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Commentary: A reflection on Native American spirituality
August 20, 2003

The Rev. Lisa White Smith has been an Episcopal priest on the White Earth Reservation for nearly a decade. She shares her thoughts on Native American spirituality.

White Earth Reservation — Like most people, when I arrived at the White Earth Indian Reservation nine years ago, as an Episcopal priest, I was eager to learn about Native American spirituality.

I am a typical "Heinz 57" Anglo woman who is married to a member of the Potawatomie Tribe in Oklahoma, so I was interested in learning as much as I could about the Ojibwe spirituality. As I began to ask the people and elders questions, it became clear to me that this was much more complex than I had imagined.

We hear quite a bit about Native spirituality these days, as if there is one flavor. The truth of the matter is that Native spirituality is as diverse as Christian, or any other religious spirituality.

Spirituality for all humans is deeply personal. If you consider that with the blending of many different tribal people by way of marriage, it has made it all the more difficult to find -- anywhere -- a pure and original tribal religion and spirituality.

Even within the Episcopal/Christian missions that I serve, there are a variety of opinions about blending or not blending Native American spiritual practices with their Christian practices. This runs the gamut from "there should be absolutely no blending" to "it make total sense to blend the two practices." You will find among Native spiritual leaders the same kind of diverse convictions.

I do think that there is a common thread amongst all the various Native American flavors of spirituality. And that is a reverence, respect and honoring of the earth as sacred, and for the eagle that represents the Creator and the Creator's blessing.

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