welcoming God better than any other religion. The Trinity, the idea that Jesus showed us something unique of God, became important in a new way. I came to appreciate the beauty of paradoxes, and some of these ancient traditions more maturely, but grateful for the lessons my honest struggles affirmed about the God of love we serve.

Our Creation story in Genesis today, in my opinion gives us a great example of the challenge of reading God’s Mysteries in the Bible, and how the Church Fathers and Mothers tried to make sense of the Trinity. “In the beginning when God created…” We find out our God is the One who made all things. We hear of a wind—which in Hebrew is the same word for spirit, that sweeps over dark waters mysteriously before God begin. Is this wind a part of God, God’s Spirit, some kind of angel, or just the wind? Its not clear, and ancient people debated this. We see God creating many amazing things, and saying Creation is Good. Then, after 6 days God gets to something special. God decides to create one final wonder—human beings, who will be “God’s Image.” Humans are somehow special. We are stamped with God, like a mirror or photo we reflect something of God to the world around us, and have the possibility to know and be in relationship with God.

In this simple story, one gets the seed of so many things to come. We get images of a God working in mysterious ways, and see that humans are called to live in ways that seek to understand and reflect God’s light. A big job indeed—and sure enough, it gets messed up real fast! Later, after Jesus, his first followers experienced God in new, saving ways that also reminded them of things in these older stories. As Jews they believed in one God—but they also EXPERIENCED God fully in Jesus, a human being, in a way that changed everything. Then they experienced God coming to live WITH them, and transform their lives and the world around them through the Holy Spirit. Somehow all of these things were part of God and, as Matthew says they began going out into the world to teach and Baptize in these names. But these ideas were still so new, so fresh. The first Christians demonstrated them, above all in the ways they lived and died for their experience of Jesus in a hostile world. But it would take centuries for the first Christians to fully define this as the Trinity.

Basically, after Rome’s Emperor Constantine BECAME Christian, things got messy. The government wanted a nice, tidy religion, not loose ends and fights. WAS Christianity about one God or three Gods? How could Jesus be both God AND human at the same time? Can’t we just simplify this whole Trinity thing? This brings me to first inspiring story, of a man named Athanasius.

Athanasius spent much of his life debating something called Arianism, a belief that Jesus was not exactly God, but more like a lesser god, like Hercules or one of the Greek heroes. It seemed easier to understand for former pagans who used to worship gods like that—and it was also nice for Emperors who could worry less about people being more loyal to a divine Jesus than to them. But Athanasius saw dangers. If Jesus was not really God, God did not truly become one of us to die and rise again. The true God is still distant from us, Jesus becomes just middle-management. Athanasius was just a young secretary at the earliest debates, but would become a Bishop and hold onto his beliefs even when he was persecuted by the power of church and state. As Arianism became “official” under the Roman Church, he was exiled 5 different times from his home, and people repeatedly mocked that it was “Athanasius against the WHOLE world.” But in the end, his beliefs stood the test of time, and are held by nearly all Christian churches today. Many of the creeds we pray preserve this Mystery—challenging, but reminding us not to “simplify” the beauty God we meet in Jesus.

Athanasius and others like him tried to explain the Trinity with the best tools of their time. They also sometimes spoke in passionate terms—condemning all who did not believe the EXACT formula to an Eternal Hell, in ways we might not fully agree with today in our understanding of God’s grace. But they leave us a treasure to ponder still. You can find a Creed named after him in the back of our Prayerbook, and I encourage everyone to ponder its paradoxes later on.

But these debates, which made so much sense in the Greek and Roman world often caused confusion or difficulty for other cultures. This brings me to my second, and last story—of a special man seeking to help build understanding between Muslims and Christians today. It’s the story of a man named Mazhar Mallouhi, which I was blessed to read in a book written by a Priest of our Church in Egypt who became his close friend.

We don’t have time for a full lesson on Islam, but I’ll note a few things. First, Islam considers itself to be of the same family as Jews and Christians—it came from Arabs who speak a language close to Jesus’, who were also Abraham’s children according to the Bible—and who share many things with us, like the worship of one God, and the belief in a final judgment. Surprisingly, many Muslims also love Jesus and Mary, and believe Jesus was born through a miracle, while Mary was a Virgin. They even believe Jesus will come again, as Christians do! But Muslims also find many ideas of Christian faith hard. The Trinity is one of the toughest, because to their Prophet, Muhammad it seemed like we worship three Gods—exactly what Athanasius wanted to avoid. Their respect for God’s holiness, and “Otherness“ is so great they reject the idea of God becoming human in Jesus—even though their holy book teaches Jesus was sent by God, and that Muslims should respect Christians and the things he taught them.

Of course, since these debates a long time ago many crusades and bloodshed have come between Christians, especially European Christians and followers of Islam. We still see it in the anger that inspires some to terrorism, and the distrust many Christians have of Muslims today. “Christians” are seen as European conquerors who, after the World Wars controlled much of the Middle East. It was in this time, as many Middle-eastern nations were becoming free, that our friend Mazhar was born to an Arab family of desert people. In time spent in the army, he discovered Jesus though the works of Gandhi and Christian novelists and finally decided to become Christian in a moment of deep depression. This shook up his whole life! He found new life, but family felt betrayed, governments persecuted him, and he also felt saddened by how many Western Christians tried to teach him to hate his own people and culture. He eventually chose to live among other Muslims, but as a follower of Jesus. A crazy idea!

But a deeply fruitful one. Over the next few decades, Mazhar became bookseller and writer himself. Through his work, and with the help of an American wife he made friends across the Middle East, Muslim and Christian, and shared his simple love of Jesus, or Isa, in Arabic. He continued to pray in Mosques, Christian prayers but as a way to continue to meet people and respect them as spiritual gathering places. Many respected Muslim teachers sent THEIR students to him when they had questions about Jesus—knowing he was a Christian, but aalso a fellow seeker of the truth who respected Muslims and would not seek to trick or brainwash them. Many of these students did decide to follow Jesus too- and with Mazhar’s help some joined him in this respectful witness.

Perhaps his most amazing project has been to translate the Bible, legally into Arabic. Many western missionaries try to “sneak” the Bible in, thinking they are liberating people but actually being viewed by many local people as dishonorable for this. Mazhar sought permission to sell his books and, as a native Arab he was more trusted. His books sought to translate the Gospels faithfully, and even included commentaries meant to help Muslims understand hard ideas like the Trinity by showing respect for MUSLIM poets and philosophers who talked about the Paradoxes of God in similar ways. Like Athenasius, Mazhar is trying to translate Christianity into his own culture—but also bravely and honestly being true to the mysteries of our faith, without compromise. And his books are not just selling—they are BESTsellers to people across the Middle East.

The Trinity has come down to us, through fierce arguments, but also through humble men like Athenasius and Mazhar who suffered for their simple faith. Thanks be to God!