Tomorrow, September 30th, is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – which is also known as Orange Shirt Day!
The significance of this day is not only to recognize the ongoing, negative impact of the Residential School Systems on Indigenous Peoples, but also to honour the victims and survivors, as well as their families. And one of the very simple and practical ways we can do so, is by wearing orange.
At Lifespring we often speak about generational blessings and curses; we understand that what we face personally can have very close ties to our families of origin and their families of origin and so on. Many of us have been blessed with a deep understanding of the benefits and gifts we have the privilege of receiving as the fruit of generational blessings! Which is absolutely something to celebrate and rejoice in.
It’s also vital for each of us to look beyond ourselves and our own familial experiences; to look even further beyond our Church Family at Lifespring…
As members of the Body of Christ, as children of God who have been adopted into an immeasurably MASSIVE extended family through Jesus… we have a much greater web of connectedness to siblings all around the globe and all throughout time!
Although we’ll never, ever get to meet most of this extended family during our lifetime here on earth, this doesn’t mean that we can ignore or look past their pain or close ourselves off to their stories. In the same way our biological families can affect our reality for generations, I believe that our spiritual, adopted family can also affect our reality too!
Which means that we have, literally, so much more to celebrate than we could EVER celebrate adequately during a lifetime!! We have so many breakthroughs and exciting discoveries to be amazed by; we have understanding and knowledge that has been passed along to us and that we get to continue passing along; we have testimonies and accounts and stories of miraculous Divine Intervention!!
And just as important as it is to rejoice with those who rejoice, we too are called to, collectively, mourn with those who mourn.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is one of those days that opens up to us the opportunity to hold together these two things: mourning and rejoicing.
Yes, we acknowledge the horrifying truth of what has taken place in Canada.
Yes, we acknowledge that these “boarding schools” were backed by the government of Canada and many, many churches.
Yes, we acknowledge the unspeakable trauma, pain and devastation that have been inflicted on generations and generations of precious Indigenous Peoples.
We remember and we grieve over the truth that these horrific things were enacted on children.
Miraculously, this truth-telling is partnered with the hope and the ultimate goal of reconciliation: “the restoration of friendly relations”.
The call and the ask we hear from Indigenous Siblings in Canada, is not a call for revenge, it is a call to redress (or make right) the harms that resulted from the residential schools and to take action for the sake of Reconciliation. For friendly, life-giving and honouring relations to be restored between the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Settlers.
While so much of this takes place at federal and provincial levels of government, and while it can be overwhelming to consider where we can actually begin to make a difference, we also have cause to rejoice because we are not doing this alone. We are not responsible alone. And it is never too late to begin learning.
As the Church, especially, we know that a major part of our identity and mission as Christ-Followers is to be actively involved participants in the healing, redemptive work of the Kingdom of God… on earth as it is in heaven.
Scripture tells us that each of us have been reconciled unto God through Jesus! Now we get to partner with God in sharing the joy and the humbling beauty of reconciliation with our ever-growing, absolutely massive, adopted family in God!
Would you consider a change to your devotional times today and tomorrow? Would you consider hearing from some of the Indigenous folks who have played such a huge role in moving Canada towards a reconciled future?
There are a bunch of links below that you can use to help launch you into the active work of reconciliation which begins with listening and learning.
From 2008-2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was founded for the purpose of hearing and collecting the accounts of Indigenous students and their families to document the history and lasting effects of the Residential Schools. After seven years, they published the summary of their findings in multiple volumes, as well as 94 Calls to Action that would “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation.”
The collection of Reports can be accessed here:
https://nctr.ca/records/reports/
You can read the full mandate of the TRC here: https://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/SCHEDULE_N.pdf
You can read the 94 Calls to Action here: https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
You can learn more about the History of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada here: https://nctr.ca/about/history-of-the-trc/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-of-canada/
And last but certainly not least, if you’d like to learn more about the origins of Orange Shirt Day check out the story of Phyllis Webstad here: https://orangeshirtday.org/phyllis-story/