Jesus often spoke of children, and the child-like faith, to teach his disciples about greatness and humility in God’s kingdom. Childlike humility requires us to place our faith and trust in the Lord. Childlike humility depends on God’s mercy for forgiveness and looks to Jesus Christ as the Savior who lived among us, God’s children, to redeem us.

Last fall, Lutheran Indian Ministries was invited by a local Native pastor to visit two reservations in Montana to share and train local leaders in Sacred Ground.

In January, our team took their second trip to Montana and were blown away by the receptive response from the group who showed up the first day.

 The pain was so real and tangible at the conference. As the man directed his anger toward me and the church, I silently prayed, “Lord, please use me to help this man see the real you. Use me as your ambassador to put him on the road to his healing journey. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, use me to strengthen his heart through faith in you.”

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Navajo!

May God bless all of you at Christmas and all year round and thank you for all that you do to make Native ministry happen.

As in the case of the Wisemen, who brought gifts to honor the newborn King, we bring gifts of Christ and healing.

I’ll never forget the words of one of our Native American sisters as she exploded from the water, arms raised victoriously as she shouted, “Hello! I’m going to heaven!!”

To the people of his Hualapai tribe, he is called, From the Road Crossing, and he has known great despair. But on this day, he stood boldly in front of his peers and talked openly and passionately about the love of Jesus.