The ELCIC National Bishop Susan C. Johnson has prepared the following pastoral letter calling on members of the church to join with the Anglican Church of Canada, "to offer prayers from September 27 to 30 for the children who did not return home from Residential Schools."
The text from the letter follows. Read the full letter here: https://elcic.ca/Documents/documents/201909PastoralLetter.pdf
Dear members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada,
The Anglican Church of Canada, our full communion partner, is calling on relatives, friends and people of compassion to offer prayers from September 27 to 30 for the children who did not return home from Residential Schools. On September 30 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, a first list of known names will be publicly released by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at a ceremony in Ottawa at the Canadian Museum of History.
September 30 is also the day known as Orange Shirt Day, a day to remember all the children taken from their homes to residential schools.
Releasing these names may bring relief at the public acknowledgement of this family pain but it may also open wounds of grief afresh. While publishing the names may honour the children, the act of doing so is another public reminder for every family of the legacy of residential schools, paid by indigenous people across Canada.
The Anglican Church of Canada stands with the families and communities in sorrow. Sorrow for the preventable deaths of children in our care. Sorrow for every family that unwillingly released their child to a residential school expecting them to be cared for only to be told the child died and for most, no body ever returned.
Let us join our sister church in prayer.
Prayer for the Children
God who came into the world as a child, we bring before you in deep grief the children who did not survive Residential Schools. Continue to hold them closely in the safety, comfort and everlasting Love which you desire for all creation. Hear again our cries of sorrow and lament for our participation in a system that allowed these deaths to happen. Forgive us.
Holy Spirit, in the unimaginable pain of this loss, when all words fail, hear and hold our “groans too deep for words”* as we see and honour the anguish of families left without the life, love and laughter each child represents. Be present with us in the myriad of emotions that the release of these names may bring—sadness, anger, relief, confusion, fear. Guard also the hearts and minds of survivors as they are faced again with memories of their own trauma and suffering.
Jesus, who showed us how Love is meant to live in the world, call us again out of denial and into truth, out of despair and into hope. Spur us to action in the places where systems of injustice prevail. Provoke us to speak out against racism, discrimination, climate injustice, and all that stands between us and the good, just, beautiful life you designed for us together. Be our strength when weak, our courage when afraid, our light in dark places.
Hear our prayer, God of all, in the name of your son the Reconciler of all things,
Amen.
Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Susan C. Johnson,
National Bishop
