Ordination

9 years since I felt called
3 years since I was sent
and mere days since I was given peace.

Processing in with 25 pastors dressed in white and yoked in red there to support the proclamation of the church—that faith comes by hearing, eating and drinking—that God has chosen to be revealed as for us in these ways and that the church has ordained pastors to be servants who deliver the hope we have in Him alone—that the church has the responsibility to yoke those who are called to serve in this way.

The church is part of the earthly kingdom, led by men, led by sinners—the dominance of protocol, the pain of “its not personal” and the frustration of the old Adam. On June 1st, in my ordination I saw and experienced the kingdom of our Lord. Surrounded by pastors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, I felt the community of saints celebrating my humble call that the Holy Spirit through the people of God have called me to.

As I kneeled before Padre Horacio, Bishop Rogness and Bishop Mdgella and my fellow pastors in between the font and the table, I promised with the help of God to confess. An ordination by pastors of three countries, three languages but the same Word.

As the pastors surrounded me placing their hands upon me—I felt the weight of the call through them and received the blessing all at once.

On my left were the pastors, on my right my family and friend and surrounding us the people of God… many with tears forgiving the years of waiting and thanking God for our vocation to serve God and neighbor.

The cacophony of discord that had threatened for years roared into the same Alleluia that I heard when I called my Synod to start candidacy—pure joy. As I turned to be greeted by our church—I had a smile and tears of joy, relief... of the deepest peace I have felt in my life.

Being ordained by a church that is not my own—not the part of the Body of Christ that taught me the 10 commandments, the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer… not in the language of my heart but the church where I was sent to serve and thanks to God a call that extends back to another part of the Body of Christ—back home to the ELCA and the only church I ever knew. When will I be back? The beauty is that I have not left—we are one body. We just have to get on an airplane to see one another face to face.

Thank you all for your prayers, your support, your patience and impatience in these years of waiting. Thank you for walking with me—strengthening me when I began to doubt and for rejoicing with me when I became one of your pastors.

Communion of Saints

Each Sunday we confess in the Creed that we believe in the Communion of Saints.

After Horacio and I lost our unborn child, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see the delegation that was with the ILAG during those days. But I decided after getting out of the hospital to join them for a meal. It was painful to share my pain simply by sharing my presence with them, but I also received consolation from my brothers and sisters in Christ and as the days have past many have entrusted their pain to Horacio and me, sent their shared sorrow through an email or phone call. Our pain is still real, still deep, but the church—the community of saints—is whispering the gospel into our ears. They are giving us Christ who suffers for us and with us. Our brothers and sisters answer their call to reach out and remind us that we are not alone, we are not forgotten, and we are loved.

The community of saints sometimes says the wrong things and sometimes does not know what to say but always brings us back to the cross that formed us into one body with a call to console and to give Christ to one another.

What happened (is happening) to us happens to many… too many more than one realizes. Each loss is as painful as another but no loss is suffered alone for our dear Lord grieves with us.

Keep on sharing the hope we have in Christ to us and to one another, after all you are part of the Community of Saints. Thanks be to God!

Continuation of well story

Water: Guatemala is a country, like many in the world, in which we cannot safely drink the water. It has been contaminated by companies, livestock and of course people. We as a church use water in baptism since water is necessary for life and with God’s Word claims us as children of God—cleansing us of our sin. Like bread and wine it is something from our lives, something physical to hold onto in our faith.
As I wrote last month, Nueva Guatemala has a water crisis. Their supply has been poisoned by the Palm Plantation surrounding them. Upon receiving news that Our Saviors had donated money so that they could receive the gift of water, they started working. Their well story became a story of unity and breaking down barriers.
A local plantation owner helped them find a water source which they found quickly near the common area and near a road. As they began to dig, they invited the whole community to participate since it would be water for everyone. The Roman Catholic families helped until their family members who had gone to the US to work told them that they should not be associating with the Lutherans. The church members put in 70 days of labor between all the workers—4am to 5pm—in order to dig the well. They found water at 7 meters (about 21 feet) and with the help of a pump lent to them by the same palm plantation that poisoned their water were able to pump out the water in order to dig another 2 meters (about 6 feet).
On the journey from the nearest town to the village one of the nine culverts broke—but at $50 each they community could not buy another. The trucks that pass through the village daily helped Nueva Guatemala lower the eight remaining culverts into the dug out well, leaving the last just below ground level. It was a concern that to leave the well at ground level would be dangerous since an animal could fall into the well and contaminate the well or worse a child could fall. Thankfully a neighboring plantation owner had an extra culvert equal to what the community needed and donated it to Nueva Guatemala.
They bought rope and buckets and now have water that is drinkable. The well—in dry season—was already half full of water which means that rain or no rain they will have life and life brought by a community and its neighbors coming together.
Our role as a church now is that of grace. The only sad note in this story is that the Roman Catholics stopped digging, deciding that no water was better than working with the Lutherans. Our call in Nueva Guatemala is to invite the Roman Catholics to the well. This water, this life, is the gift of our heavenly Father; it is a gift for all.
Keep praying that all will come to the well.

Side note: At the beginning of this week in Venezuela the National Guard began to open fire on University Students who were not in agreement with some of the reforms happening—closing down all radio stations not controlled by the government, restricting some health and hygiene practices of women among others. The soldiers could not enter the University so they stood at the door and fired into the University grounds. Pray that justice will return to Venezuela along with basic rights and pray for Guatemala as elections approach in September. We have candidates that are sympathetic to Chavez and pray that a just and honest candidate will be elected President of Guatemala.

Another Well Story

Blessings to you in the name of our Risen Lord.

Many bible stories begin at a well. A wife is found, a parched throat is given relief, healing is received. In Nueva Guatemala, a well story is unfolding as the faithful put their trust in the Lord and in the Lord alone.

The 14 families that form the Lutheran Church in Nueva Guatemala are humble but are people with a deep trust in the Lord and commitment to their church. In the years since they returned from Mexico and settled in the small plantation only 3 km from Mexico, they have repeatedly overcome hardship.

Isolated by distance and by lack of services, the community fell prey to a former President of Guatemala’s threat that their land would be flooded. Many decided to sell off their land that they had received as part of the Peace process at prices so low that they were practically giving it away. The leaders of the church were among those who abandoned the community along with those who could play musical instruments.

Two men stepped up to lead those who remained and together the church has begun to grow once again.

The flooding never arrived but a new threat has in the form of a palm plantation. Nueva Guatemala is now an island of green surrounded by the charred fields of the palm plantation that has been burned as far as one can see. The plantation was burned and heavy chemical fertilizers have saturated the ground.

Now a community who consciously decided not to use chemical fertilizers on their fields for the health of their families and the future of their land are already suffering from health problems from the actions of the palm plantation. In addition, by shear force the palm plantation has entered the land of the community, cutting large channels through the jungle to divert the water. The threat now is that there will be no water and what water remains will not be safe.

This month, thanks to their partner church Our Savior’s in Circle Pines, MN, they will start to dig a common well. We hope to encounter water deep enough to be clean but not to deep to be beyond our physical and financial capability to reach. We have a month, until the rains make it impossible to dig for another 9 months. A month to provide what is needed to live and with the help of our Lord and the sweat of the members of Nueva Guatemala, it is our prayer that they will receive the answer to their prayers by the side of this well.

Please keep the Augustinian Lutheran Church “San Isidro Labrador” in Nueva Guatemala in your prayers this May.