It's a nice article describing the first legal bison hunt in a century for several Native American tribes.  It does a good job of conveying the excitement and the sense of honor and connectedness.  This handful of people have been able to do something that was part and parcel of their ancestor's way of life.  It connects them spiritually and culturally to traditions larger and grander than themselves.

I started thinking that wouldn't it be interesting if Christians viewed elements of their faith in this same way?  This is sort of a tricky thing to talk about, since late 20th century Christianity in terms of protestantism has by and large been eager to jettison the connection to the historic church in favor of inventing and discovering things for themselves.  Out with the old, in with the nouveau.  Traditions are for saps.  Spirituality and personal connectedness are what matter.  

Not all Christian traditions have been so quick to jettison the past.  Thank the Catholics and the Orthodox, as well as large swaths of more conservative denominations such as the LCMS for insisting that cultural relevance and outreach do not demand that we give up who we are as part of the historical Body of Christ.  It's not a popular line.  It's not an easy line.  But it's an important line to take.  

It's hard I think in part because by and large people in the last century in America have been free to worship as they pleased.  Church was something that could be taken for granted.  Communion?  Baptism?  Available whenever and wherever you liked.  You want dunking or dribbling?  Grape juice or merlot?  Options galore - just take your pick.  

Familiarity breeds contempt, the old saw goes, and perhaps that's what American Christianity has experienced as much as anything.  When something isn't available all the time, even something that you take for granted and consider to be pretty mundane takes on greater significance.  Maybe as much significance as the first bison hunt in a century.  

Then again, not to be too terribly serious and stuffy-headed, I really cracked up towards the end of this article when one of the hunters talked about the importance of sharing most of the kill.  His rational?  "Karma comes around."

So maybe there are downsides to not being able to practice fully your spiritual way of life for over a century.