A good friend, an indigenous Anglican priest from Guatemala, recently made a powerfully perceptive statement. Translated from Spanish, he said, “The gospel is friendly to our culture and life-ways.” This short sentence has a number of important dimensions.
For quite a few years, a growing number of indigenous people, concerned about the renewal of their communities, have insisted, directly or indirectly, that only God can save us.
To believe in Jesus is to believe that God has a destiny for humanityand creation. To believe is to have confidence, not only that God willeventually redeem humanity and bring creation to its fulfillment, butthat this destiny is present today, the Word made flesh, among us, in usand for us.
The Rev. Titus Peter, a Gwich’in elder and priest, once told me that he couldn’t speak against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, though he was often asked. “It makes me so angry,” he said. “It makes me want to drink.” After decades of sobriety and introducing countless others to sobriety, this was quite an admission.
The September Anglican Journal featured an article on page one-An ‘appalling, inhumane’ experiment– that quoted from a statement Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and I made in response to the revelation that children at residential schools in the 1940s were subjected to nutrition experiments.
People my age or older will remember quite a few sayings (and a surprising number of pop songs) that warned us that life is not about money.
Across Turtle Island, I haveseen in an uncountable number of homes the picture of ArchbishopMichael Peers, former primate, delivering his apology on August 6, 1993at the Native Convocation, which later became known as Sacred Circle.His apology seems to have touched a lot of people…
Chief Elijah Harper recently passed away after a life of ex-traordinary influence.
RichardTwiss, famous Lakota Christian and my friend, was one of the mostengaging and compelling people I have ever met. When he tragically diedof a heart attack at age 58 on February 9, 2013, he left a void that, inhuman terms, will be almost impossible to fill.
In recent years, I often recall the first time I saw my dad pray. It wasunsettling. I came upon him in church, where he was kneeling, his handsshading his eyes. He had a type of intensity that, at three or fouryears old, I had never seen before. Nor had I had ever seen him kneelbefore his God-or anyone else, for that matter.
The shape of Anglican life has always been determined by two primaryconcerns: to be faithful to the fundamental elements of the apostolicchurch and to embody that saving faith in the contexts in which itschurch communities are found. The church affirms that this is not onlythe responsibility of the local church but also a freedom given bydivine command.
Many Canadians yearn for constructive progress in the relationship with indigenous peoples. Ongoing miscommunication and misunderstanding have blunted this hope, however.
Albania’s great mission theologian, Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos, says the twin goals of mission are the “incarnation of the logos [word] of God into the language
My family and I returned home from Winnipeg by train after a wonderful Sacred Circle gathering. The train ride was a reflective way to leave
“I need a new communion kit. But it can’t be bought.” Peter John, traditional chief of the Athabaskans of Alaska and spiritual leader to thousands
When The Mississauga Declaration was released last September, we expected some negative reaction. We did not expect that some people would experience surprise. The declaration
When I became the vicar of Good Shepherd Mission in Navajo Nation, it was difficult to preach because of the way the elders of the
One of the most common questions I receive when speaking to non-indigenous audiences is this: Why would an indigenous person want to be a Christian?
Blind Moses and Blind Paul were native catechists who worked together near the Arctic Circle during the first years of the 20th century. Though usually
By the time you read this, indigenous congregations across North America will have taken part in the Great Blessing of the Waters. This blessing ceremony
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