The union that formed the United Church of Christ occurred in 1957. It took a while for the actions of church leaders to have much impact on the activities of local congregations. I was a child at the time and the area where we lived did not have any Evangelical and Reformed congregations, so I don’t have many memories of what became an important part of the history of our denomination and the definition of my career as a pastor. I am a minister of the United Church of Christ and have lived my life in service to its congregations. My service as a pastor, however, was always in congregations with a Congregational background. Although I have many valued colleagues whose roots were in Evangelical and Reformed congregations, the formation of the United Church of Christ is something that I simply took for granted throughout my career.

My mother, however, had a slightly different perspective. My parents were very active in the Congregational Church prior to the union. My mother was particularly involved in religious education circles. After the merger the newly formed denomination understood the development of a major curriculum for Christian Education. The new resources included many hard back books written by prominent educators. The denomination had a significant staff of professional educators and writers who were involved in producing that curriculum. I learned more about the process of producing those resources and met many of the authors and creators involved in the project later as I became very involved in curricula development in our denomination including writing and editing for several major curricula projects.

My mother, however, spoke of the union as a step backwards in educational theory. She felt that some of the values and cutting edge educational theories of the Congregational Christian church were compromised in order to accommodate the somewhat more conservative positions of Evangelical and Reformed church members. From an objective point of view and a later perspective, I am not sure that her assessment was entirely correct, but I do acknowledge that some educators in our denomination did experience a sort of time shift as if progress required a few steps backward before it could resume.

I was thinking of that perspective last night as I sat with a group of church and community members in a forum listening to indigenous youth speak about their experiences. They told stories of their experiences with racism as they grew up in communities near our adopted home here in Washington. I have been in many other situations where we have faced the ugly reality of racism in our communities. Part of the seven years I served in North Dakota and the twenty-five years I served in South Dakota was a long-term listening project with indigenous leaders. On Lakota elder once told me, “When trust is broken, it takes time for it to be recovered. Demonstrate your commitment by working with us for 20 years or more and spend those years listening.” I tried to be faithful to that commitment, and invested more than three decades listening as carefully as I knew how to listen.

After moving here, however, I feel sometimes like those conversations are just beginning. I now live among different tribes and different circumstances. The years of listening and learning under Lakota leadership are not totally relevant to the process of earning trust with our Nooksack and Lummi neighbors. The stories of racism that we were hearing last night need to be told to us not because we are ignorant of the tragic effects of racism on indigenous culture, but because the experiences of each individual are unique and worthy of our attention.

It seemed, however, a bit like taking a giant twenty-year step backwards. For many participants the process of listening to indigenous leaders is just beginning. To live in my new home and be a member of my new congregation means walking with that congregation as it begins a long process of listening and earning trust. Some of the major steps in the direction of reconciliation that have been taken in the Dakotas still lie ahead for communities here. Some of what I experienced as progress in relationships during my time there lies in the future for communities here. Some of the healing cannot be completed in the span of my lifetime. The injuries inflicted are too deep for healing to be rushed. Once again patience and careful listening is a role to which I am called.

Despite my urge to tell stories of experiences with Lakota people, last night’s forum was not the time for me to speak. My stories may never be completely relevant to the conversations that need to take place here. I have much to learn about Lummi and Nooksack traditions and culture.

Sometimes the road ahead is traveled by taking steps backward as well as taking steps forward. I find myself comparing my experiences with those of church leaders who walked the journey of church union in the 1950s and 1960s. My patience is strengthened by the stories told me by my mother and others who lived through the sometimes frustrating process of earning trust and forming new community. Recalling their stories and remembering their experiences gives me energy for some of the tasks that lie ahead.

Through it all, I am reminded of how much more patience has been required of the indigenous people of this continent. They have had to endure generations of attempts at cultural genocide at the hands of colonizers. They have suffered boarding schools and discrimination and distrust. They have inherited stories of pandemic and warfare and massacre. Indigenous youth have experienced communities burdened with generational poverty and addiction. They have known the effects of broken social systems, dysfunctional foster care, and culture-denying adoptions. Our conversations must defer to their sense of pacing and timing even if it sometimes seems to some of us that we are taking a few steps backwards.

Once again I commit myself to giving whatever time I have to the process of listening and learning. I will continue to go to the forums and avail myself of opportunities to witness and participate in cultural events. I will form new relationships and allow them to grow at their own pace. My role is small in a much bigger picture of reconciliation, but listening is good and faithful work. It is work to which I continue to be called. I am grateful for those who have found the courage and commitment to speak.