Ending Up On The Shore Of Transformation

For many people, today has been traditionally known as Columbus Day. If you grew up in my era (or pretty much any era prior to the mid 2000’s!), you were probably taught that Columbus was the man who ‘discovered’ the Americas and was heralded as hero of the Western world.

It’s hard to admit that we were lied to, but we were. 

By now, we have come to know from the historical record that Columbus was no hero. The Zinn Education project encourages people to, “stop celebrating the crimes of Columbus and stand in solidarity with the Indigenous people…Instead of glorifying a person who enslaved and murdered people, destroyed cultures, and terrorized those who challenged his rule, we seek to honor these communities demanding sovereignty, recognition, and rights.”

Of course Christianity played a central role in Columbus’ violence. 

The Papal Bull (a formal decree of the Church) “Inter Caetera,” issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. As one site says, “The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands discovered by Columbus the previous year…The Bull stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that “the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.” 

It goes on to say that this “’Doctrine of Discovery’ became the basis of all European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western expansion.” It remains a legal precedent that remains a part of the United States legal codes and was even cited in 2005 by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a Supreme Court case that ruled against the Oneida Nation (in Upstate NY).

Not so distant history.

Readings like those that come from our first reading today were used by Christians in the 15th century to justify their actions. Romans 1 says, “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles…who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

This is but one part of a terrible and painful history that modern followers of Jesus have never really accounted for.

And while we have a current president who has vowed to bring Columbus’ 1492 journey “back from the ashes,” we know that this is not part of what we are called to as people of faith.

In our gospel today from Luke 11, the people demand a sign from Jesus to prove that what he is saying is “true” and that they should follow him. What he’s saying makes them uncomfortable and they are not about to surrender what they believe to be true (which has been based on untruths in their own history) without some concrete proof. But Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

No sign will be given besides the sign of Jonah.

And what is that sign?

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM says that this sign is the sign of transformation. It is Jonah being brought to the place where he “would rather not go” – letting ourselves be spit out on the shore of a place where we are not in control. A place of vulnerability and trust. Rohr goes on to say that, “We would prefer clear and easy answers, but questions offer the greatest potential for opening us to transformation. We try to change events in order to avoid changing ourselves. We must learn to stay with the pain of life…”

One of the pains we try to sit with today is the legacy of colonization as we strive to honor Indigenous People’s Day – knowing that those of us who are settlers can only even begin to scratch the surface of what this legacy means for us and for our Indigenous kin. And so we commit to sitting in the belly of the great fish letting ourselves be vulnerable and being willing to be “spit out” onto a shore that is unfamiliar to us.

And yet it is a shore that we have been called to.

We can all lean into this history – committing ourselves to concrete acts of repair, concrete acts of education, concrete acts of relationship – that situate us as active participants in re-placing ourselves within a history that sets us free and lets us breathe deeply again (versus denying it and doubling down on the lies and untruths). It is a history that our Indigenous kin have been telling for so long that many of us are only now awakening to.

Yet like in the story of Jonah, God never shames Jonah for wanting to run the other way. God knows that the task in front of us is daunting. God does, however, make sure that we end up on that shore of transformation!

If you are in Rochester (the land of the Seneca people or the O-non-dowa-gah – the Great Hill People), please be sure to take advantage of some of the many events. that are taking place as part of Indigenous People’s Day. If you are outside of Rochester, please engage your local Indigenous People’s Day events.

And if you are in Rochester, we have two upcoming events that I would want to get on your radar.

1. On Saturday, November 8, Chris Phillips and members of the Blooming Lilac Sangha invite like-minded people to join in a guided tour and facilitated conversation at Ganondagan State Historic Site. Tour starts at 10am with a bag lunch/listening circle from 12 – 1 pm. For more information, contact Chris Phillips, skunkowl@yahoo.com 

2. Witness to Injustice: Blanket Exercise – Sunday, November 16 from 1 – 4pm (Immanuel Baptist Church). Spiritus Christi is hosting this immersive exercise to help people learn about the disturbing history of colonization that has led us to this present moment. For more information, contact Mike Boucher at wordandworldroch@gmail.com or to sign up click here.

As we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day today, may we be mindful of all of the “haunted histories” that we inhabit. We may not have created the challenges that we find ourselves in, but we are now responsible to find our place in them.