When I was with my grandma, especially at church, I would hear her and the other ladies sing in Inupiaq or English. I was joyful and comforted. I was surrounded by love and peace – not because of the church but because of my grandma’s complete adoration and trust in God.
As a faithful woman who knew God’s will, she lived without fear, as most Indigenous women do. I remember how, as a teenager, I was sent to give my grandma sad news that her closest aunt had died. I had no idea I was delivering such sensitive news. As I sat by her, one tear rolled down her face. “That’s God’s way,” my grandma said. She didn’t say anything else.
For many years, I thought about that. Death saddens me but it does not scare me. We’re all headed in the same direction, just at different speeds. We never know when we will die, or when Jesus will come, but we know both of those things will happen.
This message is excerpted from “Living faithfully” by Roben Itchoak in the March/April 2024 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Jonathan Edwards, teacher, missionary to American Indians, 1758.
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