Good day siblings in Christ,
Thank you for allowing me to travel last weekend to my friend’s congregation in Pennsylvania to tell my Native American story. A big thank you to Deacon Lee Ann for leading worship. The congregation I visited has been working through some of the goals the ELCA set out when it comes to Native American relationships. They have created a land acknowledgement that they will post in their congregation, used some Native American focused language in the worship service, i.e. addressing Creator instead of God, using Turtle Island, etc. They have also partnered with a local group teaching about Native American history in their area. They invited me to come and talk about my journey to join the Cherokee Nation and what that was like. My story has a lot of trauma and generational trauma, so there was some pushback by a few members who did not want to hear something other than what was taught in school, but overall it was an excellent learning opportunity.
If we had a land acknowledgement in our Narthex (the area you walk into using the front church doors), what might it teach visitors?
Some of our members asked if they could hear the sermon I preached. There is a recording of it, I believe, but since November is Native American History Month and I usually have a service honoring our ancestors, I will share my sermon the second week of November, since this week is Reformation and the following week is All Saints.
As I just shared, November 3 is All Saints Sunday, a day we honor those who have gone on before us. If you would like to bring a picture or a small object representing a loved one who has died, you can bring it that Sunday and place it on the altar. It is a reminder that our loved ones who have died surround us in love.
On Sunday, November 17, we will have our annual meeting. As always, we will need a quorum to conduct any business. It is a time to come together and share stories of what has been happening in our congregation. We will also vote to pass an operating budget for next year. The book of reports will be emailed and a few copies will be printed and placed out in the link on November 3.
I also just returned from the Bishop’s retreat and it was a great discussion on congregational life and conversation with neighbors. We had three speakers: one who spoke about preaching in a politically divided church, one who spoke about how to have guided conversation with one another that is respectful and open, and one who spoke about working with our neighborhoods.
It was the last speaker who reminded me of a lesson I used to teach when going on mission trips. It was the reminder that the Church is not here to “save” the neighborhood or convert them to our way of life. That is a remnant of colonization. The role of the congregation in a village is to see how God is working already and find the gifts of the neighborhood and support them as best as we can, while also speaking to issues of justice and on behalf of the poor. When you think about it, that is a very different view of church, isn’t it?
Blessings,
Pastor Johnson