It's All Connected

In the recently popular paranormal television series, Manifest, lead character Cal Stone and others often repeat the phrase “It’s All Connected.”  The same may be said of all Creation from both Christian and Native American spirituality perspectives.

In the book of Genesis, we learn “First this: God created the Heavens and the Earth—all you see, all you don’t see.” Through the stories presented, we learn how God created everything including human beings. We understand that we were created as a part of God’s creative work and to be in relationship with God and God’s Creation. Similarly, the famous Chief Seattle of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes (for whom the city of Seattle is named) is quoted as saying “This we know; The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know, all things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected”

Meditating on this idea of connectedness as I walked with a small group in the Wind River Mountains on land that is the traditional territory of the Mountain Shoshone people, I was drawn to the wisdom of an Indigenous perspective. A view that looks at the community of creation as a whole; a way of being in relationship with something that is bigger, more expansive than I can imagine; something that is distinct and at the same time beyond comprehension; something that our Creator God has made and continues to make every day. I am in relationship with Creator God not only through spoken or thought prayer, but by being a human being sharing this earth with all of Creation.

In one of his reflections, Native American wisdom-keeper, author, teacher, farmer, and activist Randy Woodley of Cherokee descent, talks about relationship with all of Creation as the “Harmony Way”. “The harmony way,” he says “is a way of living that undergirds all of Native American history, religion, traditions, ceremonies, stories, philosophy, and relationships. Referred to by different names among the various tribal nations, the harmony way is planted firmly within an Indigenous worldview. According to a set of values that are interconnected, the way of harmony and balance encompasses both being and doing and is applied to all of life. The harmony way is a meaningful whole…. The expectation for all creation to live in harmony has been developed by America’s Indigenous peoples over thousands of years. Harmony is the way of nature and, by design, the way of Creator. Creator expects us to reshape the world we know into the world intended for all creation to live well together.”

As I walked along the trail in the mountains observing Creation around me, I saw flowering plants and bleached out bones of an animal long dead, I heard fresh water in a creek and felt the drops of rain from the grey clouds in the sky, I saw the colorful lichen growing on old rocks and tiny trees growing in the cracks. I thought of how small and unimportant I was at that moment and yet, how much difference one small action, one seemingly insignificant person can make to the web of creation.

As such, Woodley suggests that we take time today to find comfort in our smallness, and let prayer remind us of our place on sacred Earth. Further, reflect on what you can do today, this week, in your life to extend hospitality to the community of creation thereby enhancing your relationship with God.

by The Rev. Annemarie E. Kalke Delgado