Only the Tip of the Iceberg

Since our four-part podcast launched, there has been additional forensic searching in other Canadian Residential Schools, and the results only add to the pain.  The initial 215 bodies found in a mass grave in Kamloops, BC is only the tip of the iceberg.  Families whose children never came home are demanding searches of the grounds of the institutions their children were sent to.  According to reports filed in various news outlets, at the second search site in Saskatchewan the remains of an additional 751 children have been discovered buried around the campus of the Marieval Indian Residential School located in the vicinity of the Cowessess First Nation.  Along with an outpouring of grief across Native North America, some are turning to violence in response.

Church Fires

According to Native News Online, four churches had been suspiciously burned shortly after the findings of the original 215 bodies in BC.  Their report states, The four church fires come in the wake of announcements of the discovery of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at a former residential school site in Kamloops, which is located in the southeastern region of British Columbia.  Then, on Thursday, Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation announced the discovery of as many as 751 unmarked graves at the former Marieval Indian Residential School in the province of Saskatchewan, about 1600 kilometers from Kamloops.  Chief Crow, who is in his eighth year as chief, says he can only speculate on why the fires are being set. “There is a lot of anger here now against the Catholic church. There is a lot of blame for what happened to the children,” Chief Crow said.  “The church burning is devastating to our community. Some of our members attended church. Memories were made at the church. There have been weddings in the good times and funerals held there in the bad times,” Chief Crow said. “Whoever did it should know it was just wrong.”

How to Respond

How do we as Indigenous followers of Christ respond?  How do we become a part of the solution and not part of the problem?  LaDonna and I would remind you as listeners to our Mourning the 215 Children series, of the five points that can help bring healing and restoration to those who grieve.

• Those who perpetrated these atrocities are not true representatives of Christ or His Church.  These evil acts were committed by evil men and women who totally disregarded the heart, soul, and teaching of the Christ they said they represent.
• Jesus never said, “Follow my followers.”  He said, “Follow me!”  If someone rejects Christ, it should be because they determined they have serious issues with Him.  It is misplaced allegiance when we follow those who represent Christ, as we all are prone to wander, fall away, and do such evils.
• Remember that Jesus, in His humanity, suffered incredible trauma on the day He was crucified.  He and His Father relate personally to this kind of atrocious behavior of evil men and women.  While in the Garden of Gethsemane, just prior to His death on the cross, He literally sweat drops of blood as he agonized about the abuse He soon would suffer to pay the once for all sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.
• Remember that, The Judge of all the earth will do right (Genesis 18:25).  The perpetrators of all these evil deeds will stand before God, Himself, as will we all, and find out that He is the only just Judge who will render true and righteous judgement.  He will do right as He deals with those who did such evils.  Remember, as Dr. E.V. Hill stated, Payday, someday!
• There is nothing more liberating to our souls than the power of forgiveness, the kind that was modeled for us by Christ when He hung on that cruel cross. Forgiveness delivers us out of self-imposed prison cells that keep us in unrelenting grief and bondage, and fuels the angry and violent responses that we now are seeing.

Let’s seek God’s power today to enable us to be light in the darkness in response to these atrocities, and bring hope and healing to our families, friends, and neighbors.  May God help us all!

Craig Smith