Matthew 5:1-11, 17-18, Psalm 124, and Romans 13:8-10
When I think about residential schools, I ask myself: “What can change people?” How can good intentions and plans lead to different outcomes? When the Canadian Church operated the Residential School, my home country was colonized by Japan. At that time, Canadian missionaries who came to Korea supported Korea’s independence. They respected Korean culture and helped prevent the Korean language from being lost through Korean churches. And this became an essential foundation for preserving Korean culture through the Korean language and creating today’s Korean songs and movies. So, I feel that there was a huge difference between the domestic and overseas missionary policies decided through the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the same era.
So, I feel a sense of regret as we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. At the same time, I would like to express my gratitude to my fellow believers who honestly admit and confess their mistakes because admitting errors takes a lot of courage. The truth is uncomfortable sometimes. And what about forgiveness? There are times when forgiveness in personal relationships is not easy. In my case, I feel that it is harder to forgive someone or confess a mistake now than when I was in elementary school. We can also see how difficult forgiveness and reconciliation between one group and another group, country, or people are through various wars and conflicts, including Israel.
Nevertheless, today, we confess our past wrongs and tell the truth. Our Presbyterian Church operated 11 residential schools across Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario until 1925, when some churches split into the United Church. Since then, we have operated only two schools in Manitoba and Ontario. Our mistakes have caused great pain to our First Nations friends. Even though our apologies are insufficient, we pray that God will comfort the hearts of our friends in the Indigenous community.
So today, Jesus’ sermon in Matthew sounds like a prayer to me. We pray for those who have lost family and friends because of the residential school system. We also acknowledge our mistakes in standardizing them by our standards. We hope today’s scripture will comfort our First Nations friends who are still suffering because of this.
I tried to interpret today’s message as Jesus’ prayer. and we pray for them. ”Heavenly Father, we are the poor in spirit. Our Indigenous friends still mourn. They are meek. They seek your righteousness. Almighty God, let us be pure in heart. We hope to be peacemakers. We pray for them. They can get a kingdom of heaven. They are comforted. They can inherit their earth. They can experience and enjoy the justice of God. They could see God.”
We also pray for the Christians and their descendants who participated in this work with good intentions but suffered from unfortunate consequences. Heavenly Father, we are the poor in spirit, too. We are waiting for your mercy and the mercy of our Indigenous friends. We hope to be pure in heart. May we live as peacemaker.
As David sang like this, we have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Since the Lord has been on our side, we can free ourselves from anger, sin, and past wrongdoing. So we can live today and dream of a new future together with First Nations.
As the Red Deer River crosses the Saskatchewan border, it flows into the South Saskatchewan River, which becomes part of the Hudson Bay Watershed. The river joins other rivers in the middle, passes through Lake Winnipeg, and heads towards the Atlantic Ocean. It is a very long and arduous road. But rivers dream of the sea. Just as the river finally meets the sea, at the end of the road to reconciliation, we will experience the gift of peace from God. The sea we meet at that time will be in a completely new state than before, symbolizing a new era.
To love and embrace is to fulfill the Law, Paul said. “Whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” I recognize that the decisions of my respected predecessors in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the choices and actions we all make today can have consequences that we cannot imagine as time passes. That is why I believe the apology confessed and adopted at the General Assembly this year will be a significant milestone. So now, I invite you to read the apology accepted by the PCC and express your sincere feelings together.