A Covenant Before the Creator

 

There are a fair number of United Church congregations which include a Land Acknowledgement before or within their worship services each Sunday. They are not all the same but all of them recognize that the land on which we meet is a traditional territory of an Indigenous community that existed prior to colonization. To a degree these acknowledgements are also a recognition that we are all Treaty people with rights and responsibilities. The Treaties made between Indigenous peoples and the representatives of the British Crown were intended to be reciprocal rather than capitulations by First Nations and Inuit and Metis peoples. 

The language used in these treaty agreements suggest promise relationships akin to biblical covenants and they are based on sacred trust. I came upon a recent piece by Indigenous writer Brandi Morin about the separation question on the impending Alberta referendum with the powerful header you see, above: 

A Covenant Before the Creator: Why Alberta's Treaties Cannot Be Broken

The historical record shows the Creator was invoked as a a party to every treaty signed on Alberta land. A referendum cannot undo that

Morin goes on the describe the central place of Creator and Covenant language in the original treaties and that ignoring them is messing with God. I can't quote Morin's article at sufficient length but I'm grateful that she opens up this conversation. 

As National Indigenous History Month draws to a close we might all delve deeper into the meaning of our Treaties and Covenants. As a Christian denomination that attempts to take Truth and Reconciliation seriously we need to listen and learn and respond whenever these covenants are undermined or broken. 

Here are a few lines from the article among many that are thought- provoking: 

This land was never surrendered. It was shared. Before God. With God watching. 

Much of mainstream society has drifted away from the Creator- Indigenous peoples, by and large, have not. The relationship with Creator remains central to who we are, how our nations govern, and how we understand our obligations to one another and to this land. That is not a relic. That is a living reality. And it is precisely why what was sealed in ceremony on those treaty grounds still holds.