Galatians 3--First Nations Version
Veterans Week, One People
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It no longer matters whether you are Tribal Members or Wisdom Seekers (Greeks), slaves or free, male or female. For in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One you are all one people.
And since you belong to the Chosen One, you are a descendant of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) and the ones who share in the blessings of the promise Creator made to him.
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Alaska has more miles of shoreline than the rest of the continental United States, combined. During World War II, that made it extremely vulnerable to invasion. The US military could not possibly guard such a vast frontier.
One man, Major Marvin "Muktuk" Marston, believed that Native Alaskans should be entrusted with the defense of their own land. He earned his nickname by living with Indigenous people and eating muktuk (raw blubber) just as they did. At the onset of the war, he began recruiting Native men and women to serve in the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG). His superior officers were NOT enthusiastic, but tolerated his work.
Then Axis powers seized two Aleutian islands and repeatedly bombed Naval and Army installations in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. It happened in June of 1942, just six months after Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the military understood the urgency of the ATG. Rifles, light artillery, uniforms, and ammunition were issued to the ATG.
But the Army had no way to deliver those supplies.
Marston became a one-man supply line. He used dog teams to travel hundreds of miles to deliver supplies himself. The Army disbanded the AGT after the war but Marston would not let the story be forgotten. He wrote a book about the efforts of Native Alaskans. Alaska had racial segregation laws discriminating against Native people. He worked to have those abolished, alongside AGT veterans.
Marston was appointed to the constitutional committee working on Alaska's statehood, but he did not go alone. He insisted that his brothers in arms, Indigenous members of the AGT, also be included in that work.
In the Church, we like to believe that we are guided by principles of sister and brotherhood, equality, and love. And we ARE. The Church believes in a Gospel of radical freedom and equality.
But it was the Army that vouchsafed the equality and dignity of Native people in Alaska.
The warriors put Galatians 3 into action.
Sometimes the Church still needs warriors in action.