"Our strong view of Scripture calls us to do our best
work in discerning the Scriptures together. Together
as Christ’s body, “We seek to understand and interpret
Scripture in harmony with Jesus Christ as we are
led by the Holy Spirit in the church.” May you be
encouraged to engage the Scripture with God’s people
in meaningful ways as you listen for God’s Word that
guides your ministry and shapes our living. "
... Tim Detweiler, Across the Fence, Spring 2013
Sunday morning sermon by Terry LeBlanc...
LAME DEER — For 1,000 years or more, native peoples have etched their
histories and prophecies on the sandstone faces of Deer Medicine Rocks
near what is now Lame Deer.
Barely visible bighorn sheep, warriors on horseback and a
grizzly bear roam the soft, sheer faces of the rock outcrop just off the
Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
And on an early June day 136 years ago, a Sioux artist
carved a vision that had come to Hunkpapa medicine man Sitting Bull
after a torturous Sundance ceremony. In the dream, soldiers with
“grasshopper” legs fell from the sky into the Indian camp. The soldiers
had no ears.
This vision is believed to have foretold victory at Little Bighorn about three weeks later on June 25, 1876.
On Monday, descendants of the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors
who defeated Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry gathered at
Deer Medicine Rocks to celebrate the sacred site’s new status as a
National Historic Landmark.
David Harrington, acting superintendent at nearby Little
Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, told about 200 people gathered
for the ceremony that Deer Medicine Rocks’ new status ranked it beside
the Alamo, Mount Vernon and the Empire State Building as one of the
nation’s most important historic sites.
...
Sitting Bull, leader of the largest coalition of warriors
ever gathered on the Northern Plains, was drawn to Deer Medicine Rocks
by a vision, said Philip Whiteman of the Oglala Lakota.
“He came to the Cheyenne and asked where the rock was he saw
in his vision,” said the cultural leader from the Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota.
“In his vision he saw a whirlwind with this blue lightning strike and these petroglyphs,” he said.
A lightning strike on the rocks did leave a long, blue scar
that bisected the image of a deer. The image is thought to be where the
rocks got their name.
Not long after Sitting Bull’s Sundance, Custer’s troops
traveled through on their way to the Little Bighorn. Custer and his
Arikara scouts saw images left in the camp and on the rocks. The scouts
grew uneasy, understanding that the Sioux and Cheyenne believed that
they would win a great victory.
Whiteman said that through all the oppression of native
peoples since the time of the reservations, Sitting Bull’s vision for
his people propelled them forward.
“We are going to be leaders and teachers once again,” he said. “Our ancestors spoke of this time -- a cleansing.”
Phyllis Young, a Hunkpapa who sits on the Standing Rock
Reservation Council, said “America is ready for us. America is ready for
our old ways.”
Read more: Thackaray, Lorna, "Sioux, Cheyenne Celebrate Historic New Landmark," Billings Gazette, 11 June, 2012
Terry Shue asks...
“...What would it be like if all the congregations across
our land would explore and find these texts that would
not only reflect who they are, but could also shape the
generations yet to come? What would it be like if we
could share those texts and find out which ones are
the most important for us as Mennonite Church USA
congregations?” Across the Fence, Spring 2013
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Noting the vibrant community and growing Mennonite churches of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Southeast Montana, as a Bruderthaler, one cannot but contemplate the difference between the Mennonite Churches of these photos and the lack of Native American congregations or Mennonite believers on the not dissimilar Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Northeastern Montana which was once home to churches and church plants in Lustre (3 to 5 churches), Volt (2 churches), Larslan, Wolf Point (2 churches), Glasgow and Poplar with affiliated works in Peerless, Oswego and Frazer. What has MC-USA done correctly that the Mennonite Brethren and Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (EMB) have failed to do? How does one examine the strengthening glow of the Northern Cheyenne with the dimming light of the Russlander Mennonites of Fort Peck, who are down to four churches? Food for thought. 'tag
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