(un) settling

John 1:1-18

National Indigenous Day of Prayer, June 21, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“(un)settling”

Before the days of being able to reserve a campsite, we took our chances.  Late one evening, we came down the steep highway into the Okanagan Valley.  It was a hot summer weekend, and the roads had been packed with other vacationers, so it was slow going.  The first campground we tried was full already.  And the second.  And the third.  We finally found a farm that rented out tent sites, and bagged the last one, on a steep slope overlooking the lake.  As we pitched the tent in the headlights of the car, we realized that our sleeping bags would be on quite an incline.  We were tired and grateful to be received for the night. It was a little unsettling, but thankfully, we didn’t roll into the lake in the night.

In the first chapter of John’s gospel, we hear “the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14).  But that’s not quite right.  “And dwelt among us”.  Closer would be “camped”, or “settled”.  That’s an unsettling word, as we come to terms with the truth of our history as a church in Canada and our call to reconciliation.  What does it mean that God settled among us? What does it mean to be settlers? 

The Greek word used is eskõnōnen.  It means ‘to pitch a tent’, and it hearkens back to the early history of the Jewish people.  It bears the sense of occupying (there’s another unsettling word) or residing alongside.  For God to encamp with the people is a symbol of protection, communion, and hope.  They are to be living in an intimate relationship.  The same word is used again several times in the Book of Revelation as a promise.  There it points to the fulfilment of God’s purpose at the end of the ages, when all God’s peoples will be gathered together to dwell in peace.

The preface to John’s Gospel, as the first chapter is often referred to, traces the arc of God’s relationship with creation, from the moment the Word was first spoken to the reign of the Living Word.  God’s plan is not just an individual’s salvation but the coming of light for all people.  Creator, in making all that is, places humanity as stewards of creation.  The people have a responsibility for all living things and the earth that sustains them.  They are to protect and share the land for the good of all.  There is a communal, covenantal relationship that links all.  It’s not about who was here first, or who has control of what resources, but how together we honour what God gifts us with in creation.

Whose land it is and who has control have always been problematic questions.  Even in the Hebrew Scriptures, we read that time and time again there were disputes over people’s relationship to the land.  The Children of Israel were settlers in the land of Canaan.  They were not the first ones there. With Abraham and his offspring, we follow their story from Ur to Canaan, from Canaan to Egypt, and from Egypt back to the “Promised” land.  They resettled and dwelt there.  In the process, the Israelites came up against other inhabitants in the land.  Some laid claim to territories.  There was conflict and killing. Power shifted back and forth depending on who had the armies and the authority to dominate and expel others.  When the Israelites won, they celebrated that God was with them.  When they were displaced from the land, they wondered where God was. 

All the way through their settlement, displacement, and re-establishment, a sense of God’s presence was maintained by the religious authorities.  First through a tabernacle- ‘the tent of meeting’ that accompanied them through the wilderness and was erected whenever they rested for the night.  It contained the ark of the covenant, which symbolized for them the throne of God on earth.  Later, when the Jewish people built the Temple in Jerusalem, they saw that holy place as the location of God’s presence on earth.  From a temporary dwelling that moved with them, the symbol became fixed in the institution of the king and a hereditary priesthood.  The imposing building signalled “God is here with us, not with you” to others. 

The lands where people settled was handed down through generations by inheritance. Disputes were fierce, because God had given the territories for custody.  Assimilation was discouraged by punishment.  Even the laws of Moses that reminded the people of their responsibilities to care for the earth and share the wealth of the harvest were not always observed, such as the proposed years of Jubilee.  Humanity was not walking the path that God wanted for righteousness.

So the Word became flesh and encamped among us.  God came among creation in a new way.  As a king- but not to dominate the nations.  As a landowner- but not to demand ownership rights.  As a priest- but not to direct the temple rituals.  Jesus Christ came to bring the light to all who were willing to give him space.  He pitched his tent first with his own people, with the Jews.  Not all had room for his good news of repentance and renewal in a new covenant.  Those who received him found the way of salvation.  As Yeshua means, “God saves” or, in the First Nations Bible, “Creator sets Free”.  He sets us free from the notion of exclusivity or right at the expense of others.  He sets us free from thinking we are superior because of where we came from or when we received the gospel.  For the Creator encamps with all who honour His way.

Most of us come from a history of settlers. Somewhere along the way, our ancestors came into a land and found a place to dwell, raise families, and receive the resources of the land.  Too many make an assumption that Christ came with us.  The missionaries to Canada came with the Bible in their hands and the Word on their lips.  They didn’t expect the Creator to be dwelling here ahead of them.  The now repudiated Doctrine of Discovery led them to expect an empty land for the taking.  The encounters with other earlier peoples were coloured by thinking they were empty of the knowledge of God: savages that had to repent and be redeemed according from their pagan ways.  How different might our history have been if we had looked for signs of God’s settlement already present?

Reconciliation is unsettling.  The process is hard, ongoing work.  Reimagining how God is present in creation and the land means struggling with things we have taken for granted as part of our dominant culture.  The distribution and ownership of property, taxation, opportunity and rights.  All these have been framed in settler terms, and arguments about them get referred to settler frameworks of law and justice.  When the 95 calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were framed, some of the commitments were specifically for the institution of the Church and people of faith. They are ongoing.  The land acknowledgement in our liturgy is not just a statement to be performed, but a reminder of the Word encamped among us.  Because of the enfleshment, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we pray that we may be filled with his grace and truth.   May Christ lead us on right pathways, as we seek truth and reconciliation in action.  Amen.