Land Acknowledgment:

We at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church (PRLC) believe in a God, a Great Spirit, who calls us into good and loving relationship with themselves and those with which we share this Creation. We are a people gathered around a great story. It interprets our past, nourishes our soul, and propels us into a future with hope and purpose. Long before our traditions and people arrived in this area, the stories of the first peoples nourished souls, cared for the land, and supported a thriving community which continues today.

We acknowledge the Coast Salish peoples’ ancestral and contemporary homeland that touches the shared waters of the tribes and bands of the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Their creation stories are rooted in this place and they were the first to love, pray, cry, drum, and sing on this land. We are grateful to these first peoples for their examples of connection to and stewardship of the land.

We acknowledge that our church occupies land taken in a dishonest agreement from the Duwamish tribe in 1855. We have benefited in many ways from the privilege of owning this land, privileges denied to the tribe who struggles to this day to provide for their community. We believe it is important for our PRLC community to take concrete actions to make reparations for the past, to honor the Coast Salish people who live alongside us, and to conserve this sacred place we now inhabit.