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Esther 6:
1
May 31, 2009 CHRONICLES OF A FRIENDSHIP: A WINTER COUNT As is evident today with all our visitors, our church enjoys a special friendship with the Green Grass Church, a Native American community situated pretty much in the center of the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, about 200 miles Northeast of Rapid City. Last week during the Adult Forum, someone asked how this partnership began, and it occurred to me how important it is to chronicle this friendship between our two communities, for there are forever those who are new to our community, those who do not know the history of this unusual cross-cultural partnership. Many of you have seen or read C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, and as you know Chronicles 1 & 2 are two of the larger books in our bible, books that tell the story of the ancient Israelites, their kings and queens, their victories and defeats. These chronicles are important for they help us to remember that we are part of a story that began a long time ago, and so it is with what I have called, "The Chronicles of a Friendship." Even though it's been 24 years, I remember so well the genesis, the beginning of this friendship between our two communities. In 1985, the members of our Board of Missions – including Ramona McNamara and Karin Kiem – were sitting in what is now called "The Harriet Hoag Room" and we were talking and dreaming about a different way of being engaged in Missions. As important as the task is to decide how our mission dollars are to be spent, we wanted to explore the possibility of becoming personally involved with another place and another culture, thinking of the mission of the church as being all about trying to bring the human family closer together, and given the homogeneity of our community here in Old Lyme, we felt we wanted to see if we could be in relationship with a different race and a different culture. Ramona, being from South Dakota, suggested that we look into the possibility of fostering such a friendship with the Native Americans of that state. Little did we know at that time all the wonderful adventures and deeply meaningful experiences that would be born out of that discussion in 1985. In our wildest dreams we never anticipated that in this friendship, over 300 members and friends of our church would travel some 2000 miles out there, and in June of this year, 18 more will make that journey. As we sat in the Harriet Hoag room in 1985, who could have imagined that that conversation would result in over 100 Native Americans traveling all the way out here, with the latest being the 11 that arrived just this last week. We so much appreciate Winona driving that long distance to be with us. In 1985, who could have anticipated that because of this friendship between our two communities Emmanuel Red Bear would travel with us all the way over to Durban, South Africa to help build houses for the Jimmy Carter Work Project for Habitat for Humanity or that Winona Kasto would come with us on one of our Tree of Life Journeys to Israel and Palestine or that Travis Hardin would serve as a teacher for the Storefront Camp for children from Harlem, New York. So many amazing stories that do indeed need to be chronicled! From the beginning, we have referred to this as a "mutually beneficial, mutually enriching, cross-cultural partnership." From the beginning, it was an exploration into a very different way of doing missions. Not a donor-recipient relationship, not a parent-child relationship, not a student-teacher relationship, but one that is mutually beneficial. While I hope that over the 24 years of this friendship we have helped the people of that community, this morning I would rather talk about the ways in which we have benefited, the ways in which we have been enriched by this friendship. Not only because our understanding of Christian missions needs to change, but also because it is true. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude when I think of how our church here is Old Lyme has been blessed by this friendship. In the old days, to chronicle the most important events of the year, the Lakota would paint the back of a buffalo hide using symbols and pictographs to tell the story of those major events. This was called "A Winter Count." This morning we have our church's buffalo robe on display. About 10 years ago we had a Native American artist by the name of Frank Shorty paint a Winter Count on this robe to show the major events of our friendship with the Green Grass community. And then, a few years later, it was updated by our friend, Travis Hardin, and I'm delighted and grateful that during this visit, Travis has updated this Winter Count once again, to incorporate some of the major events of the past few years. So using this and few other symbols, let's recount at least a few episodes in this friendship. This headdress was given to our church in 1985 by The Rev. Henry Good Bear. He came to our community and preached from this pulpit and shared with us his dream of building a larger church building in Green Grass and using that building to strengthen the ministries of that church. When Henry presented this headdress he said I could not wear it until I had earned the feathers. When I asked him how I could earn the feathers, he said I would have to "steal a horse." 24 years later, I can honestly say that I haven't earned a single one of those feathers! This headdress reminds me of the beginning of the friendship between our 2 communities and how our contribution of $26,000 toward the building of Henry's dream has played an important role in our friendship. The Green Grass Church building has become a sacred place, a place where we have broken bread together, worshipped together, sharing in weddings and funerals and the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Baptism. Indeed, in our visitors today, and I'm sorry to embarrass him but I hardly recognized Noah, Winona's son, whom I baptized 10 years ago when he was tiny little baby. This is a picture of a wonderful woman by the name of Eunice Larabee, and out near our church's parking lot, you'll see a beautiful pine tree that the members of our Jr. High Pilgrim Fellowship planted in memory of Eunice. During one of our visits, I had the privilege of staying in Eunice's home, and in the course of one of our conversations, I asked her what this partnership, this friendship between our two communities meant to her. I guess I was looking for a little reassurance. After a long time – for what seemed to be an eternity – and it may be a stereotype, but I do think Native Americans are more comfortable with silence than we are. Anyway, after quite awhile, I could see a tear welling up in her eye and then flow down her cheek, and then finally she said, "it means so much that you keep coming back, again and again. It shows that you care." To my mind, this is the sum and substance of this relationship, this friendship, this partnership – to show each other that we care, to show that we will not let racial or cultural or geographical boundaries keep us from caring for each other. Frequently at the end of our stay out there, they have what they call a "Give Away", a way in which they honor our friendship quite literally by giving things away. At one of those "Give Aways" Eunice presented me with these beautiful moccasins. They are dancing moccasins, and they remind me that our church and the Green Grass Church are partners in a very sacred dance. When I look at these moccasins, I smile when I think of Eunice's wisdom and leadership and I am reminded of how very important it is to keep this "dance" going, so that more and more can add their own chapter to this friendship. After the service, if you look very closely at the Winter Count on this Buffalo Robe, you'll see a dancing figure with several hoops. Kevin Locke is one of the wonderful people we have met out there. His mother and Eunice Larrabee were very good friends, and together they helped to bring the community college to the people of that region. Kevin plays the Lakota flute and does the Hoop Dance, using, if you can imagine it, about 20 hoops, all going at the same time. The hoops are of 4 different colors – black, white, red and yellow – representing the four different races of the Human Family. Kevin has done programs both out there in South Dakota and also here in Old Lyme, and at one point in his dance, he somehow gets all those different hoops all together in the shape of a sphere, all intertwined and interconnected, and he says that this is how God intended the Human Family and all Creation to be. Then, to demonstrate how fragile the Human Family is, he pulls out one of the hoops, and of course, they all scatter in a number of different directions. This, he says, is sadly how the human family is with all of its wars and divisiveness. For me, one of the more poignant chapters in our 24 year partnership is when several of our friends took part in our Tree of Life Journey to Israel and Palestine – Ira Blue Coat, Winona Kasto and Emmanuel Good Bear, and I've asked Travis to incorporate this in our Winter Count with the symbol of the Tree of Life. I remember being at the Dheishe Refugee Camp, a Palestinian encampment in the City of Bethlehem, a place where Palestinians have had to live in squalor for over 60 years, no longer able to return to their homes in Israel, even though many of them still hold the keys to their houses, hoping against hope that someday, they might be able to return. After hearing the story of these refugees, I found Winona standing off to the side by herself, and when I asked her what was wrong, I was touched by how she said, "I find this all so painful; it reminds me of what happened to my own people in our own country." Being in friendship with one another means being in partnership with one another as we try to overcome the injustices and the divisions in the human family. Maybe because our Native Americans are a minority and know the sting of exclusivity and persecution, but I very much appreciate their broad spiritual emphasis upon how interconnected and interrelated everything is. One of the expressions that we have learned – that is also symbolized in this Winter Count – is the expression, Mitakuye Oyasin, Lakota words that mean "all my relations." In their various rituals and prayers, they will say these words as a way of reminding themselves that no one and nothing is a stranger but all are part of God's Holy Family. I have also asked Travis to include a drum in our Winter Count, for when I think of our many trips out there I think of the fundamental role that the drum plays in the life of their culture. At powwows there's nothing quite so stirring as standing around the perimeter of a drum group as they play their drum and sing their traditional songs. I have had the privilege of taking part in a number of their sweatlodges, and in the heat and the darkness of those experiences, I have experienced the spiritual reassurance of the Lakota drum. Some of our friends out there have said that the drumbeat is a reminder of the pre-natal heartbeat of our mothers, and so the sweatlodge ceremony is an opportunity for spiritual rebirth and renewal. I have here an Eagle Feather that was presented to me when a few of us received the honor of being given our Native American names a few years ago. This giving of names, this is something we could learn from our Native American friends. More than likely, we all received our names when we were born or when we were married, but I love how our friends out there have not only the names with which they were born but also names bestowed upon them later on, names that describe something of their spiritual identity and character, names that they have earned or would like to earn. As we chronicle the many, many chapters and episodes in this friendship, there are so many other things that we would want to include, but I'd like you to ponder the Morning Star quilt that hangs from our balcony. A few years ago, several of those who have been most active in the leadership of our Green Grass partnership initiated the idea of what they called, "The Morning Star Camp." This, they envisioned, would be an opportunity for young people from there and young people from here to get together in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota to learn more about the Lakota culture and to build a sense of community among people of that younger generation. I am grateful that Emmanuel Red Bear and Winona Kasto and several of own members and friends have served as counselors for the Morning Star Camp. Now, under different circumstances, the Morning Star Camp would have been held out in the Black Hills again this year, but it seems we had just too much snow here in New England this year, and so the number of snow days extended too far into June for young people from here to participate in this year's trip. Indeed, we'll be getting back on June 25th, just as school finally comes to its summer recess here in Old Lyme. And so, Travis has painted some snow on this Winter Count as well, for this is the reason we are blessed with our 11 visitors for this year. The Morning Star experience has come to Old Lyme, and we have snow to thank for that! The Morning Star is such a beautiful symbol, and as I have said in the past, it is the last light in the heavens before the rising of the sun, and so it symbolizes the promise of a new day, the promise of a new beginning, and that's one of the things I love about this friendship between our two communities. There's always a new chapter. There's always some new and surprising experience, nothing at all what we could have anticipated back in 1985 when this friendship began, and so the Morning Star is here to remind us to keep our hearts and minds open for there's a new day, just around the corner. Amen.
David W. GoodOld Lyme, CT 06371
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