A HISTORIC TRAGEDY

I grew up in a place called “Maiden Rock”. It’s one of many riverside communities that wind their way through our country, along the edge of an iconic waterway. A small township on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River, Maiden Rock occupies a total of 1.18 square miles of beautiful Upper-Midwest real estate. The first house was built there in 1853 by the J.D. Trumbull family. Over the next 150 years, the entire population of Maiden Rock grew to 119 residents, with a grand total of 31 families in it…

Mine was one of them.

Just south of the village is a steep bluff, after which the town is named. According to an Indian legend, a young Sioux girl named “Winona” felt pressured by relatives to marry a man whom she despised. As recounted on a placard along Hwy 35 at the base of the cliff, “It was evening, and she had not been united more than an hour, before they missed her from the lodge. Nothing could be found of her until morning, when they discovered her at the foot of this precipice”. This young maiden never loved the man she married, and the misery was enough to bring her to the edge of a cliff and destroy herself, just to get out of the relationship.

Winona’s body has since become a fitting illustration of an ageless truth:

Covenanting yourself with someone you don’t intend to love, is suicide.

A MODERN REALITY

The start of the coming year will mark the beginning of Covenant Membership for this little ministry. We will begin with a dozen or more individuals, conceivably, each of whom promise to strive for a healthy, happy, long-term relationship with the other people in our church. We’ve waited a long time for this, and now we’re about to pledge our loyalty to one another for all to see.

Are we excited about that? Or do we feel like Winona?

Nothing makes a person feel more vulnerable than when they bind themselves to somebody else, for better or for worse  

I wonder if, either right now, or at some point in the future, we’ll have applicants who seek to become a member of this church out of mere obligation. People who feel pressured by their “relatives” within the fellowship, but don’t actually love the family they’re marrying into. People who reluctantly go along with the plan in hopes that no one will really notice how non-committal they actually are. Outwardly agreeing to it all, but inwardly despising the one to whom they promise their supposed affection, lacking the courage to say something before it’s too late.

If that’s the case, let me be clear: I don’t want anyone to formally pledge themselves to this church out of a sense of duty or requirement. If we are going to enter into a Covenant bond with one another, let it be done with mutual love, respect, & commitment, or not at all. It dawned on Winona’s family all too late that traditions & formalities can’t mask lovelessness for very long. In her case, it worked for no longer than 60 minutes. Let’s all be careful of making the same mistake, lest we follow in her fatal footsteps. If you’re already finding yourself resistant to such a union with us, and yet intend to go through with it anyway, you’ve already started your lonely walk to the edge of a cliff.

TAKING THE LEAP

I am not suggesting that making a commitment like this should come easily or without concern. A Covenant promise is saturated with heavy implications, and if you’ve given them the attention they deserve, you may find yourself with “cold feet” as the day draws near. Nothing makes a person feel more vulnerable than when they bind themselves to somebody else, for better or for worse. But rest assured, if you’re nervous about it, we are too. Remember…we’re in this together.

We’re excited for our future together and hope that you are too

This is a big step for us to take, both individually and corporately, and it’s my prayer that we’ll all survive the jump. A certain amount of anxiety is to be expected, but let’s not forget, so is enthusiasm & gratitude & joy! This should be exciting! A wedding without happiness isn’t much of a celebration, and if there’s no delight behind the joining of yourself to the people of this church, you might question whether you’ll be able to keep your vows for very long.

A FUTURE TOGETHER

Every church has a pile of bodies at the “foot” of their own “precipice”. People who got themselves into a committed relationship with a particular ministry, only to regret that decision soon thereafter. At the end of the day they forsook their Covenant, wandered away, and died. But just because we saw them fall doesn’t mean that we need to follow them over the edge. Can’t we write a different story? Will we honor our commitment to one another?

Anyone in this fellowship who is, or ever will pursue Covenant Membership, ought to take some time and evaluate their motives. If you aren’t in this for the “long haul”, and you need some time to rethink, please do it now. Go no further until you really love us and unless you’re ready to live like it. We’d rather be “left at the altar” than to marry a fraud.

If your decision to Covenant yourself to our church is compelled by genuine Christian love, we’re excited for our future together and hope that you are too. But if it’s being done out of obligation or pressure, please understand, you are committing an act of spiritual suicide. It will profit you nothing to enter in to spiritual Covenant if, in the end, you leave in a spiritual casket.  

TODAY A BRIDE, TOMORROW A BODY

Next year’s census might change the population statistics for Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, but it can’t change her grim history. A little village named after a mangled body discovered at the foot of a cliff, who, only one day prior, was a beautiful bride named “Winona”. A young Sioux girl who chose a quick death instead of life in covenant with someone she never loved. End of story. And, whether we like it or not, that same sad drama has been repeated in Christian communities on both sides of the Mississippi ever since. Will our little church family be the exception?

Ten years from now, when it’s time for our next census, will you still be alive & well, in faithful Covenant with us? Or will you finally grow intolerant of Christian unity, and choose to join the other ill-fated souls at the bottom of the bluff?