Our Daily Bread
Give us this day our daily bread
Whether you pray this line daily in your own prayers, weekly as a congregation, or less frequently, most of us recognize this line from the Lord’s Prayer.
But what are we actually asking for in this piece of the prayer?
In true Lutheran form, let’s ask Martin Luther
What is meant by daily bread?
Everything that belongs to the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, property, fields, animals, money, goods, a believing spouse, believing children, believing servants, believing and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honour, good friends, faithful neighbours, and so on.
From Luther’s Small Catechism
Luther explains that through these words, we ask God to provide us with all we need for the support of the body, which can include food and drink but also includes health, peace, and faithful neighbors.
Most individuals we work with are simply trying to fulfill their basic needs. Some are homeless and beg for food. Others have a roof over their head and a full belly but are broken due to abuse, neglect, and intergenerational trauma.
As Lutheran Indian Ministries moves into the new year, our mission and focus continue to be: Proclaim. Disciple. Heal. And as we do this, we feel a special urgency when it comes to healing trauma and addiction in order to help our Native brothers and sisters experience the joy of God’s peace, bodily health, and faithful, Christian friends and mentors.
What is healing ministry?
We, as Christians, know the healing power of the Gospel and the hope we have in our Lord who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). But in much of Indian Country, the hero of the Gospel, Jesus Christ, himself, is seen as the villain, not the Savior.
For more than 500 years, missionaries have force-fed Native groups false teachings. The Gospel was manipulated, by those claiming to be God's workers, to make Native men and women feel unworthy of God’s love as they were. The preachers of this false Gospel removed children from families and placed them into institutionalized schools. They destroyed the family structure, erased culture, and victimized the weak.
Trauma, abuse, addiction, and suicide are the by-products of this historical pain, sorrow, and suffering that Indigenous peoples are born into, grow up with, and pass on to their children.
So, the challenge for our ministry is not that Native Americans don't know Jesus. It's that they don't know the REAL Jesus.
Because of this, our staff must first assist in the healing of those atrocities, showing them the true love of Christ, before their hearts can be opened to the real truth of the Gospel.
At Lutheran Indian Ministries, we fully and completely believe in the healing power of the Gospel and the work the Holy Spirit can do in an individual’s life. We also believe that before Native peoples can put on the full armor of Christ (Ephesians 6:11-17), they must first take off the cloak they have been wearing - the cloak of pain and distrust they have put on to shield themselves from hurt, which has covered their lives and their secrets in darkness. This starts with providing safe places for individuals to share their stories of trauma, a sacred ground of trust.
Sacred Ground
We see the Holy Spirit working through us to change lives daily at our ministry locations across the United States and Canada – places like Sacred Ground-Mesa.
As we venture into 2021, you will begin to see other Sacred Ground sites popping up. Our current ministry staff in New Mexico, Washington, and Alaska are already in the process of making the name change (in most locations, it is simply a name change). And new sites in Wisconsin, California, and Oklahoma are on the horizon.
Like our Sacred Ground-Mesa location, the staff at our “new” Sacred Ground sites will continue to proclaim, disciple, and heal, as they have already been doing for years, focusing on helping Native American and Alaskan Native men and women overcome addictions, homelessness, and hopelessness through various culturally-based healing and life skills programs.
You may have noticed in recent articles that Haskell LIGHT Campus Ministry, in Lawrence, Kansas has already made the change to Sacred Ground-Haskell.
While Sacred Ground-Haskell will continue to provide guidance and a Christian community for Haskell Indian Nations University students, the new name better encompasses the work Deon Prue, ministry leader, and her staff are accomplishing. They have been interacting and serving the Native community in Lawrence for a number of years and have recently reached out to Native groups in Kansas City, Missouri, less than an hour away, to bring hope and healing to that community as well.
Stories of abuse are common across Indian Country. Serious trauma is a nearly everyday occurrence.
The troubling statistics among Native American people are staggering. No minority group suffers more from physical or sexual abuse, alcohol or drug addiction, or suicide than Native American peoples. And these abuses often start at an early age. Without a safe place or counselors to ease their pain and give them guidance, many fall prey to addictions. The abused often become the abuser, and life easily spirals out of control until taking their own life seems to be the only way out.
This is the “circle of death” for Native peoples. We provide a circle of healing.
We help uncover and heal from the historical trauma keeping Native men and women stuck in self-destructive behaviors. Our classes are taught by men and women from similar backgrounds, helping overcome one of the greatest challenges in Native ministry - credibility.
Our programs are designed to help individuals become productive members of society. Whether they choose to settle into an urban setting or return to the reservation, our main goal is to help Native men and women be the best possible individual they can be and to fulfill the plan God has created for them.
Our calling, as Christians, is to love God and love others (Matthew 22:36-40). We love by serving and putting others ahead of ourselves (Matthew 25:34-40). And by serving, we will show others our love, and in turn, the love we have from Jesus (John 13:34-35). This is what you make possible with your prayers and support.
It is an exciting time to be a part of Native ministry, and we are so thankful for your passion and commitment as we, together, make an impact in the lives of our Native brothers and sisters, both now and for eternity.
P.S. We talk a lot, within Lutheran Indian Ministries, about healing and providing for the needs of our brothers and sisters. And behind all of it is the ultimate provider - our Heavenly Father.
Everything we do, whether in the office or in the mission field, is centered on our faith and trust in the birth, life, death, resurrection, and final return of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We know He is the living bread that will sustain us daily and forever and without Him, we will not live. Ingrained in every class, conversation, and activity is the truth of the Scripture and the desire to see all nations standing before the Throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).