Love at First Sight

(Don't miss the short video at the end)

“Ask the M’ikmaq for their blessing for you to be on this land.” That curious thought entered my spirit one morning. I recognized the source. It was God speaking. The M’ikmaq are an indigenous people native to Canada’s eastern provinces and parts of New England. On our island of I’le Royalle alone there are as many as seven distinct communities of M’ikmaq including one that is the world’s largest. Sadly, I am embarrassed to confess, I was personally acquainted with not a single sole among them. To whom would I make this request? I thought. As the Abbess Anna and I discussed the matter we felt convinced the Lord would present the right person, for not just any person would do. We had spent 15 years carefully tending to the spiritual atmosphere of this land, and we certainly didn’t want it to be defiled by inviting a contrary spirit.

I “knew” that these indigenous people had strange practices. I even had specific details rolling around in my mind. Like how they would go into the woods and beat drums to conjure up evil spirits. And how they worshipped animals, the earth, the moon and stars. All these details were easily retrieved from the recesses of my mind, though I couldn’t tell you specifically where or when I had learnt them. It was just common knowledge, I suppose. So, “God, please bring us the right native person.”

One day, as it happened, Emma, a social worker from the regional municipality came to Lillyfield for a meeting with our young doctor friend, Leah. The Abbess and I popped in to meet her only to find her standing, staring into a painting on the wall, tears rolling down her face. The painting was of a woman in a red dress, and Emma was M’ikmaq. “I’m not a spiritual person,” She said, “But something overwhelmed me about this picture.” She went on to explain to us about the Red Dress Project, a movement that honored missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. We had no idea. Over the course of our conversation we recalled to Emma what God had spoken to us and asked if she knew anyone we might ask to bless our being here.

“I know exactly who should come.” she said. “Frank and Josie. They are spiritual elders, highly respected by our people across all the Atlantic provinces.”

“Do you think they would come here?” I asked.

“I’m pretty sure that can be arranged.” Emma said, “I coordinate their itinerary for the various communities when their travels bring them to our island.”

It seemed as though God was bringing the right people. Still, we took precautions. We would arrange to meet with them at the building closest to the road, so as not to subject the whole of Lillyfield to potential defilement, should they be carriers of unclean spirits.

When the appointed day arrived the Abbess and I stood, a bit anxiously, outside the building waiting to greet our native guests, hoping we weren’t making a terrible mistake. The car crept down the gravel drive with Emma at the wheel. When it came to a stop a coal-haired woman of about 70 emerged. No, not emerged…bounded is more accurate, like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Her smile lit up her entire face. Anna responded in kind and the two women wrapped each other up in an embrace the likes of which an observer could only assume was that of long-lost sisters.

Next, Frank slowly unfolded from the other side of the car with the aid of a cane. He was a large man with a black hat crowning his long, braided hair. Like Josie, Frank’s smiling face emitted pure joy. He was only about ten years my senior but somehow Frank’s face reminded me of my own cheerful father.

Words could not adequately convey what transpired in those initial moments. Was it that mysterious phenomenon of love-at-first-sight? Possibly. Whatever else it was, it became instantly clear that these two lovely vessels were carriers, in no small measure, of that same familiar Holy Spirit who resided in the Abbess and myself.

We all settled in around several leather couches. They with their few attendants and us with four or five of our young adult Lillyfield-ites. Josie looked at our young doctor friend, Leah, and said, “Oh, I see you are the doctor.”

“How do you know that?” Leah asked.

“Oh, it’s easy to see.” Josie replied.

We learned of Frank’s journey. He had been taken from his home at five-years-old to a residential school to have his Indian-ness removed, suffering all forms of abuse in the process. He had attempted to run away on multiple occasions resulting in beatings and public humiliations. When his escape eventually succeeded, he found pain of a different sort. Alcohol, which seemed to so easily ravage the people of his community, grabbed hold of him, and would not let go for many years. In time, he was drawn to the healing ceremonies of his native sweat lodge. He told his teacher, “I just want to tie a rope around all those priests from my childhood and blow them up with dynamite.” His teacher told him, “Frank, you must ask Creator to give you forgiveness for them.” Together they set a course of sweats and prayer that would culminate with four days alone in the woods with no food or water to seek Creator for forgiveness. At the end of the four days, the two men met. Frank was lighter, but his teacher discerned, not yet free. “Frank, you need to go back into the woods. Four more days. Creator wants you walking in complete forgiveness. He wants you free.”

More than two decades had passed since then and it was clear this man exuded both love and forgiveness. Our conversation went very deep, very fast. Anna asked, “Can I sit next to you two?” The elders slid apart to make room, and Josie patted the couch between them, “Come my dear.” The spirit in the room was thick. We all began to pray. In M’ikmaq and in English. And in something else…As sometimes happens with the Abbess Anna, in times of close connection with God, her voice erupts in a long, and very loud, tonal blast that is best described as a sort of vocal shofar. When this happens, it is often awe inspiring, though sometimes it can also be met with cynicism. Josie responded as a spiritual elder, placing her hand first on the small of the Abbess’ back, “Deeper.” She instructed, “From way down here.” The sound intensified. Then, gently lifting Anna’s chin, Josie continued, “And lift your voice to the heavens.” With that, the elder began to sing in a loud voice matching the decibel level of the vocal shofar. “Wey oh wey hi ya ha wey oh wey oh weh hi ya.”

Something was transacting in the spiritual realm. It seemed as though love and forgiveness were flowing freely and a deep relationship bond was being forged between us and codified by the Creator himself.

As the intensity of the moment began to recede, I took Frank’s hand and said, “Frank, I would like to ask for your blessing to be here on this land, to develop and steward Lillyfield as a place set aside for Creator. This hundred-acres has been in Anna’s family for three generations, but I recognize that it has been under the stewardship of your people for countless generations more. We promise to steward it with care.”

“I have been helping people on this good path for well over twenty years,” Frank said, while tears filled his eyes. “And no one has ever asked me that. Yes, we would be honored to come back and offer a ceremony to Creator and give you our blessing.”

When the time came for them to leave, we all knew something special had been set in motion. The Abbess and I felt prompted by the Spirit to escort their car on the four-mile country road to the highway. It would be the first time we had ever done such a thing, but it just felt right, so we led them out the driveway. Before we got up to full speed, we were surprised to watch a family of three deer walk out onto the road in front of us, turn and stroll in single file down the center of the road, as if escorting us all. We slowed to follow. Frank and Josie’s car pulled up next to ours to protect our escorting deer, should another car approach. The deer just kept walking, from time to time turning their heads back as if to be sure we were still following. We had never seen anything like this, and we knew it was a spiritual experience. After about a mile the deer walked off to the side of the road and turned to face us as we slowly passed by. When we reached the end of the road Anna and I jumped out and hurried to Frank and Josie’s window, which was already rolled down. “What just happened?” I blurted out, feeling pretty sure these elders would have an explanation.

“The deer represents unconditional love as it is willing to lay down its life for the hunter.” Frank said. “This is Creator showing us what our friendship is going to look like.”

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Over time, I hope to share with you many stories of our exploits with Frank and Josie, but for now let me just say knowing this medicine woman and her mystic mate has absolutely transformed our lives and has shown us aspects of the person and nature of our God that we had never imagined.

We have spent long hours conversing together and we built a place for them at Lillyfield to pray and to rest whenever they come to our island. Friends from all over the world have visited Lillyfield and been impacted greatly by engaging with these lovers of Creator, as they like to call our Lord.

When Covid restrictions rendered us unable to be together physically, we spent time on video calls. One such time, Frank said, “You need to write a song about our friendship.”

“I’ve never written a song, Frank. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“That’s OK.” Frank said, “I will do a ceremony and Creator will give you a song.”

The next morning I put my fingers to the keyboard and said, “OK, Creator. Frank said you would have a song for me?” Over the next half hour the words flowed onto the page. Anna and I called Frank and Josie and read it to them. We all wept. Friends who had been impacted by these elders contributed to turning it into a spoken song. Friends from Wales and Ireland and Georgia and Alabama and Oregon. It was finished just in time to be played for Frank’s family at his memorial service when a sad M’ikmaq community ushered him into his place in that great cloud of witnesses who watch over us all.

(Click the arrow below to watch the video of the song Creator gave.)