PALEFACE

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Katharine Jefferts Schori has been on a roll lately. At a conference of American Indian Episcopalians a while back, she did what white liberals frequently do in similar situations. She made a jackass of herself trying to sound indigenous:

"Sometimes that reality of God as community, God as trinity, is spoken of as dance – the holy three whirling with and through each other’s reality. Native communities have long known the sacrament of dance as healing, able to draw many persons into one community. At times of great struggle and loss, the dance emerges yet again, like the ghost dance Wovoka called forth. Wisdom has planted in us that urge toward healing, reconciliation, oneness – even in the face of human sin and evil."

You can dance if you want to…

"Our life on this earth is about the great dance of returning – going home, finding strength in a supportive, loving, and reconciled community, going back to the earth at the end of life, finding our home in God. It’s a journey that may have solitary moments, but it’s a dance that cannot be made alone. This dance will never be fully complete, yet we keep on dancing, the spirit within us yearning for more life, more healing, more oneness, and greater participation in that holy circle."

You can leave your friends behind…

"The greed of some, the belief that one group can dance alone, lies behind much of the suffering that native communities know: lands stolen, herds destroyed, lifeways prevented, spiritualities forbidden, hope too often crumbled and crushed. Yet we are all connected, and that greed will eventually destroy the greedy as well as those who have been robbed. If we’re going to dance, we cannot choose to avoid some partners – we must encounter the ones we’re angry with as well as the ones who bring us joy. The dance can’t be with only one clan or tribe – Wisdom calls us all into this round. Healing comes in the dance, as the dance of anger becomes lament, and lament moves toward compassion, and on through reconciliation toward peace."

Cuz your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance…

"We can only go home through the dance. There is no healing or wholeness or restoration or holiness except through the dance – encountering the sacred and earthly reality of this moment, grieving what needs to be grieved, and letting the spirit draw us in hope toward a healed future."

Well, they’re no friends of mine.

"All the peoples of this land – the first peoples and those who came after, are in danger of forgetting the dance. The other peoples – the bird and deer and fish and whale peoples – are in danger of being shut out of the dance. The divine dance which creation reflects is waiting for all the peoples of this planet to rejoin and renew it. The spirits of all depend on it, to the seventh generation – and the seventieth."

Whatever you say, Dances With Heresies.