Stories

Our theme for November is “What does it mean to be a community of story?” Of course, stories can be truth-telling, or truth-hiding. Many of you know I have mixed feelings about the Thanksgiving holiday. I am very much in favor of gratitude. But the stories we tell about the holiday have been used to hide the truth about a deep crack in the foundation of our nation, and have distorted and corrupted the high ideals we cherish as the basis of our American democracy.

Of course, I am speaking about the colonization of this continent, a destructive process unparalleled in history. Millions of Indigenous people were killed, or died from disease unknown to them. Land was stolen. Treaties were signed and then broken, and then never talked about again. Most of our senators and representatives in Washington know nothing about the legal responsibilities of our federal government to the Indigenous nations within our borders.

Why should we care? Those of us whose ancestors were among the settlers of the continent? We have benefited from this colonization, but we have also been harmed by it. Colonization is at the root of the many of the problems that all of us are facing now: the destruction of the natural world, climate change, oppression of one group by another, the overarching greed that has bankrupted our economy. I don't believe we can fix those problems without revisiting our history.

Sadly, churches were a large contributor to colonization. I am part of a new project here in Maine, called “Decolonizing Faith.” A few clergy colleagues and I, under the auspices of the Wabanaki REACH program, are exploring the history of colonization, and the role of the churches in it. We recently spent a long weekend with a few partners from the Wabanaki people having deeper conversations about the impacts of colonization on Wabanaki people, and building trust for future work together. We hope that we might begin to envision how churches could help in the process of de-colonization, joining together with Indigenous people for the benefit of all people.

Our next plan is to create and hold day-long workshops for people in faith communities to explore these questions together. But we realized this topic is so huge, that perhaps we should start by encouraging people to attend the Ally workshops that are already being offered by Wabanaki REACH. These workshops look at the history of U.S. Government relationships with Native people, explore the dynamics of systemic racism, and ask what non-native people can do as allies. Once people have this basic foundation, they will be better prepared for looking at how churches were involved in the problems, and how we can be part of the solutions.

I would encourage folks to sign up for the ally training to be held in Falmouth on Saturday November 12, or in Augusta on November 19^th. You can email Barbara@mainewabanakireach.org or call at 951-4874 for details and more information. These trainings will be a prerequisite for the first Decolonizing Faith workshops we hope to offer this winter.

On another note entirely, some of you may have noticed that we've moved the chalice and the candles of joy and concern to the side table for worship. Part of this is due to my allergies—I often find myself reacting to something in the sanctuary during worship, for example, by coughing. One of our members suggested that it might be the oil burning chalice or candles that were triggering this, and that made sense to me. So we moved them further away from the pulpit. I think it looks nice on that table. I am also exploring beeswax candles for the chalice, rather than lamp oil which is a petroleum product—wouldn't that be more in line with our ecological vision of weaning ourselves from petroleum?

        Affectionately, Rev. Myke

Projections from the Shadow of History

I am writing on the day Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that always fills me with mixed feelings. Gratitude is wonderful, and getting together with family and friends can be a blessing. But I know that the stories we celebrate are white-washed versions of a history that has brought devastation to so many. I always remember that many Indigenous people call this the Day of Mourning.

The only time that foreign immigrants actually brought disease and destruction to this continent was when the English, Spanish, and French came to settle on its shores. Millions of Indigenous peoples died from diseases to which they had no resistance, or were killed in ongoing campaigns by the newcomers to destroy them and their way of life.

So while I give many thanks for my life, it feels sacrilegious to give thanks for prosperity that was built on the suffering and death of so many others. But it does illuminate for me, in a social psychological way, the possible roots of our American fear and hatred of foreign immigrants. I wonder if perhaps these feelings are a form of projection from this unacknowledged shadow side of American history. People imagine that new immigrants will bring destruction because the first settlers were the immigrants who did bring destruction.
This fear of the foreigner never proved realistic with later immigrants—with the Irish, the Italian, the Chinese, the German, the Jewish, the Puerto Rican, and so many others. Despite being hated and derided, they eventually became a part of the fabric of American life. Perhaps there is a link between facing more honestly our own shadowed and genocidal history, and letting go of our fear of the other.

Hard thoughts for a quiet holiday at home. But so many are cold and hungry and desperately seeking a safe harbor. And the tide of xenophobia and racism in our country seems to be rising out of control. Let's help our friends and neighbors to keep their heads about them. I believe that when we are lucky enough to have shelter and food and clothing and safety, we are responsible for sharing what we can with those who are in need. To me, that is what thanksgiving should be all about. Rev. Myke