The closing session is a 2-hour worship set led by Broken Walls. It’s a fantastic example of contextualized worship; drumming, dancing, chants and singing. It’s a powerful thing, a deeply powerful, moving thing.

It’s been interesting hearing the First Nations people here talk, over and over, about the honor that they feel when they can sing their songs in worship of Creator Jesus. When the first missionaries came, of course, most of their cultures were labeled as pagan and evil, and the identity of the village and tribe and nation was skewed and sometimes lost completely. If culture is how we generate and express shared meaning, it’s extremely important to express cultural identity for a people group. This worship set is profound.

2 responses to “★ Closing worship set”

  1. Colleen Echohawk Avatar

    Hi Pat,
    I met you at the Todd Hunter church planters meeting a couple of months ago, since than I sometimes have read your blog and was stoked to read about First Nations influencing your conference experience. Richard is an old friend and one of my favorite speakers. I have been a Broken Walls fan for a long time, Jonathan Maracle has such a cool/unique voice.
    Great to see this kind of information in the blogging world. Thanks for talking about us (Native Americans) and our place in the Kingdom.

    Colleen Echohawk
    Pawnee Nation

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  2. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Hi Colleen – of course I remember you; I'm really excited about what you're doing at Ohana Project also.

    It's wonderful to hear that you know Richard and Jonathan. I was mesmerized by both of them, and was especially hoping to get time to talk to Richard but it never materialized. I'll drop some email to him tomorrow to thank him for speaking to my heart.

    It was a beautiful thing to see these peoples honored at this conference. John Sandford of Elijah House strongly identifies with his Osage heritage and has spent his ministry life working on reconciliation issues, using prophetic ministry and healing prayer – but reconciliation between First Nations peoples, us white dorks and the land have been a huge focus as well.

    I hope I get to see you again soon! I heard that Rich & Rose were starting to plot another get-together, so I hope it works out! I'd love to hear your story!

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I’m Pat

Passionate about the common good, human flourishing, lifelong learning, being a good ancestor.

Things I do: Engineering leadership; Grad Instructor in spirituality, creativity, digital personhood, pilgrimage.

Powerlifter, mountain biker, Gonzaga basketball fan, reader, urban sketcher, hiker.