Tend, Listen, Receive

Sunday, September 6, 2026

Ella

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

Quote

“Come close to my side, you whose hearts are on the ground, you who are pushed down and worn out, and I will refresh you. Follow my teachings and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest from your trouble thought. Walk side by side with me and I will share in your heavy load and make it light.”

~Matthew 11:28-30 (First Nations Version)

Devotion

My grandmother used to say that the land doesn’t ask us to prove anything. It just asks us to be in relationship with it. To tend it, to listen to it, to receive what it offers. There’s no performance in that kind of relationship, just presence, just reciprocity.

Labor Day always makes me think about the different ways our people understand work. Before colonization, before Christianity arrived with its doctrines about earning salvation and proving worthiness, our ancestors knew that human beings have inherent value simply because we exist. We belong to the earth and to Creator, not because we’ve earned it, but because that's how we were made.

Then the church came and brought a different message: we needed to work to save our souls, to prove we deserved God’s love, to earn our place in heaven. And for those of us who are Two-Spirit, LGBTQIA+ and Indigenous, that message got even heavier. We had to prove we were “civilized” enough, Christian enough, straight enough, acceptable enough. We carried the burden of trying to be something we weren’t and the burden of having our traditional understanding of gender and sexuality erased and condemned.

But when I read Jesus’ words about an easy yoke and a light burden, I hear echoes of what my elders taught me. The Creator doesn’t require us to perform or contort ourselves. The Jesus I’ve come to know honors the wholeness of who we are - including the sacred gifts of those who embody both masculine and feminine spirits, those whose love crosses boundaries others have drawn.

Reflection

1.    How has colonization, including religious colonization, taught you that your worth must be earned rather than received?

2.    What wisdom from your ancestors or your cultural traditions reminds you of your inherent value?

3.    How might rest be an act of decolonization and resistance to systems that demand constant productivity and proof of worthiness?

Action

Spend time this week in relationship with the land even if it’s just sitting outside for fifteen minutes. Listen without having an agenda. Practice being present without performing. If it feels right, thank Creator for making you exactly as you are.