Latin American grace sightings

Being a cross-cultural God-spy opens up new possibilities for grace sightings. Grace abounds in Latin America. Here are some selected moments from our current trek through Brazil and Bolivia.

--People, maybe God’s greatest vehicle of grace: One of the best parts of my job in PRODOLA is the people we come to know, both students and faculty. I especially enjoyed working with Rafael Vallejo on his dissertation proposal. Rafael is an immigrant from the Philippines to Canada where he now works with Hispanic immigrants in Toronto. He is doing his research project on the involvement of evangelicals in Toronto with immigrants and legal immigration issues. He pastors a Presbyterian church in the city, advocates for social justice, and works in a ministry for the homeless. On the side, he is a registered chef. I am blessed and challenged by his passion for justice, his commitment to following Jesus, and his great sense of humor.

--Latin hospitality: We spent a day and night in Sao Paulo with Jorge and Elisabeth Giron, one of our PRODOLA couples. Their apartment is tiny, but they made room for us. Jorge is Guatemalan and Elisabeth comes from Chile. They are missionaries working with the Church of God in southern Brazil. We spent most of our time together talking and, of course, eating. We worshiped together Brazilian Pentecostal style in one of the local churches Jorge oversees. Their love and welcome are typical of the hospitality that I think is part of the Latin American DNA. Grace abounds.

--The rising sun lighting up the city in La Paz: The hotel where we are currently staying serves breakfast from an 8^th floor restaurant with a spectacular view of the city.

--Fresh orange juice and café con leche every morning.

--History seminar: We spent two intensive days with the leadership team of a five-year project for writing the history of the Bolivian Friends Church (INELA). There was a spirit of humility in facing the huge task before us, but also the sense that God was calling us to this work. We sense the need of the church to see how God has been blessing down through the years, to know the story of how his servants have been working with God, and also to recognize the errors and problems, confess our sins and face our future with faith and commitment. We concluded the two day retreat with a time of brokenness, prayer and gratitude.

--Surprise anniversary party: In the afternoon of the second day of the retreat, the team surprised us with a party to celebrate our 45^th anniversary. I’m grateful for the grace of a long-lived marriage and for friends who celebrate it with us.

--Good novels on my Kindle: Good books are especially helpful while waiting in airport terminals, and in the evenings after a long day’s work. Among the books I loaded up on the Kindle for this trip, I’ve enjoyed Ralph Beebe’s Cousins at War: A Civil War Novel, and two about Afghanistan: The Taliban Cricket Club by Timeri N. Murari and And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.

--Good long-distance contact with my grandkids: This includes an email invitation I received from my 10-year-old grandson, Reilly. He told me that if I wanted to correspond with any of his pets, I could use his email address and he would respond from the point of view of the animal. So I had a little exchange with Diggory, Reilly’s dog. Smart mutt. Most things that make me laugh are full of grace.

Dysfunctional families in mission

On Saturday we flew from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and today, Monday, we fly to La Paz for three weeks. Our two weeks in Brazil were intense and full. On our last day in Londrina I moderated the oral comprehensive exam of a Brazilian doctoral candidate I’ve been mentoring. Luis is a gifted theologian and psychologist and has served the last few years as president of a large interdenominational seminary in Londrina.

It’s no wonder progress in his doctoral work has been slow. This is the case with so many of our students, all leaders in their own spheres of influence, with little spare time. In addition, they have families they are committed to. Luis and his wife have two young boys who demand more time with their daddy.

Luis wants to focus his research in the area of family, bringing together his background in theology and psychology to investigate the role of the family in fulfilling God’s mission in the world (what we call the missio Dei). In his original proposal he planned to do field research among Christian families in Londrina, showing how the dysfunctionality of his case studies hindered their participation in the missio Dei. This carries a presupposition that God uses healthy families for mission. We’re been working for some time on refining this proposal, bringing it up to Ph.D. level. (Proposal development is extremely difficult.)

What Luis presented on Friday has evolved considerably from the original proposal with its focus on dysfunctionality; it is more objective, open to let the research make discoveries. But something very interesting came out in the actual defense.  One aspect of Luis’ research will be a hermeneutical case study of two biblical families, the intergenerational family of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob/Joseph and that of David/his parents/his many wives and children. One examining professor noted that the Bible is full of dysfunctional families. Yet these are the very people and families that God uses in the missio Dei.

This turns Luis’ original proposal on its head. Instead of exploring how God uses healthy functional families in mission, it seems we need to investigate God’s use of dysfunctional families and flawed people to carry out his purposes in the world.

A closer look at the Bible reveals very few “normal,” “healthy” (as defined by cultural norms) families, or even people, for that matter. Yet God took Abraham, David and a host of others and co-labored with them in moving history forward on paths of justice, righteousness, and salvation in its fullest sense. The story continues through the pages of the New Testament, and today dysfunctional families and flawed people (like me and you) work together with God in kingdom purposes. Maybe we’re all God has to work with.

Sometimes I wonder is there exists such a wonder as a “functional family” or even a “normal person.” Maybe we’re all on a continuum, gradually being transformed into the image of Christ, as Paul writes in 2 Cor. 3:18. And this image possibly has little to do with either functionality or normality. In the meantime (that slowly, by grace, is becoming kindtime), I’m glad God can use me. Just as I am. And as I am becoming.

Spirituality and coffee

Spirituality and coffee go together. Really. I’m one of those detestable early morning persons. If I’ve had a decent night’s sleep, I wake up at 5:30, happy and looking forward to a new day. (Please don’t hate me. Please keep reading.) After brief morning ablutions, I grind the coffee beans (fresh, organic), put water in the machine, flip the switch, and let the aroma begin to waft like incense. This is part of my morning worship sequence. In the fullness of time, I choose a certain mug (the one I bought in Russia), fill it up, taking my coffee black, and go to my special chair in the living room.

This is one of the best parts of the day. All I need is a stretch of silence, my Bible, my place…and a cup of coffee.

I’m writing this from Londrina, Brazil, where we’ve been involved in an intense week of doctoral seminars with men and women from different parts of Latin America. Yesterday, Saturday, we took the day off to play and visited a 1000 hectare coffee plantation in the middle of the southern Brazilian countryside. The owner and manager of Fazenda Palmeira, Cornelia Gamerschlag, personally spent the day with us, escorting us around the plantation, explaining the different processes, even letting us spend time picking coffee beans.

During her lecture we learned that Fazenda Palmeira is a member of a Fair Trade cooperative. This means that the 50 workers are treated well and paid a decent wage, that care is taken of the environment, and that the quality and integrity of the product is not compromised. It also means that the large plantations, like Fazenda Palmeira, respect the rights of the small plantations which make up the majority of the other members of the cooperative. At least 51% of the coffee in any Fair Trade sale must be supplied by the small plantations. To me, this is an important connection between social justice, spirituality and coffee.

Our Brazilian colleagues later told us that this is the exception in Brazil, that exploitation of workers is the norm. They even expressed doubts as to the claims made about Fazenda Palmeira, but, for the moment, I choose to be a believer.

Here are some other coffee factoids we learned:

--The best coffee, made from mature red beans and processed correctly, is more sweet than bitter. No sugar needs to be added.

--Three cups of good coffee each day postpones the effects of aging.

--For young people, a daily cup of coffee with milk sharpens mental processes.

--The best and most expensive coffee in the world is found only on the island of Sumatra in

Indonesia and, more recently, in the state of Espírito Santo in Brazil. It is made with the help of a type of rat, known locally as a luqui. This rat eats coffee beans by night, than poops them out before morning. Workers gather the rat poop the next day, remove the beans, and begin the processes that result in coffee. A liter of these special beans costs $1500.00 and a cup of the coffee, $100.00. The flavor is said to be like a combination of coffee, chocolate and grapes. This is not a joke.

We had breakfast at the plantation. The coffee was delicious. We were assured that it was not Holy Spirit Rat Poop Coffee. (They couldn’t afford to serve it.)

While I’m at it, I must share a quote the tour guide supplied, from a French history of coffee. The author, one Jules Michelet, informs that, “The consumption of coffee is sublime. It is powerful nourishment for the brain, and differs from alcoholic beverages in that it augments the purity and lucidity of one’s breakfast. It eliminates clouds that would obscure imagination, frees from the weight of darkness and illumines the reality of all things with the brilliance of truth.” (This is my English translation from the Spanish version we were given which was translated from a Portuguese translation of the original French. Its precision is not guaranteed. Sorry, Jules.)

I will long remember this day. And yes, I am serious about the link between spirituality and coffee. Coffee is one of the many graces of life. It helps me to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Picking the beans

"Tossing" the beans

Drying the beans

Cornelia explains the different qualities and stages of maturity.

Back "home" in Londrina

On being distinguished

Earlier this week I received an email from a student addressed to “Distinguida y apreciada Dra. Nancy.” I appreciate knowing that Roberto appreciates me, but finding myself addressed as “distinguished” gives me pause. I picture a rather staid elderly man with a mustache, smoking a pipe, standing in a library. Quite distinguished.

My mind immediately went into overdrive, exploring possible roots and meanings. Assuming that “dis” was a negative prefix, I asked what “tinguised” might mean and if it was related to “extinguished.” Even at this preliminary stage of research, I decided I would rather be distinguished than extinguished.

With my friends Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to the rescue, I began to dig. (Please understand that this sort of “research” is to me the serious business of play. I relish it.) I discovered that the prefix of “distinguished” is not the negative “dis” but “di,” a Greek/French prefix meaning “twice.”  The original meaning of “stinguere” (Greek/Latin/French) is “to stick or prick.” The root sense of “distinguish,” then, is “to separate in two by pricking.” The image that comes to mind is cutting an apple in two with a sharp knife. Thus I distinguish the apple before sharing it with you.

Of course we don’t use the word that way today. Among the shades of contemporary meaning, the one that comes the closest to Roberto’s salutation is “possessing distinction; marked by conspicuous excellence or eminence; remarkable, eminent; famous, renowned, celebrated; of high standing.” Can you see why I hesitate to claim this adjective for myself?

I realize that Roberto is acting appropriately according to his culture. This is how a Latin American of a certain generation addresses professors and other worthies. He is being polite and perhaps a little kind, to boot.

While I’m still in the dictionary, let me bring to your attention two related words, the first being “extinguished.” The prefix “ex” intensifies the root word, “stinguere,” but here the OED traces it back to a Latin root meaning “quench.” I’m not sure what happened to “stick or prick.” The first definition intrigues me: to extinguish is to put out anything that shines (like fire or light). It can also refer to silencing a voice or someone’s hopes and dreams. The final grim meaning reminds me of why I’d rather be distinguished: “to put to a total end, to do away with completely, to blot out of existence.” The image that comes to mind here, bringing back the “prick,” is stabbing someone to death.

The other related word is “instigate.” Here the OED goes back to the Greek root, “stig,” which is definitively “prick;” the prefix “in” gives it a forward motion. Today the word means “to spur or urge on; stir up, stimulate, incite, goad,” mostly referring to something evil. The image is one of a farmer with a stick, goading his cattle down the road, not an evil image unless the farmer is using too much force.

I sincerely hope that jealousy over my distinguished state doesn’t instigate someone to extinguish me.

On a serious note, I want to say something about Roberto who, to my mind, is a truly distinguished person. A Guatemalan, he has served his denomination, the Church of God, for many years as regional and international superintendent, overseeing some 3000 congregations in Central America and Mexico. While no longer in this position, he still teaches in several seminaries and pastors a local congregation.

Six years ago Roberto, with his wife and children, planted a new church in one of Guatemala City’s more violent barrios. The church today has some 110 members, a modest size, but people in the congregation have planted five other congregations. Roberto meets once a week with the leaders of all six churches to pray, plan and encourage one another. This year alone he has baptized over 80 new Christians.

All of this, however, isn’t what distinguishes Roberto. Roberto has become distinguished through suffering. And by the attitude he shows in the face of his suffering.

When Roberto first became a part of our doctoral program in 2008, he was in remission from cancer, but the illness has continued. There were times when he showed up to our bi-annual seminars fighting with the chemotherapy, but not wanting to miss the encounter with his colleagues. Then in 2010, he was involved in an auto accident that still affects him physically and economically.

But it isn’t all the suffering or even his impressive history of ministry that come to mind when I think of Roberto. It’s his joy. It’s his spirit of service and his words of encouragement to other students and even faculty. It’s the times I listened to him pray over other people for physical healing, even as he battled cancer in his own body. (Roberto is Pentecostal and exercises the gift of healing, reminding me of Henri Nouwen’s phrase, “the wounded healer.”)

He is doing his doctoral research on the topic of the influence of the local congregation toward social transformation in places of urban violence. But in his last letter he told me that he will be moving forward on this project somewhat slowly. The cancer is back and he is currently under treatment. He claims that having the research project helps him focus on something other than pain. He asked for prayer.

I am humbled before my brother, friend and student, humbled before one who is distinguished in ways that go beyond any dictionary definition. I pray God’s mercy on his life, even as I express my gratitude for one who has given me a new image of what it means to be distinguished.

Three brave women

At this writing, Hal and I are in Lima, Peru for two weeks of intensive seminars with our PRODOLA doctoral students. As usual, the highlight for us is getting to know these men and women. In the new 2012 cohort group, we have twelve men and two women. These join seven students from previous cohorts. In the week we’ve already been together, the group has melded into a community of scholars and friends. We’ve become family.

Although in the minority, the women among us make a major contribution in both the class dynamics and in their own research projects. Let me introduce you to three of them.

 Nancy, Eva, Irma and Margarita

As a child, Margarita F. emigrated with her siblings from Mexico to Los Angeles, and she now has US citizenship. Margarita is the first Roman Catholic to become part of PRODOLA. She is strongly drawn to work toward communication and cooperation between all branches of the Christian church, and her perspective adds an important piece to the conversation.

Margarita currently holds the position of Parrish Life Director in the Sacred Heart Church of Los Angeles, basically a pastoral role. She is also active as a life skills coach and advocate for Hispanic immigrants in the greater LA area. As if that were not enough, Margarita is the mother of six. Behind her dynamic personality, as well as her obvious leadership gifts, one senses a kind, compassionate heart. Her ready smile warms and invites others to enter her world. 

Irma E. from Peru has been a missionary among the Candoshi tribal peoples of her own country. She lived among the people for 18 years, speaks their language, and offers a low-key holistic service of presence, teaching, and advocacy. She currently works in support of a Latin American organization, Red Transamazonica, that represents indigenous Amazonian peoples of nine countries. Irma has a special concern to see indigenous Christians doing theological reflection from their own cultural perspectives. Simplicity, compassion, and a great sense of humor combine to make Irma a person other people love to be around, myself included.

Several years ago Hal and I gathered around the dining room table with Eva M. and her husband, Juan.  They were wondering if they should apply to become PRODOLA students. This took place in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where Juan and Eva serve in Paz y Esperanza, a Christian NGO that works with local churches in marginal barrios, seeking to help the church find concrete ways to minister to the many needs of people around them. Along with other groups, they are currently working with a Friends church.

Juan and Eva entered the PRODOLA program in 2010, and they are here these two weeks to work on their dissertation proposals. I have the privilege of being Eva’s research mentor, so we will be working closely together these next few years. Related to her ministry, Eva wants to do research on women in Santa Cruz who have suffered domestic violence.  She hopes to discover the images of God these woman have, as a key to understanding them more deeply and ministering to their needs.  It’s a fairly complex theme, but with Eva’s background in psychology and theology, she should make a significant contribution toward addressing a wide-spread problem throughout Latin America.

Juan and Eva are fun to be around. They have a four-year-old son, Felipe, whom they’ve left at home with Grandma these two weeks.  In the middle of the intensity of this seminar experience, they still find time to worry about Felipe, hoping he’s not missing them too much (and maybe afraid that he isn’t).

Margarita, Irma and Eva are three valiant women, and I am blessed to call them friends.

They are three of the more than 90 students working on their doctoral degrees in theology, all of them motivated by the needs of people in Latin America. We take PRODOLA’s theme seriously: “More preparation for better service.” May it be so.  What a privilege to be a small part of this movement.