Archdeacon Rosalyn Kantlaht'ant Elm provided this pre-recorded sermon to the Diocese of Kootenay for National Indigenous Day of Prayer. Text and video available below. 

She:koli:  Hello Diocese of Kootenay!!!!

It’s an honor and a privilege to be with you all this morning.  Thank you Bishop Lynne for the invite on this  National Aboriginal Day of Prayer and yes Father’s Day!!!

I'll start with a Gospel of a different kind—a story my father told me about one of our oldest treaties in the east: the Dish with One Spoon.

(https://talkingtreaties.ca/treaties-for-torontonians/dish-with-one-spoon/)

The Dish with One Spoon is more than a treaty. It is a way of understanding how human beings are meant to live together. It teaches that the land and its gifts are not ours to possess individually. They are gifts entrusted to all who share the territory. We eat from one dish because we share one territory, one creation, and ultimately one life.

When my father first explained it to me, I asked a simple question.

"Why didn't they call it the Dish with Many Spoons?"

To me, it seemed more practical. If everyone had their own spoon, everyone could simply take what they wanted.

My father smiled and said, "There lies the problem."

I thought for a moment and replied, "Wouldn't that be easier?"

"Yes," he said. "But that's not how we share."

The wisdom of the Dish with One Spoon is that it places limits on individual consumption and reminds us of our responsibility to one another. If there is only one spoon, we must pay attention to each other. We cannot simply take what we want. We must ensure that everyone has enough. The question is not, how much can I take? The question becomes, what does my neighbour need?

That teaching runs against much of the culture around us. We are often taught to ask questions of ownership, entitlement, and personal rights.

  • What belongs to me?
  • What have I earned?
  • What do I deserve?

The Dish with One Spoon asks something different:

  • Who else is at the table?
  • Who has been left out?
  • Who is hungry?

How do we ensure that everyone can flourish?

It is a teaching grounded in relationship, reciprocity, and responsibility.

In many ways, it echoes the vision we find throughout Scripture.

In the Book of Acts, the early Christians shared their resources so that there was not a needy person among them. Their concern was not individual accumulation but communal well-being. The health of the community mattered more than the wealth of the individual. They understood that what they possessed was ultimately a gift from God and that gifts are meant to be shared.

The same principle appears throughout Indigenous traditions. Well-being is not understood primarily as an individual achievement. It is relational. We flourish together or we suffer together. The health of the people, the health of the land, and the health of future generations are inseparable.

This wisdom begins with gratitude.

Gratitude for Creation is far more than saying thank you. Gratitude is a way of seeing the world. It recognizes that life itself is gift.

  • None of us created the air we breathe.
  • None of us created the earth beneath our feet.
  • None of us created the waters that sustain life.
  • None of us created the people who loved us into existence.

Everything begins as gift.

When we truly recognize this, our relationship with the world changes. Gratitude opens our eyes to abundance. We begin to see how much we have received rather than how much we lack.

And abundance leads to responsibility.

When we recognize life as gift, we become attentive to others. We begin to ask how we might share what we have received. Gratitude becomes generosity. Thanksgiving becomes stewardship. Blessing becomes responsibility.

Perhaps that is one of the lessons of Father's Day. Wisdom is not simply accumulating knowledge or experience. Wisdom is learning how to widen the circle of care. A good father is not measured by how much he possesses but by how many people flourish because of his presence. As we grow older, our calling is not to build higher walls around ourselves. Our calling is to draw the circle wider.

This movement of widening the circle is one of the great themes of Scripture.

Again and again, God's covenant expands outward.

  • The stranger is welcomed.
  • The widow is protected.

The biblical story is not one of exclusion but of ever-expanding belonging.

Jesus embodies this movement throughout his ministry.

  • He eats with tax collectors and sinners.
  • He touches those considered unclean.
  • He speaks with Samaritans.
  • He heals Gentiles.
  • He welcomes children.
  • He restores those whom society has cast aside.

Again and again, Jesus crosses boundaries that others considered fixed. He refuses to allow social divisions, ethnic divisions, religious divisions, or moral divisions to determine who belongs within the circle of God's love.

The Kingdom of God is always larger than we imagine.

This vision helps us understand Paul's words in Philippians.

Paul writes from prison. He writes under difficult circumstances. He has every reason to be anxious, discouraged, or resentful.

Yet he begins with joy.

"Rejoice in the Lord always."

  • Before addressing conflict, he calls the church to gratitude.
  • Before confronting fear, he calls the church to prayer.
  • Before speaking about what is broken, he reminds them of what has been given.

The remarkable thing about Paul's teaching is that gratitude is not dependent on circumstances. Paul is not grateful because life is easy. He is grateful because God's presence remains faithful even in hardship. For Paul, thanksgiving is not denial. It is trust.Gratitude reminds us that we belong to something larger than ourselves. It reminds us that God's faithfulness is greater than our fears. When communities are shaped by gratitude, peace becomes possible.

The peace Paul describes is not simply an inner feeling. It is the peace that emerges when people stop competing for scarcity and begin living from abundance. It is the peace that grows when people trust one another enough to share. It is the peace that comes when communities recognize that they are bound together by relationships of mutual care.

This brings us to the work of reconciliation.

Too often reconciliation is understood primarily as the settlement of grievances, the resolution of conflict, or the correction of historical wrongs.

These things matter.

  • Truth matters.
  • Justice matters.
  • Repentance matters.
  • Repair matters.
  • But reconciliation is ultimately about something even larger.
  • Reconciliation is about drawing the circle wider.
  • The image of the circle is deeply significant.
  • A circle is a place of relationship.
  • A circle is a place of responsibility.
  • A circle is a place of belonging.

To draw the circle wider is not simply to add more people to an existing arrangement. It is to create a new way of living together. It is to create a community in which more people can participate in shared life, shared responsibility, and shared flourishing.

This understanding moves reconciliation beyond guilt and obligation.

  • If reconciliation is driven only by guilt, it can become defensive.
  • If reconciliation is driven only by obligation, it can become transactional.

But when reconciliation is rooted in gratitude and hope, it becomes an act of invitation.It asks not only how we address the wounds of the past.t asks how we create a future in which more people can belong.

  • This is why reconciliation is not only about looking backward.
  • It is also about looking forward.
  • The goal is not simply to heal old wounds.
  • The goal is to build new relationships.
  • The goal is not simply to acknowledge harm.
  • The goal is to create a larger "we."
  • The goal is not simply coexistence.
  • The goal is shared flourishing.

This vision is urgently needed today.

We live in a world increasingly marked by division. Political divisions, economic divisions, cultural divisions, and social divisions tempt us to retreat into smaller and smaller circles. We are encouraged to protect our interests, defend our identities, and fear those who are different from us.

  • The Gospel offers another way.
  • The Gospel invites us to imagine a larger table.
  • The Dish with One Spoon reminds us that there is enough when we learn to share.

Paul reminds us that gratitude opens the door to peace.

Jesus reminds us that the circle of God's love is wider than we think.

And reconciliation reminds us that our future depends on learning how to belong to one another.

The work begins by remembering that we already belong to the Creator and to creation. It continues through truth-telling, justice, repentance, and repair. But it reaches its fulfillment when more people are welcomed into the circle of life.

  • May we be people of gratitude.
  • May we be people of generosity.
  • May we be people of reconciliation.

And may we have the wisdom and courage to keep drawing the circle wider, until everyone has a place at the table and all can share from the Dish with One Spoon.