The Three Sisters: the first three Beatitudes as guiding an embodied response to the discovery of the unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada in 2021

ABSTRACT

Using the Indigenous Three Sisters gardening technique as a guiding metaphor, this paper will explore a wholly embodied response to the disturbing headlines of the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools across Canada in 2021. Just as the Indigenous Three Sisters cooperate together for mutual flourishing, the Beatitudinal trio of humility, grief, and meekness will be promoted as characteristics of a wholly embodied response to this specific issue and the large issue it represents, which is an oppressive and troubled historic relationship between Indigenous and white settlers. This paper will use Terry A. Veiling’s double exegetical approach of ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ as the underlying practical theology framework. Perspectives of various Indigenous Canadian theologians along with hopeful stories of white settler Canadian church leaders whose performative and incarnational responses resemble the three sisterly Beatitudes will be included throughout. I see the flourishing of the Three Sisters together as a helpful and practical metaphor for the Canadian church as we consider how humility, grief, and meekness can help us neighbour well with Indigenous people.

KEYWORDS:

• Residential schools
• first nations
• three sisters
• Canadian church
• Beatitudes
• neighbouring

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Dr Phil Zylla who encouraged me to explore this metaphor and to present at the British and Irish Association of Practical Theology (BIAPT) annual conference in 2022. Thank you to Dr Terry LeBlanc who graciously had coffee with me and gave me wise guidance – you are a kind and gracious neighbour. I would also like to express my gratitude for the feedback received from those who attended my presentation at BIAPT and the anonymous reviewers. My sincere thanks to the editors who invited me to submit this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ‘All across this country, people have been painfully, quietly putting up with atrocities that should never have happened, whether it was residential schools where you could not speak your language and where virtually every value of your culture was being negated … ’ Gruending (2004, 240–41).

2 Ben Peltz serves as pastor at Curve Lake Christian Assembly and works alongside James Bay Cree First Nations in northern Quebec. Vision Ministries Canada, ‘News,’ [n.d.].

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Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Millar

Elizabeth Millar resides on Prince Edward Island, Canada and yes - she is a Lucy Maud Montgomery fan! As an educator for the past 20 years, teaching her five children has given her a storehouse of rich memories and a passion for Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education. As a minister's wife, spiritual director, and storyteller for Vision Ministries Canada, she is curious about God's interaction with each of us. As a practical theology doctoral student at McMaster Divinity College, sacred storytelling and learning how to recognize the presence of God in our everyday lives has captured her attention. Her areas of interest include corporate prayer, spiritual direction, storytelling, and mothering.