Lakota generosity and the sacred pipe

This summer several of our young people from Saint Paul’s Church, Chestnut Hill, Charlie Affel, Maggie Olsen, along with me, travelled to North Dakota to the Standing Rock Reservation to work and play alongside Lakota young people at a church camp. After the camp was over a Lakota man invited us to be part of a pipe ceremony that conveyed the truth that “we are all related” and stewards of all that has been given us. Although the Christian and Lakota traditions are not the same, they touch each other at many points because each has a kind of “sacramental” way of looking at the world. Visible signs in the natural world communicate the sacred mysteries of creation.

It was a beautiful late Dakota afternoon. Puffs of cloud hung high against the blue sky. We sat in a circle representing reciprocity. What one receives or takes away in this life, one also must give back. It is a cycle of life – an outpouring of the Spirit and a pouring out to others of the Spirit’s gifts. Our teacher told stories and through them we began to understand some of the Lakota tradition.

Sage, which is plentiful around the camp, was lit with a prayer and then passed around the circle “sun-wise” so each might purify their hands, face, head, arms and body. In Christian worship purification takes place through the prayer, “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.” Bits of red willow bark are used in the pipe ceremony as smokers might use tobacco but the filling of the pipe is much more impressive. A prayer is chanted to the four directions, a pinch of bark is added to the red-stone bowl of the pipe for the South, and then the West, next the North, and the East. Another pinch is added with a prayer to the heavens and finally one to the earth below. In this way the pipe bowl contains the totality of space and time, all of creation including humankind. The pipe is topped with a bit of sage to purify the whole. When the fire of the Great Spirit is added, there is a divine sacrifice so that all is brought within the divine presence. The ego is sacrificed so that self-centeredness is
replaced with the Great Mystery within. That is our true center allowing us to become what we already are – a fitting part of creation in a circle of reciprocity. Each of us – men, women and children – puffed on the pipe, reconnecting us, restoring us, and preparing us to give of ourselves for others.

It is not for us as Christians to appropriate this ceremony (enough has been taken from the Lakota) but we may be invited in as our group was this summer. It reminds us that God is the source of all things. We hear in the Psalms, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows God’s handiwork” (19: 1); and “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein” (24:1). We are related to the universe in every direction through the presence of God. We are part of a covenant of trust. Property and land come from God. Material things, abilities and time are given to us by God. We are trusted stewards of all God has given us, with not our self in the center but God. No longer ruled by self-centeredness, we are to give as God gave. We are to respect the dignity of all. In a society where all the pressure is to receive and take away, it is good to be reminded that at the heart of creation is the need to give back. It is a life-cycle; it is life giving; and it is joyful. No wonder generosity is a cardinal virtue of the Lakota. May it be so with us all.