Mavis Etienne-Cree (Mohawk) is one of the people featured in the Indian Life Ministries book, Keepers of the Faith. Indian Life Ministries' team member Jody Dickson recently caught up with this hero of Indigenous faith to get an update on her life.
Q: In the book, Keepers of the Faith, the author talked about your creativity and your art. How did you get started?
A: A teacher came to the local community center to teach beadwork and knitting. I loved it and progressed. I began making baskets and pottery. I began doing art shows around Canada and the United States.
Q: What were some of the motivations behind your creations?
A: To me, art and worship can be tied together as a person focuses on the One who created the beautiful things in life. God is the One who invented every single color on the color spectrum. It was a way I could worship God. Many times, people worship creation instead of the Creator . . . it shouldn't be like this. We are to worship the Creator, the Maker of all things beautiful.
Q: When did you become a believer in Jesus Christ?
A: I grew up in a Christian family; however, it wasn't until the age of 10 that I surrendered my life to Christ. What was ironic was that I was saved at a non-Native church in Montreal during a church meeting with a non-Native pastor. I've had a rich life in spite of the difficulties I have faced. I can only praise Him.
Q: Are you still creating your art?
A: I put it aside after the summer 1990 Oka Crisis in Quebec, when I saw the needs of my people. Having been a negotiator during The Crisis, I knew I needed to help them so I began working in the local treatment center. I worked there until my retirement a couple of years ago.
Q: In 1990, the Oka Crisis, also known as Kanehsatà:ke Resistance, ended up being a 78-day conflict between local-and later, national-government over Mohawk land rights. It involved thousands of people and got violent at times. Today it is looked back on as a model for activists. The book talks about your involvement in that historic conflict. The author of the book revealed your response to the various opposing forces during the 1990 Oka Crisis, pointing out that you showed a very balanced faith. How do you maintain the balance of honoring God, honoring your culture, and honoring the government, even if you don't agree with everything?
A: My focus is to be on worshiping and honoring God first. The things that go against Scripture . . . I simply choose to not participate in those things. For example, during the crisis, when I served as one of the negotiators, others would attempt to get me to engage in smudging with them. I politely told them that that's not necessary because I had already been praying. I didn't argue with them or condemn them. I simply stated what was true.
Q: What spiritual disciplines are currently an important part of your life?
A: The first one is a prayer life. Prayer is vital. I pray for myself, and for friends, family, strangers. I pray for my enemies because God tells me to pray for them. The next thing that I do is read scripture daily. Right now, I am reading in the book of Isaiah. I also read a 365-day daily devotional every day. And I read a small devotional magazine called The Daily Bread.
Q: How would you counsel another believer, Native or non-Native?
A: Be true to God first. Be a God pleaser, not a people pleaser. Life is about pleasing God . . . and preparing for life in Heaven with Him.
Read more about Mavis and other Indigenous believers in Keepers of the Faith. To order, see https://www.indianlife.org/product/keepers-of-the-faith/.
