Day 47
Hill City to Hot Springs South Dakota
While in Hill City, I planned out the next
several weeks of travel. Upon departure
I headed south from Hill City through Custer and Crazy Horse. The kind people at St. Luke’s, Hot Springs
had invited me to spend the night there and I am very grateful for their
hospitality. I suffered from mechanical
problems after the first hour. To my
amazement and pleasure, I was able to call upon my bike mechanic class to fix
it. It did add a few hours to my day.
For reasons which remain mysterious to
me, the GPS led me along a very mysterious road. I biked across the Buffalo Gap National
Grassland on what was once a road, but it was not discernable to my eyes. The
grass was waist high and difficult for biking.
I eventually arrived at a gravel quarry far removed from any sign of
life. It was a relief to see something
resembling a road though with a red clay surface. It was hard biking, but at least I could see
that I was heading somewhere.
After a few miles, a young Lakota woman in a
pickup truck pulled over and informed me that there were some “pretty gnarly
hills” ahead and offered to drive me, my bike, and cart to the highway. Insofar as I was already 2 hours late in
arriving in Hot Springs, I accepted with gratitude. Along the way I asked why there is a gravel
pit so far away from any transportation network. She informed me that this was sacred land and
only small portions were made available for excavation. It must eventually be planted over with indigenous
vegetation and returned to its natural state.
“In ten years, you will not be able to tell it was here”. She told me that she has driven this road
much over the course of her life and has never seen a cyclist travelling. I informed her that I am a bit odd, and she
agreed.
We reached highway 283 and I was grateful
to see asphalt once again and relieved that the 5 remaining miles were down
hill. While we were unloading my gear, a
police car pulled over and asked if all was well. She informed her that she was picking up odd
hitch-hikers and they gave him a kiss. I
thought this was odd bordering on the inappropriate. However, after the cruiser pulled away she informed
me that he was her fiancé. I asked her
if I could take her picture for my blog, to which she consented with a bit of
confusion.
I was
met there by Linda Valandra, who serves as a deacon for St. Luke’s, Hot Springs. She had made me some fried chicken, potato
salad, fruit and cookies which I consumed voraciously. She is a warm and thoughtful woman who spoke
of the development of mutual ministry in their small congregation. Traditionally (at least for the past few
centuries), congregations would call upon a full time priest who functions as a
CEO for the church community. In many
places, the salary of the priest is the lion’s share of the congregation’s budget. Realizing that such a model is poor financial
stewardship for the church, the congregation (with the help of the Diocese)
decided to de-centralize power. They
operated on the assumption that everyone has unique skills, gifts, and talents
and that love is most clearly expressed when everyone is invited to contribute
to the common good. The identified and
empowered the ministries to which people feel called and provided education and
resources to equip them to do this.
Consequently, they are able to have a vibrant Christian community with
no paid staff. They operate on the
principle that “In the good ship Ecclesia, there are no passengers-there is only
crew”.
I was inspired and touched by this
example and thought about what this might saying to me about how to become a
more inclusive community.
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