Church #24. Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples. July 20/2014.

Hello my family of blog reading humans!

You stoked for this one?

Ya me too.

This Sunday I decided that I wanted to do something different. Real different. So I hoped the buss across the river and made my way to this place. The Sacred Heart Church of First Peoples. 

Considering the somewhat delicate nature of this project I decided not to get too close. For my friends that don’t know the native people that attend this church, like most have a manner of being notoriously private about their culture. Despite growing up in a town with many of them, I only realized when I was older, (and befriended a native lady) that most of us white man know NOTHING about what they are actually like. I didn’t want to be that white girl with a camera  running around at the front of the building snapping pictures  while  they are all standing out front, and normally smoking ( let’s just be honest here) .

So I went in and stood in the lineup.  I was not sure what is was for at first, and then I realized it was a line up to get smudged. For this of you that don’t know “smudging” is a native ritual used to spiritually cleanse ones self.   All I could see in front of me was something smoking and people bending down over it and doing something with their hands. Then it got to be mine turn. O goodie :P

So am standing before this native elder holing a bunch of eagle feathers standing before a bowl of smoldering dry plants sitting at about waste height. I look at the elder and quietly say “can you please walk me thru this?, I have never done this before!” and she smiles and touches my head with the eagle feathers and say for  me to bend down over the bowl and use the smoke like water. He said it’s like “washing yourself with your heart.”  So I did that for a few moments and then he asked me to turn around and then he touched my head and shoulders with the eagle feathers again and then I went to go sit down.  After this I also noticed that  as other came up to get smudged that people would sometimes have a child on one arm and hold their child and do the ritual “smoke washing” for themselves and their child as the held them. I also witnessed a lady with a stroller with a small baby come in and as she was washing herself in the smoke, the elder reached the eagle feathers into the baby’s basket and touched the child’s head. 

Thank god I got there 10 min early because this place was FULL! I didn’t even count and I’m sure I would have been off regardless considering the balcony was even had people. Note: first time I have even been in a regular sized church that was so full they had to use the balcony. Despite what you might think, there was more than just Cree people in this church.  I saw what I think was a fair mix of Native, Métis, and causation people in the crowd.  I didn’t have the best view but I could hear a band and a small choir up in the front playing old pioneer country music and the people slowly made their way in.  Normally churches are empty enough that I have a whole pew section to myself, but this time I had friends. Many friends. There was actually a point where a whole bunch of people sat down on my bench and I could feel the wood bend. I was seriously concerned it might break! But we were OK, I didn’t fall thru the church pew, there was no breakage. 

Side note: first Catholic Church I have ever seen without kneeling benches.

As soon as a had a moment to stop at look at the décor I was really blown away such an amazing job they did in this place. Check this out. 

And for those with week eyes the writing at the top says “Sacred Heart of Jesus Thy Kingdom Come.”

I was somewhat surprised to see that neither of the main two people that were leading the church service were visibly native, but still quite possibly Métis.  Both of them where tall thin fellows with shaved heads, one was aprox 40 and was sporting jeans and a homemade ribbon shirt. The other was aprox 60 and in a type of adapted priest robes. I say this because they were different in the fact that they were much less decorated, with nothing sparkly and embroidering with a shaft of wheat done in native art across the front.

The younger of the two fellows in the ribbon shirt came up to the mic at the podium and latterly yelled into it “GOOD MORNING! How’s Everyone Doing Today?” more in the way that one would great 200 kids on their first day of summer camp.  It made me feel at home.

We started the service in song and then sat down and the priest welcomed any new guests that were there today. He made a strong point to say that even thou some of us are guests we are not outsiders, but part of the family as we are all God’s children.  Then he asked for anyone that is not from here to raise their hand and say where they were from. There was a few that did, but was most surprising was a senior lady sitting next to me. But when the priest came over to our side she stood up shakily and proclaimed that she was married in this Church 66 Years Ago!  This really took me back for two reasons. #1 she was not visibly native, and # 2. She didn’t look at day past 70!!! I noticed at one point that she was talking to another granny who said she must have been a child bride because she looks far too young to have been married 66 years. She laughed and took it as a complement. I did lean over  at one point and ask her if her or her husband was Métis or native, but she said no, and the reason she  was married in this church was  the fact that it was simply the closest one I here area when she and her future husband first moved here. Apparently they attended it for 2 years and then  after getting married  soon moved to the south end and lived there ever since. She said her husband was not well enough to come with her today.

There was an elder lady at the front of the church that started off the prayers. It was interesting in the fact that she first recited the prayer in English and then in Cree. I have never heard a Christian prayer recited in Cree before this point in my life. I also noticed some unique use of terminology at a may different points I noticed the word god replaced with “the Great Spirit” or “the creator” and the word bible replaced with “Book of Wisdom”. All which I personally perceive as accurate and fair descriptions.

The reading today was from Mathew as Jesus gave the parable about the wheat and the weeds, and how as much as god has made good people for the earth the evil one has put weeds among us and how in the final judgment everything will be harvested and the grain will go to the farmers house and the weeds will be burned.  And then there was this notable moment when the priest looks up from the bible and addressing the crowd and says “let me make this clear, WE ARE NOT THE WEEDS!” 

It is sad that this moment was necessary. As many of you know and some of you don’t the native communities are plagued with addiction, abuse, corruption, homelessness and countless other problems. There is an extremely high population of native people in Canadian jails and they have often been view by society as burden. And now I sit here and watch this catholic priest stand before this group of mostly native people at try to convince them, that their people are not the tree rot of the forest.

As much as I try to be all accepting, I still find it to be a hard sell. I grew up got to school in a town in the countryside. I knew the general perception of the native kids, epically in high school. The school year would start they would show up for the first few days, and then they would start coming late and then eventually not at all. It was no mystery where they went just look out the window into the ally and you can see them all in a circle smoking and likely doing drugs.  But one all of them were bad apples. I remember one, he was nice. He even came to class most of the time. Word on the grape vine was that he had a crush on me, but I had bigger fish to fry. I even stared to talk to him a little bit, and then right at that moment he disappeared. I discovered that the funding to buss the native kids off the reserve, to our town to attend our school had been cut. I felt concern for him knowing that nothing good came out of life on the native reserves. I can only pray that the drugs did not get him. Not everyone comes off the reserve alive.

After the parable about the wheat was done the priest went a bit off topic and stared taking about rural living and made the statement “most young people today don’t even know where the wheat to make the bannock comes from!” .  Which I am sure is very true.

Then we all stood for individual prayer.  There was a lot of regular stuff, blessing for the old, for the sick, and for people traveling. But there was also some unique prayers. Such as prayers to keep social programs going, to help the most poor, prayers for “the brother and sister in corrections” and blessing for those recovering from addiction.

Next was the offering. Once again totally different. I was sitting kid of farther back and I could hear well, but one thing I did notice was this native style blanket laid out on the steps of the alter.  And then just half the church literally RUNS up to the front to toss their offering on to it. Which of-corse I did to. So we ended up with this blanket covered in cash at the front of the room. When it was all over, one of the elders came by, folded it up with the money in it, the priest blessed it and then he slid the folded blanket under the alter.

Communion was done, all with a very nicely made wood carved bow for the bread and bison painted clay cups (the fellow that gave me my bread was using an abalone shell to hold it). I was partially surprised that they used real red wine. Native people are well known to be easily victims of alcohol addiction.  A lot of churches that discourage drinking (which some do) normally use grape juice.  I did notice however in the corner it was also option for a person to come up and get smudged a second time rather than take communion.

There was slot of singing going on today. O, by the way this is what amazing grace looks like in Cree. 

Cool Eh? 

But my personal favorite was when we sang Hallelujah. But this time it was with a guitar, native drums, native choir and the whole crowd had to stand and on que, rotate to face the 4 points of the compass during the song.  It was Cool! :P

Just so much singing, we sang happy birthday, happy anniversary, and then there was a special song sang at the end. Two native elders come up and in their own tong sang and hand drummed a native song that was “sent by the angles to the children on earth.” Really amazing experience, the air in the room was simply electric. You could feel it in the floorboards.

Now for all the photos. 

So this was the song book 

And the Alter complete with inukshuk and bison skin rug. 

We also have Cree Mary

Cree Jesus

One small piece of SO MUCH art work 

And then there was this.

It took a bit of time and research but apparently this was part of the Cree burial ritual was burying people on a loft. Then eventually when it falls down, burying the person in the ground. 

They also where giving away free rosaries. So I decided to help myself. 

THEY COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS???? 

I had a million questions near the end of thins but I was able to narrow it down to just a few. I was just about ready to go up and talk to the priest when I realized that the show was not over. There was a reason there was so many people there that day, especially with little babies. It was BAPTISM DAY!!!  So there was another hour of that going on, but I had no time to wait around.  I had a work shift to get to. Shame. Seeing the baptisms would have been cool.

Church #23 Moravian Church of Edmonton. July 13 2014.

Ok. Let’s do this…

Heading to the church this morning was a bit concerned considering it was one of the hottest forecasted days this year. I knew that there was a string chance that I might sweat to death, but thankfully it wasn’t that bad.

This is one of the few times that I have actually worn a skirt to church in a while, solely on my own choice. I still see a consistent skirt wearing trend amongst women of all ages in the many churches I have seen regardless of age or how traditional they are/or are not. Maybe it has to do with the whole “modesty” thing? Dressing nicely? Excuse to wear a skirt? All I know is that I see it everywhere.

So this is the inside of the church. 

Some very nice quilted banners * round of applause for all the grannies that surely made that possible.

The church had aprox 30 people in it, mostly seniors, and a had few people in their 20’s. No kids this time. But one thing I did notice at the very back was a elderly man who appeared to have some form of developmental disability. He didn’t seem to have very effective speaking skills but was still very friendly, and seemed to be very interested in his Disney Princess book? (or that is at least what it looked like) .

The worship stared and then after one song we were asked to stand up and great our neighbor. I met a peasant middle aged fellow in front of me, he had a purple shirt on and orange rimmed glasses, he said “Hi, my name is Duck!” …..I might have misheard that. I can’t be sure. LOL.

The pastor was vibrant young lady, who spoke well and with great enthusiasm. She also had a slight accent ( I latter discovered that she is originally from North Carolina) In this time I also shook hands with a very tall and thick set man in his early thirties, he introduced himself as “Rebecca’s Husband”. Ps. Rebecca is the name of the pastor.  I noticed that thru the service that she was more than willing to take in his wife’s words as she stood at the front and spoke. He also took the worship very seriously.

Normally in most churches there is some type of a projector screen at the front of the room. Normally displaying the words to songs or the bible passages being read. Well let’s just say today the projector was out of order and we had to do things old school, so there was a lot of flipping pages back and forth between the song book and then the bibles, but it didn’t bother me much. We had a lady that came up and read a poem that she wrote called “Time Marches On.” I felt it was well done.

One of the things I really noticed with this pastor is that she really pushes for this church to interact with the service. I feel it to be a bold move to take on this approach considering that this church was mainly filled with the elderly that were possibly raised in a church were you shut-up and never think for yourself. I know far too well that some old people do not accept change gracefully. She took a chance pushing these seniors slightly out of their comfort zone with the addition of new activities and interactions. And I am happy to report that it all appears to be very positive and highly effective!

One thing that she asked of her congregation today was to think about “all the people you know (and yourselves) with their own personal gifts and how we can encourage them to use those gifts in the community.” Then she had this thing set up. 

So the whole idea is that you meditate on yourself and others and decide how you will act to help put this all in motion. Then you were encouraged to go to the front of the room and take a Dixie cup full of sand and poor it into the vase as your commitment to using your own gifts for the betterment of other and encouraging others to do the same.  The pastor continuing to say “God’s love shapes us our whole lives, from start to finish.”

The bible passage reviewed today was that of the Samaritan woman. You know, the part where she goes to the well in the hot day sun and Jesus asks her for a drink and she is shocked at this because Jew+Samaritan= no interaction EVER. 

And he tells her that if she drinks from this well she will always become thirsty again, but he drinks from his well, she will never be thirsty ever again. All along this lady is putting the puzzle pieces together and starting to think that his guy may be this “messiah” that has been spoken about. Bu here is the thing that you don’t normally hear about, the rest of their conversation. Including the part where Jesus looks at her and says “You have had 5 husbands, and the one you have right now is not your husband.” Holly Hanna! Did not see that coming! I knew that the Samarian woman was “divorced” but I guess there is a bit more to it than that.  I felt this needed a bit more of an in-depth look. A nice link here for your convenience.

http://www.gotquestions.org/woman-at-the-well.html

After all this we were encouraged to intermingle and discuss our ideas or how to use our personal gifts and how to encourage others. There was a lot of talking but I couldn’t really get a word in. But in my mind that was ok. There was a lady in my group that was talking a lot about having a book club or a book exchange. At one point the pastor came around and handed out sticky notes, for us to write our ideas down on.

The rest of the service consisted of the offering prayer requests, and making announcements. One of the elderly lades stood up and told the church that she is now the proud great grandmother of twin boys. God help that mother. She is going to need it!  

I was reading the pamphlet I was given at the door and I noticed the term “homebound”. Now reflecting on it I more clearly realize what it means, but to begin with, I did not interoperate it as people that are so ill that they can’t leave their house. When I first saw this term, my impression was that this list of people had passed away.  How I made this connection was the fact that the praise “being called home” Is often said in relation to a person that has just died. Hence my impression of the term “homebound”.

One of the last things that happened was a announcement that one of the church members new baby granddaughter was just baptized recently in their church.  I personally grew up in a family that baptized me as a baby, and I have no issue with it. But I have been to other places and talk to some people who highly disagree with it. I have even encountered one lady that had enough gumpf to tell me my baptism was “illegitimate”. Which I think is bull-shit and deeply hurtful.

But it still got me wondering, what does it really mean to be baptized as a baby? Cause as an adult it is a full personal choice to commit one’s self to fallowing Christ. A baby doesn’t have that ability to make that choice or understand it at that time.  So what does it all mean? According to this pastor it means that the parents of the child commit to teaching this child about god and the congregation commits to help be supportive.

The more you know.