On a beautiful July Sunday morning about 50 people gathered on South Beach on Long Island in Casco Bay for a First Nation’s People worship service, held under the auspices of the Evergreen United Methodist Church.
Led by Oliver Blackfeather and his Blackfeather Intertribal Cultural Group, the service was a melding of traditional Methodist liturgy and music, such as the hymn, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” along with prayers in Algonquin and music performed by the group, which included vocals, flute, and drums.
The congregation even sang “Amazing Grace,” the first verse being in Algonquin. Oliver Blackfeather preached the sermon, based on Matthew 13:31-33, about the mustard seed, and Jayne Generous Heart read to the children for the “Children’s Sermon.”
The Blackfeather Intertribal Cultural Group are members of the Montagnais tribe, based in central Massachusetts, and include Oliver Blackfeather, his wife Jayne Generous Heart, and their son, Aaron Little Wolf, along with Tom Whitehawk and his wife LuAnn Wolf Mother.
The Black Feather Intertribal Cultural Group share their heritage all over the country, in all types of beautiful settings, but on this particular day, Oliver Blackfeather proclaimed our corner of the earth as truly “God’s Country.”