Learning from Sand Creek: A Journey Towards Justice and Healing
For WMJM leadership member Ben Roe, a service opportunity at the 2026 Mountain Sky Annual Conference became an opportunity to learn more about the history of the Sand Creek Massacre and the ongoing work of justice and healing with Native communities. In this reflection, Roe connects his experience in Lame Deer with the Methodist Church’s history and responsibility.
By Ben Roe
A Service Day has been part of Mountain Sky (MSC) Annual Conferences for some years now. This is a time when attendees at the annual gathering are given opportunities to serve and learn about communities near the site of the Conference session.
This past June, I was a lay equalization member of the MSC meeting in Billings, Montana. One service choice was to visit the Heart Mountain Japanese World War II internment center. My service choice was to drive to Lame Deer, a town on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation southeast of Billings. There we met with Otto Braided Hair, a descendant of survivors of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado and leader of the annual November commemorative Healing Run from Sand Creek to Denver.
We drove in a caravan, connected by cellphone, the 104 miles from Billings to the grounds of Chief Dull Knife College, where we heard Otto tell of his journey with “the Methodists.” It was a moving story about how he changed from a strong hatred of Methodists, who were deeply involved in the Massacre, to now working with us and others to tell the story of the brutal event on the plains of Colorado.
I first heard of this massacre at the 1996 General Conference in Denver, where a resolution was adopted for “restitution” to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes whose people were murdered at the Massacre. Years later, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky became involved in dialogue with the tribes about the story. She was instrumental in leading the 2014 Annual Conference Session in Pueblo, Colorado, to take 650 attendees on 13 buses to the site of the Massacre as part of a two-day learning event.
This issue of justice and healing with Native Americans is one in which we as United Methodists especially need to be involved. Being involved in the ongoing dialogue with Native people, learning their stories and perspectives, and participating in meaningful relationships and action is one way to address the historic and continuing injustice and to bring healing and restoration. “Land acknowledgments” without some kind of action are meaningless and can even do harm if they give a false sense of “accomplishment.”
These experiences during and around annual conference sessions can be important times of education, exposure, witness, and service as United Methodists. I hope other conferences in the West can have these kinds of experiences to deepen the faith of United Methodists, and that WMJM can be a part of the movement toward justice and healing.
More Information:
2014 Pilgrimage: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/pilgrimage-to-sand-creek-brings-healing
2012 GC: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/united-methodists-plan-sand-creek-project
Exhibit: https://coloradosun.com/2022/11/27/sand-creek-massacre-cheyenne-arapaho-history-colorado/
Mountain Sky Work: https://www.mtnskyumc.org/sand-creek-commitments
On Land Acknowledgments: https://wp.nyu.edu/mercerstreet/2023-2024/hollow-promises-the-complexities-of-land-acknowledgments/
