A Reflection on Our Navajoland Pilgrimage by the Rev. Miles Brandon
This past Saturday (the day before Father's Day), in a typical year, we would have begun our two day journey to join our friends in Navajoland on Pilgrimage. And to sort of "hold the space" in this second year of not being able to go (and I say hold the space and not fill it for we will return!), I thought I would share a brief reflection on what the pilgrimage has meant, in part, to me.
On our most recent pilgrimage in the summer of 2019, I was able to spend lots of time and begin a friendship with the Rev. Michael Sells. Michael serves All Saint's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Navajoland that sits where Navajoland and the city of Farmington, NM meet. It is where we stay when we travel there on pilgrimage for the church building and the hospitality house are on the same property. Michael is Navajo and newly ordained (or he was at the time). And, though we serve in very different contexts and I am no longer newly ordained (even if I don't want to admit it!), we realized that we share much in common and have much to learn from each other.
For one, we are both in a sense church planters. Though All Saints' has been there for many, many years they are in a sense rebuilding the church from the ground up. We and our churches (so I speak of all of us) face considerable head winds in our work of forming and growing Christian community in our 21st century world. But, I would argue that theirs is a heavier lift. They lack many of the resources that we take for granted in terms of utilities, the internet, and transportation, and they face many other challenges that are experienced by so many marginalized communities in our world, things like, poverty, inadequate health care and educational resources, and the wounds left behind by our nations profound history of violence and unjust treatment toward our First Peoples.
Nonetheless, Michael has a palpable peacefulness rooted in his connection to the land and its people about the tremendous and Godly task set before him by his bishop...a task to rebuild the church, reach the youth who have become unmoored from Navajo culture and spirituality, address addiction, and create a culture of wellness. And, I find his peacefulness in the face of great challenges as encouragement and balm for my own soul, as we continue to grow our own church more and more into the people and place God has called us to uniquely be.
It is clear that, in the Navajo culture, ministry is rooted in relationship with God, each other, and Mother Earth and, further, a steadfast faith in the fact that there is no real distinction between the temporal and the spiritual, the secular and the sacred. God's love is indeed the ordering principle in all of creation, and Michael and our friends in Navajoland encourage me to lean into a similar sort of faith that sees God alive and active in every present experience. As we lean into that love and tune ourselves into God's rhythms, we find balance, peace, restoration, and purposefulness.
Through those gentle reminders that our gentle Navajo friends provide us, I begin to feel the peace of God that passes all understanding settling into my own soul. I can't wait to be with them again and hope many in our family of faith will join us when we return.
For more information on our current project to support our friends in Navajoland, please read the announcements below, and, if you have any questions about our Pilgrimage or anything in our shared life, please do reach out. I hope this reaches you and yours well.
Peace and Warm Friendship,
Miles+
The Rev. Miles R. Brandon, II
Vicar, St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church
512-694-7121