Indigenous Justice

“...there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

-Abraham Kuyper

This week could be a historic one for Indigenous children in Canada. The Minister of Indigenous Services, Jane Philpott, has called an emergency meeting on Indigenous child welfare, comparing the current situation to the horrors of the residential school system.

Though born and raised in West Michigan, my career over the past six years has taken me to remote areas throughout Southeast Asia. In Cambodia and Myanmar I have seen firsthand how government corruption, especially related to deals to extract valuable natural resources, falls hardest on the poorest and most vulnerable communities.

In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where justice dwells.

—2 Peter 3:13

In the face of injustice, it can be easy for us as Christians to become so overwhelmed by the scope of sin that we fail to do anything at all. But there are a number of ways that God’s people are called to respond to the injustices we see around us. When we look to God, and to God’s vision for us, we find an invitation to remember, pray, and advocate.

Dear Tanya, 
In 2009, you became a number that I wasn't counting. 
Your sister, Vanessa, was counting.
The hours, days and the years of this silence.
I heard during the hearing. 
I heard your story. 
I heard your human-ness. 
You are not dead to her.
You are not a number.
I'm counting. We're counting.
With Love, 
Priya

This is the last post in our Justice and the Reformed Confessions series. View the other posts in the series here. 

You’re more than a consumer. You’re more than a taxpayer. You’re a citizen.

In September 2016, the Government of Canada launched a ‘National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’, after decades of advocacy from Indigenous groups. Its mission is defined by three goals: finding the truth; honouring the truth; and giving life to the truth as a path to healing. These goals parallel the power of Biblical stories that reveal the truth of human relationships, demand that the truth be honoured, and call humanity to healing through repentance and justice.

This is an excerpt of a message preached by Mike Hogeterp, Director of the Christian Reformed Centre for Public Dialogue, at Calvin CRC in Ottawa on Aboriginal Sunday 2016. The message was based on Genesis 12:1-4 and Psalm 25. What do the biblical calls to hospitality and reconciled relationships mean for your church’s relationships with local Indigenous peoples?

Hospitality was a big deal in biblical Israel. Abraham hurried to offer “three seahs of the finest flour” and a “choice, tender calf” to three men passing by his tent, even before learning that his guests were no mere humans (Genesis 18). The disciples on the road to Emmaus urged the resurrected Jesus to stay with them, learning his true identity only later (Luke 24).