Faith
sharing at Gallup's Na'Nizhoozhi Center
by Elizabeth
Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer
GALLUP — There is no steeple, no cross, no stained glass,
no pews. There's even no clergy.
But nonetheless, church does happen each week in the Na'Nizhoozhi Center,
Gallup's alcohol treatment center. It happens because a couple of local
women show up
each week to lead Christian Science services, and a number of NCI clients choose
to make it a part of their Sunday morning.
"Church happens in lots of different ways," said Sandy Webb, a local
musician and elementary school teacher. Webb, along with fellow Christian Science
member, Barbara Russell, has been leading services in NCI since last November.
Each Sunday Webb and Russell bring Bibles, copies of the Christian Science
publication "Science
and Health," and an assortment of church literature to NCI. They set up
their service in the corner of a large open space where NCI clients are free
to pull up a chair on the front row, hang back against the far wall, or just
wander in and out of the service.
On a recent Easter morning, the nine NCI clients attending the service were
joined by three members of a visiting Navajo Christian Science family and a
newspaper
reporter. Some of the clients appeared to follow the service very intently
while others seemed to struggle to stay focused. According to Webb and Russell,
the
service fluctuates from attracting just a small number of NCI clients to sometimes
attracting upwards of two dozen people.
Webb brings her guitar to lead the group in singing, and she and Russell take
turns reading from the Old and New Testaments and from "Science and Health." No
one preaches a sermon the service consists of singing hymns, moments of silence
and prayer, and the reading of the various Bible scriptures and "Science
and Health" passages.
According to Webb and Russell, they began offering the services in NCI as a
way of sharing their faith with other community members.
When Russell, an associate planner for the Northwest New Mexico Council of
Governments, moved to Gallup in January of 2001, she found no other Christian
Science members
in town. Large New Mexico Christian Science communities have churches in Albuquerque,
Santa Fe, and Farmington, she said, while smaller groups in Cortez, Colo. and
Flagstaff, Ariz. are organized into Christian Science societies.
When Webb moved here two years ago and met Russell, the women began meeting
on Sundays in each others' homes.
It was Russell's idea for the women to take their faith from the comfort of
their living rooms and share it with the people who wander Gallup's streets.
According
to Webb, Russell read an article about a street pastor in a Christian Science
publication and then told her, "You know what, we could do this street pastor
stuff."
One weekend when Webb was out of town, Russell gathered up her literature and
went to Gallup's downtown walkway and held a service with the street people
who happened to be there, people Russell described as "appreciate and attentive."
"I think I was guided by God to do it there," Russell said of the experience. "People
need to know of his guidance and comfort."
After three services in the downtown walkway, Russell and Webb approached NCI
officials about holding a service in the treatment facility. The weather was
a motivating factor, joked Russell. "It was getting cold," she said
laughing.
Five months later, the women plan to continue the services in NCI indefinitely. "What
we're trying to do is be open to... ways to do church," said Webb. "It
seems right now that's a right place for us," she added.
Through the services at NCI, Russell is trying to live out her belief that
all people are children of God. It's a belief she also tries to share with
the clients
at NCI. "They understand the truth of who they are," she explained, "that
they are spiritual beings."
"I just get a lot of satisfaction being there," she said, "because
the people seem so receptive."
Webb agreed that many of the NCI clients are very open to the message of the
weekly service. "People really are looking for a way... a way to be helped," she
said.
"I think our goal is to share the blessings we've found," Webb added. "We're
all there together seeking a blessing."
|
April
24, 2004
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Religion — Faith
sharing at Gallup's Na'Nizhoozhi Center
Death |
