10/31/25
Author: Dil Khan
Photos: Sara Hertwig
On October 24, 2025, the Iliff School of Theology hosted a Memorial Site Ground Blessing Ceremony led by Lenape Elders from across the U.S. and Canada that gathered guests from the Denver community and nearby Native American Reservations.
Iliff is located on the land of the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples, and the ceremony sought blessing for land with a complex and painful history. This marked a sacred moment to initiate construction of the Memorial to our ongoing journey of atonement and relationship-building with our Native American relatives.
Speakers at the event included Lenape Elders, Professor Emeritus Dr. George “Tink” Tinker (wazhazhe/Osage Nation), Wes Martel (Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho from the Wind River Reservation), Iliff’s President Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Thomas Wolfe, and Iliff’s current President & CEO, Rev. Dr. Lee H. Butler Jr. Dr. Butler began the ceremony with a land acknowledgment and provided an overview of the Lenape commitment, developed in collaboration with the Lenape Elders in 2022, and created the occasion for this gathering.
“We gather today as relatives to invite spiritual blessings,” Dr. Butler said. “We are gathered to affirm that word is bond.”
For over 80 years, the Iliff School of Theology displayed a book of Christian history, gifted to the institution in 1893, that was bound in the skin of a murdered Lenape man. The book’s cover was rematriated in 1974. Under the leadership of Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Tinker, Iliff committed to a radical course of action to re-envision its purpose and to actively build relationships with the Lenape People and the American Indian community. The book has since been removed from Iliff’s property.
“We are trying to undo some of the terrible stuff that was done – this is only the beginning,” Dr. Tinker said.
The ceremony also featured speeches by Lenape elders, songs, and the burning of tobacco, sage, cedar, and other sacred medicines.
Iliff has appointed artist Bently Spang, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, to construct a memorial honoring the memory of the Lenape ancestor and the commitment to relationship building.
“Our stories have been told by others or ignored,” Spang said. “Thank you for this journey to restore balance and restore truth.”
Read more about our commitments, ongoing work, and updates on the development of Native/American/Indigenous Studies at Iliff.
