Starting to Tell the Story

After last Wednesday, I was without internet access and so didn't have the chance to post anything else to the blog. So I just want to update things as we concluded last week in El Salvador and traveled home yesterday. First, we finished pouring the footers in the design to limit seismic related building damage. In the earthquakes a few years ago, the collapse of traditional adobe and wood structures in the more rural areas contributed a great deal to injury and death. So our footers were dug to a depth of 90 cms with rebar reinforcements running throughout the footers and then extending up into the block walls. The design is such that seismic related damage should be limited. It was harder to do the project in this fashion but in the long run it offers a better living option. On Friday as we went to Puente Azul to say goodbye and to worship with the community there, the local masons were laying the first two courses of block before backfilling with dirt. That was exciting to see and I hope that we will be able to see pictures at some point of the completed parsonage. As I mentioned above, we worshipped with the community. Pastor Luis asked me to preach and I offered a short meditation/sermon on Jesus' new commandment (John 13:34). It was challenging to preach with a translator since I kept wanting to rush ahead but I had to force myself to stop and wait. Marco did a fantastic job translating and with everything else on the trip. What jewels he, Wilson, and Gus all are. After the short sermon, we presented the church with a guitar and some clothing that Pastor Luis will distribute in the community to those who have need. We also present Pastor Luis with a cot, sheets, pillow, lanterns, and 2 camp showers for his personal use in his ministry. He is sleeping in the church while the parsonage is being built. In a U.S. church that would be no big deal as someone has surely donated a used sofa for about every classroom. But in Puente Azul, that means sleeping on a hard tile floor with no electricity, padding, bedding, or storage space of any kind. So as we finished up, we celebrated with the children of the community by taking turns with pinatas filled with candy. There was a mad rush as each one was broken open.

On Friday evening, we had dinner with Bishop Gomez and his wife at their home and we heard some more of his personal story including his disappearance during the war. It was a great evening that I believe everyone enjoyed. Saturday was a day spent at the artisans' market then at the beach. I went to the market, made a few purchases and then stayed at the synod guest house with a few others who didn't go to the beach. Those who went said it was fantastic with 10-12 waves. Then Sunday, we spent the day traveling. It was good to return home late last evening.

As I told the group on Saturday evening at worship, the trip has offered more than I can process - at least with any expediency. But at the same time it is not too much or overwhelming. I think in the long run that is good that it is more than can be processed quickly. For me that means, I will have to let things cook within me and new connections will be made as I recall and remember different parts and experiences. I'll share what I can in this forum. Also, look for and listen to the reflections of others in the context of worship and beyond over the next several weeks if you happen to be familiar with Central Christian Church.

Will, my son, came running up to me at the airport last night, gave me a big hug and said, "Daddy, I've missed you so much!" We've spent most of today together and it has been great to be with him. I missed him a lot as well as my partner and spouse, Traci. Haley, my daughter, was with me on the trip and I greatly appreciated sharing the experience with her.

For now, I'm off to spend some more time with them.

Birthdays and Anniversarys

It is Wednesday in Sonsonate and Puente Azul and part of the world west of here. It was hump day for us. We were all moving slowly with aching bones, joints, and muscles as we headed to the bus this morning. We did make it though to the village where we finished the trenches and poured the initial portion of the foundation. There will be two more steps in the foundation process before the walls go up on the parsonage. We will not see those walls go up this trip but we will finish the foudation's second step tomorrow. On Friday, we have planned a worship service with the church. I'm preaching on short notice and we will also present some gifts to the church at that time. That's about it for the update today. Now please forgive me as I backtrack in my reflections. I am unable to get these thoughts out of my head. Perhaps I need to get them down on paper or at least on the web.

We've experienced a bit of everything on this trip. Sunday we celebrated Denise and Shari's birthdays with a surprise of two birthday cakes after we shared dinner in Sonsonate. Rob and Laura also celebrated their 18th (I think I've got that correct) wedding anniversary that day. I've left off the last names because there really is no need to include them; the folks at Central Christian Church know who I am writing about; and others who don't know them only need to be aware that they are part of our mission team. So...

I also experienced an anniversary on Sunday. On July 17, 2005, I celebrated worship for the first time as the pastor of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lebanon, Indiana. In that first service, I read Sandy Sasso's book, God In Between, and talked with the kids and the adults both about where and how we encounter God - that we encounter God between our interactions and community with one another. This year on July 16, 2006, I was sitting on the chancel of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, the Bishop's home church, sweating profusely mostly because of nerves and hoping that I wouldn't mess up too badly. Then I remembered the anniversary - that it had been 1 year ago that I had offered that message through the sermon and worship. When I had nervously stepped from the chancel into the midst of the congregation at Central Christian Church on July 17, 2005, I was hoping that at some point I would step with them into the midst of a mission experience where we would encounter God in between us and all of the others we met. I just never imagined that it would mean stepping onto the chancel at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. It has been more powerful for me than I can give words to express.

I hope the anniversary of this relationship always brings such energy and vision for the future and happens in ever increasingly unexpected ways for me even if never for anyone else.

How bad is it?

First an update and then some reflection. It is Tuesday evening about 6:15 local time and we are just finishing up our showers and preparing for dinner. The hotel has an internet cafe but the modem got fried by the tropical storm that passed through Sonsonate on Sunday afternoon. So I haven't been able to put anything up on the blog since we left the Lutheran Synod in San Salvador.

It was an interesting ride to Sonsonate on Sunday. Water was flowing inches deep across the road in most places and feet deep in some places. That storm forced us to pull over at one point in time. Sunday evening was for settling in and the beginnings of sick stomachs for a few. Nothing major. A few more experienced today. On Monday at 8:00 we left for Puente Azul. Upon arrival we quickly discovered that the foundation and the floor for the parsonage that we were to build was not completed nor even started. But that is no big deal, you go with the flow in this situation. So we discovered that we would be digging the footers and preparing the foundation and floor for the parsonage. Marco quickly laid out the lines for the footers and we began digging and moving rocks. There were two huge ones in the middle of the layout. They were real fun - NOT!!!! But we did manage to get one out and the other we are still just breaking off enough of the top so that the floor will pour over it. The footers have to be 36" deep and that has been a real challenge. We've been digging down through rocks (ranging in size from a basketball to a basketball backboard), hard clay, and fire ants. We're almost deep enough in most places. Tomorrow we'll finish that up and start pouring the footers.

Puente Azul has no electricity and is extremely rural and poor. The dogs and the chickens running around the village all look like they are ill and starving. It is pretty rugged and very poor conditions in which these brothers and sisters live. Some in our group have been surprised by the conditions here. In conversations, some have said that they have been surprised by the severity of the poverty. Others have said, they are surprised that the poverty here is not as severe as they thought it would be. Across the board among those commenting though, there seems to be a consensus that even living in poverty that the people are happy. What might that very observation have to teach us as culture and as a church in that culture?

In recent weeks, immigration has been a hot topic of conversation in the western hemisphere. In the United States, the conversation has been about the question of illegal immigration and how to handle all of the illegal immigrants already living in the United States. A variety of perspectives have been offered up via the media. On the south side of the U.S. border the conversation has been different. I can't say for the rest of Central America but I can tell you what we've heard in El Salvador. Leaders in the churches and communities that we've talked with don't want to see the people emigrate. The Lutheran Synod held a youth assembly last Saturday to which 80 youth from across the country came. It was an event designed to encourage them to not attempt to emigrate. At the gathering, we heard a letter from a young man, a high school aged teenage, who was currently in prison in Crystal City, Texas, after his 3rd attempt to cross the border. His mother and sisters wrenchingly wept as the letter was read. The leaders in the Lutheran Church don't want to see people emigrate because it robs the country of its capital - not finanicial capital but the resource of people, ones who can make a difference.

At the youth event, Pastor Sandra who works in the human rights office of the Lutheran Church spoke encouraging the youth not to emigrate but if they chose to do so anyway to please contact them so that the church could be of assistance if they ran into trouble. She was weeping as she uttered these words. Marco leaned over to me and told me that she was crying because her husband had emigrated and was now living in California and pushing a broom for a living. Marco also shared with me that this man is a well respected attorney in El Salvador who has received awards from the bar association and other groups for his work as a lawyer. His situation is that he refuses to charge or force poor folks to pay their bills for his legal work and he refuses to be the kind of attorney that only serves the intersts of those who can make him wealthy. This man is one who could make a tremendous difference in this country - not by the wealth of his wallet but the wealth of his integrity, conviction, and ability to see a different tomorrow. But at some point he couldn't see a different tomorrow apart from emigrating to the U.S.

How bad is it? I've seen worse, but I've also seen much better. This question though is only the beginning of the discussion. From there it can take off towards immigration/emigration issues, peace and justice issues, and questions about our own relationship to these situations as well as many others. This is a powerful trip for us as a group and we hope that we can share some of our experience with the congregation at home as well as others. For now, keep us in your prayers and please pray for no more rocks!

One Bread, One Body

This post will be quick. There was no chance to get on a keyboard yesterday and we are heading out to church in just a few minutes at the church that the Lutheran Bishop of El Salvador leads. Later today we leave for Sonsonate and Puente Azul. Everyone is ready and anxious to get there.

On Friday, one of the staff from the Lutheran Synod spoke with us about the ministry of the church here and specifically we had questions about the organizations of groups and the response of the government to the ministry that the church is doing. It led to questions about unity and how groups are bound together, about what happens when groups organize in El Salvador, and what happens when groups organize as a part of the church. This conversation obviously led to reflection about our own unity and organization and our ministry as a congregation in Lebanon, Indiana.

My question, not asked aloud until this moment, is, ¨So what does that mean if we are the ONE body of Christ? Are we really willing to go that far and truly be the ONE body?

In the afternoon on Friday, I sat and watched as our group of teenagers and a group of younger kids who live here at the Synod all played Hide-n-Go Seek and soccer with one another. Watching them, all of the barriers were overcome. Smile broke out all over the place along with healthy doses of laughter. They played as ONE, they laughed as ONE, they were becoming the ONE body of Christ. At dinner, Vannessa asked why those who cooked for us didn´t eat with us. It is a question about being ONE, I believe. At worship on Friday night, 6 of those same kids who live here at the synod joined us for worship and communion. We all partook together. It was a powerful image and moment for me.

I suspect I wasn´t the only one for whom that is the case.

There are more stories that I want to share but time on the computer is limited and I´ve already had the experience of a couple of power failures. So, I´m posting and will add more as soon as I am able.

We´re Here in El Salvador

I wrote this post yesterday but just as I was hitting the post button the power went out and I lost the whole thing. So here goes another attempt at it.

The trip yesterday went well and we arrived in San Salvador after a drive from the international airport in San Salvador. For the most part everything went very smoothly.

I am so excited about being here in El Salvador. Marco and I were talking about our schedule for Friday and we made plans to visit the Romero sites as well as the Catholic University in San Salvador. These places are important to me because it was around such events as the assassination of Archbishop Romero that I discovered that the church was more than a place to gather on Sundays and had a message of real Good News to share with those who are poor and downtrodden. As I learned about Romero´s death and then the subsequent deaths here, I discovered different and refreshing ideas about who the church can be and is in the world today. Bishop Gomez of the Lutheran Synod sounds like a man along the same lines as Bishop Romero. It is the hospitality of the Lutheran Synod that makes possible this trip.
Several years ago, the bishop disappeared for a period of time evidently because of his outspokenness about the Gospel. We heard some more about the social justice work that the
Marco also shared with me that the pastor in Puente Azul is bi-lingual and that we should be able to explore the possibility of developing a longer term relationship with that congregation. That excites me! It looks like we will be working on a parsonage and another out-building for the church. Right now the pastor cannot live in Puente Azul but must commute some distance. With a parsonage, that could change.

Please forgive any mis-spellings as Í´m working on an international keyboard and trying to get this done as quickly as possible before the power goes out or somehting else happens. As I am able, I´ll add more to the blog so check back.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It has been a few weeks since I posted anything. Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men!

There was a week at church camp in that time. It was outstanding by the way. Traci and I served as counselors at our regional camp for a camp designed for grandparents and grandchildren. It was just wonderful. If you ever get the chance to do something like this - Do It! We had a great time and our son Will went along with us. He's been asking at least once a week since we returned when he could go back.

Then there was a week of vacation squeezed in there. It was a fast one, but renewing.

In the intervening time, it was the catch up game for a pastor. Checking on folks, getting things ready for various services, some pastoral emergencies, as well as some other things. This week has been all about preparing to leave for a mission trip to El Salvador. We have 23 adults and youth from the church going down to work on a church building at Puente Azul, northwest of San Salvador, near the city of Sonsonate. We are excited and a bit nervous. There may be a chance of posting some blog comments during the trip. We've been told that internet cafes are readily accessible. If I can, I'll post a comment or two while we are away. If not, I'll add some posts related to the trip when I return.

Please keep us in your prayers as we make this journey.