We, the people of the First U.P. Church of Crafton Heights, remember and honor the Indigenous people of the world, especially the Lenape/Delaware, Shawnee, Seneca/Cayuga, and their predecessors, whose land we now occupy. They were unjustly displaced or killed by people who abused their power through colonization and other means. We give thanks for these Indigenous people and express our gratitude for the ways they have taught us to live honorably, humbly, and faithfully. May we always remember that the Earth does not belong to us, but that the Earth and all of us who live on it belong to God (Psalm 24). We want to learn from the mistakes of the past and seek new and healthy relationships so that we are better residents, neighbors, partners, and stewards of the Earth.
*This is the official land acknowledgement of The First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton Height’s as of December 20th 2024. This statement now hangs by both main entrances to the church building.
A “land acknowledgement” is a formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards of the land on which a gathering is taking place, acknowledging their enduring relationship with their ancestral territories, and often serves as a step towards reconciliation and awareness of the history of colonization on that land; it’s a way to honor the First Peoples of a region and their connection to the land.
CHUP Youth Presentation to the congregation
In December of 2024, several representatives of the CHUP Youth Group attended a Session meeting and asked the elders to approve such an acknowledgement for our congregation. On February 2, 2025, they made a presentation to the congregation. Here are excerpts from that morning.
We are members of our church’s youth group who set out to educate the church about a land acknowledgment. For those who aren’t aware, a land acknowledgment is a formal statement that acknowledges the indigenous peoples of the land. Our last two mission trips have both been to the territories of the Seneca and Cherokee people. While on these trips we really wanted to focus on learning about the culture and the stories of our hosts. With the Seneca, we learned about how our host, Luan, had her house burned down by the US Government and how she and her family were forced to move and lose things they love because of it. Along with burning the house, members of her family were sent off to a conversion camp to try and turn them European by doing things such as banning their native tongue. In 2024, the youth group went on a mission trip to Cherokee nation with the goal to learn more about their culture. While in Cherokee our focus was learning about the Trail of Tears which you probably know was
the long and treacherous journey from Appalachia to Oklahoma many Cherokee had to walk when they were forced from their land. Along with that we also got the opportunity to be smudged which is a spiritual cleansing. While at Cherokee we were made aware of the possibility of establishing a land acknowledgment. We asked our host Pat if it would be important for us to adopt a land acknowledgment in our church and she said yes. So with two years of knowledge and so many connections with indigenous people under our belts we set out on the mission to craft such a statement.
On November 5th of last year we spent our off day of school at the Fort Pitt Museum reading to expand our knowledge on the indigenous people who lived around our area. We learned a lot about the tribes who lived here before the European settlers colonized their lands. The Lenape, Shawnee, and Seneca were all recorded to have lived in our area before they were relocated or killed. All together our trip was very successful and we were ready to start the process of writing the acknowledgement. Once we had crafted the statement we presented it to the session in December, when it was adopted.
It was an odd feeling when our youth group visited indigenous people and they told us the horrible stories they’ve been through then hearing it again a few months later in United States history class. That proves how recent the mistreatment of indigenous people has been around for and how significant it is for us to do something like a land acknowledgement. it’s important to recognize and support the rights of indigenous people and to honor their traditional lands, because we are living overtop of what used to be theirs. We also acknowledge their ongoing presence and that they are still advocating for their rights, and preserving their customs and traditions to keep their heritage passed down.