Cheryll Wallace, Religious Education Director 

REflections

 I once wrote a two week Sunday School lesson on the Lakota holy man and healer Black Elk. As a result, I did a lot of research on him. It was fascinating stuff. I had never read Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt so I began there. After that I went to the Internet and other books and even talked to his granddaughter, Olivia, in Porcupine, South Dakota , on the phone one day. I have never been much interested in Native American spirituality but since doing this research, I have a new appreciation of this spirituality of connectedness to the earth and all living things. What I learned about Black Elk really is reflected in our Seventh UU Principle: We respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

One of the biographical items about Black Elk that I found fascinating is that he converted to Catholicism later in his life and added the name Nicholas to his name: Nicholas Black Elk. His son, Ben Black Elk, who was the person who interpreted for Neihardt when he interviewed the elder Black Elk, did the same. From what I understand of their story, they did not see any disparity in belonging to the Christian church and practicing their native ways for as they saw it, all religions worship the same Great Spirit. It served them well as Americans and as Indians to embrace and practice both faiths.

If there is any organized religion that should be able to understand this way of thinking, surely it is we who call ourselves Unitarian Universalists. Whenever I describe the church where I work to people who don’t know about us, I always begin by saying that we are a multi-faith church. ( I read this once in the essay, “The Bold Witness,” by Rev. Harvey M. Joyner, Jr., published in Salted with Fire, and it has stayed with me.)  UU’s who were not born into Unitarian Universalist families are people who have left many kinds of organized religions for diverse reasons, to embrace a faith that is inclusive. It is so inclusive that to many people comfortable with more narrow boundaries of religious practice, it is mind-boggling and even heretical. When I read of Black Elk’s practice of Christianity and Native American spirituality, it made perfect sense to me because I feel that it is what I do as well. There are parts of my Christian upbringing that I still embrace and I have also incorporated some beliefs from Hinduism and Buddhism and Humanism into my way of being religious. All of these various practices and beliefs are wrapped in an altar cloth embroidered with the UU Principles and tied with the ribbons of freedom, reason and tolerance.

Recently I had dinner with a friend who is contemplating leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints because she cannot be both Mormon and also faithful to her sexual orientation. She asked me about Unitarian Universalism and if she might be able to find a spiritual home here – a place where she can keep her Mormon beliefs that she values and be accepted for who she is in body, mind & spirit. I told her that in principle it should work but that I wasn’t sure how it would work in practice… but I encouraged her to try it. I think that it could work. I know why Thomas Jefferson believed that in the future everyone would be a Unitarian. Unitarian Universalism is a wonderful place for anyone who is willing to allow people to practice their own spirituality in an atmosphere of acceptance and respect while working together to create a world of peace, liberty and justice for all.

May we continue in the search for the truth that brings meaning to our lives and allow others to do the same. Francis David, that Unitarian preacher from the seventeenth century, was on to something when he said: You need not think alike to love alike.

            Peace Be With You,

                Cheryll

Updated Aug 2, 2007