September 20

Today is the birthday of women’s rights advocate Libby Miller, in 1822, whose death we observed on May 23. She also popularized “bloomers,” which were named after her friend Amelia Bloomer.  

Today marks the death, in 1932, of Wovoka, Paiute prophet who shared his apocalyptic vision of the afterlife and peace and revived the Ghost Dance movement. Though it was primarily a message of hope to Native Americans, white settlers interpreted it through the lens of fear, which led to the Wounded Knee massacre. 

Today also marks the death, in 1855, of José Trinidad Reyes, a Honduran priest and educator who was an advocate for the poor and of women’s rights. 

Today also is a feast day and marks the death, in 1871, of John Patteson, an Anglican bishop, missionary, and linguist of the South Sea Islands. While opposing the slave trade there, he was likely mistaken for an enslaver and killed. His death became part of the impetus for stamping out the slave trade in the region. 

Today in 2019, millions of students around the world held a global strike against climate change. 

Reflection:

José Trinidad Reyes wrote: 

“They always dump the heaviest load of the taxes on the poorest.”

José Trinidad Reyes

Bishop Steven Charleston writes of Wovoka’s prophecy and the Ghost Dance: 

“Prophets are hope givers. They are fear healers. Wovoka’s prophecy—of a return of the buffalo and the ancestors—was a small whisper after the massive collapse of traditional Native American civilization at the end of the nineteenth century, but for a people starved of hope, literally, it was a shout of liberation—perhaps the last hope for a weary nation. And yet, while the Ghost Dance revealed the hope of the Indigenous People, it also revealed the fear of the white community…

“…To talk about the way fear operates within cultures is uncomfortable, painful, and even dangerous. Yet if we want to avoid repeating history, it is a challenge we must accept. To reconcile the emotional apartheid of colonialism, we must find a sliver of common ground on which both the abused and the abuser may stand together in the full light of truth and justice. Other prophetic voices than Native America—voices like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela—have called us to this apocalyptic process before. They have demonstrated that reconciliation must be transparent and factual. Without those conditions in place, the relationships between cultures is reduced to rumor and subverted by fear.” 

Steven Charleston

Prayer: God of Peace and Justice, in this contentious age, raise up prophets who are fear healers. Help us reject the avoidance of truth that can lead to genuine reconciliation. Amen.