Richard Silversmith is a CRC emeritus pastor who lives on the Navajo Nation reservation. His Navajo clans are Water-Flows-Together and Towering House People.
If I had my way of doing racial reconciliation, I would have to follow this verse of the Bible: "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise." Psalm...
When I worked in the corporate world, I asked one of my outdoorsy work friends if he attended church. His response was “nature is my church.” I perceived he knew about church as he spoke in a church...
A Navajo Vacation Bible School (VBS) group stopped overnight at our Denver, Colorado church basement as they headed northward to conduct a VBS on another Reservation. Of course, on their return trip...
Alcohol and drug use in Indigenous communities has a dark history among our people. Due to intergenerational trauma communities next to American Indian reservations, or Canada off-reserve First Nation...
So, you’ve been invited to attend a Talking Circle. As sharing is implied, one must conclude that a participant must share their feelings, thoughts, and opinions. I think a lot of people might think...
A United State Indigenous Churches policy was born in 1868 in a time when subjugation was the norm for native people. President Ulysses S. Grant advanced a “Peace Policy” to remove corrupt Indian...
Water is one of the most common metaphors for God in the Bible and is used to convey a range of experiences: being nourished by life-giving rain; being swept along by a powerful river joining in the...
There are Indigenous rituals and traditions in the Americas that might alarm the Christian white Euro-centric culture that are not involved or aware of the history and cultural aspects surrounding...
In studying Bible commentaries, I came across a word “diaspora”. Historically, the word diaspora was used to describe the mass dispersion of a people from their original “indigenous” territories to...
If we are to understand that Indigenous people had prior knowledge of God, as stated in Romans 1, before Europeans landed on this continent, might there be manifestation of God through Indigenous...
I have been a guest during the Annual Pueblo Feast days which include traditional dances, cultural activities, arts, crafts and Southwest feasts. One can smell the balsam and cedar wood burning as one...
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name, I will lift my hands. (Ps. 63) Raising our hands is an outward expression of an inward posture. God permits us to respond in many ways as we...
Hundreds of protestors gathered at the steps of the Colorado State Capitol to protest Columbus Day and called to abolish the holiday. The protest was about the historical conquest of North America by...
Over the years, I have marched in the Denver, Colorado Four Directions All Nation March where the marchers step off from four directions and rally at the Colorado State Capitol. One might ask why do...
My favorite duty at our annual June church retreat, high in the Colorado mountains, is waking up early to start the fire in the grand meeting space fireplace. Sipping coffee and waiting for the fire...
We're grateful to welcome Richard Silversmith as a new Do Justice columnist! Perhaps you have heard about the disturbance and engagement between Omaha Native American elder Nathan Phillips and...
