Facing Our Past: Churches Take Responsibility for Indian Boarding School Harm

The ELCA Racial Justice Ministry printed this photo of the boys with the caption, “

.” In 1990, H. W. Bush established November as an annual Native American Heritage month. We missed the month, sorry, but I still want us to join the effort. In 1925, 60,000 young native boys and girls attended Boarding Schools, usually hundreds of mile away from home. Many were forcibly abducted to attend, physically beaten and starved if they used their native language. The goal (?): to systematically destroy their culture. It has been labeled a “cultural genocide.”

Healing past wrongs and revitalizing both the culture and language of Indigenous people remain goals of the month. The 2024 theme is Affirming Native Voices. It is part of a several decades long attempt to stand with Indigenous communities and tell the truth. In the future, LCM might consider acknowledging the history of native people who might have lived near the corner of Ramsey and Kathleen, it is called Land Acknowledgement. It means to publicly recognize the Indigenous peoples for whom this beautiful area was home. That acknowledgement might appear in the newsletter, Thursday Thought, book studies and Sunday Worship.

While on a walk along the Spokane river, Sheri discovered a commemorative sign. It tells the story that tribes from the region - Pend Oreille, Flathead, and Kalispell - gathered at the mouth of the river annually. It was a sacred spot. They called it The Gathering Place. She reports that the name for the tribe from Coeur d’Alene is Schitsu’umsch, meaning “the Discovered People”. Think neighbors.

The photo of the boys records the painful effort to erase a culture. I close with this Native saying:

Hold on to what is good.

Even if it’s a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe.

Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do.

Even if it’s a long way from here.

Hold on to your life.

Even if it’s easier to let go.

Reformation

Is there anyone who doesn’t love the month of October? Every year I say it to myself – how I love it so. It is more than the radiant colors, more than the football season going full tilt, more than Halloween costumes. Scripture occasionally refers to the Holy Spirit as the wind. In the month of October, the wind blows, and you sense your world shifting. It is a month of transition and change and harvest. Let’s get moving!

During the month of October, I have suggested we focus on Martin Luther and the Reformation. I envision brief glimpses of Lutheranism during worship, maybe a power point or two, perhaps a “Did you know” type paragraph in a Thursday thought. In reviewing fifty-two years of ministry, I have tons of presentations, lectures, lesson plans, and “what does it mean to be Lutheran” talks. The challenge will be selecting the content. Did you know, age 5, Luther began to study Latin?

Some of you might recall, that the Lutheran Church celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation back in 1917. What I didn’t realize is that the official representatives of the Catholic & Lutheran churches have been holding regular conversations for 50 years. A book entitled “Declaration on the Way” outlines thirty-two (32) agreements the two have arm wrestled to the floor. It also identifies seven (7) remaining differences. Did you know Luther got married at age 42 to Kathrine von Bora, a former nun. She was 26. They had ten children, four adopted and six of their own.

Possible topics for a Sunday focus:

Theology of the Cross

Justification by Grace through Faith

The Means of Grace

Law & Gospel

Bondage of the Will

“Simul Justis et Peccator”

Augsburg Confession – 21 Articles

Marge & Small Catechism

Book of Concord

Next three Sundays/Thursdays will contain a little something about the Reformation. See you Sunday!

A Year Ago

If you live long enough, you get to celebrate any number of anniversaries. This one is unique for me! A year ago, Sheri and this retired pastor arrived in Coeur d’Alene to begin an Interim ministry. I have my 2023 calendar in front of me, so I recall people & activities.

• Moved into Apt. 110 at the Timbers. Stopped by church to pick up donated items. Met Carol K in the parking lot. She handed us a roll of toilet paper. Life saver! Started nesting – dresser from Voigt’s, couch and mattress and desk and chair from Almeida’s, pillows from Shirley, household goods from Carol and Charlie, plateware from Sue and Tom – gosh, the list goes on and on! Bought a printer, learned where the grocery and Thrift stores are.

• Met people – Kay S, Eula, David J., Valorie Z, Barry & Jeri, Rita. Took Jeff & Addie to lunch at Panera. The Albing’s hosted us for lunch.

• Attended worship at LCM 9/3. Teresa Fandel preached. Scheduled a “meet and greet” prior to worship. OK, that’s it! You indulged me with a little fun to look backwards one year.

During the month of September, our worship services will include a special focus and theme – THE SEASON OF CREATION. For five Sundays, our prayers, litanies and affirmations will celebrate God our creator and the goodness of creation. This annual celebration has a chosen theme this year: To hope and Act with Creation. As we transition from Summer to Fall, as we transition into a lease partnership with the school, I offer this prayer that we continue to hope and act with Creation:

To have hope is to believe that history continues open to the dream of God and to human creativity.

To have hope is to continue affirming that it is possible to dream a different world, without hunger, without injustice, without discrimination.

To have hope is to be a messenger of God, tearing down walls, destroying borders, building bridges,

To have hope is to believe in the revolutionary potential of faith.

To have hope is to leave the door open so that the Spirit can enter and make all things new.

To have hope is to believe that life wins over death.

To have hope is to begin again as many times as necessary.

To have hope is to believe that hope is not the last thing that dies.

To have hope is to believe that hope cannot die, that hope no longer dies.

To have hope is to live.

(Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, Honduras)

Blessings!