Sage Against the Machine

Sermon for the Memorial Service for the Rev. Dr. Gordon Straw

Abstract

 This sermon bears witness to ways that Gordon Straw lived his life and faced his death.  Although passionately opposed to the “machines†that damage and destroy indigenous and other vulnerable peoples as well as the earth itself, Gordon’s life was not characterized by rage but by “sage†(grace): rich in public actions and life-giving rituals, like the use of sage in Native rituals of protection and healing, which seek to bring comfort, healing, and strength to every struggle for justice and foster trust in God’s power to bring forth new life, even in death.