Native Quotes

“There are many people, in-between people, who walk in liminal spaces with an acknowledgment that all of life is a complex struggle, but one we should not handle alone.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“We must work together, across every divide, and the church must be willing to step into really difficult conversations for the sake of a better future for all things and everyone. Maybe that begins with recognizing that all created things are truly sacred in their beginnings, and maybe then we can truly begin to dismantle systems of oppression.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“We have to be able to hold the tension between faith and religion, both when it gets things right and when it gets things wrong. The work of the church has to be one of de-centering of recognizing the sacredness of both the earth and human beings of other faiths and religions, or those who do not actively practice a faith at all. Instead of seeing everyone else as "lost" and "in need of salvation," perhaps Christians can begins to see these interactions as a learning tool, as a chance to see the divine face of Mystery reflected in a neighbor, a relative, a stranger, a tree, a bird, or a river.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“If we are to believe the inclusive love of God is real, we'd better start building a bigger table.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“If we cannot solve all the world's problems, we can at least make sure that as leaders we are actively speaking and working to dismantle systems that oppress. This means the communion table in our churches is a political table. This means that the communion table is a table that speaks on social issues of oppression. This means that the communion table is a table set for those no one else wants to serve. The communion table is a table for all bodies and all souls and all people seeking to know what it might mean to feel the sacred pulse of Mystery around us and in us.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“My faith is not a faith to be held over others or a faith that forces others into submission but an inclusive, universal faith constantly asking what the gift of Mystery truly is and how we can better care for the earth we live on, who constantly teaches us what it means to be humble.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“Human beings have been destroying the earth's natural ability to make her own decisions for centuries, and she is beginning to let us know that our actions have harmful consequences.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“I think that trees have a lot to teach us about what it means to be kin and what it means to honor the work of creation. I’m reminded of the idea behind Peter Wohlleben’s book THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES: that trees have social networks. Their roots are connected to one another, and they support one another through sickness and health. “Their well-being depends on their community, and when the supposedly feeble trees disappear, the others lose as well.” Trees demonstrate community. They understand what it means to care for one another, to care for the whole as they care for themselves. As humans, we are all connected at our root base, and in our struggle to learn what it means to be human to one another and to care for this created world, we are constantly exchanging experiences with one another, good medicine with one another, stories and relationships that are born from the deep well of God.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“If we can return to the essence of our identities, we can teach the children around us to know who they are from a young age, and perhaps one day, when they are older, when they create the future, they will work together to change things and to heal systems we had no idea how to heal.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“The power of social media gives us an opportunity to be tethered to one another in a different way. It exposes us to those who are different than we are and gives us a chance to live as communal people. But often, deconstruction within the church ends up being very individualistic.

What does it look like to deconstruct and reconstruct as a people, as kin, to take on the work of creating a postcolonial church for the sake of all of us, for the sake of the oppressed, for the sake of the earth? Is it possible?

As Americans? As Christians?

We have this split between what it means to live communally, to practice our faith—the work of justice—on an institutional level and what it means to practice justice on an individual level. I think both are necessary, but if we cannot remember that we do the individual work because we are connected to each other, we’re going to miss out on everything. We will not work against systems that oppress.

In fact, we may, quite possibly, continue the work of colonization and oppression without realizing it.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“If we have learned anything from the church, and if we have learned anything from injustice, we know that it is individuals who act as a part of systems that continue oppressive cycles, yet those same individuals can band together to create change.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“I met Arjun in 2018 at an event in Atlanta while he was on his book tour. This is what the work of solidarity is: at an event to celebrate his own book, Arjun invited people that he knew and trusted to share about their work so that together, we might all fight against hate. It is essential that in America today, we stand with one another, we practice solidarity with one another, and we work to dismantle any institutions that have oppressed people throughout time, even if it is, indeed, the church.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“I commonly see progressive Christians come alongside people of color as advocates, demonizing conservatives, the “other side,” for atrocities “they” have committed, while neglecting to notice that they themselves also play a part in the narrative and work of settler colonialism.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“It is strange to be someone who is tokenized, and yet, I have come to the conclusion that if none of us are invited to the table, the stories of Indigenous peoples will never be told. If I come and share my own experiences as a Potawatomi woman, I might pave the way for other conversations to happen, for other Indigenous speakers to show up and share their stories.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“Threatening patriarchy is a dangerous thing, and the people who suffer most from it are those on the margins, those who have always been at the bottom of the social pyramid, while those holding up the patriarchy keep comfortable with their power at the top. While those at the bottom suffer, though, I think that the ones who have benefited from its power so much—like evangelical white women, for example—fear losing what power they’ve gained in upholding patriarchy.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“While we sit in pews singing songs about personal sins and salvation, we are ill equipped to go into the world to face systems of injustice, many of which we helped create.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“God is more time than schedules, more grace than boundaries, more everything than the imaginable.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“Perhaps prayer is just poetry, and we are living the expressions of what it means to be human. This is why Creator gave us gifts to remember. This is why, when I burn sage or lay tobacco down, I know that I am tethered to a love that has remained steady throughout the centuries and that always calls me back to its own sacredness. And that sacredness will always lead me back out to the world to do the work of love.

Prayer is always an invitation.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God

“As I learn more about my own story, I am realizing that the bloodline of God is connected to everything, no matter how it was first created in the beginning.”
― Kaitlin B. Curtice, Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God