The Act
of Repentance and Healing for Indigenous Persons at General Conference 2012 was
for me one of the highlights of the conference.
At the 2000 General Conference there was a similar service in
recognition of the sins of the church against African American people. This service, in like manner, shines a light
on the inhumane, evil and destructive treatment of indigenous people, not only
in the United States but around the world by primarily European white people. People in power used their power to conquer,
colonize, and in many cases exterminate people for profit and control. The worst part about it for me was that the
church, and the United Methodist Church and its predecessors even use the
spreading of the gospel as a rationale for this behavior. The language, culture and faith of the
indigenous peoples were often rejected and destroyed in favor of a
European-centered culture and religion that was far from the teachings of love
and tolerance of Jesus Christ.
The
Rev. George “Tink” Tinker preached at this service on April 27th and
he recounted the numerous atrocities done against the Native Peoples of the
earth by people of power. The Sand Creek
Massacre in 1864 was led by a Methodist minister, Colonel John Chivington. He and
his soldiers murdered and mutilated over a hundred innocent men, women and
children who had already agreed to a peace treaty with the US government. Rev. Tinker reminded us that there needs to be
reconciliation but it cannot come unless there is true repentance. This is a long and slow process that began at
this service at General Conference. The Council of Bishops made a formal
apology to the indigenous people and worshipers were invited to come to the
center aisle of the worship setting and take a stone from the floor. The stone is to be taken back as a reminder
of our promise to begin to live in better ways with indigenous people and with
all people who are different from us.
Only as we show the fruits of repentance can reconciliation happen. True repentance means a change in lifestyle.
A Statement from the
Council of Bishops as
We Embark on a
Journey Toward
Healing
Relationships with Indigenous Peoples
Preamble
Today, as the Council
of Bishops on behalf of The United Methodist Church, we stop to listen to our
own hearts and our own voices. History is not only a body of information stored
in archives for reference and study waiting to be mined by scholars and
researchers. It is a living, breathing phenomenon that resides in us and among
us framing our understanding of ourselves and each other. The history we recall
in this moment continues to weigh upon all of us. Together we grieve the
history which still weighs upon indigenous people around the world and Native
Americans in the United States.
This is not a romance
of discovery and the struggle of pioneer life, settlement and tragedy. This is
about the violent history of peoples whose families, communities and sovereign
nations were destroyed by aggressive powers lusting for their lands, riches and
seeking domination at the expense of their own existence. This is a story about
the church’s role in cooperating with and entering into collusive relationships
with political forces resulting in the killing of Native women, children and
men, the removal of Native nations from their homes, forcing them to march long
death-defying distances to live on lands unsuitable for habitation, destroying
peaceful villages, massacring helpless innocents, stealing tribal lands and
resources, breaking sacred treaty agreements, removing children from their homes
to imprison them in schools that would steal their heritage to make them
“civilized,” and in tragic intentional and inadvertent ways, sharing in and
implementing the goals of Native extermination resulting in genocidal policies,
programs and actions designed to vanquish, forever, whole Native and indigenous
nations and peoples, communities and families from the earth.
Scripture
“For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
(Matthew 9:13)
“Therefore I will judge
you Oh house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord God.
Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your
ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against
me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezekiel 18:30-31)
From that
time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come
near.”
(Matthew
4:17)
So when
you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or
sister*
has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first
be reconciled to your brother or sister,* and then come and offer your gift.
(Matthew
5:23-24)
Peter
said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
But now
in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood
of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (Ephesians 2:13-14)
Native Quotes
When one sits in the
Hoop of the People, one must be responsible because all of creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all. And the honor of one is the honor of
all. And whatever we do affects everything in the universe.
(Modern version from the
Lakota White Buffalo Calf Woman)
“I did not know then
how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I
can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all
along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And
I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in
the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream…the
nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the
sacred tree is dead.
And
while I stood there I saw more than I can tell, and I understood more than I
was, for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.”
(Black
Elk, Lakota)
“There are many things
to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny as one with
our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great
care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that
no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful
forces.”
(Resolution of the Fifth
Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980)
“How smooth must be the
language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong
like right.”
(Black
Hawk, Sauk)
“I live in sorrow
imprisoned, You are my Light, Your glory, my support. Behold not with
malevolence the sins of man but forgive and cleanse; and so, O Lord, protect us
beneath Your wings and let peace be out portion now and forever more. Amen.”
(Queen
Lili’uokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii,
composed as a prayer, March 22, 1895, while she was under
house arrest in her palace in Honolulu.)
Statement of Repentance
As the Council of
Bishops, we are here to repent and express remorse for the church’s past
conduct in its relationships with Native and indigenous peoples in all the
places where we have extended the mission of the church for over two hundred
years. We are here to commit ourselves to addressing the wrong and asking for
the forgiveness of those who have been wronged by failing them so profoundly.
We confess to God, acknowledging our guilt, resolving to cease the harm,
pledging ourselves to live differently, reversing the damage that has been done
through our participation in violence, maltreatment and neglect of Native and
indigenous peoples so that we may bring about healing and restoration to all.
It is time to free
captive Native and indigenous peoples from institutional church oppression and
learn from them spiritual values that will see us through our own current
spiritual emergencies, save our embattled earth and enable humankind to live as
one with creation and all living creatures within it—including ourselves. The
question is whether the church is strong enough to bring about change in the
United States and around the world where indigenous peoples have been
decimated, assimilated, abused, and left victims of dominant Western economies
and the imposition of oppressive materialistic cultural values. Our work in
healing broken relationships must be specific, actionable and accountable.
Morally, it must be part of our denomination’s discourse, programming and policies.
To our Native and
indigenous brothers and sisters we say:
We have destroyed your way of life, dehumanized your people and degraded
your cultures, along with your dreams, your peace and your great love for the
land. We acknowledge the pain of your nation peoples and our sinful behavior in
these events. We know that past history has been filled with violence against
you. We have confiscated your land. We have recklessly destroyed your cultures.
Today we acknowledge that all this is not in the past. Assaults continue on
your cultures, continuing the historic patterns of abuse, the demeaning of your
spirituality, the questioning of your leadership, the neglecting of the
critical issues of hunger, health, employment, and sovereignty. We must not yield
to historical amnesia. We pray to God to give us a new heart and a new spirit
through Jesus Christ, who breaks down the dividing walls of hostility, so
that we may truly repent of our grave
sins, petition for forgiveness, and work towards healing.
The Future
The Council of Bishops
will:
• Affirm commitment to empowering the
presence of Native and indigenous people in the life
of the denomination.
• Support Native American Ministries
Sunday in U.S. annual conferences.
• Strengthen Committees on Native
American Ministries (CONAM) in the U.S. and Native
ministries in the central conferences.
• Support General Advances and
church-wide funding for Native ministries.
• Commit ourselves to the development of
new Native and indigenous ministries and
strengthen our support for existing community
entities.
• Create a theological statement that
demonstrates a respect for the diversity of theology and
ecclesiology that is found in the context of Native and Indigenous
ministries.
• Commit to host Acts of Repentance in
annual conferences.
• Commit to developing relationships of
mutuality with Native peoples in local contexts.
• Initiate programs of education for
non-Native people about why the Act of Repentance
is important.
In partnership with Native
ministry leaders and resource people throughout the Connection, the Council of
Bishops will support:
• Developing new Native and indigenous
leaders across the Connection including an
increased number of people nurtured for service in congregational,
annual conference,
jurisdictional and central conference, and general church ministries,
including
the episcopacy.
• Intiating a plan of
advocacy related to land and treaty rights, support for tribal sovereignty
and cultural preservation; better health care and education for Native
people and the safety
of Native and indigenous women.
