Land Acknowledgment Statement

(last updated January 2025)

Land acknowledgments are fraught and complicated, yet naming is still important. 

So we name the people who lived and met here before us — including the Shawnee, the Eastern Band Cherokee, and the Chickasaw. 

We also recognize that this land is a place where people have been brought against their will to be enslaved, so we name that reality, as well.

And we acknowledge that on this land we continue to fall short. 

Sometimes we have failed to treat one another with kindness and respect, and in recent memory we ourselves have been troubled with conflict. 
We recognize that not all previous church meetings were conducted with love and grace. 

We confess all this so we do not repeat the wrongdoings of the past and because we know we can do better.

So even while it is complicated and difficult, we commit again to work toward repair and healing, 

God help us all.