Info

The Church and the Sweat
Comparing the Early Christian Church and the Native American Sweat

• I have used the KJV version of the Bible on this page.

  If you have any questions or other comments, please contact me and let me know.

  A long time ago I had seen a page that contained the characteristics of the early church. Now I'm not talking the Catholic Church, but the original group of believers that started meeting together starting around 33 AD and met this way for hundreds of years. As I had read this page, I saw just how much it compared to the NA sweats I have attended. I can not now find this page, so I have decided to do one on my own and then compare it to the Native American sweat. I have only participated in the Sioux and Kickapoo ways of the purification sweat, so this may not pertain to all nations. But from what I understand from talking with others, they all have the same basic structure.
  
  The Sweat
  After giving this a little bit of thought, I think the best way to present this to you is to introduce you to the basics of the usual sweat. First I will tell you that the lodge itself is representative of our mother's womb. We enter it as ourselves with all of our sins, needs and/or worries. When we leave, we should have experienced a "rebirth", coming out as a new person, feeling our old way of life has been left behind in the creator's hands and also having been cleansed leading to a renewal of our God-given spirit.
  
  But before we enter, the leader of the sweat starts in prayer, acknowledging the seven "grandfathers" representative of the four directions, Grandfather God (toward the sky), Mother Earth, and our inner spirit that dwells within us describing all the aspects of our lives that relate to the Creator. At this time, the "participants" also stand in reverence and prayer offering ourselves up to the Creator, humbling ourselves in His presence. The leader then enters the lodge and prays to the Creator, asking Him to hear every person's prayers and bless Him according to His will and to be present there in our humble presence.
  
  As we enter the lodge (smudging ourselves with sage beforehand), we acknowledge outwardedly that we are all family, brothers and sisters in God's eyes. Everyone then agrees with "Amen." There are several "rounds" and each of these rounds are performed differently in each sweat to an extent. It will all be according to what the leader feels that the Creator is leading him to do. But the first round is typically a "opening" round to God, the Creator, done in songs and prayers of thanksgiving and acknowledgement of His greatness. The leader usually starts off the round explaining a few things to new attendants and giving a word that he has felt led to say. Drums are played, rattled shakened and everyone sings to the glory of God.
  
  The second round is the "invitation" round asking the Creator to enter into our humble lodge. Again songs and praises are sang and people are always invited to say whatever they feel they should speak of: prayer requests, things they feel they are led by the Spirit to share, words of knowledge, personal testamonies, or whatever. Sometimes this round ends up being a prayer round, sometimes it's simply a round acknowledging and asking God and the Holy Spirit to fill His presence in this place and our hearts.
  
  The third round is what is known as the "prayer" round, the round that you should ask the Creator for what is troubling your heart, what you truly feel a passion to pray for, whether it be yourself or others. Again, it is usually started with a song. This particular round I've even had it explained on many occassions that the third round is the prayer round because it represents the third day that Jesus rose from the dead. This round is usually the most intense. In some ways, it is with everyone praying together outloud (as Pentecostals) and in others it is with everyone taking a turn (as a Baptist prayer meeting). You are not required to pray out loud, you can pray quietly as it is always pointed out the God knows and hears our prayers. And I will add here that it is again recommended that you are always careful for what you pray and to be sure that you pray asking God to do only what is His will.
  
  The fourth round is the "closing/thank you" round, where we thank the Creator for listening and answering our prayers. Again, people are asked if they have anything they would like to share. This gives the opportunity that if God had spoken to them during the rounds, they have the time to do so. Once all the songs and sharing are done, everyone exits the lodge, again acknowledging that we are all family. Then there is a feast afterwards, a time of fellowship and just having a good time amongst each other. The spirit of togetherness is shared here and the strong sense of family can be felt.
  
  A few other points I wish to express is that the sweats are not generally open to the public as this is to represent a family of "believers." But this does not mean that we don't allow anyone else to participate. We are just concerned about who does. There are new people all the time that attend these sweats. They are usually invited after they show a sincere interest and have actually, to put it in "Christian" terms, been "witnessed" to. Also the lodges are typically small, only enough room for 10 to 40 people. But I've heard of many nights where they would perform two or more sweats in order to accomodate everyone. Sweats will usually last anywhere from 1 to 5 hours, in accordance to what all have felt they needed to share or pray about. And I've NEVER heard anyone complain about the length of time it took! Most people I know attend sweats at many different lodges, not just one.
  
  A sweat may be called at any time if someone needs it. This is usually done for a specific problem they feel the need for their family to help support them. We are a family, not by human blood, but through the Spirit of the Creator who has created each and every one of us. We support each other, give to each other and give whatever help they can to those in need. And this is not just within our own little family. We are very aware that our family is world wide. And we assist with whatever we possibly can to help all those in need, extending as far as we can. Also to be noted, there are absolutely no non-prescriptive drugs or alcohol allowed either on the grounds or in a person. These are held on holy and sacred grounds and this is to be adhered to.
  
  The Early Church in Comparison
  Well, since I truly have no documentary on what the early church consisted of, I will use scriptures from the New Testament here to show what I have learned truly must have happened. First I will point out, that the church is not a building. Several times in the scriptures, it says the church is the "body of Christ" or the "Bride of Christ." In other words, believers in Jesus. And there are many things told in the Bible about what these believers were to follow:
  
  1. Believers, not non-believers, were told to fellowship together.
  
  Hebrews 10:24, 25 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some; but exhorting; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
  
  Exhorting: parakaleo: to call near, ie invite, invoke: beseech, call for, comfort, intreat, pray.
  
  Matthew 12:50 "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
  
  Okay, so we see here that the believers were to gather together in support of each other together as a real family. And there are many, many others verses in the Bible that say the believers, the church, gathered together. To exhort each other in love as if they were your own beloved brother or sister. Which is the same thing that the Native Americans practice.
  
  2. And these believers gathered in homes, not church buildings funded by everyone in attendance.
  
  Romans 8:3-5 "Greet Priscilla and Aquilla my helpers in Christ Jesus...unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise the church that is in their house."
  
  Colossians 4:15 "Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house."
  
  Philemon 1:2 "And to beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house:"
  
  Now knowing these "churches" were held in these homes and having a pretty good idea on the size of these homes, it has often been concluded that churches were not usually of a large congregation. And I will point out here that if the church did get too large, then that type of "fellowship" would be lost. Wouldn't your sympathy lessen somewhat if Brother Dave here had never even spoken a word to you in 3 years because he just didn't have the time to get to know you and who you were?
  
  By keeping the congregations smaller, the brotherhood of Jesus, the true love and exhortation could be truly felt within one's spirit. And I've seen this to hold true in the houses that I have participated in sweats at.
  
  And Jesus did say in Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." So it doesn't take a whole lot of believers to make things happen.
  
  Not saying that large church groups are wrong, but that there should be gatherings amongs His people for a time of fellowship. And in the early church, this was the case.
  
  3. There was a "leader" and/or elders among the church, but there were some specific guidelines to follow.
  
  Acts 14:23 "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed."
  
  Acts 20:28 "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
  
  1 Peter 5:1-4 "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
  
  Mark 20:42-45 "But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
  
  So you see, there should be someone there just to make sure that all had someone to guide them, as a shepherd, not someone who tells them what they should believe and what they shouldn't. And this is why the sweat leader is not a preacher. He does have something to teach with every sweat, but only to an extent to give a belief or something that the Creator may have laid upon his heart to share with the group. But usually, most of what is "learned" comes from all. This will be expounded in the next point.
  
  Paul was very explicit about how we should base our beliefs. Philipians 2:12-13 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
  
  He stated that we should not go beyond what was written. (1 Corinthians 4:6 "And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another." the words "of men" had been added.) And I, in all my past church experiences (about 18 years), have only seen one pastor who would read the scripture, give you the original true meaning of the keywords and then tell you what he thought. And then beyond all surprise, he would many times even tell you what other's thought and didn't ever say they were wrong. Just let you know that it was between you and God what you felt.
  
  This is the same atmosphere that I have encountered with all NA families/groups I've ever gotten to know. They were accepting of you, no matter what you believed. As long as we all believe in and follow the one true God, then the minute details, the little bits of knowledge were left between you and the Creator. But there are standards of living one must follow. The thing however, I do find most disheartening, is that some NA's leave out Jesus as the vital role as our Saviour and Redeemer of our sins.
  
  For the most part, the "preaching" was left to be done outside of the church meetings. And it is very important that we live our daily lives to show our "witness" which I personally have seen to be the greatest witness of all. And I don't know of a NA nation that doesn't stress the importance of living your spirituality on a daily basis, not just when we gather together.
  
  4. There was always singing and praise.
  
  Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
  
  Ephesians 5:18-21 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
  
  5. Believers were there to participate, to help each other, to give what they felt led of God to give, to pray as they needed, in an orderly fashion.
  
  1 Peter 4:10-11 "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
  
  James 5:13-16 "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
  
  1 Corinthians 14:29-31 "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted."
  
  1 Corinthians 14:26 "How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying."
  
  Ephesians 5:18-21 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
  
  Again Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
  
  Acts 2:42 "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."
  
  1 Corinthians 14:40 "Let all things be done decently and in order."
  
  6. Which leads us to the last point, the dinner afterwards, allowing for interaction between believers.
  
  Acts 2:46-47 "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
  
  And here I will take the opportunity to give some scriptures that the "burning" of things like sage and tobacco was done in the earlier days of worship and prayer. These verses are in the NIV.
  
  I Kings 9:25 "Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations."
  
  Malachi 1:11 "My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord Almighty."
  
  Revelations 8:3-4 "Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand."
  
  And just as a note of interest, did Jesus come to the Americas?
  
  John 10:16 Jesus says, "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."
  
  If you would like to read some of the stories and legends of Native Americans, please follow go to my page He Walked the Americas"
  
  

  Top

  Back Home