I am nobody. I don't know to much, I am still learning. I am under Adam like the rest of you. I am under Jesus like the rest of you.
I tried talking about this issue a couple years ago, perhaps my last posts...
I seen one brother try to talk about this issue but no one really engaged with it, this was months ago.
I wasn't surprised about it, I spoke at different churches about these things and no one cared, typical. This will read different depending on the context you live in, but I feel with whats happening, and another post talking about the sins of the land? I feel that its time to address this issue again.
I have been belittled on the other posts as though im underneath most people on here. Its ok, I give you virtual hugs.
If you have the time, Art Katz addresses this issue to an extent, its the following link.
http://ia600301.us.archive.org/8/items/SERMONINDEX_SID3146/SID3146.mp3
He mentions a man named Richard Twiss, an Indigenous Theologian.
Twiss wrote two books, one called "One Church, Many Tribes: Serving the Jesus way the way God made you" and another book called "Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way"
The reason why this post is called the silent death is because in the book One Church, Twiss talks about the body of Christ having hematoma. (If I remember this correctly, then he talks about how this could lead to a worse injury eventually destroying the body) That no one talks about us or acknowledges our issues. Anyways, I am going to post a video from the youtubes about a message he spoke, I think I posted this video some years back with no response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRtATZkpAJI
I transcribed a portion of what he said so that some of yous might understand where he is coming from.
“We have so much suicide and so much brokenness and trouble with alcoholism and domestic violence and poverty. The statistics are off the charts in our Indian community. The American dream is not a good story, its still the American nightmare, for us. Whose going to take that story back? You cant be a Christian until you reject your culture and spirituality and your ceremonies. Whose going to take that story back? Whose going to stand with us when were resisting ongoing federal government policies to remove us from our land, to steal our oil, to bury uranium on our property. Whose going to stand with us? Whose going to rewrite that story in America cause frankly most of you don’t give a rats patootie about Indian people. You just don’t. You got so many worth while noble things that your engaged in in your everyday life that really you don’t have time for us, and I don’t blame you. You don’t have time for us. Were like on the edges of your American sort of myopic sort of imagination, so to see my friends dancing and singing tonight, for a lot of you, you probably haven’t seen that before. Unless you been to a pow wow or live near a reservation perhaps. We used to do these conferences where we had drumming and singing on the stage in our native Christian gatherings and people would just flip out, ‘like what are you doing bringing that Indian culture on a Christian worship platform’. That’s not part of the biblical story.”
He offers more insight, the talks more.
There other Indigenous Theologians that offer more insight, like Ray Aldred and Terry Leblanc.
These guys are contrary to the information the brother posted about ncem.ca
We can talk more about this stuff if you want or how to be more practical than just say thank you and ill pray for you. But, like I said, I am still learning, maybe its a journey we take together.
I love you. _________________ Daniel
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