June 21 - Indigenous Day of Prayer

Many thanks to everyone who filled in for me in any way while I was away last week. I had dear friends visiting from Pittsburgh, so I got to be tourists with them. We hiked, went on a boat tour, ate ice cream, and it was so much fun! It was also an opportunity to see my life and the community in which I live and work through my friends’ eyes, and wow, I am blessed. It was good to step away for a week. It’s good to be back.

This Sunday falls exactly on National Indigenous People’s Day. Whereas on September 30 we acknowledge a day for truth and reconciliation and honour the survivors of residential schools, National Indigenous Peoples Day is about celebrating First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples’ values, customs, languages and culture. There is a celebration at Cape Croker Park at Neyaashiinigmiing on June 21 between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. There will be activities for children, drumming, wagon rides, food and lots more! Everyone is welcome to take part.

On Sunday morning, we’ll look at Psalm 104. This is a psalm that oozes celebration of Creation and awe at God/Creator’s glory. It is this psalm that inspired Joseph Renville, a Dakota/French Canadian fur trader and guide to write the hymn, “Many and Great, O God, Are Your Works.” The music is sometimes known as Dakota Melody. A corollary, contemporary reading to Psalm 104 will be offfered from the late Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese. We’ll say an Indigenous version of the Lord’s Prayer on Sunday, and the choir will perform a gorgeous hymn entitled “Pawnee Prayer,” which imitates the blowing of wind and grasses on the Great Plains.

It’s also Father’s Day on Sunday as well as the Summer Solstice, and those celebrations will also be woven into the service.

In the meantime, read Psalm 104 and ponder the following:

1.      Do you see some similarities in what is expressed in Psalm 104 with what you know of Indigenous spirituality?

2.      What are you celebrating on Sunday?

Image credit, Medicine Wheel: P. Rogers/The United Church of Canada