Sermons

Did they just vote to become God’s chosen people? That attitude affected even such things as the way we translated Native American languages into English. We used the word “tribe” instead of the word “nation,” when we met the Lakota people and when we heard Wakan Tanka, we translated it “Great Spirit,” which sounds very primitive. But the real sense of the Lakota understanding of God was not “Great Spirit,” but “Great Mystery.” (Reist, 111) Would that we of European stock held our God in that much awe!
But we would permit no compromise with religion, even though we, ourselves had merged pagan ideas into Christianity from the beginning- the solstice celebration became Christmas and the equinox became Easter. That would not happen on this continent. Our mission was to eradicate another faith. All we had to do was to erase languages, stories, songs, dances and way of life. We would use two of our most effective weapons- the reservation system and the Indian boarding school.
One of the products of the boarding schools was George Alexander Eastman, a Santee Sioux, whose name was Ohiyesa. Those pesky Congregationalist ancestors of ours gave him a scholarship to Dartmouth. He wrote this in 1911, about the Native American spirituality we almost eradicated. This is what we almost lost.

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