Rocky backstory to 2023 ‘International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’

Last year, Rev. Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy and two colleagues traveled to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the liturgy, weekly reflextions, and Bible Study they had been asked to create for the 2023 International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “They wanted the perspective of Black and Indigenous people,” said Sherman-Conroy, who is Lakota.

What should have been positive experience was traumatic, as Sherman-Conroy’s Christianity was called into question.

Camp Fire Light court case seeks to uphold treaty rights

Treaties are a two-way street, with rights and responsibilities on both parties.

Non-Indigenous landowners in this country might not think about it, but our land titles trace back to treaties between the U.S. government and Native Nations. We have benefited immensely from these treaties and their legacy of cheap land.

The U.S. government coerced treaties, got vastly disproportionate benefits from treaties, and yet still broke treaties. Native Nations have struggled to enforce the few treaty provisions that benefit them. They deserve support.

A case now before the District Court in Clearwater County reflects an attempt by non-Indigenous people to uphold U.S. treaty obligations, specifically, that Anishinaabe people retain rights to hunt, fish, gather, and hold ceremony on lands they ceded to the U.S. government under the Treaty of 1855. (Full disclosure, I am a defendant.)

While the U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that the Anishinaabe retain such rights under the 1855 Treaty, Clearwater County Attorney Kathryn Lorsbach is trying to relitigate the issue.

Upcoming events celebrating water, treaties, and Indigenous communities

In this post:

• Water is Sacred Gathering at the Mississippi Headwaters, June 3-5
• Golden Valley Native American Community Celebration, June 4
• June 6 Webinar: Indigenous leaders in Canada share their experiences meeting with Pope Francis
• Treaty People Walk along Superior’s South Shore, June 11-25
• Shell River Revival: Three weekends this summer, June – August

Treaty People Gathering, June 5-8; Mississippi canoe paddle May 9, and more

• Treaty People Gathering: Rise, Protect, Stop Line 3, June 5-8
• Indigenous women-led Mississippi canoe paddle opposing Line 3, May 9
• ‘No More Pipeline Blues’: Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls support water protectors
• Sam Grant: Connecting the Derek Chauvin trial with Enbridge Line 3
• MPCA still won’t own up to its flawed approval of the PolyMet Mine, harm to Fond du Lac Band

One church’s path towards reparations: Donating its property tax equivalent to Black- and Indigenous-lead organizations

Attend Zoom meeting Sunday to learn more

It can be overwhelming for white people to acknowledge the tremendous harms their ancestors and this nation inflicted on Native American and African American communities, harms that we continue to inflict. It’s overwhelming to think about how to repair centuries of brutality, trauma and genocide.

White Christian churches have additional layers of responsibility and atonement. Some churches used the Bible to justify slavery or profited from owning slaves or slave labor. Many denominations ran Indian boarding schools, where children were forcibly Christianized and often abused. Some died without seeing their families again.

That’s a lot to take in. The Columbus Mennonite Church in Columbus, Ohio, is taking one small, concrete, and practical step towards reparations. As a church, it doesn’t pay property taxes. It estimated what that property tax amount would be, and will donate it each year to Black- and Indigenous-lead organizations. No strings attached.

As the church members wrestled with how to disperse this small reparations fund, it sparked conversations that have been transforming the church and its worship experience.

A litany for those who aren’t ready for healing

People gathered Sunday, June 7, at the site where George Floyd was murdered.

Four years ago yesterday, July 6, Philando Castile was shot dead by St. Anthony police after he was stopped for driving with a broken tail light.

One of the officers asked Castille for his drivers license and registration. Castile informed the officer that he had a firearm (which he had a license to carry.) When Castile reached for paperwork, an officer shot him seven times at close range.

Castile joined the growing list of black men killed by police.

Hundreds of people gathered at Luther Seminary for a Service of Prayer and Lament honoring Castile’s life, one of many such services. A particularly moving part was a reading by Afro Christian scholar Rev. Yolanda Pierce called “A Litany for those who aren’t ready for healing.”

I came across it again today. Given George Floyd’s murder and the events that followed, it seems like an appropriate to reprint it.

Reflections on Ceremony, by Megisikwe

Healing Minnesota Stories member Bob Klanderud passed along this beautiful reflection on ceremony by Megisikwe, originally printed in the newsletter DrumBeat under the heading “Voices From Our Elders.” Bob got permission to reprint it. Some of the original formatting couldn’t be replicated. We added the photos. Thank you DrumBeat and Megisikwe.

Ceremony is not a series of memorized steps in a set choreography of stifling repetition.
Ceremony is not a strict protocol held only by a chosen few.
Ceremony is not an argument or debate over who has more authority and thus more control.
Ceremony is not about control.
Ceremony is not about authority.
Ceremony is not a bludgeon.
Ceremony is not a script.
Ceremony is not dead.

Lenten Services that Lament the Native American Genocide, Slavery, and Acts of Racial Injustice

For Christian churches wrestling with racial justice issues, including the churches leading role in the assimilation and genocide of Native Americans, check out the website Lenten Lamentations: Preparing to Participate in God’s Mosaic Kingdom.

The first two lenten services lament America’s twin original sins: Native American genocide and slavery. Hopefully these prayers, scripture readings, and historic reflections give leaders in Christian communities ideas for future services.

The service for the first day of Lent (March 1 this year) focused on lamenting the Doctrine of Discovery, the legal and religious justification used by European explorers to take indigenous lands and enslave indigenous peoples. (It is based on a series of Papal edicts, and continues today in U.S. law.) In fact, March 1 this year coincided with the day after the anniversary of landmark U.S. Supreme Court case McIntosh v. Johnson (1823), which made the Doctrine of Discovery a part of U.S. law.

Here is the opening prayer. (Click on the link above for the full service.)

Lord God, during this Lenten season, teach us to come before you in humility, lamenting the signs that your kingdom has not yet come in its fullness. Help us to acknowledge our finitude and failings, and guide us into a journey of remembering rightly, repenting honestly, and responding faithfully. We long for the coming of your mosaic kingdom in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and invite your Holy Spirit to lead us now.

The Day 2 of Lent service laments the slave trade.

A Prayer for Standing Rock: A Service to Support the Water Protectors

A blue cloth representing the Missouri River was laid down the aisle of  Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in St. Paul, as part of a service offered to support Water Protectors. The service was held Thanksgiving Eve.

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in St. Paul held a Thanksgiving Eve service to honor, pray for, and support the Water Protectors at Standing Rock.

It was a beautiful service, and it included prayers and readings that could be modified and used for many faith traditions. The service is reprinted below.