St Thomas Land Acknowledgment
Throughout November, a Land Acknowledgment will be read as we begin our weekend and Thanksgiving Day liturgies. We do this to recognize that long before we dedicated St. Thomas as a place of prayer, there were First Nations for whom this very land was sacred.
Land Acknowledgment Statement
As we gather for worship this day in this sacred space, we acknowledge that the land is part of the ancestral homeland of the Council of Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi Nations. More than a dozen other Nations called this region of Northeastern Illinois home. Until their forced removal, this land was their home, the source of their food, their gathering space, their place of healing and their sacred space. We recognize the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples connected to and on this land. We commit to continually learning how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit and the people we encounter.
This acknowledgment is a starting point, not a conclusion. We invite you to reflect on the history of the land we share and consider what it means to care for this place and one another on a daily basis.
