Life is a Roller Coaster
When the song “Life is a Highway” came out in 1991 I used to turn up the radio in my little Honda and sing my heart out. I loved to have the window down, hair blowing, and thinking that I too was on the highway of life.
Almost twenty years later (wow, really?), I still love the song, but I feel like life is much more of a roller coaster than a highway. I don’t have the sense of a straight open road just waiting for me to take off down it, but rather a series of ups and downs that can be pretty unpredictable and have you laughing out loud one minute and gasping for breath the next.
In Colombia that feeling is all the more pronounced.
- We go from celebrating at a professional soccer game to reading news about a mass grave found in the town of La Macarena.
- As part of a delegation visit we listen to a displaced man as he speaks of being kidnapped three times and scraping out a living on land that has not gotten enough water this year, then we go to a pastor’s house for a despedida (going away party) where eating, laughing and dancing rules the night.
- We take part in a Presbytery planning session for 2010 with high hopes for more emphasis in service, new communities, and education after which people ruefully note that the army members accused of participating in a plot to kidnap young men in a poor suburb of Bogotá, kill them, and present their bodies as those of armed-group members killed in combat (thus reaping financial rewards) are having a spa day with their families to relax them. (Issue summary here. Article about the day of “Clowns, Aromatherapy, and Roasted Pig” in Spanish here. Google translate here.)
Colombia is clearly not the only place where there are roller coasters, but it has some big, impressive ones. I have never really been a fan of roller coasters, but sometimes it is just how things go. The two dangers seem to be getting lost in the valleys and forgetting the hilltops, or – more often here – ignoring/forgetting/erasing the falls and looking only toward the climbs. Still, whether looking up or remembering down, there is always the need to keep in mind the words from Isaiah, echoed in Luke:
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain. (Isaiah 40:4)
Roller coaster….to highway.
Colombia news from the last week
Ferdanando Botero's "Banderillas 1987"
It took me awhile, but it finally occurred to me to compile some of the many articles and posts about Colombia that I sift through each week. So here is a first installment. The first list is from a English language news source here in Colombia, and second is a collection of blog posts. I’ve also added a news feed of Colombia news on the right side bar, if you need more constant info! More to share?> – Add them in the comments…
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Future of Plan Colombia Remains Uncertain
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Ex-DAS head: Uribe was aware of wiretapping (more info to come on the DAS scandal)
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Re-election referendum loses majority approval
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Government extradited paramilitary bosses to silence them: HRW
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4 indigenous Colombians injured in military attack
Adam Isaacson’s “Plan Colombia and Beyond” blog – a favorite source
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Friday links
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A tale of two headlines
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Senators: “reorient U.S. assistance and diplomacy to our Colombian partner” An important recent letter that many Presbyterians worked to bring about
From the Latin American Working Group – a review of the first year of Obama’s Latin American relations
Gol!!!
So some things about a Latin American futbol (soccer) game I expected — huge stadiums, excellent play, those loud horns sounding all the time. But just about everything else was way more than I expected. From the sheer celebration upon scoring (twice on Thursday’s game), to the absolute silence when the other team scored (also twice on Thursday), to the ecstatic energy of thousands of jumping, thumping, screaming, dancing, waving, jeering fans (and that was just for the national anthem…), the energy and excitement were possibly more than I could have ever imagined.
An official Juniorista, thanks to our neighbor At the game – Go Tiburones! (Sharks)
So our team is Athlético Junior, Barranquilla’s home team, and a pretty good one at that (only allowing for “pretty good” would have gotten me shot at the game). The game was the first round of the Copa Libertadores (an all South American tournament) against Team Racing (said RAH-sing) from Uruguay. It will continue until August, and the hopes (as always) are high. Sadly, much like those precious Cubs, Junior can often wrench defeat out of the jaws of victory. Still, we managed to gain the 2-2 tie in penalty time, which was pretty sweet, and left everyone feeling like an outright win. On to Montevideo!
(You can get quick updates on the 2010 Copa progress here.)
Guess Who’s Coming to Advocacy Days?
Okay, so it is probably not going to get made into a movie with Sidney Poitier, but it is still sure to be worth your time….
Ecumenical Advocacy Days March 19-22 Washington DC
A Place to Call Home: Immigrants, Refugees, and Displaced Peoples
www.advocacydays.org
Richard and I are planning on returning and attending the conference as well as going to the Hill on Monday, so we hope you can join us! Consider this a very tangible way that you too can accompany the church here without taking quite such a long trip. We hope someone from the Iglesia Presbiteriana will be able to come and share as well, so you will be able to meet some of the folks we work with first hand. Hope to see you in Washington!
Please take a look at the links above and make plans if at all possible to attend Ecumenical Advocacy Days, March 19-22!
Epiphany Reflections – Clanging Gongs Edition
(A reflection on the upcoming Sunday’s lectionary, January 31)
Psalm 71 and 1st Corinthians 13
Our passage this week from 1st Corinthians is a sacred text. Not in the holy, reverent way, but in the don’t touch that text way. It is the wedding text, mostly because it is a great reflection of the give and take of love in a relationship. But it is so much more…
The Iglesia Presbiteriana knows that the bible is often most powerful when it is read outside of its normal environment. When it is read not from the high pulpit in the church, but rather read in a farmer’s small house, or in the street at a protest against violence against women, or at a Christmas party with tons of screaming kids -that’s when you hear the the bible saying things you don’t hear in church.
Below, the text of 1st Corinthians 13 is placed beside a glimpse of the reality of violence in Colombia. What is love when it lives next to violence? How are we patient and kind amidst the destruction of life on an enormous scale? How is one to live as a full human when faced with raw inhumanity?
And in the passage from the psalms, we find answers that people here offer to these questions:
In you, O Lord, I take my refuge.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress.
For you, O Lord, are my hope.
The psalms don’t take away any of the pain or anger or bitterness of life, but they do give one company in those feelings. Through them we know that we are not alone; not the only ones with our eyes toward God as everything else around us seems focused on death, destruction, and denial.
God – Be with me this week, as I seek to see your world as you would have it, rather than as it is. Give me strength and courage and wisdom, and yes, most of all, love, to be who you created me to be. My praise is continually of you. Amen
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Psalm 71:1-6
71:1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Bacano
No, this is not the Spanish word for bacon. That is tocino (toh-SEE-no)
“Costeñol Palabra del Dia”
Bacano/na (bah-KAH-no/na): adjective – Stupendous. Great. Cool. Super. Excellent. Awesome. I totally dig it. That rocks. Rad man. The bomb. Far out. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Used in conjunction with almost anything you like/appreciate.
Synonym: Chévere
(What is Costeñol you ask? Click here to read more from a previous post.)
Get Your Read On
We’ve been doing a lot of reading these past weeks, and thought we might share of few of our favorites. Just to note – Richard has been keeping his Shelfari shelf more or less up to date for a couple of years, so you can jump over there and see more reviews and lists. So here it is – what we are reading on Colombia, Theology, and beyond!
From Mamie:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
- A memoir in which Perkins’ says his function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with huge debts they could not hope to pay, these countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues.
Walking Ghosts by Steven Dudley
- Dudley’s book, which is based on a master’s thesis he wrote while filing reports for the Washington Post and National Public Radio in Colombia in the late 1990s, seeks to dig out the complicated roots of the political party the Unión Patriótica. This leads him into tangled accounts of the FARC, drug trafficking and paramilitarism. The book is dense, but compelling. (For First United folks, Steven Dudley is a child of the church, son of Carl and Shirley Dudley)
From Richard:
Evil Hour in Colombia by Forrest Hylton
- Hylton draws together a very detailed, historical look at the Colombian state since its inception – and it is still readable! The best single source on Colombia’s history of progressive movements followed by severe counter-reaction, all leading to today’s Colombia, described by Hylton as “War as Peace.”
God and Empire by John Dominic Crossan
- Crossan studies the early church and the formation and context of the New Testament – all under the lens of the Roman Occupation, and what God is saying in general about occupation. It is fascinating how we often overlook this all-encompassing fact of first and second century Mediterranean life when we look at the New Testament. It is certainly interesting to me to read this book in the context of Colombia, as a citizen of the United States, and think about what God is saying to us as members of the empire today.
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Ok, so its not all heady stuff. We just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Richard is finally ready to dive in to Reducido al Reino de los Pingüinos, a chapter book in Spanish! If you have suggestions for further reading, throw them in the comments!
A Map, A Map, My Queendom for a Map!
I want to thank the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
Yes, I occasionally had to ride the Blue Line in the presence of various bodily fluids from other passengers. Yes, I persist in decrying the so-called “heaters” on the platforms – a sad, shameful scam. Yes, I desperately wished the 91 bus would travel up Austin Blvd a little earlier Sunday mornings or that I didn’t have to go into the loop just to go back out to the airport, but at least I knew before I headed out on those routes what I ought to expect. And why did I know? Because the CTA provides a map.
I must say I never adequately appreciated the free, internet-available, bus-provided, El-posted route map until coming to Barranquilla. Here, there are no maps.
That is not to say, of course, that there are no buses (though indeed there are no trains). There are a ton of buses with very small placards that give you a hint of where they are going, but these are not so helpful if you have no idea where “El Vivero” is or what streets the “UniNorte” bus will actually take to arrive at North University. The only way to find out is to start asking questions.
You can ask questions of your neighbors, if you have ones that are as wonderful as ours are, and they will help you understand the buses that run right near your house. They will even stand outside with you until you finally learn to recognize that the orange bus coming toward you is not the orange bus you want, even though it looks virtually identical to the one you will get on shortly.
You can ask questions of people who are standing by the street and craning their necks out as if they can summon the bus by sheer force of will. They will generally help you, though you may not understand everything they tell you. They will at least make it clear if their bus won’t work for where you want to go.
And you can ask the bus driver himself (yes, always a him so far). This is a little trickier because you have to ask quickly enough to be able to get off again if this is not your bus, or you will end up riding the route around to where you started again (though this is a helpful way to figure out where the bus goes).
The main thing you learn is that you cannot get yourself from here to there alone. At every point you need help. It is humbling in many ways, but it is also a much more real version of our lives if we really examine them I think. I have always needed help getting myself from here to there, though some of that help I was given at birth with the privilege of being a white, upper-middle class, North American. Other help I have received from the hands of family, dear friends, and the guiding nudges of the Holy Spirit.
Knowing all that, as we are here in Barranquilla, I still clamor for a map. I want to know where I am going – when I get on the bus, and where to get off. But it simply doesn’t work that way here – on the buses or with most anything else. Instead everything requires trust, patience, vulnerability, courage, and faith…plus about $0.70.
Prayers
* For the people of Haiti. For rescue, healing, and recovery. Click here for the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance site, with updates and ways to give. Their motto is “Out of Chaos, Hope.” Indeed.
* For the displaced people of Piojó who are trying to regain their footing in a new place. For much needed rain, and much needed encouragement. They have an important meeting today after 2+years of struggling to get ownership of the land they are tilling.
* For the Presbyterian Church of Colombia as they go into their General Assembly soon. Don’t we all need prayers around General Assembly time?
* For the Knauerts. We continue to think of our friends who so suddenly lost their partner and father. Please keep them in your prayers as we do.
* Prayers of thanksgiving for Terry Presbyterian Church in Terry, MT who followed up on their support of John and Paula Ewers to offer their prayers and financial support to us as well. We are blessed and amazed (and proud!) of the Holy Spirit’s work to keep Presbyterians connected.
* For the safe travel of Alice Winters as she returns, and for that of a delegation from PCUSA in January that includes Vice-Moderator Byron Wade. May their travel be uneventful and their experience transformative.
* For us - continued patience, openness, ardor, and curiosity.
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“What is prayer? I make a list. Praise. Gratitude. Begging, pleading, cutting deals. Fruitless whining and puling. Focus. There the list breaks off – I have found my word. Prayer only looks like an act of language. Fundamentally, it is a position, a placement of one’s self. Focus. Get there, and all that is left to say is the words. They come, from ancient times, from the surprisingly eloquent heart, from the gush and chatter of the day’s detail longing to be rendered…” Patricia Hampl, from Speaking of Faith – Approaching Prayer, 12/31/2009
Give, Pray, Act
Passing on the following letter on Haiti from the PC(USA)’s Moderator, Stated Clerk, and Executive Director…
LORD, WHEN WAS IT THAT WE SAW YOU?
On January 12, a powerful earthquake hit approximately ten miles from the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. An earthquake of this magnitude would be devastating to any city, but in one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere its effects are catastrophic. Millions of people have been affected by this disaster and tens of thousands—possibly hundreds of thousands—are feared dead. With many of the established sources of safety and security demolished—churches, schools, hospitals and government buildings—survivors are searching for signs of hope and help.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is responding through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). PDA is rushing an initial $100,000 from One Great Hour of Sharing and designated funds to provide immediate emergency relief to the affected people. Funds are being sent through our ecumenical and local partners working in Haiti.
Presbyterian World Mission is gathering information on the safety and status of our mission personnel and ecumenical partners in the area. For updates on the earthquake and the church’s response, please visit the PDA Web site. Financial support for relief efforts can be designated to DR000064.
Gifts can also be made by phone at (800) 872-3283, weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. (EST), and checks can be mailed to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.
What you can do
As God’s people, we are called to stand in the “GAP”— GIVE, ACT, PRAY.
Give – Financial support for relief efforts can be made online and designated to DR000064. Your gifts, combined with those of others, provide a visible and tangible demonstration of God’s care in the midst of this tragedy. Recovery will be a difficult and long process, but Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has time and time again modeled a faithful response over the long haul.
Act – Congregations and individuals can put together hygiene kits and baby kits to be distributed through Church World Service. For information, visit the PDA Web site.
Pray – Join with others in lifting up the people of Haiti and those seeking to provide aid in this critical time. As the eyes of the world turn to Haiti, let us join our hearts in prayer:
God of compassion, please watch over the people of Haiti, and weave out of these terrible events wonders of goodness and grace. Surround those who have been affected by tragedy with a sense of your present love, and hold them in faith. Though they are lost in grief, may they find you and be comforted; guide us as a church to find ways of providing assistance that heals wounds and gives hope. Help us to remember that when one of your children suffers we all suffer. Through Jesus Christ who was dead, but lives and rules this world with you. Amen.
Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Linda Valentine, Executive Director, General Assembly Mission Council, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
