Indigenous LENTEN GUIDE

Lent invites us to slow down and tell the truth about our relationships-with God, one another, ourselves and the world we share. 

Articles 1 and 2 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirm that Indigenous Peoples are free, equal and have the right to fully enjoy the same human rights as all other people.

For many Canadians, it is hard to imagine that everyone does not enjoy or have access to these rights. This makes it difficult to understand why the need exists to protect basic human rights.

Because of colonial laws, including the Doctrine of Discovery and the Indian Act, Indigenous Peoples have not been treated with dignity or respect. We have learned from Elders and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Indigenous Peoples were displaced from their traditional lands and forbidden to speak their languages or practise their cultural traditions. Their human rights were deliberately denied, often with the church's participation or silence.

Followers of Jesus should grieve the ways in which the gospel was used to justify the misuse of power and oppression of Indigenous Nations. Relationships are damaged when voices are ignored, dignity is disregarded and equality is treated as optional.

Reconciliation cannot grow where brokenness is denied or ignored.

The right to enjoyment of human rights and equality is a call to restored relationship. Equality is not sameness, but the honouring of each person and people as created in the image of God, with their cultures, identities and rights. To uphold this is to commit ourselves to restored relationships.

At the foundation of The Salvation Army is a heart for social action. Our church was established out of a need for equality, justice, respect and dignity. In a world that feels fractured, our theology speaks to restored relationships.

In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." This call to righteousness is also a call to faithfulness in relationship and living up to our covenant. We must be in sync with the kingdom of God when we seek to restore the fractures.

As we walk toward the cross, may we hunger and thirst for the God of wholeness-a living God who has come into the world to break down the walls that separate us so we can be restored and seek right relationships.  

ARTICLE 1
Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.

ARTICLE 2
Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law. 

• As I begin this Lenten journey, am I willing to respond with integrity to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
• Am I willing to be honest before God about the ways in which I have not lived in right relationship with Indigenous Peoples?
• What beliefs, attitudes or misconceptions do I hold about Indigenous Peoples?
  
  

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. — Micah 6:8 (NLT)

During this sacred journey of Lent, we choose to sit in uncomfortable spaces and not soften the truth. We lament the ways Indigenous Peoples were denied the right to self-determination, to speak their own languages, to practise their spiritual traditions and to teach their culture. We lament the systems built to control rather than to listen and to assimilate rather than to honour.

Forgive us, Lord, for the moments we chose to turn our face away rather than learn the truth.

We confess that the systems shaped by colonization continue to affect the world we live in today. These systems still shape laws, education, medical care, land and countless opportunities. Too often, we have benefited from these systems or remained silence in their presence.

Forgive us, Lord, for the times we chose comfort over truth.

In our lament, help us listen to voices that were silenced but not erased. May we learn from cultures and languages that persist despite every attempt to remove them. We realize that reconciliation cannot exist without self-determination.

Relationships cannot be restored unless people are free to define themselves, to lead their communities and to choose their futures.

Forgive us, Lord, for reconciliation without justice, for apologies without action,for wanting healing without change. Teach us that reconciliation is not a checklist, but a relationship based in reciprocity, humility and truth-telling.

Forgive us, Lord, and shape us into people who listen deeply, who protect the right of every community to flourish, who act with courage so that lament may give way to restoration.

God of justice, may our repentance be lived, not only spoken. May our reconciliation be rooted in truth and may self-determination be honoured as a sacred gift you intended for all people.  

ARTICLE 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

ARTICLE 4
Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways and means for financing their autonomous functions.

ARTICLE 5
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

ARTICLE 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality. 

• How have I benefitted from colonization?
• What genuine, mutual relationships do I have or could I develop with Indigenous Peoples?
• What historic and modern treaties cover the land where I live?
• What can I learn from Indigenous ways of being? 
  
  

Lent invites us into the wilderness, into a place of truth, repentance and discomfort. It is here that we must sit with a question that echoes through generations of Indigenous Peoples: How much longer? 

This is not a new cry. We find these same words in Psalm 13:1 which says: “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?” (NLT).

This Psalm does not rush toward reassurance. It begins with lament and creates space for abandonment, grief and hope. Lent calls us to do the same, to remain present in the pain rather than explain it away. 

We acknowledge the harm done to Indigenous Peoples and communities when children were taken from their families, lost their languages and were prevented from practising their traditions through residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and foster care.

These systems violated what the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms as sacred and inherent: the right to culture, the right to religious and spiritual practice, and the right to language and identity. 

The Psalmist continues in Psalm 13:2: “How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?” (NLT).

This sorrow has not ended. Colonization does not remain in the past—it is a dark chapter in our history that continues to shape our present. 

How much longer will reconciliation be spoken without dismantling the systems that cause the harm? How much longer will apologies be offered without transformation? 

Psalm 13 does not deny suffering, but it does move toward trust and hope—not cheap hope but hope forged though truth. 

“But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me” (Psalm 13:5 (NLT).

For us this trust must be lived out through justice. Reconciliation requires more than words— it requires supporting Indigenous voices and decision making. It asks us to step back, listen and make space for Indigenous communities as they reclaim and protect culture, ceremony and language sharing. 

Perhaps during this journey of Lent, we take up the discipline of listening. May the question “How much longer?” lead us not to despair, but to faithful action until the rights to culture, religious life and language are no longer fragile but are fully honoured and flourishing.

ARTICLE 11

1.  Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature.
2. States shall provide redress through effective mechanisms, which may include restitution, developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.

ARTICLE 12

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to manifest, practise, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect, and have access in privacy to their religious and cultural sites; the right to the use and control of their ceremonial objects; and the right to the repatriation of their human remains.
2. States shall seek to enable the access and/or repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains in their possession through fair, transparent and effective mechanisms developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned.

ARTICLE 13

1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means. 
   
   

• What Indigenous-led organizations exist where I live?
• How can I support Indigenous-led organizations locally or across Canada?
• Am I ready to follow the lead of Indigenous voices?