In February I spent a week doing prayerful accompaniment at Oak Flat (Chi'Chil Bildagoteel) in Arizona, sacred land of the Western Apache. Sarah Augustine and the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery encouraged Mennonite Men to pursue training to accompany Apache Stronghold as they advocate for the protection of Oak Flat and their religious freedom. I did the training and have served on the accompaniment team. This February I joined a Mennnonite teammate at Oak Flat for daily prayer walks, camping on the land, communicating with and supporting Apache Stronghold, and experiencing God's creation firsthand.
Each time I've gone to Oak Flat has been transformative. For a Midwesterner it has taken multiple days, multiple visits, and learning from the Apaches to get acclimated and begin to realize just how full of life this sacred land truly is. Even without verbal explanations, simply being at Oak Flat inspires gratitude, reverence, and prayer. That said, if Apache Stronghold had not shared history and background with me, I would not even begin to understand the depth of its sacredness.
Photo: campsite occupied by the author and other allies from The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. Photo credit: Tim Nafziger
As a white male settler and a visitor, no one owes it to me to teach me all the facts, history, and symbolism of this place. I have been taught enough and have personally experienced enough to have my heart swell with love for God's creation as experienced here. My heart breaks at the thought of this land being transferred to a foreign mining company, knowing this land would collapse into a crater and Apaches would be cut off from coming here. Oak Flat is considered by Apaches to be a female mountain, a source of water, food, medicine, shade, a home to many creatures and to angels. Ancestral remains are buried in this land. Ancient petroglyphs carved on canyon walls are still visible. Important ceremonies and prayers take place here, ceremonies where Apache creation stories are reenacted. Boys and girls come here for coming of age rituals to be oriented and welcomed into adulthood and more fully into their community. This is a place of storytelling, family reunions. If Chi'Chil Bildagoteel is destroyed, Apache religious practice is destroyed forever.
Oak Flat contains low spots where water sometimes collects, allowing large Emory Oak trees to grow. Some of the tree trunks are three and four feet in diameter. Curved and wide-spreading branches hang low, inviting people and birds and other creatures to find respite in their shade. These trees are sometimes referred to as 'grandmother oaks' and said to be between 300 and 600 years old. I imagine the bumps, curves, and scars on their trunks have many stories to tell. In the summer these giant oaks produce acorns gathered by Apaches as a food source. I have had the pleasure of being offered delicious acorn soup made from acorns collected at Oak Flat. These abundant acorns not only feed people, they also feed acorn woodpeckers, orioles, jays, and javelina. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing hawks, ravens, towhees, cardinals, finches, hummingbirds, and small lizards rest in their branches.
Settlers like me may not have trees nearby that were alive for hundreds of years, providing food to feed our community. We likely don't have trees under which our people gathered for dance, prayer, family reunions, and birthdays for hundreds of years. And, I would wager, we likely don't have trees that our people intentionally let grow for hundreds of years without cutting down for lumber. We likely don't fully understand the gratitude held by indigenous peoples, don't regularly thank God for trees that give us food, shade, shelter, and home to birds. Our Apache sisters and brothers do.
What if we Anabaptist Christians learned to view trees with a kind of reverence and kinship that led to protecting them, letting them live to old age? What might we learn about God by caring for oak trees, fine examples of God's creation? Have we pondered the importance of trees named in the Bible?
Join me, join Mennonite Men, join Apache Stronghold as together we consider the love of God the Creator shown by creation. May we learn that places, mountains, trees, people, places of flowing waters have meaning and significance beyond their utility, that God's special places can't be destroyed and simply recreated elsewhere.
I hope we as Christians learn and tell stories about trees, find shelter under trees as a place to pray to God, and inspire children to enjoy trees.
Join Mennonite Men in remembering Oak Flat. Pray for Oak Flat, its Apache defenders, and for the Supreme Court justices who are considering whether to hear the case of Apache Stronghold.
