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The Presbyterian Church (USA) sent a delegation of leaders--including Pastor Matt--to Juneau the last week of August, 2023, to spend time with the Lingít Native American community. The Lingít experienced lasting trauma caused by the Presbyterian Church's closure of their local church in 1962. PC(USA) is taking steps to apologize for the harm caused by this closure. Yvonne Krumley of KTOO News wrote in an article:

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Presbyterian Church leaders came to Juneau this week to learn how exactly they ought to make an apology. The visit is part of a plan to formally apologize to the Lingít community for the 1962 closure of Memorial Presbyterian Church, which destroyed an important center for the Lingít community in downtown Juneau. 

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As Pastor Matt entered the space last week in which the healing conversations were set to occur, Ḵunéix̱ Hídi Northern Light United Church, he felt both the great weight of what they were there to achieve as well as the sense of standing on holy ground. Read his reflection on this experience, Perhaps vulnerability is what God was looking for ….

 

Immersed in learning about and developing relationships with the Lingít (also spelled Tlingit) community, Pastor Matt wants to understand their culture, listen to their elders, and as he says in his post on the Presbyterian Mission website, "do the work" that it will take to begin to repair the harm. Read his post … a path forward is starting to take shape …. 

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Everyone involved in this dialogue is risking feeling vulnerable, but vulnerability can open us to healing. It is a risk that merits taking! There will be more information to come about the apology and the relationships shaped by this process. Additional meetings are planned for October of 2023.

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