What’s typically a still, Saturday morning in the area surrounding the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple in American Fork was met with the sound of beating drums, pulsing like a heartbeat, as a group of Indigenous Latter-day Saints and friends gathered solemnly to see the sunrise as part of a day-long event planned to help attendees connect with their roots, their faith and each other.
“No, it’s not a coincidence,” said Cindy Quinney, executive director of the Gathering of Tribes — the event’s hosting organization. “Heavenly Father doesn’t do coincidences. When he makes a plan, it’s for a purpose. And it’s his plan that we’re here at this moment together.”
Speaking during the event’s sunrise ceremony on Sept. 13, Quinney — who is an enrolled member of the Onion Lake Cree Nation — told attendees God had gathered them that day to reflect not only on their families, but their “church family” and others around them.
This gathering, she said, is a “call that we need to start treating all our brothers and sisters like family, and we need to stop and use our heart and look for people that are in need, whether that’s physically, emotionally, mentally.”
In an interview prior to the event, Quinney also explained that this call and gathering couldn’t have come at a “better time.”
“There’s a lot of unfortunate events that have happened,” Quinney told the Deseret News, “and this will be a good time for us to come together, not divided, and to … be grateful for what God and the Creator has given us.”
Following her remarks at the sunrise ceremony, Quinney offered a prayer for peace and unity, after which the event proceeded to include other messages, a group temple session, brunch, workshops and closing remarks.
God ‘worketh not in darkness’
Joining the event’s sunrise ceremony, Elder Michael A. Dunn — first counselor in the Southwest Area presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — told attendees that in a week where many may have had “heavy hearts because of the lack of light in the world” and a “focus on divisions,” they were there to “simply gather” and bask in the light of God’s blessings and creations.
“The Lord God worketh not in darkness,” Elder Dunn said, referencing 2 Nephi 26:23 in the Book of Mormon. “He is in light and joy and all the things that we celebrate here.”
“And he denieth none that come unto him,” he continued, quoting another verse at the end of the same Book of Mormon chapter.
“That is one of the things that I celebrate on this day of gathering. … Our sameness as children — sons and daughters of the living God who lives, who loves us and wants to bless us as we go forward.”
In a similar spirit, Ojibwe tribe member Gavriel Wise, who conducted the event’s sunrise ceremony, closed that part of the event with a testimony of Jesus Christ as “the light that is in all things and through all things.” He then invited attendees to heed Christ’s call to shine their light before others.
“My friends,” he said, “we are living in a time that we can’t afford to not burn that light. … May we walk with respect for one another, love for one another, charity, hope — a perfect brightness of hope' — (and) the love of God and of all men.”
On becoming ‘of one heart and one mind’
Following the event’s workshops, which aimed to connect Indigenous peoples’ arts and traditions to their faith, Elder Craig M. Teuscher — an Area Seventy in the church’s Utah Area — taught attendees how they may work to become “of one heart and one mind,” first individually and then as a people.
He said to become of one heart and one mind, individuals must first “(bring) into alignment” their own thoughts and feelings with the direction, or revelation, they receive from God through the Holy Ghost.
He acknowledged this process of alignment may be challenging. But he affirmed, “The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is God can change hearts and minds if we invite him to do so.
“It’s a choice each of us can make.”
Elder Teuscher then explained the “second dimension” of becoming of one heart and one mind is to do so as a people.
“That’s difficult,” he acknowledged. Yet, turning to a recent general conference address, Elder Teuscher taught that the key is in each person choosing to “align with the Savior.”
“It’s not about persuading or convincing other people to think the way we do,” he said. “It’s about all of us inviting God to change our heart and our mind by bringing us to Christ and helping us align with his will.”
This change of heart facilitates the “gathering of Israel,” Elder Teuscher taught, and enables individuals to feel what God “feels for each of us, which is an overwhelming love.”
Connection heals
Reflecting on the “increasingly fragmented” nature of society, Elder Teuscher spoke to the Deseret News about the healing power of gathering and connection.
He said that in working with the Gathering of Tribes team on behalf of the church’s Utah Area leadership, he’s learned that gathering with others to exchange cultures, thoughts and perspectives enables individuals to see others in a different light.
He said, “We have a lens and framework through which we see the world, and when we start to see how other people see the world, it causes us to broaden our perspective and embrace more of the good in others.”
Still, he added, the act of gathering and connecting with others is a choice.
“We have to choose to engage, choose to care,” Elder Teuscher said, adding that as individuals do so, they will be strengthened to combat feelings of loneliness and division.
“The reality is we’re all connected in important ways,” said Elder Teuscher. “And I think that when you have these (gathering events), it reminds people that even though you may be different or have a different history or a different past, ‘I can learn from you, you can learn from me, we have things to share, and our lives are enriched because of the connection.’”
