Mighty To Save

Today's Forward Day by Day meditation by Robert Two Bulls, an Oglala Lakota, Episcopal priest, notes his difficulty as a native American in celebrating Thanksgiving. The "Sacred Ground" course of the Episcopal church includes a section on indigenous peoples. As "homework, participants are encouraged to research which native Americans lived on the land they identify as theres. Here's an excellent resource for doing so: https://native-land.ca/

That link gave me all the Native American tribes that originally inhabited the place we call home and links to more resources about them.

Surely we can learn from the mistreatment of native Americans. Certainly we can understand why many Native Americans do not celebrate, and actually mourn on the Thanksgiving holiday.

Yet for many Thanksgiving will always be on balance a wonderful, special and somewhat sacred time. That holiday is the one American holiday where Americans from many different backgrounds and faith traditions come together with their loved ones and unify. In a country that is rapidly disintegrating, where surprisingly large segments of the US population are openly supporting dividing our country up based on ideology (didn't we already fight that war? ), many will always cling to the unity that Thanksgiving can bring.

But even if we don't repudiate Thanksgiving as a holiday, we can understand why some do, empathize with them, and defend their right to do so. And we can join forces in helping make America live up to its original promise of creating a more perfect union. 🙏

Welcome - Native-Land.ca Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.

Isaiah 35:6b: “For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”

Today’s Forward Day by Day meditation talks about trusting God in our wilderness moments. We are still in the wilderness of a radical change in America. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that we will ever find our way to a safer place. We are so bitterly divided and have stopped listening to each other.

Today’s meditation from Father Richard Rohr tells us an important part of finding peace in this time when we are lost is to know that we are being guided.

“A participatory theology says, “I am being used, I am actively being chosen, I am being led.” It is not about joining a new denomination or having an ecstatic moment. After authentic conversion, you know that your life is not about you; you are about life! You’re an instance in this agony and ecstasy of God that is already happening inside you, and all you can do is say yes to it. That’s all. That’s conversion and it changes everything.”

Here’s to walking blindly in the wilderness!

Mark 9:50b: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Today’s Forward Day by Day meditation notes “In Jesus’ time, when desert people working outside sweated away their electrolytes and no one could buy a container of Morton’s at the corner store, salt was so important that it was considered an essential element of hospitality.”

Salt gave life in many ways in the times of Jesus Christ. Another way it gave life was preserving food. In days without refrigerators and freezers, salt was used to preserve meats so they would remain nutritious and could be stored for later. So salt was key to making us healthy and full of life. Salt makes us patient so that we can keep the best of us alive. C. S. Lewis also said that putting more Jesus in us is like putting more salt in us because salt can bring out the true flavors of any food. So Jesus can bring out our true selves. And unlike salt we can’t have too much Jesus! 🙏