BLESSING OF THE PEOPLE

(Opening Ceremony and Closing Prayer)

As the people gather, either sweet grass, cedar, or sage (or all three) can be used as incense and burned in a basin sending forth its fragrance.

OPENING CEREMONY

Creator, Grandfather, we offer the burning of (sweet grass/cedar/sage) as a purification, a reminder for those gathered here to cleanse our thoughts and hearts that we may hear and be guided by your word and direction. We thank you for all our relatives: the four-leggeds, the wingeds, the star people of the heavens, and all living things you have blessed us with to sustain this life.

Empower each of us through the bringer of Peace, Jesus Christ, to seek and make change for a better life for all people and all creation. Hear our prayers this day and everyday. Accept our thanks for all the blessings we enjoy and for those yet to come to us.  Aho-Amen.

CLOSING PRAYER

Great Spirit, Creator, behold us! You have placed a great power in the direction from which many generations have come forth and have returned. The generation that is here today wishes to cleanse and purify itself, that we may live again…

Bless our going out from here and each new morning you grant to us; that we will make a difference in this world following the sacred red path marked for us by your Son, the Messenger of Peace and Justice.

Your Spirit, my spirit, may they unite to make one spirit in healing. Aho-Amen.

(By Z. Susanne Aikman (Eastern Cherokee), excerpted and used by permission from “Voices: Native American Hymns and Worship Resources,” copyright 1992, Marilyn Hofstra, p.75)

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God, Great Spirit, when we walk the path of beauty with sincerity, honesty, courage and truthfulness, we are like the upright basket which can hold the fruits of harvest. We can receive and share the blessings abundantly. But when we

have strayed from the beauty path and are not trustworthy, honest, or reliable, we are like the basket turned over… we are empty and useless. Help us to always be upright, to receive and share the blessings of life. 

(from The United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, “A Day to Acknowledge the Gifts of Native Americans”,  www.umc-gbcs.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fsJNK0PKJrH&b=1048921&content_id=%7B542F0C85-3EDE-46F4-B382-02ACE0AE46F1%7D&notoc=1)

Beauty Is Before Me

Now Talking God,
With your feet I walk.
I walk with your limbs.
I carry forth your body.
For me your mind thinks.
Your voice speaks for me.
Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me.
Above and below me hovers the beautiful.
I am surrounded by it.
I am immersed in it.
In my youth I am aware of it.
And in old age
I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail.

(From Navajo prayer tradition by Christian American Women for World Day of Prayer 1981, used by permission from “Voices: Native American Hymns and Worship Resources”, copyright 1992, Marilyn Hofstra, p.70)

Call to Worship

We come together today to celebrate the contributions Native People of this land have made to God’s Church.  
We learn from them that life is a sacred circle, of which there is no beginning and no end.  
We are all a part of that circle, ever contributing, ever receiving.  
Native Americans teach us that as a part of the circle, we must care for all of God’s creation.
 We know that God’s creation includes all that is a part of this earth: the wingeds, the two-leggeds, plants, water and the sky.  
We remember and worship God the Creator throughout our daily lives, even as we look at a tree, the grass, or the sky.  
For Genesis reminds us that God looked at everything and was very pleased.  
We join in this day acknowledging the gifts that Native Americans offer to all of us, remembering that worship encompasses all of life.  We embrace and celebrate the sacred circle of life.  Amen.

(Cynthia Abrams, Seneca, from The United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society, “A Day to Acknowledge the Gifts of Native Americans,” www.umc-gbcs.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fsJNK0PKJrH&b=1048921&content_id=%7B542F0C85-3EDE-46F4-B382-02ACE0AE46F1%7D&notoc=1)