Going Beyond the Land Acknowledgement

 

Our home congregation, Trenton United, included a spoken Land Acknowledgement during the month of September and early October as a recognition of traditional Indigenous lands. 

This was part of the 28 Days of Thanksgiving but we made the decision to return to our earlier practice of including the acknowledgement in the announcement scroll before the service. I've commented before that it puzzles me how many congregations have dispensed with a weekly prayer of confession, responsive psalm, and even the Lord's Prayer, yet include a verbal Land Acknowledgement every week.

I support Land Acknowledgements and formal apologies. The United Church has apologized generally to Indigenous peoples for our form of spiritual colonialism and for the tragedy of Residential Schools. The first of these came in 1986. These are necessary steps on the way to Truth and Reconciliation, a national process in which the United Church has engaged. Just the same, these are steps, not the entire journey, and we may need less talk and more action. 

I came upon an NPR article about the growing number of congregations and denominations in the United States that now include Land Acknowledgements and our now issuing their own apologies. One pastor began doing so after attending a Christian conference in Canada where one was offered. 

I hope we continue to translate our words into practical justice in the years ahead, including the formation of an autonomous entity for Indigenous congregations through the United Church, an initiative currently under discussion.