We took our drum to camp last week. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was. Women of the North is a camp that has been bringing together First Nations and non-First Nations women from across Northern BC for many years at Ness Lake Bible Camp in early May. This is the second year that women from Ndazkoh have attended. Last year 6 of us came and this year we had 13 and only 3 of us were repeats from last year. We had 10 new women come along and this time we brought our pow wow drum.
The use of First Nations culture and instruments continues to be controversial at times in church circles. At this particular camp gathering there was a history of growth over the years. It took a lot of prayer and discussion with open hearts and some heart break to introduce First Nations regalia, hand drums and dance at various points over the previous years. But never had the pow wow drum been played in worship in this context. I knew of the history and so just put out the offer to bring along our house church’s drum a few weeks ahead of camp. We were told to bring it along and we’d see what happened.
The women who came to camp with me were a varied group. A couple had been following Jesus for many years. A couple had been on the fringe of our ministry and attended off and on. A number would not identify themselves as followers of Jesus at all, yet we all came anticipating at the very least some fun, and hopefully some kind of spiritual growth over the weekend. When we make ourselves open and available to God’s Spirit to use, we can never be sure what will happen, but something is bound to. It has been all through the subsequent week that I have gathered stories to hear how God used our obedience in bringing along our drum.
The worship leader, Becky Thomas, a Cherokee friend from Saskatoon and I discussed how we should introduce the drum on the second evening. She was leading a workshop in the afternoon about cultural contextualization and I would attend. When the evening worship would start, I would tell the story of how our house church built our drum as an act of worship, what it has meant for our group and how God has used it to give us opportunities for ministry in the wider community before we drummed and chanted our worship songs. The excitement started in Becky’s workshop when people began to catch the vision of how the Creator gives culture as a gift for expressing our love for God. Our drum was sitting nearby, covered with a button blanket and people began to point at it and ask, “Can we hear that?” The time became ripe and ready as the people were hungry for what God would bring about in that mixed group of light and darker skinned women.
In the evening, four of us from our house church sat at our drum and I briefly shared our story. We began to beat the drum and chant the first song. There was an electricity in the air, and anticipation. I felt one with the drum and my voice as we sang out our praise to our Creator with pure true voices and the beat of the drum. There was power in the room. It was only later, as I heard the stories of other women, that I learned even some of what God was doing.
One of my drummers said that something changed in her as we sang the first song. She has been sober for 5 months and has recently returned to church. I believe God is doing a work of healing in her life.
One young woman from our community who found ‘the church thing kind of weird’ felt like she wanted to stand up as did another young mom who came with us. Their hearts felt moved and tugged by the drumming.
Many women came to me afterwards and hugged and thanked us for touching them with the drumming and singing.
I received an email from the organizer who said, “ I heard a testimony today about a white woman from ** who was deeply impacted by the drumming at the retreat. The Holy Spirit used the drumming to reach her and she had an encounter with God and accepted Jesus at the retreat.
Despite the past history of reluctance to accept some First Nations cultural expressions, not one person spoke against the use of the pow wow drum at the camp. God broke down some of the few remaining barriers and cleared the way for even more healing and reconciliation between our peoples. We were so privileged to be a part of it.
