Sunday Liturgy

Written By Jeremy Duncan

MEDITATION IN INDIGENOUS KNOWING
Written by Bobbi Salkeld
*Wagamese, Richard. Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations . Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

The month of June is National Indigenous History Month; June 21 is National Indigenous People’s Day. Our practice at Commons is to open our hearts to learning from Indigenous elders, artists, and friends. 

So today, I invite you to a Meditation in Indigenous Knowing. I’ll read a short meditation by the Ojibway writer, Richard Wagamese, and then I’ll offer a prayer. So take a moment to settle your breathing and sense your body in this place, and then we’ll begin. 

Richard Wagamese writes (in Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations): 

I know mountains because I have stood on precipices and breathed. I know prairie because I have lain on my back and been absorbed by the sky. I know the ocean because I have immersed myself in it and felt the pull of its current. If I want to know life, I need to experience its wonder and breathe it in with every breath. If I want to know possibility, I need to see its immensity and allow it to absorb me. If I want to know faith, I need to surrender to it and feel it pulling me in its unseen direction.*

We start small and call to mind wonder in our everyday lives – 
The lush green of the summer months
Running water, safe to drink 
Support in the form of friendship and community 
Good Creator, inspire us with wonder. 

We expand our imagination to possibilities – 
Where we hold pessimism about the future 
Where we write people off too soon
Where we stop short of meaningful resistance 
Christ of the cosmos, inspire us with immensity. 

We finish with care for our intricate faith – 
We surrender the need to always be sure 
We surrender the urge to hide who we are 
We surrender isolating independence for caring interdependence 
Great Spirit, inspire us in unseen directions. 

Amen. 

Jeremy Duncan
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