November 29, 1864 - Another Day that Will Live in Infamy

 November 29, 1864 -- Another Day that Will Live in Infamy

By Chuck Schuster

“I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.”  Elie Wiesel

The history cannot be denied. It can be forgotten. Attempts have been made to cover it up but it cannot be denied. On November 29^th, 1864 a Methodist pastor, turned Army colonial, chose a path of genocide and attacked peaceful Indians who had been promised safe haven at Sand Creek. Resistance was minimal. Women, children, tribal leaders, and young men were cut down with reckless abandon. Some tried to stop the slaughter but the efforts were futile. Relics and grotesque souvenirs fashioned out of human remains were taken as trophies and brought back to Denver where they were displayed.

Colonial Chivington was brought before congress where he was charged and convicted of this massacre, was forced to resign. The church, the Methodist Church, took no action against John Chivington. Governor John Evans was forced to resign because of his attempt to cover up the facts.

Elaine Stanovsky, our episcopal leader, has become an advocate for our understanding this history and is cultivating relationships with the community of descendants of the massacre. She has spoken on the subject at our Annual Conference. She has spoken of it at Jurisdictional Conference in San Diego in July of 2012 and she is planning to commemorate at Annual Conference 2014, the 150^th anniversary of the sad event in which our church is complicit.

What can we do about it? We cannot repair it or find ways to bring reconciliation to the descendants. We need not flagellate ourselves with guilt over what our predecessors have done, but we can and must remember. We can take steps to try to bring healing.

Abraham Heschel understood the importance of the seamless run of time from past, to present, to future. As a theologian, a Biblical scholar, and a victim of the holocaust he had a grasp of the importance of memory. He wrote, “We do not live in a void. We never suffer from a fear of roaming about in the emptiness of Time. We own the past and are; hence, not afraid of what is to be. We remember where we came from. We are summoned and cannot forget it, winding the clock of eternal history.”

As a former pastor of one of the churches John Chivington served I have heard stories about his bravado as a preacher; how he put his guns on the pulpit one Sunday in order to get his congregation’s attention. I ask myself if I had lived under the conditions Chivington bore and if I had the same pressures and bias that he had, would I have done as he had done? It is a question that has no answer but one thing is sure: if we fail to remember what Chivington did in his twisted view of patriotic duty and Christian faith, we are no better than he. Our history is intrinsically woven into the fabric of the descendants of Sand Creek, and the time has come to remember it and to work toward healing for ourselves and for those who continue to be wounded by our failure to own the past.

Moving toward the 150^th anniversary in 2014, we have an opportunity to learn, to remember, and to be in dialogue with those for whom this history is riveting and almost unspeakable.