April 24th

How do I see God at work in Indigenous Relations?

How do I see God at work in Indigenous Relations? John Longhurst, Religion writer for the Winnipeg Free Press, interviewed Adrian Jacobs, senior leader for Indigenous Justice and Reconciliation in the Christian Reform Church in Canada – who has for many years extended a call to churches to move beyond acknowledgements. “Along with acknowledging the original occupants, churches should consider paying reparations, a symbolic amount donated to Indigenous-led organizations in their communities. “It would be a spiritual covenant with local Indigenous people, a treaty between people with respect to the land,” Jacobs said. In calling churches to consider such a covenant, Jacobs said they could participate by donating one per cent of their budget, or of the value of their property, annually. At the same time, they could build relationships with Indigenous people in their community.” So far Jacobs is aware of only 4 churches in Canada that have responded to this call – ALL of them are Mennonite Church Canada congregations! 

Of course, 1% of a congregation’s annual budget is symbolic – but it is more then nothing. It reminds me of the movement towards Jubilee that caught the imagination of Zaccheus in Luke 19. Zaccheus was one of Judean elite who had intergenerationally benefitted from wealth accrued off the land base around Jericho, and he responded to Jesus call to repair by offering back more than the law required. It was a love gift in that sense. Congregations embracing a collective identity to address a collective history of dispossession – is good news! We are in this work together and I am encouraged by these seeds of a reparations movement in the Mennonite Church Canada congregations. I wonder if there are reparations stories out there that we just don’t collectively hear about? 

When I was a pastor with Seattle Mennonite Church, our congregation embarked on the process of learning the history of the Indigenous Groups in the area. Seattle is named after Chief Seattle, a Coast Salish chief who was one of the signatories on the 1885 Treaty of Port Elliot. The Duwamish of Seattle gather in a beautiful longhouse, in the heart of the international salt water shipping ports. The view isn’t great and the lands and waters are heavily polluted by decades of industry, but it is their of place of gathering and communicating “We are still here!”.  Our church made some efforts to be contagious about the Duwamish story we were learning, and the reasons why they do not have federal recognition. A senior high youth worked with Duwamish elders in designing an acknowledgement mural for the exterior of the church. That was a beginning, but the real juice of being contagious was around our neighborhood’s summer festival called Pioneer Days. We felt that the festival’s name was basically serving up a public education initiative on a platter. During the street festival we worked to invite people to the church to watch a film about Seattle’s Indigenous history. A Duwamish elder was on hand, we watched a film about Duwamish history, had discussions - and saw just how little people knew and how incredibly interested people were. The punchline was to invite people to pay some rent. A group of allies had worked with Duwamish leadership to establish a repair fund called Real Rent. People could get on their phones, sign up, select a monthly or rental commitment - link their credit card or bank account - and 100% goes to Duwamish Tribal Services to sustain their community. The church has a role in calling in our neighbours to join a Zaccheus spirited adventure and offer what is a meaningful amount to them, over and above what the letter of the law. From these humble beginnings, there are now over 22,000 households and businesses contributing to the Real Rent movement in Seattle. These are gifts of acknowledgement, of love, of friendship, of mutual aid and the embodiment of Treaty. May the seed of invitation into Sacred Covenant continue to be planted and take root in our congregations and communities.