Easter was different for me this year. Other years it has been an affirmation of being Christian; of being a member of the Christian family, but this year there was something beyond that. I felt I was being called on to something more.

The Easter story as I’ve come to believe it is one of Jesus, a spirit–filled man, who actually existed and was killed because his communication skills made him a threat: end of story. He was not the Son of God or The Christ ... at least not any more than you or I have the potential to be. Jesus was a charismatic, intelligent and iterant proclaimer whose message at a particular time in history spawned a movement that became Christianity.

Again, Jesus was a regular human being but was filled to an abundant degree with the Spirit. In that respect he was different than most of the rest of us. However, throughout history there have been a number of other people with this abundant degree of Spirit. Persons with this attribute have been called some version of the title, ‘Great Spirit’ which in Jesus’ case the version was, the Christ. In our time, Mohandas K. Gandhi was popularly known as, Mahatma, (which means Great Spirit). He and Jesus share many qualities and there are parallels in their life journeys and Spirit growth.

Jesus lived in a particularly unique time in history. The world today is close to being the global village Marshall McLuhan spoke about. Getting one’s message out to a very large audience today is fairly easy due to the various mass media that exist. In Jesus’ time there was no mass media. In fact, the medium of his day was, pretty well, just word-of-mouth. Jesus lived when the civilized world was very small; basically centered around the Mediterranean. He existed in a time of great peace, (about 200 years long) due to the Roman dominance of the day. There were skirmishes among the member states and groups within the states, but overall, it was a stable time. The fact that Jesus’ message permeated the whole civilized world (the Roman Empire) in those days indicates that he was a powerful communicator and is also a testament to his existence.

While I’m at it, I may as well tell you that as I see it, Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. Being his wife she would be privy to deeper teaching from the Master. After his cruel death, Mary was the force that kept the disciples, portrayed as a thick bunch, aware of the Spirit. It was Mary who rallied this dull group from their period of doubt and made them realize the Spirit was not dead. Their faith was consequently resurrected. Of course after being the one who kept the ember of the Jesus Way burning and then helping fan it into flame, Mary was edged out of the fledgling movement by the men; probably the first deviant step away from the intended direction of the Way.    

We can sum up Jesus’ message as: Love God and love each other. After studying North American Native Spirituality, I saw that message echoed there too. In fact the Native message predated Christianity by thousands of years. The Christian story revolves around the relationship between God and his Creation, It’s a paternalistic story. The Native Story revolves around the relationship between the Creator and Creation. It is a story with both paternal and maternal elements, a Father Sky/ Mother Earth story. Perhaps if Mary had prevailed in the early church, the Christian message would be more like the Native one and society today would be much different.

This Easter I waited for another revelation as in years past. There were no ‘Aha’ thunderbolts at all, but I did wake up about three a.m. Easter Monday and felt the overwhelming desire to explore Native Spirituality in a practical sense. Now, this wasn’t quite out of the blue ... the evening before, a program was on television documenting the origins of our Native brothers and sisters and their dispersion throughout the Americas. The show outlined how their cultures had diverged during the dispersion but the Spiritual focus remained very similar; the Father Sky and Mother Earth story, told in many ways. I see the many Native nations and societies as examples of the world today; many cultures, many societies and many Spirit stories, stories that all deal with explaining the Creator/ Creation relationship.

The itch to experience Native Spirituality must be my epiphany, my revelation for this Easter. My journey is guiding me to not just study outside of Christianity, but to experience the spirituality as well. I am being called to be away from my support group. About to step into unknown territory, I take inventory of what I have to take with me. I find:

·        I have my Creator; of whom I am in it and it is in me.

·        I have the truths that I have discovered along the way.

·        I have brotherhood/sisterhood with all of humanity.

·        I have peace with ‘being’.

In order to learn, I have tried to engage Native Spirituality in the past but with no success. I lamented my frustration to a lady native elder who advised me to just let it be and ‘put it out there to the Universe.’ I’m excited that perhaps the universe is about to respond. I look forward to finding an elder who will guide me on a Vision Quest where I might discover my Spirit Song and my Spirit Name. I believe it is through this song that I will discover the renewed, connection with the Creator that I long for. Perhaps this Easter may stand as my affirmation in the Creator’s family.

Peace

Dave   

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