Easter Greetings from Mexico! I hope this finds each of you well during this season of new beginnings. Spring in the Midwest is my favorite time of year: the snow melts and the ground and trees turn green, the short cold days give way to warmer and longer days, and new life appears every single day until the corn is ready for harvest in late July.
Here in Mexico, we too are in the midst of the country’s most celebrated season of Lent and Easter. Schools are on break for two weeks, the pace of Mexico City slows as people migrate to families and vacation spots anywhere outside of the metropolis, and Cuernavaca’s population increases during this time.
The weather here makes me long for the spring season in the North. Cuernavaca at the beginning of the hot and dry season, where the land goes from a lush green to a crusty brown, and people head for the relief of the shade.
Life in Mexico for Andrea and me continues to fly by. 2010 has been quite busy thus far. In January, the Immersion Program hosted two groups from the U.S., which pretty much took care of the month for me. In February, we took the Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers to the U.S.-Mexico border for an immersion experience. It was an opportunity for the volunteers to make some connections between the reality in which they have lived for six months and the realities on the border. It was a full five days that left everyone exhausted and full, both mentally and emotionally.
After the border trip ended with the volunteers, Andrea and I had the great opportunity to visit several sponsoring congregations in Tucson and Phoenix. During our Lenten visits, we met people with a variety of backgrounds. Our conversations took place over what amounted to buckets of soup, mounds of salad, and jugs of lemonade during the two weeks. We were welcomed into worship, and shared snippets of our ministry and experiences in Mexico. For me, the experience of visiting so many congregations was life-giving, in that we were able to finally put the faces to the names of those communities of faith who have committed to supporting our ministry in Mexico.
Of the many questions we heard over the course of our visits, one of the most popular was, “When are you due, Andrea!?” To say the least, Andrea’s pregnancy has gone well. We’ve recently begun attending weekly birthing classes with our midwife, which, if there was any lingering denial of parenthood on my part, has truly been eye opening, informative, and a settling dose of reality. Besides all that we’ve learned thus far, I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to hear other soon-to-be parents ask questions and express the same concerns that Andrea and I share. So, June 17 – the due date – will come soon, and we continue to prepare in blessed anticipation.
There is also big news for me personally in my mission service. I’ve decided to leave the ELCA Immersion Program in Mexico City to serve as Associate Pastor at La Iglesia Luterana del Buen Pastor – The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church – in Mexico City. This move comes at a time when the Immersion Program has seen a decline in delegations coming to Mexico, and El Buen Pastor has expressed the desire to have an English-speaking pastor serve their community of faith.
While I will miss working with visiting delegations, I’m enthusiastic about this opportunity to serve as this congregation’s pastor. This transition only affects my day-to-day ministry, and does not affect how long we plan on staying in Mexico. We plan on staying at least through 2012, if not longer. So, this is a big transition for me, through which I continue to work. Your prayers and thoughts for me, the Immersion Program, and El Buen Pastor are greatly appreciated, particularly during the next several months.
As my ministry with the congregation becomes more defined, I will surely let you know more details. At this point I know that it will include preaching, teaching, and other responsibilities typical to congregational ministry. I also know that one of my main foci will be to reach out to and to serve the ex-pat population of the community. The congregation is small, and has historically been bi-lingual and multi-cultural, serving not only the Lutheran population of Mexico City, but also the general protestant population. To get a better idea of the community in which I will be serving, please visit their website at iglesialuterana.org.mx. I look forward to sharing with you more about El Buen Pastor and their ministry to the city of Mexico as I settle into my place there.
In the mean time, the calendar is quite full! Andrea and I will be traveling to the Midwest (just in time for some spring!) for a few weeks in April. Andrea and I will visit Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Indiana and Augustana Lutheran Church in Minnesota, where Andrea plans to preach and we will share about our ministries in Mexico. If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you there! We will also be at the annual Discernment-Interview-Placement event for 2010-2011 Young Adults in Global Mission candidates during the second full week of April. Please keep these young people, the country coordinators, and the ELCA Global Mission staff members in your prayers during this week!
We will also be in Eau Claire, WI, April 23-24, presenting at an ELCA Glocal Mission Event designed to bring people together from global and local contexts in order to teach and learn from one another about how we can better serve God’s people around the world – including in our own neighborhoods. So yes, the first few months of 2010 have been full indeed! I have a feeling that come mid-June, life will take on yet another level of full-ness, and I look forward to sharing this with you. As always, thank you for all of your support for Andrea and myself.
In God’s Peace,
Luke
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
What Keeps Me Up at Night by Luke
Late February 2010
It's 1:30am and it's been exactly 5 months of so since writing...Tonight I sit up thinking about the baby and I've convinced myself it's a boy. It don't know why - we've asked the doctor not to know - it's just a hunch. So, the thinking began...
Thoughts wandering around my restless mind and body are about the question of circumcision. I´ve convinced myself that this is the entire process: pain, screaming, passing out, crying, plop right into the arms of the midwife. Then labor starts! Andrea pushes and sweats a lot. Then the much anticipated words, "It's a boy!" Anyone and everyone in the room is astounded at the miracle of life (or simply too exhausted to really give a damn), and then...then...circumcision?
I think to myself laying in bed the phrase that breaks the silence of the awstruck people looking at the most beautiful baby in the world, "Welcome to the world big boy! Time to get circumcised!" Certainly there's some break for the boy, no? Or does it get done right then and there? That's not a decsion to give a 12 or 13 year old is it? My thinking is if you're going to do it, do it when he won't remember!
Now I'm sleepless just wondering how the whole thing goes down.
My mind wanders skipping from topic to topic as fast and steady as we breathe.
Andrea breathes in...What color eyes?
I breathe out...What color hair?
Breathe in...Dear God, please 10 fingers and 10 toes, you know, the ones we've been feeling kick now for a few weeks.
Breathe in...I imagine changing diapers one day and the circumcised boy pisses all over me.
Breathe out...I get mad, but then see his face and my anger melts away leaving a smile.
Breathe in...One small clean-up along the way.
Then I think about earthquakes - Haiti and Chili. For goodness sake, what the heck happens if right before, or in the middle, of the circumcision?! The birth?!
My mind imagines Andrea being in labor, covered in the richest sweat of her life as she´s about to give birth and then POW! The Big One hits Mexico, leaving us outside when the boy plops out. Jesus!
Bricks are falling, flash lights in hand, buckets of water, stacks of towels, in-laws, a midwife, all chaos surrounds us and Lord willing a little baby joins us for the craziness. S¿$%!
It's cold outside here in Tucson. My handwriting sucks today. So really, besides the earthquake and 20 beautiful digits, what do we do about circumcision? What if there's a slip of the knife? How do you explain that one? With, "Sorry son, there was an earthquake." That will be of little comfort to one in junior high gym class...but really, what a story!
What a story indeed - even if there's not earthquake and all goes fine in record time (four hours). A beautiful baby. Crazy.
I imagine the love that I know will surround that little boy in the first few moments of life will be pure and rich. My hope is that that love can be spread out just a bit through the world which is clearly so thirsty for love.
It will be a good day, 20 digits or none. Grey hair or blue. Crying or quiet. Both sets of parents or none. Boy or Girl. A day much anticipated since the first positive prego test and the first desernable kick.
Oh man, what if Andrea went into labor on the plane a day from now!? Well, enough questions for now. I'll have to save that one for another one of these nights. The End.
FYI: Andrea and I still do not know if it´s a boy or a girl. We´ve talked since about circumcision...something neither of us really considered until this sleepless night.
It's 1:30am and it's been exactly 5 months of so since writing...Tonight I sit up thinking about the baby and I've convinced myself it's a boy. It don't know why - we've asked the doctor not to know - it's just a hunch. So, the thinking began...
Thoughts wandering around my restless mind and body are about the question of circumcision. I´ve convinced myself that this is the entire process: pain, screaming, passing out, crying, plop right into the arms of the midwife. Then labor starts! Andrea pushes and sweats a lot. Then the much anticipated words, "It's a boy!" Anyone and everyone in the room is astounded at the miracle of life (or simply too exhausted to really give a damn), and then...then...circumcision?
I think to myself laying in bed the phrase that breaks the silence of the awstruck people looking at the most beautiful baby in the world, "Welcome to the world big boy! Time to get circumcised!" Certainly there's some break for the boy, no? Or does it get done right then and there? That's not a decsion to give a 12 or 13 year old is it? My thinking is if you're going to do it, do it when he won't remember!
Now I'm sleepless just wondering how the whole thing goes down.
My mind wanders skipping from topic to topic as fast and steady as we breathe.
Andrea breathes in...What color eyes?
I breathe out...What color hair?
Breathe in...Dear God, please 10 fingers and 10 toes, you know, the ones we've been feeling kick now for a few weeks.
Breathe in...I imagine changing diapers one day and the circumcised boy pisses all over me.
Breathe out...I get mad, but then see his face and my anger melts away leaving a smile.
Breathe in...One small clean-up along the way.
Then I think about earthquakes - Haiti and Chili. For goodness sake, what the heck happens if right before, or in the middle, of the circumcision?! The birth?!
My mind imagines Andrea being in labor, covered in the richest sweat of her life as she´s about to give birth and then POW! The Big One hits Mexico, leaving us outside when the boy plops out. Jesus!
Bricks are falling, flash lights in hand, buckets of water, stacks of towels, in-laws, a midwife, all chaos surrounds us and Lord willing a little baby joins us for the craziness. S¿$%!
It's cold outside here in Tucson. My handwriting sucks today. So really, besides the earthquake and 20 beautiful digits, what do we do about circumcision? What if there's a slip of the knife? How do you explain that one? With, "Sorry son, there was an earthquake." That will be of little comfort to one in junior high gym class...but really, what a story!
What a story indeed - even if there's not earthquake and all goes fine in record time (four hours). A beautiful baby. Crazy.
I imagine the love that I know will surround that little boy in the first few moments of life will be pure and rich. My hope is that that love can be spread out just a bit through the world which is clearly so thirsty for love.
It will be a good day, 20 digits or none. Grey hair or blue. Crying or quiet. Both sets of parents or none. Boy or Girl. A day much anticipated since the first positive prego test and the first desernable kick.
Oh man, what if Andrea went into labor on the plane a day from now!? Well, enough questions for now. I'll have to save that one for another one of these nights. The End.
FYI: Andrea and I still do not know if it´s a boy or a girl. We´ve talked since about circumcision...something neither of us really considered until this sleepless night.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Statement of Faith by Luke
July 2009
The following statment can be read in conjunction with my most recent posting, "Musings from Mexico" posted February 2010. Happy Reading!!
+++
I believe in the one Triune God - Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit
A living God and God of all that lives.
I believe in The God of Life,
who brought forth a world of abundance for all people of all times and places,
who turns toward the path of justice and peace,
who turns away from the fears of scarcity and death,
who upholds those who seek the path of harmony between the Creator and the created.
I believe that The God of Life stands with, and cries out for, those who face injustice and oppression:
those who are called to serve the body of Christ but have yet to be welcomed,
those who are forced to leave their homes and communities in order to provide for their
A living God and God of all that lives.
I believe in The God of Life,
who brought forth a world of abundance for all people of all times and places,
who turns toward the path of justice and peace,
who turns away from the fears of scarcity and death,
who upholds those who seek the path of harmony between the Creator and the created.
I believe that The God of Life stands with, and cries out for, those who face injustice and oppression:
those who are called to serve the body of Christ but have yet to be welcomed,
those who are forced to leave their homes and communities in order to provide for their
families and loved ones,
those who suffer hatred and humiliation because of their
those who suffer hatred and humiliation because of their
gender, race, age, nationality, faith tradition, sexuality, or disability,
those who face the dangerous risks of defending basic human rights.
I believe in the God of Life, the Creator.
God created humanity in God’s own image. God continues to create and gives us life today.
those who face the dangerous risks of defending basic human rights.
I believe in the God of Life, the Creator.
God created humanity in God’s own image. God continues to create and gives us life today.
The Creator entrusted us to care for and to sustain the abundant Creation.
Rather than follow the Creator’s instructions, to care for the earth and to eat from the
garden, we sought to know the very mystery of life itself. We came to know, through our own
sin, that we are indeed the created and not the Creator.
I believe in the God of Life, incarnate in Jesus.
Because we are fallen, the God of Life became flesh: fully human, fully divine. God graciously
I believe in the God of Life, incarnate in Jesus.
Because we are fallen, the God of Life became flesh: fully human, fully divine. God graciously
entered into a form we know: human, a child born of wanderers, a sibling, a person of deep
faith, and an outcast; one abused, oppressed, mocked, and ultimately killed. His life was also
divine: healing the sick, welcoming the deserted, forgiving sins, bringing life to the dead, and
crossing borders with determination and grace.
Jesus’ life leads us in a new way toward peace, justice, equality, and abundance. Jesus’
Jesus’ life leads us in a new way toward peace, justice, equality, and abundance. Jesus’
crucifixion was a demonstration of our sinfulness: a violent political act, rooted in fear and the
myth of scarcity. In Christ’s resurrection, once again God affirms life. Only through God’s
abundant grace are we claimed by God and given new life to bear witness to God’s child,
Jesus our Savior.
I believe in the God of Life, present with us through the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit enlivens the created in all times and all places. The Spirit inspired the authors of
our Scriptures to record their experiences of the God of Life. Just as the Spirit inspired these
authors, so she today inspires us to meet the God of Life through our own experiences, and
through these same Scriptures.
The Spirit draws us together as the Church. Through God’s graceful Spirit, we hear the Word
incarnate and respond together in faith. As the Body of Christ, through God’s grace, we follow
Jesus’ example to advocate for the voiceless and be a hopeful presence on earth. The Spirit
gives us the courage and faith to recognize that we tend toward the same fears that led to
Jesus’ crucifixion. In our tendency, even as the body of Christ, we must recognize that their
are voiceless members present in our congregations who seek to faithfully serve Christ’s
body. As a church we must seek to listen to all voices, relying on the Spirit’s movement
toward justice, reconciliation, and healing. As a church, we are guided by the Scriptures and
moved by the Spirit to go out humbly into the world,
proclaiming the presence of the God of Life.
I believe in the God of Life present in our Sacraments: Baptism and the Eucharist.
In celebrating these Sacraments, we proclaim the God of Life present today. Through
Baptism we recognize God’s gracious claim on our lives and are welcomed into the living Body
of Christ. At the common Table – open to all of God’s children, claimed by Christ – we are
gathered together through the Holy Spirit. We come together in response to God’s love,
remembering our brokenness, and celebrating new life in Christ. In celebrating our baptism
and in breaking bread together, we celebrate God’s mysterious gift of new life through Jesus.
I believe in the God of Life, who has called us into new life through Jesus. I believe that we are
called, as the Body of Christ, to stand with the God of Life, advocating for love and justice in
the face of injustice and oppression. I believe that the suffering and injustices of this world will
be reconciled in the Kingdom of Heaven. We, as church, even while we are assured of new life
after death, are called by God to be co-creators of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. I believe
that we are called to proclaim a world of beauty and abundance,
which the God of Life created and called good.
Mexico Musings by Luke
February 2010
Ordinary Time
Greetings from Cuernavaca, where we’ve seen our share of rain the past few weeks! I hope this finds each of you well in your own place. It’s been a busy few months since I last wrote…The biggest news from our home is that Andrea’s pregnancy continues to go well and is half-way through (She says it with a bigger and bigger smile every time asked!). At our second ultrasound we learned that she and the baby are healthy: we saw its feet and ten toes, its hands and ten fingers, its spine, head, stomach, and butt! So, while we’ve decided not to learn the sex of the baby until after the birth, we do know it’s healthy!! Fatherhood approaches faster and faster everyday!
As for my ministry, there have been two delegations so far this new year. The first delegation of 12 ELCA seminarians, two professors, and one pastor comprised the Seminary January Term Program. The second was a group of 17 faithful from the Chicago Religious Leadership Network. One of the 17 participants was my seminary mentor, who also happens to be my mother’s cousin. It was good to have family here in Mexico to see my life and ministry as it has unfolded the first 1+ year. I have a break now until April, when we expect our next delegation.
In the mean time, Andrea and I are busy getting ready for our annual trip to the U.S.-Mexico Border later this month, with her five Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers, who are serving through the ELCA in and around Cuernavaca. We’ll spend a week with the volunteers in Agua Prieta, Douglas, and Tucson as an immersion experience to learn first hand what realities lie ahead for many Mexicans in the borderlands when they make the difficult decision to head north. After the week with the volunteers, Andrea and I plan on spending two weeks in Arizona visiting friends, family, and several of our sponsoring congregations.
So, that’s our schedule and list of activities…the things I do, the big events in my life here in Mexico. But I’ve been thinking, reflecting, considering…
God of Life…God of Abundance…God of Enough.
As many of you know, the statement of faith I presented during my ordination process last year was framed by the proclamation of the God of Life, and included references to our God of Abundance. I am struck at how these particular images of God have remained in the forefront of my mind, and how I’ve been ruminating on them in the depths of my heart.
For me, this sort of theological pondering generally gets lost in the shuffle of my everyday life, replaced by figuring out what’s for dinner, paying bills, cleaning house, and working. In this case, however, that has not happened. In fact, these Scriptural images of God enter my daily life continually – be it through liturgy, relationships, in community, or conversations.
What I’ve been reflecting upon is the concept of the God of Life and God of Abundance in the context of my ministry with immersion programs here in Mexico City. Time after time I hear people from the U.S. or Canada make references to a God of Abundance or a God of Life, be it in prepared liturgies for worship or during our reflection times as groups. The rub for many people – myself included – comes when we joyfully proclaim a God of Abundance, yet are surrounded by abject poverty. How can this be when, as a community of faith, we proclaim a God who so loved the world that She sent her child so that we might have life, and have it abundantly?
During immersion programs I have found that many people inevitably come to the point where they find themselves in this very rub, asking these sorts of questions.
The questions often arise for group members after meeting their neighbors just to the south in a new way for the first time: through an academic discussion of the realities of Mexico (historic, political, economic, etc.); witnessing how roughly 70% of Mexicans earn a living working on the streets, selling everything from tacos and shoe shines to placemats and individual cigarettes; or visiting people in their homes, where the average household lives six to a room.
“How can this be…Why do we have so much and others have so little?” This is a question that people ask over and over anew during these immersion programs. This is the fundamental question that racks the brains and hearts of many… myself included.
As I mentioned, the images of our God of Life and God of Abundance have remained with me for several months now. I’ve been hearing this question – How can this be? – through the filter of our God who proclaims life and created a world of abundance.
Too often we understand this abundance to simply refer to wealth, stuff, or people’s well-being. Too often this abundance teeters on what some call the prosperity gospel, where faithfulness to church and God supposedly lead to economic well-being. Instead, consider that God’s Creation is abundant! Creation does provide everything that every living creature – including humanity – needs in order to live. Too often we forget that the inequalities we see are due to our own treatment of our neighbors and of Creation itself.
Often times the next question, right after, “How can this be?” is, “How can I share all that I have with others who have so little?”
How can I share? is a natural question when we meet, face-to-face, those who wonder where their next meal might come from, whose houses are smaller than our garages, whose wardrobe is considered extravagant when it includes socks.. It’s a natural question when we begin to examine our own lives. We often we consider abundance to be that our grocery carts are full, our 2 car-garages house stuff rather than cars, each room in our house has a television, our cupboards are so full that the groceries fill counter space, and our closets are stuffed with clothes which still have tags on them.
While the question of sharing is an important one, I would like to propose an alternative question: How much is enough? How much house is enough, how much food is enough, how much car is enough, how much wardrobe is enough, how much stuff is enough, how much free time is enough? How much is enough?
What about considering this question theologically? What if, along with our proclamations of the God of Abundance, God of Life, we seek to encounter the God of Enough in Scripture…
How much is enough? For many of us in the U.S., this might be a helpful question for those who live in a world of abundance.
What does it mean to have enough? Where does one draw the line and say, “That’s enough! I have enough! I’m done!” It would be as if one had reached a magic point along a personal scale and a light bulb went off, indicating that enough had been reached. Maybe that would be nice, but clearly that is not the case.
Honestly, I’ve held of in sharing this reflection with you because I don’t really know how to describe that point of reaching enough. Personally, I consider myself to have enough and plant myself right in the middle of abundance.
Recently, after a long conversation with a taxi driver in Mexico City, I had one of those “Come to Jesus” moments, where this image of the slippery concept of enough became as clear as the day after a heavy rain…crisp.
The driver asked me where I was from, and I said, “The U.S., Arizona.” He said he knew California. The conversation continued and I eventually asked why he came back. He said, “I earned enough money to put a good roof over my family’s head, and that’s all I needed.” I was stunned into silence, left with nothing else to say. I sat there speeding through Mexico City, watching as we zipped through red lights and turned right from the left-hand lane, with a smile. That is what it means to have enough.
So, as I begin to think about fatherhood and continue to work with groups here in Mexico, the question of what it means to have enough rumbles through my thoughts and heart. How will I parent a child to know what enough means? What will their world look like: will this child even face the dilemmas of affluence in 20 years? How might immersion groups come to draw their lines of enough?
It is my prayer that, as we come to know this God of Life and God of Abundance in our world today and in Scripture, we might also be able to identify enough.
Ordinary Time
Greetings from Cuernavaca, where we’ve seen our share of rain the past few weeks! I hope this finds each of you well in your own place. It’s been a busy few months since I last wrote…The biggest news from our home is that Andrea’s pregnancy continues to go well and is half-way through (She says it with a bigger and bigger smile every time asked!). At our second ultrasound we learned that she and the baby are healthy: we saw its feet and ten toes, its hands and ten fingers, its spine, head, stomach, and butt! So, while we’ve decided not to learn the sex of the baby until after the birth, we do know it’s healthy!! Fatherhood approaches faster and faster everyday!
As for my ministry, there have been two delegations so far this new year. The first delegation of 12 ELCA seminarians, two professors, and one pastor comprised the Seminary January Term Program. The second was a group of 17 faithful from the Chicago Religious Leadership Network. One of the 17 participants was my seminary mentor, who also happens to be my mother’s cousin. It was good to have family here in Mexico to see my life and ministry as it has unfolded the first 1+ year. I have a break now until April, when we expect our next delegation.
In the mean time, Andrea and I are busy getting ready for our annual trip to the U.S.-Mexico Border later this month, with her five Young Adults in Global Mission volunteers, who are serving through the ELCA in and around Cuernavaca. We’ll spend a week with the volunteers in Agua Prieta, Douglas, and Tucson as an immersion experience to learn first hand what realities lie ahead for many Mexicans in the borderlands when they make the difficult decision to head north. After the week with the volunteers, Andrea and I plan on spending two weeks in Arizona visiting friends, family, and several of our sponsoring congregations.
So, that’s our schedule and list of activities…the things I do, the big events in my life here in Mexico. But I’ve been thinking, reflecting, considering…
God of Life…God of Abundance…God of Enough.
As many of you know, the statement of faith I presented during my ordination process last year was framed by the proclamation of the God of Life, and included references to our God of Abundance. I am struck at how these particular images of God have remained in the forefront of my mind, and how I’ve been ruminating on them in the depths of my heart.
For me, this sort of theological pondering generally gets lost in the shuffle of my everyday life, replaced by figuring out what’s for dinner, paying bills, cleaning house, and working. In this case, however, that has not happened. In fact, these Scriptural images of God enter my daily life continually – be it through liturgy, relationships, in community, or conversations.
What I’ve been reflecting upon is the concept of the God of Life and God of Abundance in the context of my ministry with immersion programs here in Mexico City. Time after time I hear people from the U.S. or Canada make references to a God of Abundance or a God of Life, be it in prepared liturgies for worship or during our reflection times as groups. The rub for many people – myself included – comes when we joyfully proclaim a God of Abundance, yet are surrounded by abject poverty. How can this be when, as a community of faith, we proclaim a God who so loved the world that She sent her child so that we might have life, and have it abundantly?
During immersion programs I have found that many people inevitably come to the point where they find themselves in this very rub, asking these sorts of questions.
The questions often arise for group members after meeting their neighbors just to the south in a new way for the first time: through an academic discussion of the realities of Mexico (historic, political, economic, etc.); witnessing how roughly 70% of Mexicans earn a living working on the streets, selling everything from tacos and shoe shines to placemats and individual cigarettes; or visiting people in their homes, where the average household lives six to a room.
“How can this be…Why do we have so much and others have so little?” This is a question that people ask over and over anew during these immersion programs. This is the fundamental question that racks the brains and hearts of many… myself included.
As I mentioned, the images of our God of Life and God of Abundance have remained with me for several months now. I’ve been hearing this question – How can this be? – through the filter of our God who proclaims life and created a world of abundance.
Too often we understand this abundance to simply refer to wealth, stuff, or people’s well-being. Too often this abundance teeters on what some call the prosperity gospel, where faithfulness to church and God supposedly lead to economic well-being. Instead, consider that God’s Creation is abundant! Creation does provide everything that every living creature – including humanity – needs in order to live. Too often we forget that the inequalities we see are due to our own treatment of our neighbors and of Creation itself.
Often times the next question, right after, “How can this be?” is, “How can I share all that I have with others who have so little?”
How can I share? is a natural question when we meet, face-to-face, those who wonder where their next meal might come from, whose houses are smaller than our garages, whose wardrobe is considered extravagant when it includes socks.. It’s a natural question when we begin to examine our own lives. We often we consider abundance to be that our grocery carts are full, our 2 car-garages house stuff rather than cars, each room in our house has a television, our cupboards are so full that the groceries fill counter space, and our closets are stuffed with clothes which still have tags on them.
While the question of sharing is an important one, I would like to propose an alternative question: How much is enough? How much house is enough, how much food is enough, how much car is enough, how much wardrobe is enough, how much stuff is enough, how much free time is enough? How much is enough?
What about considering this question theologically? What if, along with our proclamations of the God of Abundance, God of Life, we seek to encounter the God of Enough in Scripture…
How much is enough? For many of us in the U.S., this might be a helpful question for those who live in a world of abundance.
What does it mean to have enough? Where does one draw the line and say, “That’s enough! I have enough! I’m done!” It would be as if one had reached a magic point along a personal scale and a light bulb went off, indicating that enough had been reached. Maybe that would be nice, but clearly that is not the case.
Honestly, I’ve held of in sharing this reflection with you because I don’t really know how to describe that point of reaching enough. Personally, I consider myself to have enough and plant myself right in the middle of abundance.
Recently, after a long conversation with a taxi driver in Mexico City, I had one of those “Come to Jesus” moments, where this image of the slippery concept of enough became as clear as the day after a heavy rain…crisp.
The driver asked me where I was from, and I said, “The U.S., Arizona.” He said he knew California. The conversation continued and I eventually asked why he came back. He said, “I earned enough money to put a good roof over my family’s head, and that’s all I needed.” I was stunned into silence, left with nothing else to say. I sat there speeding through Mexico City, watching as we zipped through red lights and turned right from the left-hand lane, with a smile. That is what it means to have enough.
So, as I begin to think about fatherhood and continue to work with groups here in Mexico, the question of what it means to have enough rumbles through my thoughts and heart. How will I parent a child to know what enough means? What will their world look like: will this child even face the dilemmas of affluence in 20 years? How might immersion groups come to draw their lines of enough?
It is my prayer that, as we come to know this God of Life and God of Abundance in our world today and in Scripture, we might also be able to identify enough.
Winter Newsletter 2009 by Luke
The sleepy town of Cuernavaca where we live, known as “The Land of Eternal Spring” and a traditional vacation spot for many living in Mexico City, has recently garnered top international headline news. On Wednesday, December 16, the Mexican federal government captured and killed Arturo Beltrán Leyva, one of the top three most-wanted drug lords in Mexico’s war on drugs, in a high-rise condominium complex a short drive from our house. If you have yet to see the news, please see the following link to the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/world/americas/18mexico.html?ref=world
Let me start by saying that Andrea and I, along with those we are responsible for and to here in Mexico, are safe doing just fine. We learned of the news Thursday morning and have been keeping tabs on what has unfolded since. Quite frankly, not much more has happened, but we do realize that anytime such a large player in the drug business is arrested or killed, there is a vacuum created that will inevitably be filled. Filling the void left by Leyva’s death will undoubtedly be violent. So, in this Advent season, we wait. We wait to see when, what, and where this deadly violence might erupt.
With this in mind, I have consistently said to people – friends and family – that the violence is very much targeted, isolated, and in other parts of the country. So, while the violence has very much come to Cuernavaca, I am confident in saying that the violence remains very targeted and isolated between drug cartels and the military. At this point we are clearly concerned about what is happening, but nowhere near needing to make the decision to head north. If the violence does become random and widespread, that is if we become fearful for our safety and that of those around us, then we will certainly take whatever steps necessary to remain as safe as possible.
The timing of this event, while not surprising, given the recent pressure on President Felipe Calderón to “make progress” in his self-proclaimed war on drugs that began when he took office several years ago, it is unfortunate. It’s unfortunate because the Christmas season here in Mexico is rich and full of tradition. December is really full of fiestas and celebrations.
On the 12th, we celebrated the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people make their pilgrimage to the Basilica in Mexico City (or to their local parish) to pay homage to one of, if not the most, important figure in Mexico. Her image elicits a reverence in most people here for which I have yet to find words. Around this celebration, the streets are lined in bright red Noche Buenas (more familiar to people in the U.S. as poinsettias), ready for sale to people who in turn decorate their sidewalks and homes with the winter-blooming plant. Walking down the street on the Day of the Virgin one can see homes – doors wide open as if to invite in passers-by – filled with families singing, laughing, chatting, and enjoying a meal of hot cider and tamales.
This time of year is also famous for celebrating Las Posadas, the reenactment or remembrance of Joseph and the pregnant Mary going from house to house looking for a place to stay. For this celebration most neighborhoods host a Posada, which resembles a street party. If one was to walk or drive around Cuernavaca after the 16th of December, there is a good chance they would stumble upon a Posada. These parties usually include hot cider, warm snacks, music, and several piñatas filled with fruits, nuts, and candy for the children. When I see the children chasing after a broken piñata, I often remember the excitement of opening the Christmas morning stocking Santa used to stuff full of fun surprises.
In this holiday season there are so many opportunities to come together as a community and celebrate in joy and gratitude here in Mexico. At the same time I find myself carrying a sadness and pain because so often these beautiful and rich traditions, which are lived out so generously and courageously, are lost and hidden to those of us in the U.S. We too often only focus on the striking and sobering images of violence, forgetting that for every dead drug lord there are a multitude of families celebrating the appearance of La Virgen and Las Posadas.
As I turn to celebrating the holidays with family and friends, I am recently reminded of the violent and broken world in which we live. Walking down the street, I am also reminded of, and thankful for, the way in which life continues to be lived and celebrated. For me it is a subtle reminder that for us this Christmas season, we celebrate the birth of God’s child who championed life to the fullest.
In closing, I would like to take a moment to give thanks to those who have supported Andrea and me throughout 2009, this being our first full year in Mexico. Thanks to our families, with whom we had several visits throughout the year. Thanks to our friends (and family!) who let us crash in your homes when we needed a place to stay. Thanks to all of you who have kept us and the communities in which we work and live in your prayers.
And finally, thanks to all of you who have sponsored us financially: Alkon Consulting Group, INC., Schererville, IN; David Bebb & Ann Beran Jones; Fred & Paula Jones; Presbytery de Cristo, AZ; Chuck & Gwyn Roske; Sarah & Ryan Seidel; Steams in the Desert Lutheran Church, Tucson, AZ; Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church, Sun City, AZ; Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Sun City West, AZ; Peace Lutheran Church, Peoria, AZ; Our Savior Lutheran Church, Dalton, MN; Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church, Schererville, IN; and Augustana Lutheran Church, West St. Paul, MN.
In Peace & Grace,
Luke
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/world/americas/18mexico.html?ref=world
Let me start by saying that Andrea and I, along with those we are responsible for and to here in Mexico, are safe doing just fine. We learned of the news Thursday morning and have been keeping tabs on what has unfolded since. Quite frankly, not much more has happened, but we do realize that anytime such a large player in the drug business is arrested or killed, there is a vacuum created that will inevitably be filled. Filling the void left by Leyva’s death will undoubtedly be violent. So, in this Advent season, we wait. We wait to see when, what, and where this deadly violence might erupt.
With this in mind, I have consistently said to people – friends and family – that the violence is very much targeted, isolated, and in other parts of the country. So, while the violence has very much come to Cuernavaca, I am confident in saying that the violence remains very targeted and isolated between drug cartels and the military. At this point we are clearly concerned about what is happening, but nowhere near needing to make the decision to head north. If the violence does become random and widespread, that is if we become fearful for our safety and that of those around us, then we will certainly take whatever steps necessary to remain as safe as possible.
The timing of this event, while not surprising, given the recent pressure on President Felipe Calderón to “make progress” in his self-proclaimed war on drugs that began when he took office several years ago, it is unfortunate. It’s unfortunate because the Christmas season here in Mexico is rich and full of tradition. December is really full of fiestas and celebrations.
On the 12th, we celebrated the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people make their pilgrimage to the Basilica in Mexico City (or to their local parish) to pay homage to one of, if not the most, important figure in Mexico. Her image elicits a reverence in most people here for which I have yet to find words. Around this celebration, the streets are lined in bright red Noche Buenas (more familiar to people in the U.S. as poinsettias), ready for sale to people who in turn decorate their sidewalks and homes with the winter-blooming plant. Walking down the street on the Day of the Virgin one can see homes – doors wide open as if to invite in passers-by – filled with families singing, laughing, chatting, and enjoying a meal of hot cider and tamales.
This time of year is also famous for celebrating Las Posadas, the reenactment or remembrance of Joseph and the pregnant Mary going from house to house looking for a place to stay. For this celebration most neighborhoods host a Posada, which resembles a street party. If one was to walk or drive around Cuernavaca after the 16th of December, there is a good chance they would stumble upon a Posada. These parties usually include hot cider, warm snacks, music, and several piñatas filled with fruits, nuts, and candy for the children. When I see the children chasing after a broken piñata, I often remember the excitement of opening the Christmas morning stocking Santa used to stuff full of fun surprises.
In this holiday season there are so many opportunities to come together as a community and celebrate in joy and gratitude here in Mexico. At the same time I find myself carrying a sadness and pain because so often these beautiful and rich traditions, which are lived out so generously and courageously, are lost and hidden to those of us in the U.S. We too often only focus on the striking and sobering images of violence, forgetting that for every dead drug lord there are a multitude of families celebrating the appearance of La Virgen and Las Posadas.
As I turn to celebrating the holidays with family and friends, I am recently reminded of the violent and broken world in which we live. Walking down the street, I am also reminded of, and thankful for, the way in which life continues to be lived and celebrated. For me it is a subtle reminder that for us this Christmas season, we celebrate the birth of God’s child who championed life to the fullest.
In closing, I would like to take a moment to give thanks to those who have supported Andrea and me throughout 2009, this being our first full year in Mexico. Thanks to our families, with whom we had several visits throughout the year. Thanks to our friends (and family!) who let us crash in your homes when we needed a place to stay. Thanks to all of you who have kept us and the communities in which we work and live in your prayers.
And finally, thanks to all of you who have sponsored us financially: Alkon Consulting Group, INC., Schererville, IN; David Bebb & Ann Beran Jones; Fred & Paula Jones; Presbytery de Cristo, AZ; Chuck & Gwyn Roske; Sarah & Ryan Seidel; Steams in the Desert Lutheran Church, Tucson, AZ; Shepherd of the Desert Lutheran Church, Sun City, AZ; Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Sun City West, AZ; Peace Lutheran Church, Peoria, AZ; Our Savior Lutheran Church, Dalton, MN; Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church, Schererville, IN; and Augustana Lutheran Church, West St. Paul, MN.
In Peace & Grace,
Luke
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Charity vs Justice, by Luke
The past few weeks I´ve been thinking a lot about the difference between charity and justice. This reflection started after a lunch conversation between me, a Canadian, and a Mexican at a retreat center in Cuernavaca. We sat at the dinner table, well after everyone else had gone on their way, discussing charity and justice in relation to what the woman from Canada had experienced as part of her trip to Mexico. I will not recount the entire conversation, however, I will say that we covered three main perspectives or approaches to charity and justice:
1. Charity is a way to improve people´s situations. During immersion programs participants are flooded with experiences and images that cry out for the need for charity: children who could easily eat more than one meal a day with a little help from the outside; families whose homes of sticks and cardboard could be replaced by more sturdy bricks and aluminum with very little effort from the north; a parent´s desire to send their child to school with books and uniforms could easily bet met with a little charity; the elderly woman on the sidewalk could eat for a day with an act of charity of 50 pesos. The criticism the three of us identified about charity is that it is seen as a stopgap that often serves to make the donor feel good about themselves, leaving another fed for a day but hungry for life.
2. The focus must be on justice. Justice will eliminate the need for charity. During the immersion program participants are introduced to some of the root causes of injustice in our world today: the effects of agribusiness on small campesino farmers; the displacement of entire communities in order to adhere to the questionable upsides of NAFTA on Mexico´s economy; how national debt and trade policies effect´s Mexico´s sovereignty; and how environmental degradation affects the marginalized and poor first. We - the immersion program - focus on introducing some of the ways our hands as First World Christians are soaked in the blood of injustice and (a very important AND) how we can faithfully live in solidarity with our neighbors around the world. So, we examine structures and injustices, yet turn towards living more consciously and justly in the world. The criticism we identified in this pure pursuit for justice is that, in the mean time - between now and justice - people go hungry, children miss out on education, communities are up-rooted, and the list goes on.
3. Charity is absolutely necessary until people live in a just world. Here in lies the tension: charity vs. justice. Are we to walk by the woman on the street asking for change, with little more than a "Hello," because we know the root causes of poverty? Are we to meet our neighbor in their stick house and leave without a consideration of charity because we are now aware of the evil structures most of us live in and through blindly? Do we, as a global community, witness the hungry child and move on to participate in a march that calls for justice? How is it that we as people connected through the human spirit can live with both an eye on the immediate need for charity, and the vision of a just world?
Our conversation twisted and turned through these three perspectives, leaving us with agreements and disagreements. Eventually, we recognized the 3rd perspective as a good place to begin, even if we found ourselves more in line with seeking justice. I don´t know that any of us left the conversation "convinced," of any one approach, however, we were all thinking. I´m still thinking...
I am still thinking about how to strike the balance between justice and charity, recognizing our conversations about justice often take a back seat to our acts of charity. So, I'm left with these thoughts on the charity vs. justice conversation:
The next time we find ourselves volunteering at the local food pantry handing out food stuffs...
The next time we find ourselves staffing a volunteer shelter...
The next time we find ourselves working at the local recycling center...
The next time we find ourselves building a house in a far off nation...
The next time we find ourselves visiting the local home bound...
...we should extend an open hand of charity - of compassion - but we must not stop there.
We must ask ourselves, "Why."
Why are people hungry?
Why are our neighbors homeless?
Why are some people are literally surrounded by garbage?
Why are more and more people left living in abject poverty?
Why does our society often push loved ones inside?
We must ask why and we must be prepared for what difficult answers will come. These answers will move us towards justice. So, in closing, please continue to extend the important hand of compassion, but do so with every intention to make the important move towards justice.
In Peace,
Luke
The next time we find ourselves volunteering at the local food pantry handing out food stuffs...
The next time we find ourselves staffing a volunteer shelter...
The next time we find ourselves working at the local recycling center...
The next time we find ourselves building a house in a far off nation...
The next time we find ourselves visiting the local home bound...
...we should extend an open hand of charity - of compassion - but we must not stop there.
We must ask ourselves, "Why."
Why are people hungry?
Why are our neighbors homeless?
Why are some people are literally surrounded by garbage?
Why are more and more people left living in abject poverty?
Why does our society often push loved ones inside?
We must ask why and we must be prepared for what difficult answers will come. These answers will move us towards justice. So, in closing, please continue to extend the important hand of compassion, but do so with every intention to make the important move towards justice.
In Peace,
Luke
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
September Shalom Article
Friends and Family,
Below is my September article to Shalom, St. Mark's monthly newsletter. Sorry about the delayed posting. Life continues to be busy here. We just returned from a long vacation weekend in Puebla...famous for churches, Mole, and Chiles en Nogada (a delicious green pepper filled with meat and veggies and fruit covered with a white sauce and pomegranate seeds...these are only in season for about two months a year, so we were lucky!). Anyway, happy reading...
LJRM
+++
Saludos de Mexico! Hello from Mexico!
The past couple summer months have flown by, thanks in part to a busy work and travel schedule. Andrea and I continue to do well, and grow more at home here in Cuernavaca daily. I hope this finds each of you well in your own place.
A lot has happened here in Mexico since my last article. In late June, the ELCA Immersion Program, with which I serve, welcomed its first delegation since the H1N1 flu virus hit the media in April. The group of 23 high school students came with open hearts and open minds to learn from a variety of people about the reality in which many of our brothers and sisters around the world live.
The following week, in early July, Andrea (my wife) held a closing retreat for the four women serving for a year in Mexico through the Young Adults in Global Mission program. The retreat was a time for the volunteers to reflect upon their year of service, relationships, and experiences here in Mexico. It was a time of closure for this group of four, who had spent a year modeling accompaniment with one another and the communities in which they lived and served.
48 hours after the closing retreat, Andrea and I were off for a month in Chicago, to attend New Mission Personnel Orientation. Normally we would have attended orientation before leaving for Mexico, but we began service at an odd time, so instead we came back eight months into our term of service. While some of the material was already familiar because of our experience, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet other new missionaries. Approximately 60 new missionaries are currently preparing to leave home, to serve God’s people through several different denominations. Not only did the orientation demonstrate the community and relationships that exist between denominations, but it was also a good chance to meet people living out their call in a variety of ways throughout the world.
Many of you know that one of our recent excursions was to Tucson in late July. The reason for the trip to Arizona was my examination for ordination by Presbytery de Cristo. Many of you also know that I was approved by the Presbytery to be ordained to the Office of Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA)! I know several of you know this because I have been asked several times, “When will the ordination service be?”
I’m glad to announce that this worship service celebrating ordination is scheduled to take place on October 11, 2009 at 3:00p.m. at St. Mark’s, with a reception to follow. So, let this be the first formal request for your presence at this service.
Yes, life has been busy here in Mexico on a number of levels, as I’m sure it has been for you, wherever you are today. My prayer for you, and for our church, is that we might take a moment in our busy lives and take note of where God has called us. Be it a high-schooler learning about Mexico, a young women saying good-bye to her community and her country, a candidate for ordination attending a meeting on a hot Saturday afternoon in July, or students and teachers getting ready for the next school year, may we be still enough to notice God’s presence with us today.
By God’s Grace,
Luke Roske-Metcalfe
Below is my September article to Shalom, St. Mark's monthly newsletter. Sorry about the delayed posting. Life continues to be busy here. We just returned from a long vacation weekend in Puebla...famous for churches, Mole, and Chiles en Nogada (a delicious green pepper filled with meat and veggies and fruit covered with a white sauce and pomegranate seeds...these are only in season for about two months a year, so we were lucky!). Anyway, happy reading...
LJRM
+++
Saludos de Mexico! Hello from Mexico!
The past couple summer months have flown by, thanks in part to a busy work and travel schedule. Andrea and I continue to do well, and grow more at home here in Cuernavaca daily. I hope this finds each of you well in your own place.
A lot has happened here in Mexico since my last article. In late June, the ELCA Immersion Program, with which I serve, welcomed its first delegation since the H1N1 flu virus hit the media in April. The group of 23 high school students came with open hearts and open minds to learn from a variety of people about the reality in which many of our brothers and sisters around the world live.
The following week, in early July, Andrea (my wife) held a closing retreat for the four women serving for a year in Mexico through the Young Adults in Global Mission program. The retreat was a time for the volunteers to reflect upon their year of service, relationships, and experiences here in Mexico. It was a time of closure for this group of four, who had spent a year modeling accompaniment with one another and the communities in which they lived and served.
48 hours after the closing retreat, Andrea and I were off for a month in Chicago, to attend New Mission Personnel Orientation. Normally we would have attended orientation before leaving for Mexico, but we began service at an odd time, so instead we came back eight months into our term of service. While some of the material was already familiar because of our experience, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet other new missionaries. Approximately 60 new missionaries are currently preparing to leave home, to serve God’s people through several different denominations. Not only did the orientation demonstrate the community and relationships that exist between denominations, but it was also a good chance to meet people living out their call in a variety of ways throughout the world.
Many of you know that one of our recent excursions was to Tucson in late July. The reason for the trip to Arizona was my examination for ordination by Presbytery de Cristo. Many of you also know that I was approved by the Presbytery to be ordained to the Office of Minister of Word and Sacrament in the PC(USA)! I know several of you know this because I have been asked several times, “When will the ordination service be?”
I’m glad to announce that this worship service celebrating ordination is scheduled to take place on October 11, 2009 at 3:00p.m. at St. Mark’s, with a reception to follow. So, let this be the first formal request for your presence at this service.
Yes, life has been busy here in Mexico on a number of levels, as I’m sure it has been for you, wherever you are today. My prayer for you, and for our church, is that we might take a moment in our busy lives and take note of where God has called us. Be it a high-schooler learning about Mexico, a young women saying good-bye to her community and her country, a candidate for ordination attending a meeting on a hot Saturday afternoon in July, or students and teachers getting ready for the next school year, may we be still enough to notice God’s presence with us today.
By God’s Grace,
Luke Roske-Metcalfe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
