An Invitation for All Ages to
Reimagine Christian Practice
Through the Seven Sacred Teachings
Welcome to the home reflections that accompany the exhibition A Visual Reconciliation: Cross-cultural Artistic Reflections on the Seven Sacred Teachings, initiated by Rama artist Dazaunggee (Paul Shilling).
It is Dazaunggee’s request that folks take the time to reflect upon the way the Seven Sacred Teachings interact with their own culture. In the resources linked on each teaching page, you will find an invitation to home practices that are meant to help you carve out time and space to engage with the exhibition prayerfully over the course of seven weeks.
Each week, a longer home ritual and art activity is provided, as well as a prompt for shorter daily contemplation. These rituals are meant to provide hands-on options, especially for kids, as well as content to help adults and older children engage with the online exhibition.
These reflections are focused on reimagining Christian practice and teaching as part of the work of transforming the way we, as Christians, live and imagine the future within our settler-colonial context. The work of reimagining requires not only creativity and self-reflection, but also a knowledge of colonial history, racism, genocide, and their ongoing consequences. I ask that you hold this knowledge alongside your reflective practice and that you invite, as you deem age appropriate, the young people practicing alongside you to do the same. If you would like to learn more about the connection between Christianity and colonization in Canada, some resources for adults and children are included.
It is Dazaunggee’s request that folks take the time to reflect upon the way the Seven Sacred Teachings interact with their own culture. In the resources linked on each teaching page, you will find an invitation to home practices that are meant to help you carve out time and space to engage with the exhibition prayerfully over the course of seven weeks.
Each week, a longer home ritual and art activity is provided, as well as a prompt for shorter daily contemplation. These rituals are meant to provide hands-on options, especially for kids, as well as content to help adults and older children engage with the online exhibition.
These reflections are focused on reimagining Christian practice and teaching as part of the work of transforming the way we, as Christians, live and imagine the future within our settler-colonial context. The work of reimagining requires not only creativity and self-reflection, but also a knowledge of colonial history, racism, genocide, and their ongoing consequences. I ask that you hold this knowledge alongside your reflective practice and that you invite, as you deem age appropriate, the young people practicing alongside you to do the same. If you would like to learn more about the connection between Christianity and colonization in Canada, some resources for adults and children are included.
Before You Begin
Select a day of the week when you will do the longer reflection, a day when you have a chunk of time to slow down, reflect, and be creative. Select a time of day when you most reliably have alone time or time with the people with whom you plan to share your daily reflections.
Select a day of the week when you will do the longer reflection, a day when you have a chunk of time to slow down, reflect, and be creative. Select a time of day when you most reliably have alone time or time with the people with whom you plan to share your daily reflections.
What you will need for the weekly ritual:
√ A few minutes to look through the ritual and gather materials
√ A candle
√ A device to view the online gallery and learn the songs
√ Art supplies listed in the craft.
At the outset of this process, take a moment to set the intention of these reflections, on your own or with those you are gathering. Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action #60 asks all faith traditions to “respect Indigenous spirituality in its own right.” We call this to mind before we begin as a reminder that A Visual Reconciliation invites us to come to the Seven Sacred Teachings with open hearts and minds. We are asked to be ready to learn from ancient enduring spiritual knowledge, and then to reflect upon how we might encounter our own lives and traditions differently for having been open to these teachings.
We want to avoid the trap of validating the sacred teachings we encounter only when we see them represented in the same way in Christianity. Perhaps approaching the teachings from a prayerful perspective will help with this. You are invited to take a moment to reflect: do you, or those you are gathering with, have any ideas of how you can remain open to these teachings, and the offerings of the artists, “in their own right”?
Many blessings on your journey.
Rebekah Ludolph
We want to avoid the trap of validating the sacred teachings we encounter only when we see them represented in the same way in Christianity. Perhaps approaching the teachings from a prayerful perspective will help with this. You are invited to take a moment to reflect: do you, or those you are gathering with, have any ideas of how you can remain open to these teachings, and the offerings of the artists, “in their own right”?
Many blessings on your journey.
Rebekah Ludolph
To Learn More About Christianity and Colonization
If you would like more support in learning about the relationship between colonial history and Christianity, The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is a good place to start. A very simplified video for young children explaining colonization and residential schools can be found on Kujo’s Kid Zone. For older children, TVO kids has a video that helps explain the connection between church doctrine and colonization. Please preview the videos before sharing with children.
A Note on the Seven Sacred Teachings
If you look for more resources, be aware that different communities refer to this group of teachings as the Seven Grandfather or Grandmother Teachings. The teachings themselves and their interpretation vary depending on who is providing the teaching and the cultural context from which they come. The teachings included in A Visual Reconciliation and these reflections are from The Seven Grandfather Teachings, found on the Uniting Three Fires Against Violence website.
For more children’s resources about the Seven Sacred Teachings see:
TVO kids Wolf Joe Game
TVO kids Wolf Joe Video Episode
A Note on the Seven Sacred Teachings
If you look for more resources, be aware that different communities refer to this group of teachings as the Seven Grandfather or Grandmother Teachings. The teachings themselves and their interpretation vary depending on who is providing the teaching and the cultural context from which they come. The teachings included in A Visual Reconciliation and these reflections are from The Seven Grandfather Teachings, found on the Uniting Three Fires Against Violence website.
For more children’s resources about the Seven Sacred Teachings see:
TVO kids Wolf Joe Game
TVO kids Wolf Joe Video Episode
A Note on Scripture Passages
All scripture references are to the New Revised Standard Version (Updated Edition), unless otherwise noted. For weeks that include a Bible story, you may want to read the story from a children’s Bible.
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Here are the individual pages for each of the Home Engagement Resource rituals.
Simply click on the word/teaching you want to pursue.
Simply click on the word/teaching you want to pursue.
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Acknowledgements
I offer my gratitude to Dazaunggee, Jean Becker, Lana Moses, Beverly McNabb, Allen Jorgenson, Debbie Lou Ludolph, and Mona Tokarek LaFosse for their detailed review of these reflections. Thank you to Matthew Anderson, Sherry Coman, Nancy Kelly, and Allen Jorgenson for their suggestions during the early brainstorming process. The artwork and artist statements of Dazaunggee, Julie Tián, Xavier Fernandes, and Ted Fullerton have provided a depth of reflection for preparing these resources, as have the questions and wonderings of my children, Sonja and Oscar; for these things as well, I offer my thanks. All missteps and errors in this Home Engagement Resource are, of course, my own.
- Rebekah Ludolph
- Rebekah Ludolph
Rebekah Ludolph lives and works along the banks of Laurel Creek, with her two children, partner, a dog, a cat, and a vegetable garden. This little bit of land is part of the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Annishinabe, and the Neutral peoples, as well as Block 2 of the Haldimand Tract. Rebekah has a PhD in Literature and is currently a student at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.