My name is Cornelia Eaton and I am Dine’ (Navajo), a member of the Navajo Tribe. I was raised and still reside in a community of Upper Fruitland, New Mexico located on the Navajo Reservation in the Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. I come from a family of five brothers, and two sisters. I am the second to the youngest child in my family. I am married, with two beautiful children. My family and I attend St. Michael’s and All Saints’ Churches located on the reservation.
I was named after a respected Navajo elder in my community known for her talent in rug weaving. My mother hoped for me to become a rug weaver like the elder, but that didn’t happen. However, I have come to a conclusion about what God’s vision was for me. I am a rug weaver. I am able to weave my Navajo cultural belief and my Episcopal faith into one rug. I believe that God called me to be that weaver in Navajoland Area Mission, my community, and the in the wider church- to bridge my Navajo tradition along side with the Episcopal tradition and faith with the Gospel as being the essence between both worlds and in my spiritual journey.
My Navajo traditions and values are very important to me. My parents both spoke Navajo with limited English. I am very fortunate that I can speak and understand my native language. I am grateful that I can communicate with my Navajo elders and listen to their stories and words of wisdom which spiritually guides me. As a child, I was first taught my clans. My four clans identify who I am among the Navajo. These clans identify kinship- how I am related. Clans tell how I ought to respectfully address my relatives and people in my community. Those teachings were clearly evident in early childhood- being taught my language, clans, and the importance of Navajo values and traditions, and ceremonies.
Alongside my Navajo culture, I was also raised in the Navajoland Episcopal Church and I was also taught about the Episcopal faith and traditions. My parents were life time dedicated members of the church and so I feel part of that has kept me connected and serve God and the people in Navajoland Area Mission. I participated in church activities as a child and youth. I was a lesson reader, an acolyte, and often assisted my parents at Sunday services at St. Michael’s. In the same way as my Navajo traditions and values, I understand my Christian traditions and values in the same sense. They both parallel. They both connect to the Creator only in different ways
In 1997, I started traveling with my mother to Episcopal Church Native Gatherings. I discovered the work my mother did in a much broader sense. I discovered the Episcopal Native Ministry and the uniqueness of its ministry to the Native Peoples throughout the lands. It was then that I became aware and more involved in Native American Ministries and in Navajoland Area Mission. One Sunday in 2001, I attended a morning church service at St. Michael’s, and afterwards I was confronted by my vicar and she asked me if I was interested serving as a youth minister for San Juan Mission. Without taking the time to say, “I’ll think about it” I replied “Okay.” I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I felt at that moment God called me by name and I answered. I really didn’t know what was in store for me and I was afraid, but with prayer and by faith, I let God be in control of my destiny, and I allow God to do just that in my life today.
At the moment I am the youth director and lay reader at San Juan Mission Episcopal Church in Navajoland located in the New Mexico Region. I serve as a board member on the Navajoland Area Mission Council (NAMC), the Indigenous Theological Training Institute (ITTI), and the Episcopal Church Committee on Indigenous Ministries (ECCIM). I am a student at a local community college, San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico working toward an associate’s degree in Liberal Arts. I hope to become a teacher, a leader in my community and in the Episcopal Church in Navajoland. I believe that God has a place for me in the Episcopal Church and be of value to “all people” of this land.
