Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World: Recognizing Spirituality in Early Christianity while Honoring the Spirituality of Indigenous Cultures

In hopes of strengthening our modern resolve to proclaim a world of peace and reverence for the diversity of creation, Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World will attempt to offer a moment of learning or re-remembering some of our basic understandings of a holy existence by deconstructing colonizing forms of Christianity while also introducing and celebrating Indigenous modalities of spirituality and existence.

This Pre-festival gathering led by Rev. Chebon Kernell, an elder in the United Methodist Church and a traditional practitioner of Indigenous Spiritualities, will offer a time of remembering and recovering ancient wisdom in early movements of the ancient world that evolved into Christianity. Also, while briefly analyzing a variety of texts from the first and second centuries, the group will quickly journey through history by briefly acknowledging the harms of classical Christianity and its impact on Indigenous cultures of North America. Following this acknowledgement of history, participants will have an opportunity to engage in conversations about Indigenous spirituality of creation, ceremony, and the earth.