Sweat Lodge Prayers
A largely Christian community of Native North Americans in Quebec has banned a spiritual practice traditional to their people, the Cree. The decision has disappointed some ministers in native communities in the United States and Canada.
The Band Council of Oujé-Bougoumou, a village of about 600 James Bay Cree, voted in October to dismantle a sweat lodge some residents had constructed. The council decided that Oujé-Bougoumou's Christian founding elders had not intended the community to partake in "native spirituality or practices."
"The practice of the sweat lodge and its rituals are not restricted to merely medical [pursuit] of healing, but [are] in essence a way to contact and communicate with the spirit world through shamanism," the resolution declared.
Jerry Yellowhawk, a Lakota Wesleyan minister from South Dakota, sees Oujé-Bougoumou's choice as "a backwards step."
"It's been very hard to try to bring the love of Christ … to the Native American people," Yellowhawk says. "Things like this, when they happen it just makes it that much more difficult."
Only about 5 percent of Native Americans are born-again believers, experts say. Many, notes Yellowhawk, still think of Christianity as a "white man's religion."
Today, Christians in Native American and Canadian First Nations communities sometimes use traditional practices. For Cree Christian Reformed Church pastor Harold Roscher, the sweat lodge remains sacred space.
"It's four rounds of prayer," says Roscher, "an opportunity to pray to Jesus, to God. So I find it invaluable, especially working amongst my Cree people … it's a good way to make a good connection."
Some native Christians object to this. "Where in the Bible can you go where sacred objects used by nations were ever redeemed and used to worship God?" asks Ojibwe evangelist Craig Smith, whose ministry is affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. "In the Old Testament, that didn't bring God into the sanctuary. That drove him away."
Emerson Falls, who leads the Fellowship of Native American Christians, says it depends on individual conscience and discernment. "There are some practices that may, in a particular location, convey a syncretistic message," he says. "You have to know the culture and use discretion."
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Previous articles from Christianity Today and sister publications on Christianity among Native Americans and First Nations peoples include:
The People and the Black Book| One church's attempt to do justly. (Leadership Journal, July 19, 2010)
The West That Wasn't Won | Protestant missions to Native Americans had few shining moments. (Christian History, April 1, 2000)
Graham Crusade: Caught Between Cultures | Recovery evangelism is used to spread the gospel to Native Americans at a joint Graham festival. (June 15, 1998)
How Did Native Americans Respond to Christianity? | A collection of eyewitness accounts. (Christian History, July 1, 1992)
La complejidad hispana: Todo cambió en el 2012
The Latest in Movie News, May 20, 2013
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E J Wynne
"It is finnished", Jesus said. His shed life blood is sufficient. He doesn't need gimmicks or other artifacts, smoke or anything else for that matter. Since more of this religion is spreading among our people there has been a vast increase of suicide among our young people. This is a spiritual battle and it's taking it's toll among our young and it's not about power struggle among our First Nation Christian famillies but rather we need to remember "What sayeth the LORD. It's only by HIS life saving BLOOD can we be saved, healed, delivered. We must worship HIM in Spirit and in TRUTH and in no other way. "Be ye Holy as I AM HOLY", He said. Let's not go back to the old way we used to worship but go back further than that....back to the CROSS of Calvary. Will the real (sold out) Christian bow down HUMBLY and pray for my people. I love them and all my brothers and sisters in Christ. Tear down strongholds the BIBLE says. Where the Spirit of the Lord is........there is FREEDOM.
Marcus Toole
I totally agree with your statement KT. But those on the other side believe that they are holding to Scripture. It’s one thing to exegete Scripture and quite another thing to apply its principles. The matter of sweats in Cree culture is easy in comparison to the question of the drum. In traditional Cree culture the drum is a sacred object. It is understood to have a spirit which must be honored at all times. Tribal elders insist that whenever a drum is played that those coming in contact with the drum must undergo a cleansing ritual with sweat grass first, and a special honor song must be played first to honor the spirit in the drum. Many Native Christians, especially second generation Christians, want to brig the drum into Christian worship. Many first generation Christians, see this as the ultimate sacrilege. A drum shoul be redeemable, but I know of no examples where Cree Christians embraced the drum without eventually embracing cerimonies like sweats and sundances.
T B
This particular debate has been going on for ethnic peoples for years and I know that a lot of these questions return to what we embrace as our starting points, and I'm convinced that beginning with the Word of God gives us a clearer path to how to navigate these waters. If our starting point is something other than the truth of the Word of God being absolute and immutable, then we are inviting problems that will inevitably bring us closer to either religious licentiousness or Pharisiac judgmentalism, both of which have been found wanting throughout history, regardless of the culture the gospel is being presented in....