Truth and Reconciliation - Reflection

Last Tuesday, we held our first Peace Lutheran gathering. These gatherings take place on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month and include lunch, fellowship, and a presentation on a particular topic. This time, our speaker was Elder Jean. Elder Jean is Odawa First Nation from northern Ontario. She has devoted herself to educating people about First Nations culture and history, as well as counselling Indigenous people as a therapist.

She shared stories from her own life and from her family, including her experiences of the tragic history endured by First Nations people. She explained that the trauma was not experienced only by individuals; entire communities have suffered together across generations. Yet Elder Jean has not remained a victim of that trauma. She pursued an education so that she could help others as a teacher and counsellor, and she has continued to empower people to tell their stories. She is also a poet. On the cover of her book, it says, “This is not just a collection of poems. This is a life, spoken out loud.”

As we have just celebrated the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Elder Jean’s words made me reflect on the stories we are creating, both as individuals and as a community. Who is narrating these stories? Whose voices are missing? How is each person portrayed? And how are these stories woven into God’s greater story?

To reconcile, I believe that we must first sit together and face one another. We need to allow others to tell their stories and learn to see each person as a person. We must be willing to share one another’s tears in times of suffering, celebrate the strength that people have shown, and envision the future together. Reconciliation is not only about one particular incident or event. It is also reflected in how we treat one another in our everyday lives. It concerns our attitudes toward one another, toward life, and toward the world—with its past, present, and future.

And I would l i ke to introduce one of Elder Jean’s poems tha t was recited  the gathering:

When I Stop to Think

I know there is a Creator
I saw Him today,
In a coloured vein
Of a flower
I felt His presence
In the wind,
I know He is,
When I see the tree s
Every leaf in place
In the stillness
Of an obedient branch,

He whisper s in my ear
When I sit by the river,
He talks to me
Through people
Kind words, not cruel
He beckons to me
And sometimes I heed
Sometimes I don’t
When I do
My life changes
With the direction
Of the wind