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ART AND PRAYER ON THE ROSEBUD RESERVATION
For the past 14 years, as a Jesuit, I have prayed with the Lakota Sioux people and listened to their stories on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.When I visit people in the hospital, in their homes or at our local retreat and conference center, I engage in spiritual conversations. My experience has taught me that the Lakota are very devoted to the spiritual life. When I ask, "Who is God for you?", they share their stories. What follows is a description of a way the arts have facilitated dialogue about religious experience in my life on the Rosebud Reservation.By Robert G. Gilroy, S.J. (Originally published in Christian Life Communities Harvest Magazine, Winter 2000) Once when I was conducting a retreat for Native Americans I introduced the idea of using art as a way to pray. I explained that I had a background in art and art therapy. I had learned to use art to express my feelings to God. I could make a picture to depict a prayer or I could choose to paint or draw, noticing how God is present in that creative process. I can also do collages, which are cutting and pasting on paper magazine photos and words that follow a theme. In this instance I suggested the idea of praying over one's salvation history. What would that look like? Perhaps, this would simply be a time line that was marked off to highlight significant turning points in the story of one's relationship with God. Or using the collage method with images that suggest various threads of God's interventions over time. Later in the day one of the participants approached me to show what he had discovered. He had designed a personal "wintercount". This former practice involved one tribal member each year drawing a significant event on the animal hide that was kept as the tribe's historical account. The drawing was shaped in a spiral. The center was his birth and the shape circled outwards as he grew older. Some of the same images were repeated for different years and that is what he prayed about. Art can transcend barriers of culture, religion and race and lead to mutual respect and a united faith in God. Shared stories of hope and faith empower the retreatants to return to work and home with renewed zeal. When someone dares to explore their own creative potential in a safe, trusting manner, they are rewarded with the discovery that they are not limited in their dreams and desires. Desires to enjoy life more, to change whatever stifles self-growth or seeking a way to impact their community can emerge and flourish when one taps into exercises of the imagination. This is the foundation for the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. When we express our deepest desires to God, in turn, we can be open to God's desire for us and enjoy this through all our senses. For this we were created. Through art, we co-create with God. Immersion in the arts inspires wonder at God's delight in all that is created. The images become the language that can express one's relationship with God. The false belief that one is incapable of creativity can impede any attempt to play as one prays. One day I was working with a young boy who was putting a puzzle together. He began to lose his patience when he could not figure out how the pieces connected. "Stop", I shouted as he tried to destroy the assembled pieces. His arms hung by his side and he remained quiet. I asked him to wait, think about what he wanted at that moment, and then begin again. He finished the task, looked up, smiling and said in a whisper, "I didn't think I could do it." Exploring the unknown, coupled with the awareness that we are limited is a disturbing prospect. Waiting and watching, even for a moment, just being in that moment, can reveal the next step that brings us closer to wholeness and completion. To approach God through art begins with simple steps like being silent, naming what I want, followed by placing some line or mark upon a paper. Human labor and divine inspiration unite. On these 'Art' retreats we create a sacred space by beginning and ending each day in a circle of silence. Revelation of God's Word proceeds from the quiet and is perceived through creative rituals with paint, poetry or clay. As we participate in the creative process, we can notice how God responds to our desires. We discover creation unfolding within us, if we can move beyond self-criticism by experimenting and asking how to trust the process more. Being "artistic" is not a requirement for these retreats. Participants are simply encouraged to discover different ways that God may communicate with them. Looking at images or listening to music, or learning to relax more just opens us to the possibility of being with God in a way we might not consider. There is no expectation for participants to share their projects. Simply to notice what is happening to them as they create is all that is requested. I just invite the participants to pay attention to what helps them feel more alive in the moment. When we are caught in the hectic pace of ordinary life, we forget who and what we live for. By taking a risk to create or be more aware of creation we can sense God's beauty in each other and ourselves. One participant said that she sensed a "boost in her self-esteem. I knew that what I created in class was a piece of art. No matter how it looked it was pure beauty in my eyes. I never thought of myself as one to be an artist. Now I know that no matter what 'You are (an artist) in your own way'". Finding our "own way" sometimes is facilitated in a group. These retreats are open to people of different races and religions. Over the three days bonding between members deepens as their own relationship with God expands. A person who is not Native American said, "I have prayed with Lakota people in Church settings, but this workshop allowed me to hear their stories of God and feel united to them even more." Art and prayer lead to individual and communal conversion by listening with reverence to the stories of the creators. Each weekend community centers around a common desire to communicate with God and each other in order to enhance their own lives and those they serve. In a recent article from the local newspaper, several Native Americans suggested how they benefited personally and professionally by attending these workshops ("Todd County Tribune", 4/5/00,pp.8-9). One person who practices only the traditional ways of the Lakota found it was a time to discover more about her own spiritual life. She also was able to introduce different exercises to the clients with whom she served at the alcohol treatment center here on the reservation. Another saw the benefit of the exercises with the students she teaches because; "We're visual people. The kids are good at expressing themselves in art." I have witnessed that even adults can be creative in how they express themselves. I share this way to God because it has helped me even before I entered the Society of Jesus. For 34 years I have lived with diabetes and its complications. Art drew me to God in moments of dark doubt. Diseases like diabetes and alcoholism dramatically shape the lives of the Lakota people. I come to the Rosebud to hear their stories and see their faith. Prayers about illness unite us. Prayer through art heals us. |
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