Journey Toward Costly Solidarity Session 2 Recap & Preparing for Session 3
Email September 21, 2026
Friends,
Thank you for the ways you showed up yesterday. You did so with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to listen and learn. Our immersion with Lenore Three Stars, Dave Brown Eagle, and Dave Beine invited us to consider not only the history and stories of Indigenous peoples in this place, but also the ways our own stories, assumptions, theology, and choices shape our relationship with one another and with creation.
Here are three quotes from Sunday’s session that are worth carrying with us.
1. Lenore Three Stars “Misunderstanding the Genesis creation stories as making humans superior introduces an unnatural hierarchy and lifts humanity out of a necessary interdependence. This is an extractive worldview where earth is understood as property to be consumed rather than a relative to befriended.”
2. Dave Brown Eagle “We each have experienced pain that has shaped our worldview and understanding of ourselves. For some, pain shapes us to see ourselves as superior. For others it generates self-pity.”
3. Dave Beine “We haven’t thought much about how our upstream decisions are impacting downstream communities. After learning about these things, we must lament, repent, and repair.”
For Next Week: Prompts for Deeper Reflection
We encourage you to sit with these questions throughout the week as you continue processing your experience and prepare for our time of reflection and integration next Sunday:
What challenged me? Inspired me? Provoked me?
What did I discover about myself? About us?
What next step(s) do I discern in my journey toward costly solidarity?
What next step(s) do I discern in our (FPC) journey toward costly solidarity?
We continue next Sunday, September 27, back at FPC, for a time of reflection, exploration, and integration based on these prompts in our Peer Groups from 11:30–12:30.
Immersion Opportunities
Our transformation continues through presence (showing up and being full there) and relationship (showing up with relational intention). Here are a few opportunities mentioned yesterday:
Learn more about the Spokane Tribe — including news, history, cultural events, and information about water and fishery conservation efforts and opportunities.
Salish Language School — explore language classes available to community members.
Indigenous Eats — consider patronizing Indigenous food entrepreneurs in our community.
Build your Library with Indigenous Authors Mentioned Yesterday
Richard Twiss (Sicangu Lakota Oyate)
Rescuing the Gospel from the CowboysRandy Woodley (Cherokee Nation)
Shalom and the Community of Creation
Journey to Eloheh
How Western Christianity Got it WrongSarah Augustine (Pueblo ‘Tewa’)
The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of DiscoveryTink Tinker (Osage Nation)
American Indian Liberation: A Theology of SovereigntyMark Charles (Navajo Nation ‘Diné’)
Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of DiscoveryRobert Ruby (non-native)
The Spokane Indians: Children of the Sun
May we continue to listen longer than feels comfortable, remain curious about what we have yet to understand, and allow what we are learning to move us beyond awareness toward relationship, repair, and costly solidarity.
See you Sunday!
Jer