CALL TO WORSHIP

We gather today

On world water monitoring day

To awaken our minds, hearts, and spirits

To our connection to the waters

Which are a part of us and without which

We could not survive.

 We gather in this time

of fires and drought,

Of floods and storms,

To prepare ourselves

To side with love

In our word and deed.

We gather in the full knowledge

That it is already too late to prevent climate change

But that is not an excuse not to begin

To clean the waterways

To prevent creatures from extinction

To limit our consumption

To hold politicians, corporations, and ourselves accountable

to an ethic of what is good for the seventh generation.

For this change will preserve life, will preserve hope, will preserve our humanity

And this will make all the difference.

– Alison Miller –

SERMON: “Rising Tide” by Rev. Alison Miller

Almost six years ago, my husband and I traveled to North Dakota in response to the invitation from Chief Arvol Looking Horse for faith leaders to come to Camp Oceti Sakowin and Stand with the Standing Rock Sioux. We were not alone. Thousands showed up for an interfaith day of prayer. We arrived a week early to volunteer for supply runs to help prepare and to participate in the teach-ins and the actions culminating with that day.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, we gathered around the Sacred Fire in the Sacred Circle for a water blessing ceremony led by our hosts. The service opened with prayers, chants, and reflections led by elders of Oceti Sakowin (the Seven Council Fires, the Standing Rock Sioux) and then other native peoples were invited to add their prayers and voices to the mix. Speakers reminded us that we and the Earth are both about 70% water. In fact, our first place of birth was the watery womb where each of us was carried before arriving on dry land. 

At one point, the water gathered at rivers both near and far and cooled by the morning air was poured out into mini cups and handed to everyone present. As I sipped and savored the portion that was mine, I was conscious of the feeling as the cool water rolled along my tongue and slid down my throat towards my stomach. I was grateful for those cool sips on an ice-cold morning in a way that I too often forget to be with a whole pitcher of water in the backyard on a summer day. After two sips, I felt an awareness of abundance, looked around for someone who had been missed, and handed my cup off to a man in the row of people behind me. He smiled as he took the gift in hand and brought the refreshing last sips to his lips.

After a while, the members of the circle passed around the Sacred Fire and slowly proceeded towards the water’s edge, down the makeshift street lined with flags, which represented the hundreds of nations and tribes who were moving with the Standing Rock Sioux. As we marched and rolled along, we sang songs that honored our connection to the water that flows in us and through us and flows around our world. The songs represented the diverse gathering of people, thousands strong, at the camp and included Native American Chants I had never heard before and chants familiar to Unitarian Universalists like, The River is Flowing. Water is Life! was proclaimed in many languages – Mni Wiconi! L’eau est vie! El agua es la vida!

When we arrived at the water’s edge, more prayers were shared and tobacco was offered to the Cannonball River. The smells of burning plants filled the air as they did at ceremonies throughout the week – burning sage, juniper, and cedar. Then, the leaders organized the people who identified as men to form a receiving bridge on the outside as the people who identified as women moved slowly together towards the frozen river. (It’s important to acknowledge that not everyone identifies with the gender binary and that even in spaces moving towards liberation there are moments of work that remains to be done.) As we passed through the beginning of this human bridge, it was lovely to feel received by people on the left and the right as our gloved hands touched. By the end, as we crossed the narrow dock towards the river, we had need of their steadying presence, especially as we leaned into the river to offer our own bit of tobacco and our prayers. Once the last person reached the water, the sides were switched, and we received and held the others on their journey toward the river’s edge. All throughout this ceremony, we continued to sing and chant in different languages. The service lasted about two hours, and by the end my feet were completely numb. I moved quickly to find a campfire. In the harsh Dakota plains in winter, you are deeply conscious of what gives life and what may take it away.

Every morning at the camp began in prayer and in gratitude by invoking blessings upon the water and upon us who come from the water. Camp Oceti Sakowin is a ceremonial camp that has been called into being over the centuries. Every inch of land is considered holy. Everywhere we walked together while in the camp was part of an outdoor temple, which may be a point easily missed by those of us who come from cultures that have severed our connection to the Earth. For centuries, that particular land has been deemed a sacred site. This was sensed enough by Native Americans from differing tribes, that even tribes in conflict, set this land aside as a place for prayer and peace. Fighting would cease temporarily by those who moved through the site.

When Camp Oceti Sakowin comes into being, it is a place of prayer without ceasing. All of us were asked to carry ourselves as we would in a place of worship and to follow the customs of the Standing Rock Sioux.

For those who identified as women, we were asked to wear a skirt or a dress. There were some women who disregarded the request, either because they didn’t know or by claiming feminism as a reason. But we were invited, especially those of us who identify as white women, to de-center ourselves and follow the lead of indigenous people.

At the orientation, a woman who lived there, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, explained that in their culture the skirt was a symbol that set woman apart as being particularly valued. So, I chose to follow her lead and wore wool long johns under fleece pants and a brown floral skirt over these. For me, wearing a skirt in such a harsh winter landscape did alter my relationship to the moment. I wasn’t winter camping – I was joining a pilgrimage founded to fortify spiritual resistance, resilience, and revolution.

Camp Oceti Sakowin and Standing with Standing Rock was and is a movement about spiritual resistance, about indigenous rights, and about stewardship of our Earth, and that order matters.

It was the first time the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples had gathered since 1850. It was and remains an invitation to awakening and a sharing of the spiritual traditions from one generation with the next.

It wasn’t just the morning that began in ceremony and prayer. Throughout the day, gatherings, meetings, mealtimes, and planned non-violent actions were grounded in an awareness of the Creator and our relationship to one another, the land, and the water. The Seven Lakota values served as the foundation for all we did together. They are prayer, respect, compassion, honesty, generosity, humility, and wisdom.

Too often, non-native peoples speak of native traditions as a lost wisdom and practice from the past that “we” wish to reclaim. This is a conquest perspective. It renders invisible the Native Americans of this land who are still present throughout our country and who have living, breathing traditions that we would be wise to include in interfaith gatherings. We, who do not come from Native American heritage, do not own and should not bend Native American traditions to fit our will, but we can learn from one another and share with one another from the wisdom of our respective traditions. We can allow ourselves to be transformed by doing so.    

The Interfaith Day of Prayer was December 4^th, and by then there were indigenous leaders from every corner of the Earth and representatives across the world religions. Along with religious leaders were thousands of Veterans who were invited for a special action the next day. The numbers swelled to as many as 15,000 people at the camp. Somehow, the firewood, the food, and the fellowship stretched to encompass the additional presence of so many guests leaning into our differences and learning about our commonalities. Part of the recipe that allowed this to work is that those who usually experience the greatest privilege because of race, gender, or religion were willing to practice stepping back and being led by others.

Camp Oceti Sakowin was and is a vision… a movement led by Indigenous Peoples and about Indigenous Rights. In a very real sense, this fight is about drawing the line and saying, “You can go no farther.” In the Treaty of 1851, the Sioux Tribe was given a span of land that is theirs and not to be interfered with by the United States. Not only is the Dakota Access Pipeline dangerous to the water supply of the Reservation, it is and remains an illegal move on the part of the United States. Stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline was and is about 500 years of broken promises that were made between the United States and Native Americans.

Our country is continuing a program of domination and genocide connected to religion, racism, land ownership, and water. Sadly, this is an example of how dangerous corporations gaining a vote and a stronger voice in our political system can be. The land that the Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco were drilling towards is not owned by the U.S. and ‘might makes right’ is not a moral stance, no matter who is elected president.

In the camp, we practiced a focus on Indigenous Rights by centering the voices and ideas of the Standing Rock Sioux first, then other Native Peoples, then People of Color, and last people who identified as White. Everyone did have a chance to share. We experienced the reverse of the typical order in the world beyond Oceti Sakowin, and we tasted the Beloved Community where none are left out.

Camp Oceti Sakowin is a movement about stewardship of our Earth and protecting the water. It is also a youth led movement, and one for us to be aware of as youth led movements are a focus for channeling our resources this year. In 2016, there was a 2,000-mile youth relay that brought petitions from North Dakota to Washington, DC and in 2021 the youth many now young adults ran again – this time asking Biden to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline – to be faithful to his word to be a president focused on Climate Justice. One of the runners, Iyanko Shwi spoke of participating back in 2016 and again last year… “Running is prayer… we layed our footsteps down on the Earth and awakened a common sense that we all belong…” When they originally left, the camp was empty, when they returned the message had been heard around the world and the camp was full and remained so for months. The second run was to Biden who claims to be a President focused on Climate. They want him to be truthful to his word and stop DAPL. Iyanko Shwi* spoke about how every morning the first thing her daughters ask for is a cup of water. It is a basic human right.

*Reader’s Note: This is the transliteration of how Bobbi Jean Huyamni said her name in an interview put up by the Standing Rock Youth Council: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=881588402384470

There is a report due out this month from the Army Corps of Engineers on the impacts of the pipeline, which has already had several spills, but the government hired ERM as their consultants. ERM is financially conflicted and is connected to the oil industry. How likely is it that they will deliver an impartial report?

Segments of the outside world defined the Standing Rock Sioux as protesters, but they call themselves water protectors. As Chief Arvol Looking Horse shared, Mother Earth is sick with a fever and disease, which is spreading across the face of the Earth. This is a shared understanding of many Indigenous Tribes around the world. We are being invited to participate in a movement to heal the Earth and our relationship with the Earth and with one another. At a different water ceremony offered by an Ojibwa delegation, an elder spoke of how their chief shared a prophecy that one day people would sell water to one another. Everyone at the gathering laughed because it seemed so preposterous… But, it doesn’t seem preposterous to us in 2022. This is the world we have created and our children are inheriting. Clean water is no longer a human right, but a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. Water is becoming a source of war and death, rather than the source of life and birth. 

… And right here, in Oregon, we have challenges on this front. 88% of Oregon’s Public Schools had detectable amounts of lead in their water at the same time we gathered at Camp Oceti Sakowin. As you may recall there were tests from a spot at Grant High School that were four times higher than the highest levels found in Flint, Michigan. A report published last month details improvements, but until every school has safe drinking water, we are far from done. And, what about when those same children go home? According to “The State of Water Justice in Oregon” published last month, there are still people living in our state who don’t have access to safe plumbing and drinking water at home… Worldwide there are currently over 2 billion people who have no access to clean, safe drinking water.

Kat Brigham, Chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is quoted in the report saying, “Our people used to drink straight out of the Columbia River. After the dams went in in the 50s and industry increased, we started to get sick. Now, tribal elders say you couldn’t pay them to drink out of the Columbia, our historic lifeline.”

Or, look at what’s happening in Ukraine, a war is being fought in part over hydro-politics. Following Russia’s Annexation of Crimea in 2014, a place that had water resources, Ukraine dammed up the Northern Crimean Canal. One of the first things that happened after the Russian invasion earlier this year, was to blow up that dam. 2 million residents in Crimea had become water stressed and Russia was losing hold over the area. Figuring out a way for all of us to share the precious water between the mainland and the Crimean Peninsula will be necessary to build a lasting peace.   

Right here, right now we are dealing with similar tensions. The federal government closed the water supply from a part of the Klamath River on the California-Oregon border to protect fish and to promote the rights of Native American Tribes. A group of farmers, which depended upon that source for irrigation in this time of severe drought has threatened to reopen the water supply by force, if the government can’t find a solution they find satisfactory. We have to share the precious resource of water in a way that promotes the well-being of seven generations if we are to have lasting peace everywhere on Earth.

Although the halting of DAPL was short-lived, the success of that time in Camp Oceti Sakowin is that a spiritual vision lives in all who went there. It was at the moment when we fully encircled the camp with our prayers on December 4^th with thousands of peacemakers from every religious tradition and thousands of veterans (estimates of over 4000 and maybe as many as 10,000 veterans). Just imagine, peaceniks and veterans holding hands! Muslims and Jews, Christians and Indigenous religious leaders holding hands. And just when we managed to encircle the entire camp, and all those flags representing the hundreds upon hundreds of tribes and nations that are standing with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe… just as we held one another in prayer, and had a circle wide enough to exclude no one… at that moment the “town crier” showed up to let us know that the Army Corps was halting the Dakota Access Pipeline project. It happened because of following the lead of Camp Oceti Sakowin – a movement where we have shown up for one another and for Mother Earth – a movement of spiritual fortification, of resistance, of resilience, and of revolution.

We glimpsed what is possible when we hold hands with one another in prayer and in action. Destructive project can be stopped. We can forge a new way, or better expressed, we can return to the teachings of those who first inhabited and still inhabit these lands. It requires the bending of the moral arc of the universe with the weight of all of us and our love in action. Justice can move forward, but it will not be without repeated backlash.

So, do not lose hope my friends, it has always been this way. We are living in a moment of awakening. Let us push forward with every fiber of our being. Let us indeed reach to the left and the right until the way that you and I live and walk on the Earth encircles all the living.

Our prayer is that we move through this land as if every inch of it is a temple. By doing so, may our deeds and our lives restore the waters and heal the Earth and humanity.

Amen.

Blessed be. And may it be so.

Topics: Interdependance