St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

“Wakan Tanka” – The Great Spirit/Mystery

“Wakan Tanka” is the Lakota name for the “Great Mystery” or the “Great Spirit”. The Episcopal Church has beautifully merged the Lakota language and much of the culture with our traditionally Episcopal views to provide an interpretation of Christianity in word and song for this significant group of Native Americans. These people are proud and spiritual, worshiping and celebrating their belief in God the Trinity (Wakan Tanka) with traditional drum beats and unique song and dance.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Tennessee recently completed a mission project on the Cheyenne River Lakota Indian Reservation. Bob and Marsha St. John, Les Gassaway, and Hall McClennahan traveled to the reservation to help refurbish and make livable an unused rectory adjacent to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Eagle Butte, SD. Members of St. Paul’s Church, Maryville, Missouri and All Saints Church, West Plains, Missouri joined in with us. They participated equally and significantly in the repairs and re-furbishment efforts. Members of the Missouri group included Father Mike Kyle, Cannon Missioner for the Sacred Hills Region of the Diocese of West MO, Anne Meredith, All Saint’s and Dr. Lauren Leech-Steffens and Dr. Jody Strauch both of St. Paul’s.

Mother Marion Rectenwald had sent out a request for adult maintenance help with the old rectory. She is moving from the small town of Dupree SD, population 400, to Eagle Butte, population 3000 to be centrally located among her 10 separate mission chapels that she serves on the reservation. She performs services at all sites on a rigorous schedule repeated every four weeks. She travels long distances, often on dusty gravel roads, to minister to her parishioners. She has no support staff for any of her numerous parishes and tends to all issues from getting lawns mowed, repairs made, and her constant and challenging duties as a Priest ministering to the Lakota people, scattered over thousands of acres and miles. It is a challenge of miles and logistics that none of us would want to attempt! The St. John the Evangelist Church has a large parish hall and kitchen and is frequently made available to local individuals and organizations for fund raising, suppers, soup kitchen, receptions, etc. This puts significant wear and tear on the facility when there is no sexton on site. Signs ask politely for people to clean up the hall when they are done. But things get broken and worn in this process. Mother Marion gets the challenge of doing and fixing it all! She has my ultimate respect and prayers!

The “MO-TENN” mission group refurbished old windows, replaced roof shingles, and painted interior and exterior of the small concrete block rectory which was in desperate need of repairs with a lot of bare wood exterior exposed to harsh hot and cold extremes. We also made roof repairs and electrical repairs on the St. John the Evangelist Church. We worked in temperatures ranging from upper 50’s to over 100 degrees for the 6 days there. On the first day, winds were near 40-50 MPH steady all day; not unusual for the Great Plains. We just leaned into the breeze and kept going! On Wednesday July 11 th Mother Marion took us to the Iron Lightning Community about 50 miles away from Eagle Butte and we visited the small St.Luke’s Chapel there. We also visited two cemeteries, one for the Iron Lightning community and one for members of St. Luke’s. We took time on the high prairie for prayer and bible study. During silent meditation we experienced the absolute stillness and calm of the prairie with only the wind and birds as a backdrop to our thoughts and prayers. It was a particularly spiritual moment for me! At a pot luck supper put on for us on Wednesday evening, Bertha Chasing Hawk made us traditional Lakota dishes of “Tinpsula” a wild turnip cooked in a broth with beef jerky, “Wojapi”, a June Berry pudding and traditional Indian fry bread. What a treat to try some truly authentic Native American dishes!

As we conversed with Mother Marion, we heard that she has conducted over 20 funerals on the reservation already this year. There is significant illness among the tribes including diabetes, depression, and alcoholism. Many Native Americans return to the reservations in their old age to live out their last days and be with their extended families. There are many ailing and in need of spiritual counsel and unfortunately there are many funerals to attend. Each funeral involves three separate events Mother Marion must attend. A comfort service is done for the immediate family. Next a more public wake service is done which frequently lasts all night long, and finally a burial rite service with interment is conducted at graveside.

Mother Marion travels tremendous distances in any given week to do her ministry. Her small car is sturdy but weary from the many miles traveled. Every Sunday she conducts full services for three different mission locations around the “Rez”. Gasoline is not readily available on all areas of the reservation and running out in the lonesome flat land, miles from any help, can be a real problem! Cell phones only work near specific communities. This is truly a remote and isolated but particularly beautiful area. We could tell she was very glad to have us visit not only for the help given, but for the simple companionship. She told us she spends many evenings eating alone and having the company and conversation was a blessing for her. She is truly called to her work. She is learning the Lakota language and knows many of the Native American customs. We attended the Sunday Services on the 15 th and sang from the Episcopal Dakota Hymnal, in their native tongue. This hymnal was first conceived and translated around 1893. We did not know that such a unique publication existed! What an experience!

We saw the poor living conditions of many, but we also met very educated Native Americans that in some cases have returned to the Reservation and their extended families trying to help the tribes manage their resources and health care. The culture of the Lakota is one of deep family ties and a somewhat communal lifestyle. From their own culture, when hunters killed buffalo, all members shared equally from the kill. This “share and share alike” logic carries on even today, but makes it particularly difficult for those with ability to do more to break out of the culture and integrate into the modern capitalist style world around them.

On Friday around noon, as we busily scraped and painted on the Rectory, we heard the beating of drums, and periodic gun shots. We realized that a parade of some type was coming down Main Street in front of the church. There was loud Lakota chanting in concert with drums which we later found out was announcing to all in the community that a young “warrior” had just come home from completing his basic training course in the US military. Traditional in celebrating accomplishments of the “warrior” were the interspersed gun shots into the air giving a very dramatic effect to the whole affair. Many young men choose to join the military as a way to support their families. Many members of the tribe are now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan supporting our nation.

Friday evening we attended the Dupree Lakota Wacipi, a traditional “Pow-Wow” where Lakota around the reservation gather to dance and sing and hear the drums of their ancestors. These are big social events for the Native Americans and the pageantry and dance was simply beautiful and inspirational! The Lakota are truly a proud and close knit people! Non-Natives were welcomed to come and experience their culture.

We accomplished a lot during our stay. I’m sure Mother Marion was very pleased with our efforts and overall improvements on the St John’s Church and Rectory. But the Tennessee and Missouri groups left Eagle Butte with a lot more gained in our hearts than we ever could have given in our efforts. We look forward to a return trip to help more and learn more about our own spirituality with the assistance of our new friends made in Eagle Butte.

Finally, there is much to be done for the Episcopal Church on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Many of the smaller community “chapels” are old and weathered and need simple tender love and care. This maintenance takes time, skilled labor, and money for lumber, shingles, paint, etc. Little, if any, of these resources are readily available for Mother Marion’s use. She is already stretched to the maximum with her schedule and I’m sure her operating budget is small! Mission groups with building and maintenance skills could go to some of these remote areas and do much to help her spread the Word of God and help her better minister to her more remote parishioners. Mother Marion has also talked passionately about converting another older structure on the St. John’s church property to a dormitory for interns and visitors and a cultural and program center where local artists would have a work place to seriously pursue painting, sculpture, needle craft, etc. We looked it over. It would take some effort and some financial commitment for equipment and utilities, but fellow Episcopal members around the US could easily make this happen! It just takes a little focus!