Central Plains Conference - Northern Cheyenne Reservation, MT

Central Plains Annual Meeting 2013

Ashland, Montana
June 20-23, 2013

Guided by the Spirit:  Knowing God's Love
Hosted by Ashland Christian Fellowship, Lame Deer Mennonite Church, and White River Cheyenne

 Mennonite Church

 

 Va’ohtama!  Wellkom!  Welcome!

 

courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

"All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name."

Black Elk  (note:  Black Elk is Oglala Sioux, not Northern Cheyenne)

courtesy Elliot Tapaha, Wolf Point, MT

"Presenting the Elements"       courtesy Stan Harder

"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

courtesy Stan Harder

courtesy Stan Harder

"Indian Tacos !!!"                courtesy Stan Harder

 Flora Blacktail's Fry Bread

4 cups flour                                 2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons baking powder    4 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon shortening            2 cups warm milk

    Mix all dry ingredients.  Mix in soft shortening and add warm milk slowly.  Knead dough until soft.  Roll out the dough flat.  Cut dough into desired shape and size and cut a slit in the middle.  Let the dough "rest" for about 15 to 20 minutes, then deep fry.  

    For Indian or Navajo Tacos, top with traditional taco toppings -- or top with any traditional Mennonite or American waffle-type toppings, or best of all... butter and a little honey or cinnamon-sugar.

courtesy Stan Harder

 Sunday morning sermon by Terry LeBlanc...

Terry LeBlanc 

   Terry is Mi’kmaq /Acadian, from Listuguj First Nation and Campbellton, NB, Canada. He and his wife Bev are in their 38th year of marriage. Together, they have three adult children: twin daughters and, a son.

  Terry has served in full-time Native ministry since 1979, has been ordained since 1983.

  Following almost 9 years as Aboriginal Programs manager with World Vision Canada Terry took up a position first as National Programs then Executive Director with My People International – a holistic, training-focused ministry program with and for Native North Americans. This is his current position. 

"Intent Reception"      courtesy Stan Harder

 “The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.” - Black Elk

"Erica Littlewolf of MCC Native Visions Project"  courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

"Deer Medicine Rock"        courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

Story of Deer Medicine Rocks

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

courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

“While I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw;
For I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being....And I saw that it was holy”  -- Black Elk

"Walking the Path"       courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

courtesy Rev. Joetta Schlabach

Psalms 91 v 1-2             courtesy Elliot Tapaha