WHAT TO PASS ON TO CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN - AN ADDENDUM

My friend and colleague of many years, Rick Deines, has a great blog (see it at http://citizenliving.blogspot.com) in which he recently posted thoughts about what to pass on to his grandchildren, all of which I endorse. But this sent me back to our days in Summer Programs at The Ecumenical Institute Chicago and, in particular, to Summer ‘71 which carried the theme: “All the Earth Belongs to All the People.”

Because I am particularly involved right now in the 150th Anniversary of the Dakota/U.S. War which led to the largest mass slaying of any group of people in U.S. history - 38 men hanged on December 26, 1862 in Mankato, Minnesota - I am profoundly, urgently hopeful that my children and grandchildren will come to realize the gifts of every creature, every person, every aspect and dimension of creation.

This brought me back to a liturgy which I wrote for use on Ash Wednesday which is, traditionally, a time in which people come to the front of the church to have ashes placed on their forehead with the words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

I have always interpreted those words as a bad word to people - that in reality, by these words, the church declares that people are no earthly good and the best thing that can happen to them is to fade into the earth.

But then I came across a document which is allegedly written by Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Indians in the State of Washington. It is said that he may not have said these words at all and that some other guy (Dr. Henry A. Smith) may have written them. But we white folk have a way of taking over what ever contributions our native peoples lifted up and gave to us and these words are, in any case, the essence of what American Indian people stand for. I encourage you to read the whole letter and accompanying references at http://www.barefootsworld.net/seattle.html.

So, the liturgy which I created many years ago for the time of imposition of ashes says this:

A Blessing for All

May we know God's blessing in these words of American Indian Chief Seattle: The earth does not belong to the people. People belong to the earth. We are a part of the earth and it is a part of us. For we did not weave the web of life. We are, rather, strands within it. Whatever we do to the web - we do to ourselves. Chief Seattle - 1866

A Personal Blessing for those who wish to receive it

Receive this sign of the cross with the ashes of the earth and this piece of clay as a sign of our oneness with God's creation. Know that one day our bodies will be one with the earth. God is with you.

This brings to mind the work that we did in the summer of 1971 in which we corporately wrote a document called “All the Earth Belongs to All the People,” 40 pages of amazing insights into the reality that all economic, political and cultural dimensions of life on this earth belong to all the people.

And we sang a song which a group of us wrote based on the tune “The Trees of the Linden” which began with a chorus:

All the goods of the earth and all
Decisions of history
And all the inventions of humanness
Belong to all people through me.

The verses are likewise uplifting:

The flowers in the meadow greeting the sun
The trees in the forest stand tall
But gather together to march as one
The earth belongs to all.

The branch of the linden is leafy and green
The maples are golden in fall
But somewhere a glory awaits unseen
The earth belongs to all.

The cries of the innocent sound in their pain
The tyrant has vanquished the small
A powerful ruler lies bound in chains
The earth belongs to all.

O Father, O Mother, Mysterious Power
Your children are gathered to call
Use us as your servants to haste the hour
The earth belongs to all.

I believe that if we will somehow come to embrace this truth, this eminent reality, that the earth belongs to all, we might find a way to bring an end to war, to racism, to sexism, to homophobia, to poverty - to all ideas of exclusion and superiority.

Above all, I hope that my children and grandchildren will come to see the gifts given us by native people and will, with us all, repair the damage done to native people and lands by those of us and our ancestors who came to this land thinking that we alone were its masters.