"Strengthening Your Grip on Ministry"    Clergy Retreat, November 12-13, 2004

I was standing by the dresser in my room at the Lutheran Retreat Center in Pine Ridge on Friday evening, November 12, reviewing our plans for the evening's program. Suddenly from down the hall Larry's big voice boomed out, "There has never been a meal like this in all the years I've been on the reservation." We hadn't even eaten yet, but he had good reason to anticipate what was coming by the beauty of the table and the smell of the food.

And, truth be told, we wanted the banquet to be just that - a memorable gift from our church in Excelsior to those who serve Christ through the churches on the "rez." Indeed the food proved to be sumptuous, the hospitality graceful, and the ambience exquisite - thanks to Peggy and Steve and Jill. I offered a few words about the source of the gift in our church and that there were no strings whatsoever attached in our offering it to them with our gratitude and respect. At the table were leaders from the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Mennonite Church, the Covenant Church (us), and the Catholic School. Several other bodies were to be represented but either did not show up (Baptist and Assemblies of God) or had to change their plans at the last minute (Episcopal).

Following the dessert, the group gathered downstairs for two evening activities. First we lit votive candles from a large central candle. On the bottom of each votive was written a virtue which we shared with the group. It was noted that were these virtues to typify our interactions with each other, we would undoubtedly thoroughly enjoy our experience and leave with considerable satisfaction. Then for about an hour and a half we played the board game "Know Me." Two tables of players sportfully learned this game which originates in South Africa and whose purpose is "establishing trust and building relationships." It was amazing to listen in as on the one hand the peals of laughter increased in frequency and loudness and on the other hand a hush of intimate conversation disclosed deep and personal disclosure to its probing questions. By shortly after 9 P.M. they were on their way home, anticipating more of this experience to come on the next day.

On Saturday morning we relit the smaller votive candles from the large central candle before we became readers of the Bible. This time we spoke of some person exemplifying that particular virtue. The sharing was very inspiring.

And then, after a reminder of how Hebrew narratives are to be read, we savored the book of Amos from beginning to end, trading off the reading at each chapter. First time through was without comment and second time we paid closer attention to detail and commented freely on our thoughts and feelings about the text and author and what we want as a result of this encounter. This experience was very dynamic and very satisfying to all the participants. The text had been printed out so each person had exactly the same format to work from. Not surprisingly, the morning was over before we made it through the second time (and we had originally intended to read Hosea as well as Amos J).

We left some time to explain and gift each of the participants with an envelope containing two complimentary phone cards (240 minutes), the telephone and email addresses to several resources (a Spiritual Director - Mary Studer, a Social Worker - Heather Stayko, and me) and an invitation to contact any of us, or, if they preferred, someone else of their choosing who would extend to them the ongoing support and/or counsel that could benefit them the most.

Wanting to finish the retreat as we had begun - around the table -- we went upstairs and again enjoyed a beautiful meal originating in the kitchens of our church members. Soup and salad was the tasty culmination, and after receiving from each of them a written evaluation, we sent them on their way with a blessing. It was clear to us that they left filled with gratitude for our gift to them and their deepened connection to each other.

We debriefed this whole visit to Pine Ridge shortly after starting the long trip home. We agreed that once again we felt we were the recipient of blessings far beyond what we had given to those whom we had gone to encourage and build up.

Should we desire to start a tradition, it appears that this could turn into a regular offering to the clergy of Pine Ridge and would probably garner significant interest from others who missed out on this initial effort.