A change in worlds… May 2008

Last Sunday as we arrived to worship in el Porvenir, a truck and two pick-ups of soldiers were in the village square—no police presence with them. The church coordinator explained that they come every day at 5am and are in the mountains as well patrolling because the violence has gotten so bad. The church was hot as incense filled the sanctuary and the neighbor’s chickens and ducks pattered on the tin roof above us. A teamsters strike began that day as well… there in no gasoline or food entering Guatemala City because the teamsters want to be allowed to enter the City at any hour without restrictions for rush hours. The standstill has left gas stations and grocery stores empty.
The following day I arrived in Minnesota… which is so green even after a long endless winter but there are trees and grass and living things not just concrete and more concrete… and no soldiers on the street corners. 35 is still under construction and food prices as rising here as they are in Guatemala… some common problems.
Our daily life enters into our life as church very clearly this Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost on Sunday; it is a day, a season, of the church year that I have new appreciation for now that I live in Guatemala and worship, preach and administer the sacraments in Spanish.
This April for the National Council Meeting and classes several of the newer ILAG churches sent representatives. They had been catechists in their former churches and were given one or two classes and told to teach the faith. As the five days passed, they received classes on the organization of the church, working in community, the Lord’s Prayer etc. Several came to Padre Horacio, fearfully and asked in the form of a confession if they had sinned all these years as they prepared people for baptism, first communion, and confirmation without understanding what they were teaching. I have rarely seen grown men so fearful, with so much weight on their shoulders.
Padre responded to each that no they had not sinned—they had taught with what they were given. That if someone was at fault it was those who had failed to prepare them. Now they have the opportunity to learn and teach in good faith and continue to seek more education.
My piece of the National Council Meetings and classes is to teach the catechism. In my class on the Lord’s Prayer we ended up getting only through the first three petitions because the leaders were so interested in learning and applying to their lives and churches what they were learning. I have realized recently that the catechism has become more familiar to me in Spanish than in English, yet to hear the words of forgiveness, of blessing in English still humbles me with the love of Christ who sent us an Advocate—to sigh for us, guide us, illuminate us. One Spirit working through the Word for one people made one in Christ. I don’t feel so far away from the peace I so often have to hope for rather than see in Guatemala.
This lesson I learned had me change my teaching and have the leaders read the passages of the bible that I presented in both Spanish and Q’quechi so that they would understand much deeper the lesson. It is not only me who clings to my mother tongue as the language of my faith… yet like them my faith is becoming by-lingual out of necessity.
We prayed each day before our meals in a different language… I believe we managed to have 5 or 6 different languages represented. After my first day of classes on the Lord’s Prayer, I asked the Q’quechi leaders how to say Amen in their language. Five of them got together and worked on writing in on the white board, correcting each other so that the spelling was perfect. The finished product: jo’kan taxaq. They grasped onto the new understanding of Amen with such faith and wonder that they could finish the prayer with such hope and assurance that it will be as they pray, that they are listened and cared for by their Lord.
These men and women between 16 and 85 returned to their homes content and thirsty for more. They were honest about the challenges of shepherding a church but trusted in the presence of our Lord in their lives and ministry and the guidance of the Holy Spirit… as we hear in 1 Corinthians 12:3 “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit has hold of these leaders and it is all of our prayer that they will be guided to be church rooted in Christ… the Spirit of Pentecost where we live our faith daily were God calls us to be… and in many many languages.