Indigenous Theology

We are blessed to live in a country that is seeking to know the truth, to heal from our brokenness, and to reconcile with each other and with God for our sins as a nation that have done so much harm to the peoples who first walked this land.

As I have had the privilege of working in First Nations communities and developing relationships with my Indigenous friends and neighbours, I have been able to learn much about the world through the teachings of the Medicine Wheel.

Editor's note: This post is the second in a series from the Milestones project. People who have been participated in or been affected by the CRC's work for reconciliation during the past six years, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has travelled the country, have contributed stories of moments (or "milestones" on the journey of reconciliation) when they were touched by the movement of Spirit and came one step closer to reconciled relationships across the Indigenous/non-Indigenous divide in Canada.

The resurrection is central to our faith! “If Jesus is not raised from the dead,” Paul says, “then our faith is futile.” In fact, he goes on to say, “We of all people are most to be pitied!” (1 Cor. 15:19)

But, how is it central? Historically, we understood Jesus was taking the punishment for our sins – the sins of humanity. Our transgressions and their consequences are placed upon Jesus as he hangs on the cross. In so doing, satisfaction for sin is provided, and God is appeased.

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the ones who believes in me drink.  As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”  (John 7:37-38)

Children are the centre of our communities; it is of utmost importance that we create a better world for them to live. We must build and yes, sometimes fight, for their opportunity to thrive rather than be the statistics that show otherwise. We have to create opportunity in which equality is no longer questioned.

Growing up, I had very little contact with my Mohawk heritage. As a third-generation, church-going, Indigenous person who grew up off-reserve, I feel this scenario is reflective of the separation that has occurred between the Indigenous nations and the rest of Canada – and also of the rift that currently exists between the church and Indigenous peoples. 

Many people today, not just Christians, have a growing sense of God’s participation in their life. What is interesting is that for many, perhaps even most of the people who can do that, at the same time that our sense of God’s personal  activity in our lives has grown, our sense of God’s activity in the world around us has diminished.

Our colleague Shannon Perez has a habit of asking zinger questions. As five of us colleagues sat in a Skype circle debriefing our experience of the Vancouver Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) she asked us:

Equipped with the testimonies of the survivors, what in your life will you turn way from, and what will you turn towards God? How will you back this repentance up with action?

See what I mean by zinger? Shannon’s point is actually pretty simple – we can’t come away from the experience of a TRC and its brutal and beautiful truths unchanged.