So, what happened?

We are back from the “house cleansing”, or “house clearing”, or “house blessing.” The words you choose depend on who you ask at the house.

We had the home owners, a young couple with one small girl and two grandparents. Jannie came as my prayer back-up. Half way through, it was made clear that the grandparents were expecting a ceremony, nothing more. If the Catholic Church had a priest they trusted, he would have done a ceremony. If the Shuswap shaman’s were available, they would have done a smudging ceremony. I knew this was likely to be the expectation of the people. Indians like and expect ceremony, it is in their blood.

I got back to the Pre-house Clearing Notes and finished. Then, I went through the house with holy water, a “wisk” (the brushy thing to dip in the water and scatter it in the room) I made from cedar greens, and prayed over and blessed each room. At the end, I prayed for the whole house and especially for the little girl, to break any ancestral curse.

No spirits manifested and everything went very smoothly.

We had coffee and talked very well with the young couple afterwards. We hope to stay in touch with them. This would be a break through for that Reserve. They are the hard Reserve to reach. So, perhaps God is now breaking through the walls of spiritual darkness on that Reserve!

Perhaps you are curious about my choice to use “holy water” and cedar greens in the ceremony? It does seem a bit Roman Catholic. Well, remember that the Secwepemc People respond to ceremony. They expect a ceremony, and so the cultural response is correct to provide a Christian ceremony. I made it very clear that the ceremony has no power, but that Jesus Christ who is present and behind the symbols, He is the power in the ceremony. So, we need to be able to leave our Protestant anti-ceremonial cultural bias behind, when ministering to the First Nations community. We need to be able to create meaningful Christ honouring ceremonies, that minister to the Shuswap heart and mind.

Thanks for your prayers. I was eager to go to this house this morning and full of faith that God would glorify the name of Jesus Christ somehow. I believe He did.