Oregon Lutherans return land to Portland Indigenous organization NAYA

From Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar:

Saints of Oregon and Siblings in Christ,

Nearly two years ago, the congregation at Bethany Lutheran Church in NE Portland reflected on the sacred history of their congregation as they prepared to leave it. Their ministry in Christ had served thousands of members, neighbors, and friends through more than one hundred years of life and faith. By the end of 2024, the congregation voted to close and gift their property to the Oregon Synod. In turn, the Oregon Synod Council received that memory, history, and land, and entered into an eighteen-month process of praying, talking, listening, learning, and unlearning. 

At its November meeting, after much shared discernment, the Oregon Synod Council voted to offer the NE Portland land to the Native American Youth and Family Center, or NAYA. The Synod Council is not considering this a “gift”, since the act of returning something once stolen is not best described as “gift,” but as “return.” On June 23, NAYA’s Board of Directors voted to receive it and on June 24 the transfer was made.

Holy closure comes with grief and uncertainty, but these moments can also become opportunities for legacy; ways that the faith of past generations can continue to bless us. This trust in God’s paschal pattern of life, death, and resurrection sits at the very heart of our faith in the Way of Jesus. New life in Christ, after all, continues in us and through us whenever we are gathered in Christ’s name. And whether we like it or not, resurrection cannot happen without death. Though painful and fraught, grief and loss are never the end of what the Holy Spirit can do in and through us.

Ultimately, land is far more than “property.” Land carries memory, story and relationship. As followers of Jesus, we believe creation itself is part of God’s beloved community. This process has invited members of the Oregon Synod Council to listen more deeply to the story of this place and to consider how the land might continue to serve as a source of healing and life for the wider community. 

As Christians, we often speak about love. Sometimes, love in Jesus’ name asks something of us. Sometimes, we are called to courageous love. In this case, it asked us to trust that the value of land lies not in the financial gain the “property” represents, but in the wealth of relationships, possibility, legacy, and faithfulness in that place. This faithful process, and courageous and faithful decision, lifts my heart. 

As a body of Christ here in Oregon, synod council leaders – both lay and ordained – spent many hours sharing vulnerably in meetings, listening one-on-one, learning from Indigenous elders, and breathing through our most anxious moments. Through turnover of council members, through the accompaniment of the synod’s Land Liberation Team, through prayer and scripture study and through enough self-compassion to change our minds, the council came to this decision. Years of preparing the ground led to this moment of putting our words into practice and making commitments out of our deepest spiritual values. 

It is what integrity amid tension looks like. Jesus’ story is a story of healing, of honest reflection on power and harm, of building relationships across lines of division, and of asking questions together about reconciliation and repair. This moment is one small step into listening with honesty and courage and building relationships with neighbors and the earth in new ways.

With you on the Way,

Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar

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Read more about this remarkable and generous gift in this Oregon Public Broadcasting article:

CLICK HERE

Oregon Lutherans return land to Portland Indigenous organization NAYA