Develop Indigenous and Native Liturgical Resources
Resolution text
Resolved, That the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church meeting April 20-23, at the Condado Plaza Hilton, San Juan, Puerto Rico adopts the following resolution and hereby instructs the Secretary of Executive Council to forward it to the Secretary of General Convention.
Resolved, the House of ________________ concurring,
Resolved, that, on the homelands of the Piscataway, Nentego (Nanticoke), and Susquehannock peoples, the 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church creates an intentional effort to value and embrace Native and Indigenous liturgy and spirituality. This General Convention calls for a Task Force on Indigenous Liturgy to document and develop culturally appropriate liturgical materials that reflect the Native and Indigenous spirituality that can then be used in Native and Indigenous faith communities; and be it further
Resolved, That these liturgical resources would honor and uphold the original stewards of our land and the deep connection with Great Spirit and Earth, written in and/or referencing the traditional languages, incorporating the cultural customs, stories, and beliefs, and that address the current needs of the Native and Indigenous faith communities; and be it further
Resolved, That this Task Force would up to 20 persons, majority Native and Indigenous identified, be appointed jointly by the President of the House of Deputies and the Presiding Bishop. Members would reflect a geographically diverse representation from the Church and tribal affiliations. This membership would include Native spirituality theologians, liturgy developers, and practitioners. Laity would make up half of the entire membership. 1 member would overlap with the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to be a liaison; and be it further
Resolved, That these liturgical resources would be curated and developed with the consultation of the Native American Ministries Council of Advice and presented for review during the Winter Talk 2023 and 2024 gatherings; and be it further
Resolved, That the plans for this collection be presented to the 81st General Convention as a model for culturally-informed worship and contextual theology; and be it further
Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance consider a budget allocation of $200,000 for the implementation of this resolution and Task Force.
Explanation
The Mission Institute analysis in the Racial Audit of The Episcopal Church Leadership indicates a vast amount of work that needs to occur to separate out worship and the Anglo-centric and white supremacy focus. One point includes the information that: “The Church must have a deep reckoning of the marriage of theology and liturgy with the maintaining of dominance, normality, and racism.”
The Presiding Officers’ Working Group on Truth, Reckoning, and Healing has heard from church leaders of the need to have culturally informed and created worship services that resonate with their specific faith communities.
This resolution intentionally does not call for specific types of worship services to be created and curated. Instead, the worship resources will be created and curated in consultation with Indigenous leaders, developing materials that have the greatest needs. While 2018-A054: Request Multicultural Liturgical Resource Collection called for Indigenous worship materials to be developed, the mandate was for whole church use. This resolution asks for resources to be created by Indigenous leaders for use within Indigenous worshipping communities.
Works Consulted:
Mission Institute, & The Episcopal Church. (2021). Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Leadership. The Episcopal Church. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/RR-Racial-Justice-Audit-Report_ENG.pdf