Creation Care

We are pleased to stand next to the Spokane Tribe, the Children of the Sun, and shoulder to shoulder with all First Peoples of this area. As we discuss the environmental challenges facing our time, we are mindful of the fact that the Spokane Tribe has cared for this land along the river for thousands of years, living in harmony with nature, a harmony that is broken.

During the first nearly 50 years of early European influx there was some harmony between the natives and settlers. The land was shared, the river was mostly unchanged. We are mindful that Chief Spokane Garry, son of Chief Illeum of the Middle Spokane Tribe, was a force for peace, pressing for cooler heads to prevail after the Whitman massacre (1847); declining to participate in the Yakama wars of 1855. In 1825, in his youth Spokane Garry was sent to the Anglican school at Ft Garry, what is now Winnipeg. It is thought he was the first non-white from west of the Rockies to be baptized. We in this Episcopal church are honored to claim brotherhood in faith to Chief Spokane Garry. The Spokane were removed from their ancestral land to the first reservation in 1881. Still even in his last years Spokane Garry slept in his teepee on the banks of the river.

In 1973, during the planning for EXPO ’74, Spokane Chief Alex Sherwood stood on the riverbank in the evening and intoned the ancient prayer that he then translated, “River that comes to us from the mountains, and goes to the ocean, don’t forget your people. We need your water to drink and to wash. It brings us food. We travel on it in our canoes. We play in it, and we have a train that runs along your banks and joins our tribes. We thank you for these things. Bring us again, as you have every year, the salmon that keep us together as a people and feed us through the winters. Remember!” (Youngs, p 263)

We know that the Spokane Tribe kept this land and this river whole for generation after generation and that we have not. We know that we have disregarded your wisdom about caring for the land, the air, and the water, and failed to honor your dignity as a people. We know that many abuse the land and water and air. We ask for your patience as we learn the ways of your past and honor your care of creation. We ask to stand beside you to learn to love all of God’s creation, with one voice and in one spirit, with Hope.