Come Together and Woyatan

Through the flurries of snow we attend two worship services this Sunday. First we traveled to Oglala for worship at Makasan Presbyterian church. Due to the weather there were few in attendance. We sang hymns from the Dakota hymnal, which includes a collection of familiar hymns translated into Lakota. Louis Garcia writes in the article "The History of Customs of the Spirit Lake Dakota" an interesting story about the translation of hymns into Dakota and Ojibwe since the 1840's.

"This is the setting for our story.

A single wakeya (conical tent made of hides) was situated deep in the woods. The husband and perhaps the oldest son were off hunting. As was the custom they would not return home until they harvested some animal for food. Only the faithful wife and children were home. At dusk as they huddled around the small fire within the tent, the wife heard some thing outside. Not wanting to alarm the children she said nothing, but listened intently. Then to her horror she saw from the corner of her eye, a hand, with only its fingernails visible, slightly open the tent door to peek inside. It was their dreaded enemy the Hahatonwan Oyate, the Waterfall People, known today as the Ojibway or Chippewa. What was she to do? The men were not there, she had no defense, and could do nothing. The Ojibway would shortly kill them all and take their scalps. So she prayed to God, the God the missionaries told them about. “What ever you ask of God, he will grant”, the missionaries said. Then she prayed and began to sing the Dakota words to the hymn Bethany. Fortunately the Ojibway warriors outside recognized the tune of the hymn and added their voices, but in their language. The trees reverberated with the sound of the hymn. The tent door was pushed to the side and a warrior entered and shook hands with the jittery occupants. The woman invited the men into her home and they shared a meal together. The Dakota family was saved from destruction and two former enemies were made friends, all because of a hymn."

Following lunch at Makasan, we traveled to Rapid City for an Epiphany worship at Woyatan Lutheran Church, a multi-cultural ministry. The worship service began and ended with the drum group drumming and singing in Lakota as traditional dancers danced toward the altar, followed by the crucifix, acolyte, and pastoral worship leaders. It was quite a display of mingling culture and traditions.

As I reflect on the mission of multi-cultural ministry I imagine a coming together. The image of a sanctuary for peace, dialogue, and connection come to mind. I asked someone what "Woyatan" means and received two answers. One said it means "praise." Another said, "It means to praise God through humble service for others." Now that sounds like my impression of woyatan's theology and a theology for all of us. Come together and Woyatan.