What a different place the world would be, if we who are Christ followers would stop and do everything in our power to restore dignity to those who are ignored or outright scorned.
In 2021, our denomination released “The Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People,” which includes a confession that begins like this: “We confess that we have not listened to the stories of Indigenous people and have not taken the time to understand history. We have devalued Indigenous religions and lifeways and have not challenged the invisibility of Indigenous people in American society.”
To become like Christ in the world, we must become repairers of the breach – not those who cause it. In this healing work, confession and reparations must be front and center, at the core of who we are. Together we confess that we have powerfully pushed others to the margins, sometimes in the name of Jesus. Jesus shows us that God’s excluded, beloved children are at the heart of his teaching and our calling.
This message is excerpted from “Already worthy” by Lee Ann Pomrenke in the January/February 2023 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Seattle, chief of the Duwamish Confederacy, 1866.
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