Micah 6:6-8

“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

Today is the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. This day has been set aside for us settlers of the land we call Canada to reflect on our history of injustice, grieve with our Indigenous community and seek reconciliation.

From 2008 to 2012, a National, non-political commission was established to listen to the stories of hundreds of Indigenous people, many of whom were residential school survivors. The goal was to present the Federal Government with a plan to reconcile the wrongs of our National treatment of the First Peoples. In 2012, they published a report with calls to action.

The TRC presented 94 practical calls to action to begin to reconcile the wrongs – things as simple as teaching more Indigenous history in our classrooms. Almost a decade later, only 8 of the 94 have been answered – one of which is the creation of this day.

Our church building, at 1250 Markham Road occupies land traditionally held by the Wendake-Nionwentsïo, Mississauga, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabewaki and Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The land was first purchased from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation in 1787 for items including gun flints, brass kettles, rum and other woven goods. The Mississaugas were led to believe this was a rental for shared use of the land and not an outright purchase.

A renegotiation of the terms of this treaty in 1805 saw more land taken from Indigenous ownership.

Finally, in 2010, the Federal Government paid back $145 million to what remained of the Missisaguas of the Credit for over 100,000 hectares of land in the GTA. If you’ve seen the real estate prices in Toronto, you know that doesn’t even come close to the actual value of the land.

Today there are 45 boil-water advisories across 32 indigenous communities in Canada, the longest of which has lasted over 25 years (Neskantaga First Nation). That’s 25 years without access to clean water. Church, this is happening right here in our home. Picture growing up without having access to clean water in one of the wealthiest countries on earth.

In the last 30 years, over 4,000 indigenous young girls and women have gone missing or have been murdered.

Over the last year, we’ve seen news come to light of the hundreds of children’s bodies found in unmarked graves at just a handful of residential schools across Canada. Only now are our elected officials funding efforts to recover more.

Church, this crisis has little to do with politics and more about the ministry God has called us to. Scripture commands in Romans 12:15 us to weep with those who weep. It doesn’t matter whether you know someone directly affected by the horrible tragedies I’ve listed or not. We must look at those around us with the compassionate eyes of Jesus.

Let’s pray.

We Lament.

Mercifully and loving God,

We are immeasurably blessed to be known and loved by you. We’ve experienced your gracious love, though Jesus your son, paying the penalty of our sins and bearing the full wrath of God so we could be justified in your sight. We thank you that we have been filled with your Spirit, bearing witness to and walking in the power of Jesus Christ, empowered for the ministry you have called us to.

Today, we pause to reflect and mourn. Our hearts are burdened and troubled by our Nation’s treatment of our Indigenous peoples. Each statistic we read, each body recovered is more than a number. They are precious souls, fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. Their lives were cut short. Lord, we mourn, and we grieve because it did not have to be this way.

We mourn with those who mourn on this day: from parents grieving at the horrific loss of their children’s lives at residential “schools” or the mothers, sisters or daughters who will never return home.

We lament the deaths of innocent children you carefully formed. We lament the separation of families that you knit together. We mourn with those who struggle to find answers as to why this happened.

In our grief, Lord, we pray that you would comfort the First Peoples of our land. Let you Holy Spirit begin an incredible work even right now to pour our forgiveness and reconciliation. We break and bind generational trauma and scars in the mighty name of Jesus.

We look to you in times of grief, God of all comfort. Show yourself strong and mighty. Comfort broken hearts, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

We Repent.

Amos 5:21-24

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

your assemblies are a stench to me.

22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.

23 Away with the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Almighty God,

We come to you today in our grief, to confess that we as a nation and as a people have not honoured you.

We have stood by quietly as we’ve watched more children’s bodies being recovered from residential schools. The sheer scale and frequency of these discoveries have normalized to us the pain and suffering. Lord, would you forgive this. Forgive us for our inaction. Break our hearts for the things that break yours. Give us eyes of compassion to see the hurt and suffering around us, that we may go boldly into the darkness and reflect your light.

We repent of not being driven to our knees, time and time again, to intercede for our indigenous brothers and sisters. Would you by your Spirit stir in us a renewed call to pray, not just on days like today, for the people of our land: for their hurt and pain, but also that they would come to the saving knowledge of you Jesus.

We repent that your name was used in vain to justify these heinous actions. We repent of the Church’s role in perpetuating abuse and violence. Jesus, this is not your Gospel.

Would you hear us from heaven, as we turn from our wicked ways and would you heal our land.

Amen.