Worship and Prayer at the Navajo Mission

We are an energetic, mission focused group of women here. Our tasks are clear and we are eager to bring all our gifts to painting and nursing clinics. It is a challenge to hold ourselves back in the morning and to stop mid-project in the evening. But every morning Pastor Schwartz leads us in communion and every evening I lead Taize sung prayer in the Chapel. Each morning, our communion bread has had a different shape and texture, reminding us of the many cultures around the world who share in Christ’s love with us, including the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache who live on this land.



On our altar are three icons which I brought from Pittsburgh. The large central icon is a compassionate Navajo Christ breaking bread and offering communion with traditional pottery and spiral basket. Behind him and over his shoulders are the beautiful and distinctive Navajo blankets. His strong and peaceful gaze offers us pure grace, balm for the stories of terrible treatment the Navajo have received in this desert at the hands of our ancestors. He is indeed the wounded Christ offering healing and wholeness. On one side of the Christ is a Navajo virgin and child, looking very much like the mothers and children we have encountered during our mission. On the other side is a Navajo corn maiden offering a generous armload of corn, the staple of most indigenous diets in the Americas. We will be leaving the large icon of the Navajo Christ at the mission when we leave.



With you, O Lord, is life in all its fullness
And in your light we shall see true light. (Taize chant)



The scriptures Pastor Schwartz and I have been choosing are about compassionate giving, offering ourselves to others as Christ’s offering to us, and about stopping to spend time with our Lord, even when our work is half done and we are worried about finishing it all before Saturday. This is no simple spiritual discipline. But the juxtaposition of prayer and practice gives deeper meaning to our work. Meanwhile, the images from the scriptures seem more vivid here in the desert. Every time we step into a building, we “shake the (red) dust from our feet.” Reading about Christ as ‘living water’ has more meaning as we drink water constantly to avoid becoming dehydrated and dizzy in this arid terrain. And while we don’t see Eagles specifically, we do see large birds “mount up on wings like eagles” over our heads as they ride the up drafts of the red rock outcroppings and we are reminded that those who are weary and “wait on the Lord shall mount up on wings like eagles” and we can return to our work with new purpose.



Our sung prayers ring through the mission Chapel, making our small community of eight sound full and beautiful. Harmonies and devotion flow through the Chapel in waves of prayer. Every evening, the sound has invited others on the mission to come and join us. Our visitor on Monday evening came into the Chapel and lovingly tapped the front of the altar before joining us. This tapping has been taken up by our members, a sign that we are truly sharing in the Spirit as we sing

Live in charity and steadfast love.
Live in charity, God will dwell with you. (Taize chant)


Contributor: Gail Ransom