Live Life in the Wisdom Way

“Walk in the Spirit way.  Live life in the wisdom way.”   These words were a birthday blessing given to me from a Blackfoot Indian medicine man this past summer when I was at the St. Mary’s Visitor Center in Glacier National Park.  I did not volunteer to go forward in the auditorium for a blessing, but rather I was chosen because no one else in the audience had a birthday within that particular week of August.  Normally I would have found a way  out in this situation but not with traveling companions who were pointing their finger at me.  The medicine man invited me to come forward if I would like and sit on the edge of the small stage. He handed me a large eagle feather to hold over my heart. At that point the audience disappeared and I was caught up in the moment.   He sang my name and the words  of blessing in his native tongue and then in English until the spirit had him stop drumming.  There was a quiet moment as tears welled up in my eyes and the eyes of my women friends.   I got up, offered silent gratitude to the medicine man.  He then hugged me and whispered, “I have something for you.”   I watched him go back up on stage behind the podium and get his medicine bag out of his coat pocket.  He reached inside the healing bag, walked back to me  and silently placed an arrowhead stone in my hand before he continued the presentation.

Six months after the gift of blessing I still take time to hold the arrowhead in my hand and  be present to this moment.   Personal memories fall like water over this blessing bringing clarity to past experiences.  The feelings remain in my heart where the Eagle feather still protects what occurred.  The blessing seeps into surprising crevices, soothing old pain and embarrassment over some past mistakes and naive assumptions about life …..I hadn’t learned the wisdom way yet.   It is amazing how much a blessing can show and teach us.  A blessing can even release us from past shame.   I have been reminded of this:

• Living life in the wisdom way seems illusive to our cultural and political context.
• Wisdom is more messy than it is perfect.
• Wisdom doesn’t come quickly.
• Wisdom is learned  through practice, shifting, risking the Spirit walk and trusting the Spirit of Grace through the missteps.

When you have lived long enough you will need to know what is in your medicine bag.  When you begin to discover this begin to practice reaching down inside to give a portion of your healing medicine away.  The medicine bag of a Wise One is not empty because One learns the ebb and flow of the healing ways…..through the practice of walking in the Spirit way and living life in the wisdom way.

On the journey…………..Naomi

Reframing the Virgin Birth

I loved the Christmas story growing up.  It  was the one time of  year that church seemed to center around the children.  We sang songs without hymnals and performed pageants where the costumes were more important than the words we  memorized.  There was a sense of mystery in all of this and perhaps, besides the candle light, it felt mysterious that Jesus had actually once been a baby and a little kid just like me.    When I was a teenager I still liked the baby’s birth but the “virgin” birth was troubling.  My questions were answered by adults who quoted Gabriel who explained it to Mary, “With God all things are possible.”   I began to think that believing in the “Virgin Birth” determined whether one was a real Christian.  You can imagine my relief when I asked my New Testament professor  in college what he thought.  His response was simply, ” Certainly you don’t think you are the only Christian in history who has questioned the meaning of virgin birth?”  I felt a bit embarrassed by his short response but I left his office with a great sense of relief.

In Seminary the “virgin birth” was addressed by current scholarship:  being born of a virgin was a popular myth in the Roman Empire therefore the Caesars claimed to be born of virgins.  Since the myth was used to connect the throne of the Caesars to the throne of the gods we can’t help but ask why the writer/s of Luke wouldn’t use the myth of the Virgin Birth to usurp the power of the Roman Empire that had dehumanized the existence of their community?   I could hardly contain my excitement regarding the implications of this information.

In the spirit of  the Hebrew prophets who had gone before them, the early Jesus community risked their lives and used this story to address the greed of Emperors, wealthy patrons and political priests who claimed God as their refuge while at the same time refusing to provide refuge for the widows, orphans and the poor.  Reframing the “virgin” birth in the context of Roman Culture, the Gospel of Luke opens up the story of  the “little people” (represented by Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds) who live as the “expendables” in the Great Roman Empire.  Mary’s Magnificat becomes a political protest; the poor are lifted up rather than disposed of by earthly political power.

Jesus is born under the burden of taxes when he is born in Bethlehem.  The poor may be forced to pay taxes to Caesar  but the Good News is that they no longer need to  live under Ceasar’s power and subject their  souls to the consequences of the brutal disregard of human life perpetuated under Roman rule.   Their Kingdom of God is one of the heart and Jesus is their “King.”  This is the kingdom that holds a mysterious power that can connect human integrity to all people on earth.   Jesus was born in a Manger….the poor claim him as their King who, by the way, was  born of a virgin.

Pondering the meaning and mystery of Christmas……..Naomi   (Luke 1: 26 -56)

Vision and Common Sense

Virginia Falls, Glacier Park

This summer I led 7 women on a vision quest retreat to Glacier Park. Prior to going I decided to google “vision quest”  just to see what this meant to others.  Much of what I saw resonated deep in my understanding but I was surprised by the abundance of marketing geared to “personal” vision statements for success, personal financial growth, dreaming about all the things you want to acquire in life and visualizing receiving them (everything from a car to a big house).   Vision is a word that seems to catch on quickly….we all want it,  but it makes me a bit nervous when it becomes “all about me.”   In the Hebrew Text of the Bible and the Gospels vision it is about the ability to see how to feed and clothe everyone in a community; vision responds to the questions of how to foster faith that one day we will live in a world where justice flows down the mountain like a overflowing river.

I can never remember a time in my life when “vision” wasn’t a shared vocabulary word of the communities where I lived in Central Montana.   It was a “church word” and it was a word talked about in my home and school.   I may not have understood it fully when I was little but I knew it was about the most important thing the world needed:  “Without a vision, my people will perish” is what the minister read and preached about in Isaiah.  As I grew in my understanding it seemed that God’s wisdom  taught that vision and breath are  synonymous to living well in a community.

Growing up in rural communities in Montana “vision” could literally make a difference between life and death in a small town.  Vision had to do with helping the people in town whose barn or house burned down. Vision had to do with projects at school that taxes didn’t pay for (like girls’ basketball and senior trips).   Vision was about remodeling churches, building community centers for the elderly to gather or raising money for someone’s family with a terminally ill child.  At church it had to do with angels, dreams, and praying for our neighbors and world….then creating a vision to do something about all of the things we prayed and talked about.   Vision was about taking care of widows left behind, bringing food to the sick, sending money to help children learn to read in parts of our world without access to public eduation.

Growing up vision was linked to common sense.  You didn’t have to buy books to learn about it; it was something that was learned by observing the wise people around us who always found something to give when they could see the need.   Vision always had to do with community, reaching out to do things that one single person could never do alone.   This is the vision that breathes life into our world.  It is basic to spiritual formation and faith.

Perspective from the Mountains

Shades of green and blue shape the valley and mountains as I sit on the cabin deck readying for a hike at 11,000 feet.   I muse. I know what lies beneath this mirage of flawless beauty that presents itself in morning light.  I have walked the terrain and felt the ruggedness of this stunning landscape.  In the length of a mile I have witnessed the mingling of flower, forest, and  fight for existence.   Short seasons of warmth and rain rule time  in the Rockies where everything from bear to bluebell competes for a taste of life.   I know how rugged this mountain is, how her elements and her wild life can both calm and terrify in the turn of the path and the direction of the wind.

My ritual of going to the mountains each summer reminds me of why I do what I do most of the year.   I spend  much time advocating for youth who live with the stresses of poverty.   I believe my child hood love of the Mountains of Montana impacted my faith and  my commitment to fight for beauty in the midst of the struggle:  this is like DNA in my bones.   Each summer I climb for height sight to provide perspective for my life.   I sit among  stones that have been smoothed by flowing waters over untold years, providing a resting place in the long unfolding line of time.  I walk  terrain where paths are not yet formed, where brilliant wild flowers reach for the sun in skyscapes that dwarf large grand boulders. From a distance beauty is uncomplicated; close up beauty is complex.  On top of the mountain, at the source of the waters, I am reminded that ruggedness and survival create magnificent beauty.  And so I return to the fertile valley of the midwest, reminded of the lessons of the mountains, engaging and celebrating the beauty that rises up in the complexities and struggle for life on the streets of the city.

Skywoman, August Vacation, 2010     From the Rosebud Valley to the top of the Cook City Highway.