We are excited that Broadway will be joined this year by youth from Euclid Ave. UMC (Oak Park) and members of Out of the Box Ministries as we head to North Dakota for a week of ministry with the people of the Dakota Tribe who live on the Spirit Lake Reservation. We partner with Spirit Lake Ministry Center (a UMC ministry) and Mike & Libby Flowers, who work with the Tribal Council to prioritize the work visiting teams do. Work ranges from building accessibility ramps to painting houses to repairing roofs to working with Reservation children to cleaning the clothing or food storage areas at the Center: there is something for everyone and every skillset!

The partnership in ministry is a terrific opportunity to build relationships with Broadway team members, team members from the two other congregations joining us, and with the Tribal people of Spirit Lake. Being on the Reservation also provides an opportunity to learn more about the way Native peoples have been treated in U.S. history, as well as the way in which they face racism today. I believe this ministry is connected to our congregation’s anti-racism declaration as we seek to find ways to be allies with our Dakota sisters and brothers.

Travel is yet to be determined, but there may be two caravans departing at different times, so stay tuned for details (those who are interested in the Tribe’s PowWow celebration will want to be in the early shift to be there Saturday, July 27).

The $300 cost of the week of ministry covers the dorm room and meals while at the Center; some scholarship support is also available.

If you have questions about Spirit Lake, talk with Broadway folks who’ve been there – Diana Davis, MJ Grimshaw, Craig Fitzgerald, Susan Armstrong, Amy Daigler, Clayton Parr, and Lois Parr.

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See page 9 of the May newsletter for the Spirit Lake Mission Trip Information Sheet.

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A Dakotah Prayer

Grandfather, Great Spirit, you have been always, and before you nothing has been, there is no one to pray to but you. The star nations all over the heavens are yours, and yours are the grasses of the earth. You are older than all need, older than all pain and prayer.

Grandfather, Great Spirit, look upon your children, the Spirit Lake Oyate, that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet.

Grandfather, Great Spirit, fill us with the light, Give us with the light. Give us the strength to understand and eyes to see. Teach us to walk the soft earth, as relatives, to all that live.

Help us, for without you we are nothing.

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Tribal website: http://www.spiritlakenation.com/

Spirit Lake Ministry Center website: http://www.spiritlakeministrycenter.org/

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Update on June 2011 trip: Broadway’s mission trip to Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota was very successful. The team consisted of Rev. Lois, Craig Fitzgerald, Diana Davis and Clayton Parr plus our friends Geoff Graham from North Northfield UMC and Neil Goudriaan from Oregon. We built a ramp for Amy and Earl, an elderly couple on the reservation, and worked around the Ministry Center with our missionary friends Mike and Libby Flowers. We helped celebrate Mike's installation as licensed local pastor in the Dakotas Conference. For more information, or to contribute to the work of the Center, see www.spiritlakeministrycenter.org.