Native Spirituality acknowledged
At the General Council of the United Church of Canada held in Ottawa, August 2012, in an historic move, the United Church of Canada adopted a new visual signal of our acknowledgement of the importance of native spirituality.
The crest changes include incorporating the four colours of the Aboriginal medicine wheel (yellow as a symbol of life and Asian people, black as a symbol of the south and dark-skinned people of the world, red as a symbol of the west and Aboriginal peoples, and white as the colour of the north and white-skinned people).
The Mohawk phrase Akwe Nia Tetewa:neren, which means all my relations was added.
At Dunbar Heights, we have spent time each year to learn the history of the United Church of Canada using the symbols of the UCC crest as a way of telling the story.
On Anniversary Sunday, Rev. Michelle shared with the children and the adults the make-up of the crest of the United Church, explaining how each symbol reflects our history in the tradition of the Christian Church and our Canadian origins.
The oval shape reminds us of the first Christians who used the symbol of a fish to identify themselves to each other. The X is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ and is a traditional symbol for Christ. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet; together they symbolize the eternal living God.
