Steven Charleston is a Native American elder, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, and a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
He is the author of spiritual resources for persons of all faith traditions with a mission to offer inspiration and encouragement to all those who seek to walk a sacred path through daily life.
Steven began writing with only four other people as his audience on Facebook.. Today there are almost 30,000 people who read his daily meditations. Thousands more have discovered him through his books, beginning with his first book, HOPE AS OLD AS FIRE.
He comes from a family with a long history of service in the Native American community. His great-grandfather and grandfather were both ordained pastors who preached in their native language in rural communities throughout the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Following in their footsteps, Steven was ordained at Wakpala, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Reservation.
Steven was the national director for Native American ministries in the Episcopal Church, a tenured professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, the Bishop of Alaska, and the President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 2014 Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, named a building after him to honor his work in inter-faith cooperation.
Ladder To The Light by Steven Charleston
Darkness will not last forever. Together we can climb toward the light.
"They were as troubled as we, our ancestors, those who came before us, and all for the very same reasons: fear of illness, a broken heart, fights in the family, the threat of another war. Corrupt politicians walked their stage, and natural disasters appeared without warning. And yet they came through, carrying us within them, through the grief and struggle, through the personal pain and the public chaos, finding their way with love and faith, not giving in to despair but walking upright until their last step was taken. My culture does not honor the ancestors as a quaint spirituality of the past but as a living source of strength for the present. They did it and so will we."
In the same voice that has comforted and challenged countless readers through his daily social media posts, Choctaw elder and Episcopal priest Steven Charleston offers words of hard-won hope, rooted in daily conversations with the Spirit and steeped in Indigenous wisdom. Every day Charleston spends time in prayer. Every day he writes down what he hears from the Spirit. In Ladder to the Light he shares what he has heard with the rest of us and adds thoughtful reflection to help guide us to the light.
Native America knows something about cultivating resilience and resisting darkness. For all who yearn for hope, Ladder to the Light is a book of comfort, truth, and challenge in a time of anguish and fear.
Publisher’s Weekly review:
“Charleston recommends that, rather than sugarcoating societal problems, humanity needs faith to imagine a better world. He proposes taking action together for a common good through interreligious cooperation, prioritizing truth, embracing change, and championing dignity and inclusion for all people.”
for persons of all faith traditions
For persons of all faith traditions who seek to walk a sacred path through daily life, there are signposts along the way. These signs are written in a language we can all read, the language of the heart. For many years one person has been writing these messages down. Now you can read them for yourself. May they help guide you to your destination.
WORKS BY STEVEN CHARLESTON
There are three categories of writing by Bishop Steven Charleston: (1) Novels, (2) Collections of his daily meditations, and (3) Theological books.
The novels - BISHOP OF MARS, TAO OF MARS, MADONNA OF MARS are a Trilogy and what he calls "spiritual science fiction". They are inter-related novels of people from all traditions who live and work together through extraordinary circumstances. If you are someone, or if you know someone, who enjoys spirituality delivered in story form, these are the books for you.
The collections of meditations - HOPE AS OLD AS FIRE, CLOUD WALKING, ARROWS OF LIGHT, TURN TO THE WILD WIND, SANCUTUARY OF THE SPIRIT, THE MEDICINE WHEEL, and JUST IN TIME - are taken from his daily postings on Facebook. These spiritual resources are for persons of all faith traditions. They will inspire you, uplift you, heal you, and guide you through the many seasons of your life.
The theological works by Bishop Charleston: GOOD NEWS - A SPIRITUAL PATH TO RECONCILIATION, COMING FULL CIRCLE, THE FOUR VISION QUESTS OF JESUS, and LADDER TO THE LIGHT.
We hope that all of these writings will be a source to which you will return on many occasions to refresh and renew yourself for the journey ahead.
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May the spirit be with you.
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