Apology by the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest to the Nez Perce General Council

Apology by the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest to the Nez Perce General Council

Delivered September 29, 2017

Madam Chair, General Council Officers, Members of the Nez Perce Tribe: Good afternoon. I am the Rev. Sheryl Kinder Pyle and I serve as the Executive Presbyter for the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest. Standing with me is the Rev. Larry Veith, stated clerk of the presbytery, and other pastor members of the presbytery. Thank you for your graciousness in allowing me to speak to you at your General Council meeting.

I bring you greetings this afternoon on behalf of the forty-three Presbyterian congregations that comprise the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest scattered throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho. This beaded necklace I am wearing is the symbol of the national Presbyterian Church. It was hand-crafted last year by Patty Angle, a member of the 1st Indian Presbyterian Church here in Kamiah. It’s my understanding that 1st Indian, founded in 1871, is the oldest active church in the state of Idaho. As a presbytery we have been enriched and blessed with the historic fellowship and ministry of the six Nez Perce Presbyterian churches, 1st Indian, 2nd Indian, Spalding, Ahsaka, Meadowcreek, and Stites.

However, like all relationships, there have been times when we have not honored one another very well. Recognizing this, at our last national meeting of our denomination—the 222nd General Assembly resolved to apologize to Native Americans in North America who were mistreated by Presbyterian missionaries, especially to those in Alaska and Hawaii. Recognizing that similar acts of discrimination, oppression, exploitation, and violence have occurred in our region I come before you to voice our remorse, and our contrition for our part in these unholy, haunting acts.

To begin with, at least as I now understand it, we failed to honor the image of the Creator God in you because we failed to recognize the image of God in you. We were wrong and arrogant to think the image of God looked white, acted European, and sounded English. The efforts to assimilate native Americans into a white culture were misguided, ill-conceived, and dishonoring. When our Presbyterian ancestors journeyed to this land within the last few centuries, we did not respect your own indigenous practices as valid.

In our zeal to tell you of the good news of Jesus Christ, our hearts and minds were closed to the value of your worldview and lifestyles. We did not understand the sweeping implications of the Gospel of Christ. We should have affirmed the compatibility between your spirituality and ours that God’s sovereignty extends with length from East to West, with breadth from North to South, with depth throughout the Earth, and with height throughout the Sky and Heavens.

Instead of being quick to listen we jumped to judgment.

Rather than respecting your culture we imposed our own.

We assumed control when we should have been behaving as guests.

For all this we are truly and most humbly sorry.

Specifically, we acknowledge some of the events that defied the Gospel, and which damaged relationships:

· We invaded your lands, depleted your resources, and introduced devastating diseases like small pox, measles, and cholera.

· We broke treaties.

· We killed people, including such notable people as Yellow Bird/Elijah Hedding, Chief Qualchan.

· We made war, fighting in the battles of Toppenish Creek, Union Gap, Priest Rapids, Steptoe Butte, Four Lakes, and the 800 Horse Slaughter.

And while many of these acts were carried out by others connected to the U.S. army, the Presbytery too often did little or nothing to resist or to protest the actions, making us both responsible and guilty through complicity.

With Presbyterians throughout North America, we are in the midst of a long and painful journey as we reflect on the cries that we did not or would not hear, and how we have behaved as a church. As we travel this difficult road of repentance, reconciliation, and healing, we commit ourselves to work toward ensuring that we will never again use our power as a church to hurt others with our attitudes of racial and spiritual superiority.

We seek God’s forgiveness, healing grace, and guidance as we take steps toward building mutually respectful, compassionate, and loving relationships with you.

This apology is NOT the end of our journey to reconciliation. It is a first step. Reconciliation is NOT complete, it is beginning. It is the beginning of looking at our shared histories, hearing truths about what happened in an honest and respectful way, and being open to reconciliation as our goal. There is a lot of conversation needed before we get to reconciliation. We need to listen to you.

We need your guidance. We commit to continued dialogue between the Presbytery and the Nez Perce people to work toward true reconciliation.

As Desmond Tutu has reminded us, there can be no meaningful future without forgiveness. Please accept this imperfect, yet sincere apology for all of the ways we in the Inland Northwest have not honored the image of God in you, in your mothers, and in your fathers.

Thank you.