213th
General Assembly Comes to Louisville
June 9-16, 2001
Into the Happy Hunting Ground
they came,
following the trail
of the Cherokee, the Shawnee, and the Iroquois,
and other earlier stewards of this land,
who themselves were following
the trace of the buffalo,
the elk, and the deer.
Into the Dark and Bloody Ground
they came,
through the Cumberland Gap,
into the timber rich Appalachians,
into the broad savanna of the Bluegrass
into the Knobs, Barrens, the Pennyrile,
all the way into the flat alluvial plain
set snugly against the banks of the Mississippi.
Down the Ohio River
they came,
until they reached the ancient falls
which stopped them
and required an extensive portage,
which, in turn, created a city
born out of water.
Into Old Kaintuck
they came,
into the West,
And some of them were Presbyterians.
Two centuries plus two decades later
still they come,
into the Dark and Bloody Ground,
into Old Kaintuck,
into the Happy Hunting Ground,
they come;
into the land of Daniel Boone,
David Rice,
Robert Jefferson Breckinridge,
William H. Sheppard,
and Lucy McGowan
the Presbyterians come,
come to Kentucky,
come to Louisville
as commissioners,
observers,
ecumenical partners,
theological students
and youth advisory delegates,
to be the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
in this place at this time,
and we hope that here they will feel
kindly welcome.
-- Dee Wade
