A blessing of this space

Sing HINE MA TOV

As we gather here at Camp McDowell, Alabama, we name this land and the people who have inhabited this holy space where we sing and pray, laugh and cry, where we are challenged, nurtured, and transformed. This land is a gift which welcomes and supports us in our holy journey.

We name, now, the Yuchi, Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Shawnee people, whose ancestors – it is thought – 20,000 years ago entered the land mass of North American across the Bering strait from Asia. They were the first humans who joined the winged creatures, the four-leggeds, and the ones who swim in the water and crawl over the land.

These Yuchi, Muscogee, Chickasaw, and Shawnee used this area as a common hunting ground. And they were custodians of the land on which this camp stands. They occupied and cared for this land over countless generations before being invaded and decimated by European forces.

In 1830, after the Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson, they were forcibly relocated to the country we now call Oklahoma. During the Trail of Tears, thousands of men, women, and children died on the journey.

Sing HINE MA TOV

We also acknowledge the enslaved Africans who lived in bondage here in Winston county, Alabama. In 1850 census, we find that 120 Africans -- ranging in age from 2 months to 56 years were enslaved by 12 owners.

We acknowledge the 347 reported lynchings in the state of Alabama between the years of 1882 and 1968. While there were no reported lynchings in this county, in Walker county, just south of here, there were four.

Sing HINE MA TOV

This part of Alabama was not conducive to large plantations because the soil is too shallow. This area was full of small subsistence farming.

During the Civil War, the people of this county opposed the civil war. During the war, the leaders of this county met at Looney’s Tavern just up the road in Double Springs, “where they attempted to declare the independent Republic of Winston and made plans to secede from the Confederacy. Though secession never occurred, Winston County [is sometimes still] referred to as the “Free State of Winston.” Source.

Beloveds, this land is rich with history. As we are here, we are surrounded by the spirits of those who walked this ground before us. As we walk on this land, let us walk gently. It is land hallowed by the blood and sweat, moans and tears of our indigenous and African siblings. It is land hallowed by the lives of all those who went before us.

And as we walk – let us listen for the ways the spirit is moving us to take action in response to all that has happened in this place. We offer our hearts, our minds, our spirits, to the Holy One who listens and heals.

Sing HINE MA TOV

By Rev. Beth A. Richardson