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Griffith Lutheran Church |
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Dear Griffith Lutheran Family, “Keep your spirits on the mountaintops.” Cherokee instruction “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come?” Psalm 121 I have always appreciated Native American spirituality. I think it comes from my first trips as a young child to the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina. I remember (back when traffic was lighter) my family hopping on our bikes and riding from Smokemont camp ground down to the DQ in the reservation. We would sit on picnic benches near the river and enjoy our treats before going back uphill to our campsite. I also remember that was the last place dad was able to find ethyl gasoline for the 1969 Chevy pickup truck (a feat he mentioned for the rest of the years we had that truck!) Back in the day there was only the DQ, a few small motels, a gas station or two, and a number of gift shops. Today much has changed. That small DQ no longer exists. It is now down the road, on the other side of the highway and looks much like the DQ on Ridge Road. That gas station no longer exists. And the strip looks so much different than I remember. But the mountains are the same. They remain seemingly unchanged; sentinels to the history of the world. It is no wonder that both the Cherokees and the writers of the Psalms both found strength and power - a sense of holiness - in the mountains and hills that surrounded them. In both the spirituality of the Cherokees and the words of the Psalmist, there’s a reminder of the wonder of creation, and our place in it. Perhaps we could learn a bit more about the stewardship of the earth from our Cherokee brothers and sisters; especially in the wake of the BP crisis that continues in the Gulf of Mexico. We often feel we need certainty in our lives; especially in the face of things we cannot understand. Personally, in the past few months, my life has been touched by three different suicides. The last one was at the beginning of June and was the seventeen year old boy who lived next door to us for the last eight years. Even though we were in town during that week I did not know this had happened until a friend asked me if someone had died tragically on my street. Then the pieces of why there was police activity next door all fell into place. Sadly this family keeps to themselves in the neighborhood. I introduced myself to both the husband and the wife when we moved in; and that was basically the last contact we’ve had. I think that is becoming more of a reality in our lives; which is tough for someone who grew up knowing almost all our neighbors. So often we find ourselves so worried about the troubles we’re facing that we forget to lift our eyes up to the hills. What was it in the lives of the two young men and the chapel pastor at VU that made them think they could never rise above them? I don’t know. The valleys are full of changes; but the mountaintop remains the same. Cast your eyes upward. Find the steadfast love of God. “Keep your spirits on the mountaintops.” Even as I leave this place later in the week; both the words of the Psalmist and this Cherokee teaching will shape how I weather the challenges of life. In Christ, |
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