“I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God” (Amos 9:15)
When we lived in Arlington, Ohio (1991-1996), I remember taking our oldest son Joshua on a tour of historical sites in Wyandot County. One of the places we visited was the Wyandot Mission Church in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. This Old Mission Church, which has been cared for by the United Methodist Church since 1843, was returned to the Wyandotte Nation during a sacred ceremony that was held yesterday, September 21. The ceremony was called “A Remembrance of Our Shared History: The Wyandotte/Wyandot and the People Called Methodists.” Bishops Gregory Palmer and Tracy Malone of the United Methodist Church and Chief Janith English, Wyandot Nation of Kansas; Grand Chief Ted Roll, head of the Wyandotte of Anderdon Nation (Michigan)participated in the ceremony.
At the end of the Book of Amos, God promises that the exiled people of God would be restored to their land. “I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God” (Amos 9:15). Pondering today’s sacred ceremony in Upper Sandusky between the United Methodists and the Wyandotte Nation, I wonder what that might look like in the parishes that we are called to tend and to serve?
Please click on the link below from the Advertiser – Tribune Newspaper to read more of this remarkable and inspiring story.