Navajo Chaplain to General Convention

Tzo’diziin. Prayer.

My mornings in Indianapolis always began with prayerful words of gratitude whispered to God. My prayers were simple. I prayed that God be present in work of the Church and that God’s way be done in my first language, Navajo.

As chaplain in the House of Deputies at the 77th General Convention was God’s call. I embraced God’s call as my primary role to share the Gospel within the concept of Navajo Spirituality—my identity, as I know Jesus, incarnated too, among the Navajo culture, tradition and faith.
General Convention for me was fast paced. I found myself, at times, overwhelmed! I’d receive text messages that read, “Where are you? Be here. Be there. Hurry, the meeting is about to begin!” etc., you get the picture. However, among the busyness, I also found time to talk and get to meet wonderful people along the way. New friendships were formed, tears shared and laughter to balance—blessed opportunities, I call them. I listened to folks who came from all walks of life tell me their stories, their lives. I was called to listen and pray.

Each day in the House of Deputies, before I offered my Navajo prayers, I began with the words of my medicine elders, “It is by prayer, we walk in the balance. Let us pray”… When and where did I find my balance amid the life of the General Convention?
Navajo medicine elders have told me that whenever I leave my homeland, the Four Sacred Mountains of Navajoland, I must remember to take along my holy sacraments—corn pollen, four sacred mountain stones, tobacco—offerings to the Creator. They told me that the sacraments will keep me connected to the sacred where my umbilical cord is buried—my roots.

Every morning I offered the holy sacraments with gratitude in my hotel room. My environment was not like home. Whereas at home, when I walk out of my front door the open space greets me—Sky, mountains, mesas, trees, all surround me—privileged to breathe in the great wide open.

I have learned and experienced differently in Indianapolis:
Communication and relationship with God happens anywhere. Anywhere. They happen even in unfamiliar places. Places that become our home for a certain amount of time. The Creator meets us there, in the midst of the busyness, among the people of God—the Church, even in the midst of politics. My balance met me at the podium in the House of Deputies as I offered the Navajo prayers to the Church. In that sacred space and time, prayers with the Church, with Jesus among us; welcomed the Four Sacred Mountains, Corn Pollen, Sacred Stones, Tobacco all uttered in forms of meditations and prayers of the Holy People. God balances us anywhere as long as we call on his Holy Presence. With my experience, even in a hand shake, in a smile, in words of gratitude, in tears, in the unknowing, in happiness, in sadness, in hope, God met us in those holy places and the spaces in between. Gratitude.

Hozho’— In Beauty, Deputy Cornelia Eaton, Navajoland Area Mission

http://episcopal-navajoland.org/