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Reflections from our Pastors
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Yesterday was the second Monday in October, the day we annually celebrate Indigenous Native Peoples’ Day. Our worship space is in Larimer County and so we commemorate the humanity and diverse cultures of the displaced Nations, recognizing their struggle for treaty-guaranteed rights and seeking solutions:
“For thousands of years, many American Indian cultural groups lived in the mountains and plains of this area. Among them are the tribes today known as the Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota, Apache, and Comanche. Each possesses millennia of rich culture, language, artistry, and tradition deeply rooted in the land upon which they lived.” (1)
Let us silently pray this Indigenous prayer (from our Monday Morning Peace Prayer) honoring the Original Ancestors whose land we now occupy:
Indigenous Prayer for Peace
Our eternal grandparents. You are watching over us, all of us who have gone before. You are our ancestors and have seen enough in your lives to know what we are going through. You have survived economic collapse, social unrest, political struggle, and great wars that raged for years. Now, from your place of peace, you seek to send your wisdom into our hearts, to guide us to reconciliation, to show us our mistakes before we make them. Your love for us is strong. Your faith in us is certain. When times get hard, we sit quietly and open our spirits to our eternal grandparents who are still a part of our spiritual world. We receive your blessings, for your light will lead us home. (2)
Indigenous Peoples' Day
“Immigrants are thieves and murderers,
say the descendants of immigrants
who came among the Natives
as thieves and murderers.
Great Spirit, grant us humility.
Some chant replacement theories,
ignoring who we tried to replace.
Grant us silence.
We are innocent, of course:
it was our great grandparents who sinned...
but we still cling to stolen land,
and resist making things right.
Grant us repentance.
Those who we tried to erase
are still here.
Grant us gratitude.
The ghost dance goes on,
beneath our knowing.
Great Spirit, take hold of us.” (3)
“Great Spirit, grant us humility…grant us silence…grant us repentance…grant us gratitude…take hold of us.”
Pastor Jane
1. Fort Collins History Connection here.
2. Choctaw Leader and retired Episcopal bishop Steven Charleston, Ladder to the Light. Modified into a prayer by Carol Persons, member of Mary of Magdala.
3. www.unfoldinglight.net. Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes. October 13, 2025.
Photo credit: National Indian Council on Aging
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