There are times when driving west across North or South Dakota when you look out across the horizon and the road you’re traveling on is the only sign of human presence or activity. Often, there are also fence lines among the vast stretches of land that have come under cultivation and the lone farmstead or irrigation system. But, if you squint, it’s hard not to imagine the more primitive landscape that was home to our indigenous brothers and sisters for centuries.
“The Lord said to Abram… ‘Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.’” Genesis 13:14-15
When Abram (soon to be Abraham) looked out, what do you think he saw? Did he see a vast unoccupied landscape, or did he take note that the lands God was offering were already home to an existing population? It’s hard not to romanticize this story of God’s promise of land to Abram by glossing over the fact that Canaan was already well occupied by Canaanites.
The history of the settlement of Minnesota and the western frontier that I was taught as a child certainly glossed over the inconvenient truth that this land was already occupied. In the course of my life, I’ve seen a significant evolution in how we talk about this truth, and how we are now called to respond. This corner of Roseville, where Prince of Peace is located, were lands that sustained life for generations of Sioux. The Sioux were replaced by settlers primarily from northern Europe. Now this place is also sustaining life for the descendants of Africans, Asians, Central, and South Americans.
When God revealed the lands of Canaan to Abram as the place from which he was to establish a new nation, was God also taking this land away from the Canaanites? This is a question that has been deliberated for thousands of years. Wars have been fought over this question. The same is true for the lands on which you and I now live.
Finding a clear answer to this question is not an easy task nor do I think there necessarily is one. Instead, we are called to remember that all of creation belongs to God, and we have been charged with its care. Perhaps, this is the place to start.
May’s God’s hope embrace you today. -Pastor Peter
Let us pray… Gracious God, you have created the world and placed us within it. May the promises you made to Sarah and Abraham remind us of your charge to all of humanity. May our respect for the land which sustains life find common purpose and unite your people. Amen.