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Cultural
Crusade
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In Oklahoma, over 60 percent of the Native Indian churches are in rural areas. Many of the elder members enjoy the mix of a sermon in English and some of the prayers and songs in the native tongue. However, for younger church members, now moving into bigger cities for work, learning the language is a challenge. Members are working to keep their language alive and preserve it for the next generation. | ||
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(Singing)
“Va hege, dona legege. Let’s us start singing.”
“Ish ughe nay so me gette skoss.”
With every lyric, Imogene Harjo is clinging to a piece of her history. In this modest United Methodist church, she’s building a bridge, spanning space and time, to her Seminole roots.
Imogene Harjo, Hitchitee United Methodist Church: “When they came from the Trail of Tears, they sang these songs. You know, they were suffering when they came and that is what it is all about.”
She doesn’t want the power and beauty of the songs to be forgotten. She, like many Native elders, wants a younger generation to know what it’s like to pray in their native tongue.
“I can say what I want to say in my Indian words, and to me, it looks like God is hearing my prayer.”
The Rev. Billie Nowabbi, Tohwali United Methodist Church: “OK, let us pray the Lord’s Prayer in Choctaw, Matthew.”
In Broken Bow, Okla., it’s the Choctaw language church members are trying to capture.
“I believe the elders can teach us only if we have willing ears. “
The Rev. David Wilson, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference: “I think it is important for us to continue our heritage and our tradition of our ways and certainly our language. Because for us, we believe that our culture is a gift that God has given us. “
“Yohmi hoka yakohmichi hosh vba hvsh animpulashke, piki vba ish binili ma!”
The language, prayers and songs are a testament to a people of strength, still serving as a guiding light through good and bad times.
“Aaholo, aholo, aholo finashke.”
Nathan Harjo, Imogene’s son and student: “The way I hear my mother pray in Indian -- it just touches you like no one prayer that you hear.”