Glen Ellyn's St. Mark's Episcopal Church to hold Land Acknowledgement Ceremony Sept. 18
Over the last six months, the St. Mark's Sacred Group participants and committee have been working on a Land Acknowledgment statement and ceremony for St. Mark's Episcopal Church.
The ceremony will be held on Sunday, Sept. 18, to take place immediately after the 10:30 a.m. service on the front lawn in front of the church, 393 N. Main St. in Glen Ellyn.
The brief service will be led by Joseph Standing Bear, founder and president of Midwest SOARRING.
A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes the Indigenous peoples who have been forcibly dispossessed from the homelands and territories upon which an institution was built and currently occupies and operates. If you would like to learn more about land acknowledgment and the statement for St. Mark's, you are invited to a conversation meeting at St. Mark's at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7. This will also be available via Zoom using id: 483-170-780.
For additional information, contact Wes Clay-Anderson at communications@stmarkglenellyn.org or (630) 858-1020.
Land Acknowledgment statement
St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Glen Ellyn
We are a community of faith that strives for justice and peace among all people and respects the dignity of every human being. It is our desire to publicly acknowledge and pay respect to those who inhabited this land which St. Mark's Episcopal Church now occupies.
This sacred ground at what is now the intersections of Main Street, Hillside and Phillips Avenues in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, has a history we do not fully know nor comprehend. We wish to acknowledge and thank all the Indigenous peoples and Nations who inhabited this land for many thousands of years before us, for their care, respect and attention given to this ground that we now stand on. We also acknowledge the sin of forced displacement of Indigenous peoples by non-Native settlers and the sin of past and ongoing injustices against Native peoples.
It is our hope that this gathering here today, on this sacred ground, will mark a commitment to continuing dialogue and connection across cultures, leading to ongoing recognition of the truthful history of our community and country. It is our sincere desire to continue to learn about these ancestral homelands and to honor all Indigenous people who called and call this land home.
About St. Mark's:
Since 1897, St. Mark's Episcopal Church is at the center of Glen Ellyn geography and community life. In addition to vibrant worship and education offerings, the church is well known for the preschool, PDO program, annual Pumpkin Patch and welcome to many support and community groups who meet and find a home at St. Mark's.