The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
January 2008

Richard's Poor Almanac: Transitions

by Dick Snyder

Life - it is said - is what happens to us when we are busy making plans.

I am ending my service as editor of the Diocesan Dialogue with this edition, and my service as vicar at St. Michael's, Brigham City, on Christmas.

On Jan. 1, I begin work as a regional vicar for the Navajoland Area Mission.

Our trip to Navajoland has been a long and circuitous one for my wife Debbie and me. Ministry with the Navajo has been a passion of ours for many years.

It was not an assignment that we sought, but in many ways a calling that has sought us.

My involvement in Navajoland was originally encouraged by the late Bishop Wesley Frensdorff, who was serving as Bishop of Navajoland at the time of his death.

It was further encouraged by my friend, the late Bishop Steve Plummer. He was one of the celebrants at our wedding, and presided at a Navajo wedding ceremonial for my wife and me a decade ago.

One of my ordination gifts was the Prayer Book used by Wes Frensdorff. Another was a red stole that was given to me by the Rev. William Hannifin, and which had been given to him the Rev. Baxter Liebler, who founded the mission at Bluff where I will be working.

Those are mighty big moccasins to fill.

As noted elsewhere in this edition, the Episcopal Church is committing itself to a new decade of remembrance, recognition and reconciliation with Native people.

Those who have "gone before" in the Episcopal Church's ministry with the Navajo have produced a rich heritage.

The past helps us prepare for the future. There is a renewed spirit blowing in Navajoland and in other parts of Indian Country calling for the creation of an indigenous church.

We'll know that has happened when we can talk of a church that is in mission with the Navajo, and not to the Navajo.

Please pray for Debbie and me as we begin our part in that mission.

Return to current issue Table of Contents
or Dialogue main page »