An old Hippie named Bill

His arrival had been hyped up for at least a month if not longer. We had seen pictures of him and seen the list of the movies, TV programs and commercials that he had been in. He was coming to Guatemala on the day of our belt promotions… the sensei of my sensei’s sensei was coming. It was probably my only chance to meet him. He has the 10th degree of black belt, one of only 8 in the world. He is this old hippie from Hawaii and totally gone Hollywood… long hair, big beaded necklace with a big tiger tooth on it… tall and lanky, face creased with wrinkles and his waist wrapped with a tattered black belt. Since he was there everyone showed up… students, parents, other relatives… and it was chaos. The first promotion hour went well… Sensei Bill Ryusacky helped with some of the promotions but from then on… well first he wanted to teach a self-defense class to the parents. All the parents took off their shoes and entered the Karate area with the 3 to 13 year olds behind them trying to see what was happening through the legs of the adults. Then after the class it was time for picture… and from then on the promotions took second to getting a picture with Sensei Bill. Horacio and I helped translate (Horacio much more than me, I more provided a person for the kids to look at when the photographer took the pictures) since Hippie Bill does not speak Spanish and frankly his English was hard for me to understand… He would pose people as if they were dolls so that the pictures would look better… and then get into position right before the photo was snapped so that he would look more impressive. At one point due to the heat of so many in the gym, he asked for a fan and when I put it up on a stool so that the air would reach him, he said that’s better, now its more Hollywood. Crazy. He even asked to have his picture taken with one of the women there to support one of the students… for him. I had pictured Mr. Miagi… humble, very talented but humble and not one to show it off… wax on wax off… you know? Well… I got a Hollywood version of a Sensei but not the Mr. Miagi model. One good thing resulted due to the chaos… Horacio and I missed our promotions with our group since we were helping with translations, etc. So once the chaos had died down, pictures had been taken and autographs received… we had our promotions. All that were left to be promoted, other than us, were the brown and black belts. The black belts surrounded the two of us. The sensei’s in front of us and those who would be promoted after us were behind us. They were all in black… I was all in white and Horacio was white with his yellow belt… so we stood out. They take off your old belt, tying it in the knot we use around your hands (for me it was a bit different, they did not tie the know, since I was going up to white belt with degree instead of to orange belt like Horacio). Then you hold your belt in the middle and have half a minute or so of meditation with the sensei’s hand over yours and your heads bowed. Then the sensei puts on your new belt, or for me puts on my old belt with the mark of degree on it. You stand up and get into position (legs shoulder length apart and fists at your side ready to punch or be punched), and the sensei kicks you in the stomach. Then you do the formal bow to the sensei and then turn and receive bows from those behind. It was cool… and only Horacio and I, other than the black belts, received kicks that day!

Modern Day Acts 16:11-15

Last Thursday, we took a day trip to El Quiche… we (Padre Horacio, Esther and myself) left about 4:30am and arrived at 8:30am… It is a trip that Padre Horacio has taken every year for five years now. His consistency and willingness to come has won the hearts and trust of many people. Passing onto a gravel road, we asked a community van driver if he know were the house we were looking for was… he told us to go straight at the fork in the road and that we would see the people waiting. And we did…waiting for us around a final curve in the dry dirt road were well over a hundred people among whom 69 people (mostly children) were waiting to be baptized. They had come from four different communities relatively close… but still some had to leave their homes at 6:30am to walk the nearly two hours to this particular house. Wow! There were even several Catholic catechists and their families present to have their children baptized because the priest has not had the time for the baptisms or the families could not pay (the Catholic church in much of Guatemala is charging for baptisms, and many cannot afford it)… and when they do they just go around sprinkling water in the general direction of the children, then individually put oil on their head, then tell the parents where to go to light the candle… not very personal. After having breakfast, Padre Horacio gave a short class on baptism and the church to those gathered. Teaching a bit about Lutherans, how we are Christian and how this baptism is valid regardless of what some might try to say because it is the work of Christ. He taught about the benefits of baptism, how we receive forgiveness, are welcomed as children of God, etc. Then we had the worship service. After the sermon and before Holy Communion, the baptisms began. Each had been given a number when they had written the name of the child and the sponsors down and they arranged themselves in order from the table/ altar around the house and into the garden… 69 waiting to be baptized… many held in the arms of parents, a few adults, and in one case a family of 8. One by one they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, they received the sign on of cross on their forehead and the light of Christ in their hands… each called by name. It took over an hour just for the baptisms… and each was beautiful as our family grew. After the baptisms, we continued with Holy Communion. Only a hand full went forward to receive… due to the piety (Catholic sacramental roots) that if they are living with their spouse but not married that they cannot receive Communion (once again many cannot afford the fee the Catholic church places on weddings, so cannot get married and therefore cannot commune). Padre Horacio commented on this saying… next time I come we will have weddings as well. Then joking, of course it must be with the same man or woman that you are now with… but your marriage nor your money should not separate you from the table, so we will have weddings.

Sermon April 17, 2005 in Silverdale

Easter 4 Silverdale Lutheran Church Amanda Olson April 17, 2005 John 10:1-10 Grace to you and peace from God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Bienvenidos a la misa. Les traigo saludos de parte de sus hermanos y hermanas de la Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala. I bring greetings to you on behalf of your brothers and sisters in the Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala. Greetings that are particularly apt today as we celebrate the community we have in Christ who has called us and gathered us into His fold, the body of Christ. My first two months in Guatemala I found myself taking pictures of door after door after door. I have been fascinated by the doors in Guatemala... For one thing you don`t have to pay someone for taking a picture of a door as you sometimes do if you want a picture of a person. But more to the point... they (the doors... and no I have not started talking to doors since I left SLC) speak volumnes about life in Guatemala.Many of the doors are metal and solid looking, painted some drab color... these doors are usually attached to homes or stores that appear to be abit better off. The doors that draw me are the wooden doors... most are brightly painted... red, light green, blue, yellow, pale blue... colors that usually constrast and distinguish the door from the wall on either side. Many are warn down... have chipped paint, don`t hang square on their hinges, have large gaps at their base or even plants growing in their lintels or in the stone wall next to them... invariably when the family is not home or the store is not open they have these huge padlocks on them. Since I went to Central America with… well really no Spanish... it was, and still is at times, frustrating that I was not able to converse properly with the people I meet. There were many barriers that I felt in Guatemala-- language wise but also experientially and culturally. It makes sense that I was drawn to the doors... because I wanted to be allowed in and to know these people who I was encountering. I disliked all the barriers that I constantly felt there. The one home I was invited into in Xela during language school... I hardly ever spoke in. I was allowed to be among them in their daily coming and going but as a receiver and as a paycheck for their family... they fed me at there table, gave me a bed… complete with fleas… to slept in at night, a place to bathe... and I had only my presence to offer. It felt as if for the first few months... I had to simply observe and learn through my senses rather than presuming I understand and speaking... I had to receive humbly and deal with limits that I had never had to experience to that level before.The doors of Guatemala have witnessed much... but the people inside have lived through much more. In my lifetime some of these doors (in other communities I have been in since my first two months even more so) have been visited by soldiers taking loved ones away in the night never to return... or brought news of death, coup, pain, hunger. The doors are worn but for the most part... still thresholds for much joy, much pain... much life. Into my experience with doors comes our gospel text for today… and Christ’s statement.. “I am the gate.” While many doors have felt like barriers… as in the communities within the church we are welcomed into their homes and into their lives. The homes in the country are much more humble than those in the city. Dirt floors, chickens, smoke, and fleas greet us as we enter into the homes. We are allowed in as fellow sisters and brothers in Christ… despite language, skin color, culture, country, economic barriers… Christ knows all these barriers and as the gate, breaches the walls, the separation and brings us together. It is the same here in Silverdale… there is much that could and does separate you from eachother, and even at times threatens to tear you apart… yet Christ calls out to each of you and hearing His voice you come… gathered together as this community in Christ. Connected one to another in prayer and in promise. Christ is the way, the truth, the life… he is the means to the Father. The way to God… and how God gets to us. By being our good shepherd. The sheep imagery is one of the first images of the church that most children are taught. Sheep are not the most intelligent of animals… they need the help of the shepherd (3 examples?)… we tend to drift as well… wonder off… are influnced by false voices, and others trying to make claims on our time, our bodies, our lives. There are other people and things calling to us… inticing us to cross their threshhold… to enter into their fold… their embrace. Others ready and willing to be our shepherds. We sin and fall short… like the sheep, we cannot raise on our own… But into all this comes Christ… among us, born of Mary… flesh and blood… the lamb (son of God) who would lay down his life for you. As far away as we were… and are again and again… Christ comes and speaks… calling you, his beloved into the fold, His fold. He wants you alone… not anything that you can do or give, just you whom he loves. He[i] gathers within the fold the wounded, the lonely the powerless, the frightened. He gathers those despised by humanity because they are poor, homeless, lost unlovely, different. He gathers… regardless of our worldly wealth or power Regardless of our wounds and fears Regardless of our differences He gathers Guatemalans, and Americans, and people throughout His world He gathers us in His promise. Where you are at home. He gathers you to himself and does not let go. His voice can… and does… reach into the darkest of darknesses… into the deepest valley… into the farthest reaches… He knows you… all your struggles, all your weaknesses and failings… and all your joys and success. He knows you and calls you by name (say some names)… leading you out of your valley of the shadow of death and into life, abundant life. So how is Christ your gate? We mentioned earlier that he breaks down the barriers to connect His own. His does this by being your good shepherd… who lays down his life for his sheep… and you are welcomed into the fold of His own by the gift of the Holy Spirit in your baptisms. You are wecolmed with promises that are yours and welcomed as children. You are protected from the thievery of of sin, death… that would steal your lives and hope and you are given life. The Word comes to you in all your locations no matter how far away, how hopeless. Christ is your foundation… God’s gift to you His beloved child… Christ is your gate but not in such a way that we enter and leave Christ behind. He is with you… surrounding you with his love, compassion and grace… and just as your baptism was one time yet daily… so to you enter into the fold of Christ yet each day reenter by the gate… a daily dying and raising to your sins and brokenness and a daily giving of new life. You don’t, after all, stay in that sheepfold, away from the world… in our comfortable Christian club. As our good shepherd, Christ leads us out of the sheepfold each new day into the world… into the pasture… into our jobs, our families, our daily routines… to give us life abundant out… out in the world among others… among our neighbors who are in need. Christ leads us out and gives his sheep… you… in service to his world. We follow our shepherd… for we trust and know Out into a world that has many doors to choose from… many doors that are tempting, the beg to be entered, and many that are opened to us so that we can serve one another by Christ. We know the voice of Christ and when He calls, we enter through him… our gate of hope, forgiveness, love and our gate of life. [i] Poem from preaching resource