A leader of the Water Protectors at Standing Rock will come to Vashon Friday to speak about religion and spirituality during a time when churches on Vashon and throughout the country are struggling.

The talk by North Cheyanne elder Ray Kingfisher is the result of islander and Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit Musical Director Erin Durrett’s trip to Standing Rock in early December. She and islander Lorna Cunningham brought supplies to the Water Protectors and, while there, Durrett met Kingfisher.

She said that at the morning meetings, those not of Native American descent were urged to talk with elders to “learn and listen and understand things from the first people’s point of view.”

“What inspired me to approach him (Kingfisher) was not just political questions, but with spiritual questions about how I saw the camp being run and the spiritual strength of the people,” Durrett said. “Spirituality is at the center of everything. It’s so inspiring to see.”

Reached Tuesday, Kingfisher summed up his talk in one word: solidarity.

“The goal is that the community can all come together as a whole to be on the same page,” he said.

Durrett said solidarity in Standing Rock came from constant prayer and blessing of the water that created peace.

She returned to Vashon with a need to address what she referred to as the “spiritual issues” here and see if something could be learned from the way spirituality played into the Standing Rock protest. The “spiritual issues” she is referring to stem from the fact that currently, Burton Community Church has been without a pastor for two years; the Unitarian Universalist fellowship has been without a reverend since May and the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit and the Presbyterian church both have interim leaders while they seek a new rector and pastor.

After talking to Kingfisher about the island, its churches and spirituality and finding out he lived in Federal Way, she asked him to speak on Vashon.

“The churches are struggling with having large, aging buildings and small congregations,” Durrett said. “We’re struggling to handle ourselves, move forward and keep alive and thriving in a time where it’s very difficult. It’s becoming more and more obvious we will need to come together as a Christian or interfaith or spiritual community.”

During her nearly two weeks in Standing Rock, she said the spirituality and prayer of the Native population was the most “important piece of how the spirit of the camp was maintained.” She said that because there was prayer every day, the whole movement at Standing Rock touched on both political and spiritual interests. Perhaps most importantly, she said this spirituality is what unified the Water Protectors and elevated Standing Rock to the movement it has become.

“It’s not just fighting a political battle, but how they’re doing it,” she said.

With those observations, Durrett cameback and passed on her experiences to the island’s interfaith leadership group, which brings together individuals from the island’s varied faith organizations, from the Jewish Havurah to the Zen Center. She also began reaching out to those who don’t follow an institutionalized belief, but are “deeply spiritual,” she said. It is in that spirit of unity that she hopes Kingfisher’s messages will resonate and lead the island to consider a larger, unified spiritual community, rather than many individual churches with secular beliefs.

“What are our commonalities and differences? Do churches merge? The spirituality of the First People has always been their strongest asset,” she said.

Fellow islander and Standing Rock traveller Steve Roache said that he had similar feelings to Durrett when he was at the camp in October.

“I had a very powerful and spiritual contact with that community there,” he said. “What I witnessed was the deep and prayerful way of native people. Water ceremonies and the drumming would go on day and night.”

He said there was a constant willingness to hear and listen without a need to counter or respond in any way and that this unity and openness through prayer was far more effective than facing off violently.

“Native people do democracy and the whole sense of living differently,” he said. “It’s all about how interested you are in getting into that culture and the possibilities of what we can do together.”

Roache holds Monday meetings weekly for others who have travelled to Standing Rock to discuss what they have seen. He said the takeaway experience is the engagement and learning how to be active without being loud or violent. He called Standing Rock “a call” to be indoctrinated into the oppression of the Native Americans.

“We’re entering a time where the citizenship is being challenged, and we have to engage more. We’re going to have to represent ourselves and do that in large groups of people,” he said. “It’s keeping alive that memory of how people can come together and treat each other well.”

Kingfisher will speak at 7 p.m. Friday at the Land Trust building on Bank Road.

The event is a fundraiser for the continuing protests at Standing Rock, and admission is by donation. There will also be a silent auction, and those interested in donating an auction item should contact Erin Durrett at allmusicissacred@gmail.com.