Church blends American Indian, Christian traditions
By Victoria Bekiempis, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, May 22, 2009
Lenny Guiding Bear Spirit with Two Hearts Brown stands outside Thonotosassa United Methodist Church, where the American Indian Christian Circle meets. Many find the circle to be an attractive alternative for people who don’t feel comfortable in mainstream churches.
The aroma of sage fills the air as leaves burn heavy and sweet in the cupped recess of a shell.
Worshippers of varying backgrounds pass a feather around a circle and ask their creator for favors equally diverse: A cure for a sick relative, peace in the afterlife, maybe a few more miles on a beat-up truck.
They come to this church twice a month in a hybrid of American Indian practices and Christianity.
"We worship Jesus Christ, but we worship him in a Native American fashion, with a big drum," says their leader, Dock Green Silverhawk, 67, of Plant City.
The American Indian Christian Circle of Thonotosassa draws from as far as Ocala. They might have been raised in the church but are more comfortable in a prayer circle, or are ethnically Indian with a lifelong mistrust of the colonialist model of Christianity.
They say the circle, which typically draws 50 to 60 people for services at Thonotosassa United Methodist Church, is the only one of its kind in Florida, and that it gives them a unique sense of belonging.
They have the full support of the church's pastor, and the church's state governing body, which hopes to create more such organizations across the state.
While some religion scholars frown upon the combination, circle member Vickie Swartz, of Cherokee descent, finds it is an attractive alternative for people who do not feel comfortable in mainstream churches.
"People can be themselves and worship God in their way," she said.
Prayer and flutehave regular place
Silverhawk, whose heritage is Creek and Cherokee, created the circle several years ago.
He was working as a chaplain at Tampa General Hospital at the time, using prayer and flute to minister to Indian Christians.
The idea came up, he said, while he was chatting with others at Florida powwows.
"We started talking about doing something about this, and it seemed like the right group of people all came together at the same time," he said.
He developed the ceremony from books and his own knowledge of Indian culture.
The call to order is a flute song, followed by "smudging" — when sage is ignited and the smoke is spread inside the circle to cleanse the parishioners. Silverhawk prays to the four directions and offers tobacco and thanks: for the rising sun to the east, warm breath of the creator to the south, sunset to the west and cold from the north.
Prayer can be communal or private, as each person has the option to speak when it's their turn with the prayer feather. Members may also make announcements while holding the feather.
Silverhawk delivers a sermon, then the congregation readies itself for psalms, chanted with accompaniment from a 40-inch drum. Many dance, and the verses are peppered with words and phrases from various Indian languages.
"Our dance is a very sacred thing," Silverhawk said. "When we're dancing, we're actually dancing to Jesus."
The service concludes with a communal meal.
"After you meet everyone, they kind of become family," said Case Vrolyks, a high school senior from Ocala.
Vrolyks comes with his family to the circle. He considers himself an atheist, but says he gets spiritual satisfaction from the circle's openness and rituals. Typical churches, he said, are judgmental.
"Over here, they just kind of accept you for you are," he said. "When you get to play the drums, it's like a sense of freedom, almost like you're flying."
Some objectionsto the combination
While Silverhawk's followers are comfortable with the marriage of Christian and Indian practices, the blending of the two is sometimes controversial.
"The Indian world is in such disarray after 500 years of colonialism, conquest and oppression that many Indian people don't see any hope except to find some way to appropriate the colonizers' culture, the colonizers' economy the colonizers' politics and the colonizers' religion," said Tink Tinker, professor of American Indian cultures and religious traditions at the ILIFF School of Theology in Denver.
Tinker, of the Osage tribe, is especially bothered by what he calls a "European attachment" to a savior-figure, such as Jesus, which conflicts with the all-encompassing spirituality of most Indian religions. "They're two different world views," he said. 'They're antithetically opposed to one another."
Silverhawk sees no such contradiction. He believes that Indians are mentioned in the New Testament, that they are the sheep from a different flock referred to in the book of John.
The idea of God embodied as a man, he said, fits in line perfectly with American Indian belief.
"We don't really question God, his son and the great spirit," he said. We just accept. We don't try to break it down, we just accept it. We don't try to analyze."
Victoria Bekiempis can be reached at (813) 661-2442 or vbekiempis@sptimes.com.
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