The Spirit Bowl

Had a wonderful day going out to the Laguna Pueblo yesterday for their Feast Day. And indeed it was a feast - visual, physical and spiritual. My friend Ed and I got out there around 10:30 and checked out lots of the booths.

We learned from one potter about how she learned the skill from her great grandmother, and how the rusty and black dyes were made. Ed picked up one very large pot that we both expected to be heavy; the only thing heavy about it was the base. The walls were a little thicker than eggshell, but very strong. It was a glorious work of art.

After we wound around the displays a while longer, we finally found our friend Molly Curtis.  Molly is a member of the Presbyterian church on the pueblo, and she and her family had a booth set up to sell her pottery. Her work is amazing.  I've never seen anything like it. Molly designed the communion ware for worship when General Assembly was held here in Albuquerque. Her decorative patterns are probably the most intricate of all that we saw.

Ed ended up buying one of Molly's pots.  I came away with a bear which had a spot of blue on it - "Oh, I just felt wild that day" said Molly. A couple of refrigerator magnets with Molly's pots on them also followed me home. But my other treasure, largely because I learned the story behind it, was a Spirit Bowl.

In Native American tradition, each dinner table has a Spirit Bowl as part of the setting. When dinner is served, a bit of the food goes into the Spirit Bowl, to be shared with the ancestors. It's a lovely reminder of the presence of those who have gone before.  And then, after the meal, the food is taken to the cemetery to be shared with the ancestors.

Being a genealogist, I of course loved to hear this tradition.  But then Molly told me that one of my colleagues, Judy Wellington, a Native American pastor, uses a Spirit Bowl on the communion table. When the bread is broken, a little goes into the Spirit Bowl for the ancestors.  If that's not "the communion of saints," I don't know what is.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. And I believe in honoring those who have gone before us, and their Maker, with our offerings and our lives.