PRAYER for National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, 2021

God of justice, we as Settlers come to tell the truth about our sins against the Indigenous people of this land.

We made promises that we did not keep.

We signed treaties which we did not adhere to.

We imposed our Euro-tribal culture on people who had a rich culture of their own. We used laws and schools to impose our will and our ways.

In the residential schools and day schools, Indigenous children were hurt and sometimes killed, isolated and disrespected. In the process, O Lord, families were destroyed and the pain continues.

We did not listen to the voices that told us there was something wrong in the schools. We did not listen when people told us that we had failed to live up to the promises we had made. You, O Lord, know only too well that we and our forebears did not change our ways, even when we knew we were condoning wrong.

Cause us to reflect on the wrong we have done, O Lord, confront us with our sin. Teach to grieve the wrong we have done, teach us to grieve the good we failed to do, reveal to us the sins we have not yet recognized. Show us the truth of what we have done and how we have wrongly benefited from the wrongful actions of our ancestors. O Lord, we are guilty, we have done wrong.

For all of this we are sorry. We have no right to claim or even expect forgiveness and grace. All we can do is say we are sorry.

Our best efforts, our most heart-felt attempts, O Lord, cannot make right the wrong done. Our best plans, our most committed care cannot undo the damage we have caused. Our only hope for reconciliation is that you come by your Holy Spirit and remake our hearts. Break our hearts of stone and give us soft hearts, teachable hearts. Break our pride and give us humble spirits. Break us that we might live with simplicity and humility in the land.

Bring reconciliation, O Holy Spirit, and begin its work in us. Bring reconciliation and let its disruptive transformation begin in the lives and hearts and minds of settlers. Disrupt our patterns of life, disturb our hearts and minds, that we will not settle for anything less than the reconciliation you imagine for this land and for all peoples.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.