Truth & Healing Movement
awareness & engagement.
service & justice.
“Service & Justice” is a new, emerging “Core Ministry” of TLCS that seeks to work towards systems and structures that support dignity and wholeness for all people.
November each year is Native American Heritage Month, and this year (2023) Trinity is joining with the wider ELCA in the work of the Truth and Healing Movement.
From the website:
The ELCA’s Truth & Healing Movement is an opportunity for this church to increase our understanding of our colonizing impacts on Indigenous people in the past and present. [Through this work], there will be opportunities to learn, raise awareness, and engage in other ways to impact hearts and lives across this church. We believe that the truth, and our knowing and embracing it, is the first step toward healing for all of us.
why?
Why are we part of the ELCA's “Truth & Healing Movement”?
Why is this important to Trinity Lutheran Church & Schools?
This work connects deeply with two of our lived values at Trinity: “Impactful relationships with one another that provide support for life’s journey” and “Faith-based communal experience of worshiping and learning together.”
Sometimes we have to put in extra effort to build relationships with our neighbors and neighboring communities. This is the case (for most) when it comes to being in a relationship with our Indigenous neighbors. According to the U.S. Census, the current population of American Indian and Alaska Native people in Lynnwood is 0.3%; at one time, that number was 100%.
We join together for faith-based communal learning to hear the real history and stories of Indigenous people in this area and all throughout “Turtle Island” (North America). Only then can we be part of the truth and healing with God’s people who have experienced and inflicted harm through colonization - as well as evangelization - of Indigenous people in the past and present.
land acknowledgement.
We are in the process of creating a Land Acknowledgement (a formal statement that names the original inhabitants of a particular place) as part of our collective effort towards truth and healing for the sake of our Indigenous neighbors.
Why are we doing this?
We are joining the efforts of the greater ELCA through the “Declaration of the ELCA to American Indian and Alaska Native People.” As is shared in this letter from Vance Blackfox, ELCA Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, the Church confesses its sin towards Indigenous people and has made commitments in its journey toward truth and healing. One of those commitments is to “begin the practice of land acknowledgments at all expressions of the church.”
If you would like to learn more or join the team that is in the process of creating a Land Acknowledgement for TLCS, contact Pastor Jenna.
opportunities to engage.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" Discussion with Kay Knott, Upper Skagit Tribe
Trinity Lutheran Church & Schools + November 30, 6:30 - 8 PM
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Anyone who has seen the movie or read the book, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is welcome. We will use this study guide provided by the ELCA.