Power at whatever cost…

And our work, in part, is to teach them to use power and influence for the good of all and not simply for the good of themselves.

A pastor who attends to one of the communities of the ILAG has been tempted by members of the community in which he works. The words of the serpent are indeed sweet… “Padre Horacio does not value you as he should… you could be the next President of this church. We could even become an independent Lutheran church, and be legalized—then we would have resources and not be held back by the Pastoral Team. Padre Horacio should come to us, why should we go to him….” So they ask Padre Horacio to come into their community, and he does because he has dedicated his life to bring the gospel to the people and to help them have better lives here and now.

The realization that the devil is the serpent and the apple is bitter.

In another of our churches a young “leader” rises—chosen by his family to lead… but not chosen by the church. They see possibilities for their family to receive $ but the problem is the Pastoral Team wants a work plan for the church, wants leaders who are called, prepared, transparent. This family prefers to work outside the meeting, under the table… Padre Horacio wants to come to agreements officially and have agreements recorded in the council minutes—that is not convenient for them because Padre Horacio wants every offering, every receipt, every bill to be recorded—no side deals. Honesty, Transparency. The church counsel fights over the right to possess 10 quetzales… imagine if they had direct access to a thousand dollars. Trust.

We fully trust few of our leaders. Bringing in economic aid is needed but needs to be done very carefully… from their very need people will do horrible things. We are seen as enemies at times because we help them learn to be honest, learn to plan, learn to think about the future, learn to work together. We call on the sinner to repent and the sinner replies over my dead body and if you threaten me again it will be over yours.

We keep preaching. We keep teaching. We keep demanding accountability.