NATIVE CHRISTIANITY

Compiled and offered by Elder Steve Kinney

What does it mean to be Native and Christian today?

Introduction: My wife and I are not native.  When we arrived in Ketchikan in 1965, it had not been many years since signs saying “No dogs or Indians allowed” were displayed at various venues around town. Upon searching for a church home, we were told that, “you’ll feel more comfortable in a church other than the Presbyterian Church”…  so, as a result, we immediately joined the Presbyterian Church and have worshipped there since that time. And, what a wonderful and diverse Community of God it is. Our congregation truly represents a cross-section of Ketchikanites trying faithfully to serve their God.

At our upcoming Presbytery Gathering, consideration will be given to an overture brought forward by the Northern Light United Church in Juneau which seeks recognition of wrongs inflicted upon the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Juneau many years ago - an action that still inflicts pain on many Juneau residents.

My role today is to try to bring background information forward, especially as it relates to “being native and Christian in today’s world”.  Below you will find references to short videos and written materials which I hope will encourage you to explore that topic. I humbly ask you to invest 30 minutes trying to understand this most critical topic thinking about “Why is this still important to people today?”

  • Segregation of Faith [10min], Joaqlin Estus (Tlingit) “First Alaskan, Fall 2019; Presbyterian Officials said that they closed a thriving native church in Juneau in 1963, reportedly to help end segregation. The closure reduced competition and boosted membership in a nearby white church. This article describes the impact this action had on Alaska’s native people.

  • NYT: A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs  [7min] 

    Native People discussing their “legal” heritage.  Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men 

Racial Equality: A Biblical Perspective [10min]

Spend some time with the following passages, and reflect on how they speak into our context and conversation today regarding Christians and cultures other than our own:

Galatians 3:27-28 ESV 
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 1:26 ESV 
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Galatians 5:13 ESV 
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Acts 17:26 ESV 
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

John 13:34 NIV 
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

James 2:8-9 NIV 
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Revelation 7:9-10 NIV 
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."