Today is the day we used to commemorate as Columbus Day – before we went to the three-day weekend via the 1968 Uniform Holiday Bill. As Columbus went from great discoverer to brutal enslaver and harbinger of the European invasion of this continent, there were all kinds of calls to rename it as Indigenous People’s Day.
Native peoples have been depicted as both brutal and noble savages, people wanting to defend the land they inhabited from settlers to tribes warring against each other. Just as various immigrant groups celebrate their heritages, so, too, have various tribes with all kinds of people wanting to assert a part of Native heritage.
Obviously we cannot undo the past, including everything from tribal warfare, attacks on settlers, dreadful policies that led to Indian boarding schools, but we can learn from it to create a better future for both Native peoples and the hodge-podge of people now on this continent. The past is a teacher; we should learn from it.
Prayer for the Day
Refresh our spirits, O God, opening us to new life,
So we can clean out the inner stables of our minds;
Move us so we become the light in the dark, O Lord,
Enabling us to share your Spirit of life with others.
Broaden our vision of justice and righteousness
And empower us to be your light in a dark world.
In the name of the One who shows us how to live,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists -- as it surely will. Then act with courage.
Chief White Eagle, Ponca Tribe, Oklahoma (1825-1914)
For a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians remain probably the least understood and most misunderstood Americans of us all.
Harry S. Truman, President 1945-1953 (1884-1972)
The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
The Lord determines the number of the stars and gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; the Lord’s understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden, and casts the wicked to the ground.
Psalm 147: 3-6