October 16th

Reflecting on the Climate Action & Indigenous Relations Regional Collaboration

Reflecting on the Climate Action & Indigenous Relations Regional Collaboration

What do the ministries of Indigenous Relations and Creation Care hold in common?  This question brought 25 Mennonites from across Canada together, October 4-6, near the beautiful shores of the winding Winnipeg River in Pinawa, Manitoba.  
 
Led by Sandy Plett (MC Canada Climate Action Coordinator) and Jonathan Neufeld (MC Canada Indigenous Relations Coordinator) we began by bringing gifts: tangible gifts to surround our Candle of Christ light, gifts of knowledge and experience, gifts symbolizing our role in our church community. 

Suzanne Gross and Ruth Bergen Braun reflect on how and why we might want to weave together the ministries of Indigenous Relations and Creation Care. Charlene Lauzier and Liesel Retzlaff (MCA Creation Care Working Group) and Bill Christieson will share in future Menno Minutes.
 
Suzanne
 
I come at this ministry from the perspective of Bridge Building and see the connecting feature of these two ministries as Relationship and Reconciliation. 
 
We are called by our Indigenous brothers and sisters to build good relations – as kinship family across all tribes and nations. What a beautiful reminder of the call of Abraham – to bring all nations into the kinship of our one God.  
 
Good relations are grounded in the non-hierarchical circle of sharing stories, life experiences, and knowledge. Knowledge sharing links land and creation care which is rooted in relationship with the land. And through knowledge sharing, we can regain the balance the earth requires to be the living organism to sustain us.  And these stories, experiences and knowledge open our eyes to each other and change us.
 
Our Lord Jesus left us with the ministry of reconciliation, grounded in the faith kernels of knowledge in truth held by those outside the power structures, and images of creation groaning for justice -- of stones crying out. Saying that, what does this ministry look like for us in 2024?  And where does this ministry live in our beings, our daily lives, our faith communities?  
 
We lamented that we are in the initial baby steps of this ministry in the fabric of our worship and community life as Mennonites across Canada. We also rejoiced that Mennonite Church Canada saw this ministry as important enough – if not essential – to fund our gathering. And so we invite all to stay tuned as Alberta Mennonites begin to imagine opportunities and activities to come together intentionally, on our land, with our histories – Indigenous and non-Indigenous – to weave this essential ministry of Good Relations for Reconciliation with each other and with the earth into our very being through worship and action.
 
Ruth – who has fewer words but many more pictures
 
Like Suzanne, I see this ministry as one of relationship and reconciliation but I also add a third “r”, a ministry of repentance. Repentance for how we have not cared for creation and repentance for how we, and those who came before us, have not interacted justly with the first peoples of this land, working together as stewards of the land we share.
 
A phrase that continues to resonate with me since this retreat is “what is the adjacent possible?” That is, what is the next thing we can do? To work toward reconciliation with the Indigenous community, we must be like loaves and fishes in God’s hands. Be willing to share what we have but also to be willing to receive from our neighbour.
 
We were taught at this retreat that we first need to sit down and listen. And so, like Suzanne, I say stay tuned as we begin, or in some instances continue, to weave these ministries of relationship, reconciliation, and repentance into the fabric of Mennonite Church Alberta. Let us find ways to listen and learn together.