WinterTalk 1997, "Sharing and Living the Dream," brought together 50 Episcopalians involved in Native American ministries at St. Crispin's Conference Center in the Diocese of Oklahoma, Jan. 3-8. They arrived in springlike weather, enjoyed sunshine and cooler temperatures, and departed in a beautiful snowfall.

Holding the annual gathering in a retreat mode as the first WinterTalk did, participants laughed and sang, prayed and danced, all in celebration of the Epiphany of Our Lord and the epiphany of indigenous people's presence in the Episcopal Church.

Sitting in clans, participants of the ninth WinterTalk met in grand council according to Iroquois fashion to renew their commitment to each other and to indigenous people's ministry. Each grand council session focused on several of the guiding principles of the native Episcopal Church as the group discussed community, spirituality, resources, and generosity.

The opening ceremony set the tone. Ginny Doctor, Mohawk/Onondago missionary to Alaska, placed a red thread around the gathering place, binding all together in community as they prayed the gathering prayer and read the native Episcopal rule of life.

The Revs. John Robertson (Dakota), Doyle Turner (Ojibwa), and Mark MacDonald, all three canon missioners for American Indian ministry in the Diocese of Minnesota, offered two extensive Bible study sessions. Fr. Robertson reminded the group that the gathering prayer is their creed even though it is in process and must remain so, changing as native people change.

They prayed, "Creator, we give you thanks for all you are and all you bring to us for our visit within your creation. In Jesus you place the gospel in the center of this Sacred Circle through which all creation is related. You show us the way to live together with respect and commitment as we grow in your spirit, for you are God, now and forever."

Holy Eucharist was celebrated the first and last mornings. Each session began and ended with music, and music was frequently part of presentations.

Ann Smith, officer for Women in Mission and Ministry for the national church, conducted a training workshop on assertiveness as a method for working toward consensus in vestry or bishop's committee meetings, diocesan, provincial or national conferences, or in daily life.

WinterTalk endorsed two resolutions which the Episcopal Council of Indian Ministries is placing before this summer's General Convention. One requests support to develop the Indigenous Theological Training Institute in North America, noting greatly reduced numbers of native ordained leaders in the Episcopal Church. The other calls for a "Decade of Remembering, Recognition and Reconciliation," looking toward the 400th anniversary of the charter given by King James I of England to settlers planting the Jamestown colony in which the colonists were advised to "spread the Gospel to the Savages."

Members of the Episcopal Council of Indian Ministries set the place and date for the fourth Native American Youth Festival: St. Crispin's, August 11-16, 1998.

Many left St. Crispin's renewed, realizing they could call upon the whole community for support. One person who, disheartened by his lack of progress toward ordination, had wondered if he should not offer his gifts to another church, found at WinterTalk a way to stay when he realized that other native Episcopalians stood with him and supported him.