We would like to acknowledge that Madison Church is located on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe people, the People of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi. We recognize the sovereignty of Michigan’s Indigenous nations and historic communities – both those who live here now and those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands.
We express gratitude and appreciation to the Indigenous peoples across this continent who have lived in and cared for this land, who are still here, and who will always continue to be present in this place.
For more than five hundred years, Native nations have demonstrated resilience and resistance in the efforts to separate them from their land and ways of life. It is important for us to acknowledge, and also seek to understand, the history that has brought us to reside on this land. As a body of Christ and as members who belong to one another, we are called to seek justice and to reverse the long-standing practices to erase Indigenous people’s history, language, culture, and existence.
Let us pause to consider where our ancestors have intersected with one another and where our stories may be in conflict or in harmony with one another. May we seek to be in harmony today, reconciling as God has called us to be.