SAINTS
Southeastern
American Indian
New Testament Societies
The New Testament Church is often cited as the model for how believers ought to worship.
And it certainly is exciting!
Luke, a greek doctor who was taking care of his roman patient, [you remember his patient, the apostle Paul?] well, Luke took a pen in hand and wrote what was going on in his lifetime.
Luke tells the story that the apostles told.
That is what Acts 2 describes-- they went around telling stories.
Luke picks up the story in Acts where he left off and tells us how those early story tellers went from a group of frightened folks hiding behind locked doors came a powerful force that changed their world.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit's blessing on what was the jewish feast of Pentecost changed those cowards forever.
They became public speakers immediately telling the good news.
But that is not all that the flames of fire, the rushing wind, and the miracle of the people hearing the good news in their own languages did.
The outpouring of the Spirit produced not just momentary enthusiasm but four continuing commitments:
to learn, to care, to fellowship and to worship.
"The apostles' teaching probably included an account of Jesus' life and ministry, his ethical and practical teachings, warnings about persecution and false teaching, and of course, explanations" of how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies.
"But at its center was the gospel message. And so today, to devote oneself to the apostles' teaching means evangelism as well as edification (4:2; 5:42; 15:35).
The apostles' fellowship and breaking of bread was a sharing of possessions to meet needs and of lives in common meals (2:44-46). What an inviting way of life for our day, when "loneliness drives people into one place, but that does not mean that they are together, really" (Ogilvie 1983:74)."
As they went out, they began to realize that they should not impose their jewish culture on the greeks and other nationalities that were hearing this good news.
James, the 1/2 brother of Jesus, (Son of Mary and of Joseph) gave a stirring speech that welcomed non jewish believers and explained that there was no requirement that any of them become jewish or give up their cultures. Luke records it in Acts chapter 15.
We realize that we have been set free to worship within our culture.
and we will devote ourselves to telling the stories that the apostles told!
We will tell the story of the Creator's Son and what he did, what he is doing, and what he will do!
We will tell these stories while we worship and we will share food together.
A society is "is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations" and we meet together persistently to praise and worship creator in our own language; to tell the stories of the faith that Luke and others recorded; and to tell our own stories as we help one another to live as we have been called to live.
We southeastern American Indians meet in local societies so that we can live up to four continuing commitments:
to learn (Story Circles),
to care (living in community),
to fellowship (prayer circles & Potlucks),
and to worship (in our language)
As the Cherokee New Testament puts it:
[* to read this, you will need to install the Cherokee Font to your pc]
ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎤᎵᏂᎩᏗᏳ ᏚᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎮ ᎨᏥᏅᏏᏛ ᏓᎾᏕᏲᎲᏍᎬᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᎤᎾᎵᎪᏒᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᎦᏚ ᎠᏂᎬᎭᎷᏯᏍᎬᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᎠᎾᏓᏙᎵᏍᏗᏍᎬᎢ.
ᏂᏚᎩᏨᏂᏒᏃ ᏌᏉ ᎢᎦᎦᏛ ᎠᏁᏙᎮ ᎤᏛᏅ-ᏗᎦᎳᏫᎢᏍᏗᏱ, ᎠᎴ ᎦᏚ ᎠᏂᎬᎭᎷᏯᏍᎨ ᏓᏓᏁᎳᏗᏒᎢ, ᏓᎾᎵᏍᏓᏴᎲᏍᎨ ᎠᎾᎵᎮᎵᎨ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏠᎾᏍᏗ ᏄᏓᏑᏴᎾ ᎨᏎ ᏧᏂᎾᏫᏱ, ᎠᏂᎸᏉᏗᏍᎨ ᎤᏂᎳᏅᎯ, ᎠᎴ ᎾᏂᎥ ᏴᏫ ᎬᏫᏂᎨᏳᎯᏳ ᎨᏎᎢ. ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯᏃ ᏂᏚᎩᏨᏂᏒ ᎤᎾᎵᎪᏒ ᏕᎠᎵᎪᏗᏍᎨ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎨᏥᏍᏕᎸᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ
