From Chile to Nicaragua

From Chile to Nicaragua

   I lay my hand on Magyolene’s shoulder as she kneels.  I am standing beside the Bishop of the Pentecostal Church of Chile before a congregation of some 1500 brothers and sisters of the Pentecostal Church of Chile in Curicó.  Mayolene’s hair, long, thick, and straight with an unusual natural red tint, falls down hiding her face, a moment of privacy in this public confession of faith and dedication,  and as the prayers flow over and around her, I remember.

   I remember Magyolene as young college student working diligently on her thesis project; we searched together for the almost extinct Quele trees that in Darwin´s descriptions were as as large and majestic as the Redwoods when he explored the coasts of Chile.  What a thrill when we found a few seedlings sprouting in a circle around the decayed trunk of an ancient tree cut many years before.

   I remember Magyolene as the assistant to the youth leader of the Curicó Church when the Bishop made the surprising and much commented decision to join the boys youth group with the girls youth group.  A young man was given the task of managing this much awaited change; Magyolene was selected to temper and balance the energy and impulsive nature of the leader.    

   I remember Magyolene down on the forest floor with a group of fifth graders during one of the environmental education camps at the Shalom Center introducing them to the ferocious looking beetle with the impressive name of “mother of the snake” (Madre de la Culebra in Spanish).  They watched together, marveling and asking questions, until the students had figured out that it was harmlessly going about the business of laying eggs in different holes around the base of a tree.

   I remember Magyolene accompanying the people of Colbún with trauma healing and resilience development workshops and activities after the February 2012 earthquake in Chile, the tranquility of her spirit bringing peace and hope to the students and teachers in various schools as well as the intergenerational community of the church. 

   Tonight, during the worship service in Curicó,  Magyolene has been blessed by her home church to serve as a volunteer through Global Ministries with the Mission Cristiana in Nicaragua.  It is the first time that the Pentecostal Church of Chile enters into this kind of mission partnership, sharing its gifts and blessings with others in another country far away.  For me, it is also a first; Magyolene is the first of the members of the Shalom Center staff to take all that she has learned in environmental education, trauma healing and peace education, conflict transformation, and spiritual development and offer it, along with her deep-rooted faith and professional expertise as an agronomy engineer, to the Lord`s service overseas.  The seeds of my ministry in Chile travel with Magyolene to take root in other soil, to grow in unique ways, and to join with sister trees as far away as Nicaragua in the growing of God’s Kingdom of Shalom.

    

Healing of the Individual

This past weekend, the staff of the Shalom Center participated in a trauma healing and resilience workshop with the Rev. Beverly Prestwood-Taylor.

Unity

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.  Ephesians 4:1-6

Dear Ones,

                This past Sunday I went to Sunday School at the Cathedral of the Pentecostal Church of Chile in Curicó (a medium-sized city of 150,00 about two hours south of the capital, Santiago).   The night before I had been in the Pastor’s Bible Study where Pastor/Bishop Ulises (pastor of the Curicó church, bishop of the Pentecostal Church of Chile) covers the next day’s lesson for the people who will teach the class the following morning in the 6 or so Sunday school classes (that all simultaneously meet in various parts of the cavernous sanctuary) and the 70 or so “locales,” mission churches of the big church.  The Sunday school curriculum for this period has to do with the responsibilities of discipleship and church membership.  This week, the primary passage was the one I have quoted above and the theme was, “my responsibility in guarding the Unity of the Church.” 

                Since this is a subject with which I myself am dealing, not always with as much fruit as I would like, I thought I would attend Sunday School when no one expected me to, in light of my having heard pastor Ulíses the night before.  He also attends Sunday School as a simple hearer to one of the men who teaches a men’s class for 40 and 50 somethings.  Pastor Ulíses and I said very little (until the end when the teacher gave us each an opportunity to summarize), but one of the men in the class focused all the discussion of the previous two days (and much of the thoughts in my mind) with this simple question:  “Is being in communion the same thing as church unity?”

                I quickly made an analysis in my mind of this passage.  It doesn’t speak of guarding the unity of the church but of the Spirit.  What does that mean?  In my own journal that afternoon, I wrote this:  “Does that mean the unity of the Holy Spirit?  So how does that make sense?  Is not the Spirit one and indivisible?  Obviously, we do not lessen the unity within the Spirit, but we can very much lessen our unity with the Spirit.”  It seems to me that when Paul speaks of guarding the “unity of the Spirit” he is not speaking about guarding the institutional, organizational, organic, or systemic unity of the Church.  Instead, he is talking about what in ecumenical circles has been termed full communion.

                When I come to the Pentecostal Church of Chile, I enjoy full communion by virtue of my relationship with Global Ministries of the  Christian Church (Disciples) and the United Church of Christ.  What this means is that I am received as an honored guest with full privileges of participating in the life of the church, with pulpit privileges (no small thing in this context), and with the assumption that I have something meaningful to contribute.  This church administers the Lord’s Supper only once a year (August 15), and at the communion service I will not only be invited to partake but will be invited to assist the pastor in administering the sacrament. 

                We often and easily talk about brothers and sisters in the faith.  The truth is that for most Christians from most churches, we do not treat each other as brothers and sisters but rather as distant cousins—part of the same extended family but not eating at the same table.  For Pastor Ulíses and for many here, Disciples and UCC’s truly are brothers and sisters in the faith (maybe to a greater degree than Disciples and UCC’s consider each other in the States in many contexts).   There are plaques and pictures in many sanctuaries commemorating the relationship with some or other conference, region, or congregation in the US.  I have heard people in the intercessory prayer time mention and pray for brothers and sisters in the States.  People here treasure the visits from delegations from the States, and those who have been to the U.S. speak lovingly and often of the relationships they made there.  These relationships matter much more than the financial accompaniment that has been provided, because this is not a church that waits for money to come from Overseas before they undertake what needs to be done.  If money does come for something or another, it simply means that the project gets done sooner—but the project usually gets done.

                I think one reason that the Pentecostal Church of Chile treasures its relationships through Global Ministries, not only in the States but around the world, is because the church is somewhat isolated in Chile.  Roman Catholics and mainline protestants keep some distance from what they see as less-educated, lower-class, and evangelistically aggressive Pentecostals.  Because the Pentecostal Church of Chile supports the ministry of women (though a great majority of pastors and leaders are men), because the church participates in the World Council of Churches, and because they sustain a relationship with Global Ministries,  they are roundly criticized by other Pentecostals for being “liberal.”  Obiously “liberal” and “conservative” have a lot to do with context and the eye of the beholder.  In doctrine, standards of morality, and even gender roles this church is far from liberal by any measure in the US.  Every time the Bishop talks about the relationship with the brothers and sisters in the States, he points out that the relationship is built on mutual respect despite huge differences—like being nearly polar opposites in nearly every measurable category: social scale, educational level, liturgical tastes, theological emphasis, and even geographic location (north pole neighbors vs. south pole neighbors).

                It is sad to think that this special and unique communion is as fragile and threatened as our natural environment.  In a globalized world with instant communication, decisions that one church makes potentially affects all of its partners.  A decision that makes perfect sense and seems completely necessary in one context can be utterly incomprehensible in another.  And of course, when such decisions are made, it is the less-educated, less-influential, less wealthy partner that tends to be most at risk.  

                But I was also encouraged this week by a sign that communion tends to be more resilient than would initially be apparent.  In the 1940’s the Pentecostal Church of Chile was born from a split in the larger and more influential Methodist Pentecostal Church (which itself was born of a split in the Methodists).  This Methodist Pentecostal Church supported and benefitted from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.  As you can imagine, there are ample reasons for a wide breach in communion between these two Pentecostal Churches. 

                As I left a worship service at a “local” in an outlying community, Abraham, pastor Ulises’ eldest son chuckled as we passed a couple of older teenagers.  “They will wait until they get 500 meters from the church before they start holding hands,” he told me.  I said, “Romance is good for a church’s youth group.”  “Yes, but it is difficult to carry on a romance within the fishbowl of our church,” he replied.  I then realized that both he and his brother had married Methodist Pentecostals.  “I now realize why it was that the Lord allowed for the Pentecostal Church of Chile,” I said.  “Why?” He asked.  “So that Methodist Pentecostals would have someone outside their own church whom they could date and marry,” I said.  He laughed but didn’t deny it.   He knows good and well that his parents and both sets of parents of the daughters-in-law were very happy to have their children matched with fine young people from the competing church. 

                And similarly, Disciples and UCC’s happily marry Southern Baptists, Charismatics, and Roman Catholics in the USA. 

                Simple people have a way of subverting the divisive decisions of their own assemblies and hierarchies.  They have a way of finding communion where there isn’t supposed to be any.  That seems to be a very hopeful note.  Despite our worst efforts to the contrary, God will continue to draw us into One Spirit, One Faith, One Lord Jesus, One Hope of our Calling.    Blessed be the Lord!

                 

Hebrews 12:5-11 (NRSV)

My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
⁶ for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”

⁷ Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? ⁸If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. ⁹ Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live?¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Dear Ones,

                OK, so I had an experience of the Lord’s correction.  And I enjoyed it!

                My sister Elena lives in the city of Talca, which is the nearest major city to the Shalom Center she works for.  Most of my work as a volunteer missionary for Global Ministries is on the weekends in Curicó, a city about 40 miles north of Talca.  Curicó is where the cathedral church of the Pentecostal Church of Chile is located, along with the denominational offices.

                It is very easy to get to Curicó on public transportation.  Less than five minutes after walking out of Elena’s front door a “colectivo” comes by (a kind of taxi that runs a regular route like a bus—total passengers, 4).  The colectivo drops me two blocks from the bus station where there is a direct bus leaving for Curicó every 15 minutes (at 1700 pesos, 3 ½ dollars, it is a steal).  On this occasion I got a newer bus.  This is bad news because the newer buses have TV.  This is bad news because whether in Chile or Mexico, they always show R-rated action movies of the most violent and profane kind.  For most of the trip I didn’t realize that that was the kind of movie they were showing, because I have my own personal DVD player with headphones and have been taking advantage of the trip to watch the entire collection of Star Trek: the Next Generation DVD’s that I ostensibly got my kids for Christmas.  My program ran out before the bus arrived, however, and that was when I realized what was going on on the screen.  If my wife, who is a courageous and godly woman, had been there, the bus driver and steward would have heard from her long before we arrived in Curicó.  Weenie that I am, I could still hear the Lord speaking in her voice as I got off the bus, “you need to tell them that they should only show family movies.”   Every Christian who complains about an injustice like that is one small agent helping to bring the Kingdom of God (I even translated a sermon to that effect at the General Assembly).  But my sense of embarrassment and my apathy won out.   In silence I got off the bus and left.  Chalk up one blown opportunity to serve the Kingdom. 

                Not three minutes later, I had a new opportunity.  I had lost a pair of gloves, and the one I was wearing needed to be washed (it takes things a good 48 hours to dry here).   I wanted to replace the lost pair and quickly found an opportunity to do so at the stand of a street vendor on the sidewalk of Henriquez street, the main thoroughfare in downtown Curicó.  Just as I was paying for the pair I picked out, a little girl and her mother came up to the street vendor—they were evidently not people of means.  The little girl was excited about getting a decorated hair accessory that cost 100 chilean pesos (about .20 cents US).  I told the street vendor not to make me change but to purchase what the girl wanted from my change.  This was evidently not a culturally normal thing for me to do (tall, white, and foreign as I am), and it took a moment for the vendor to understand me.  His face broke in to a grin of delight as he explained to the mother, whose face broke into a grin also.  The little girl was completely unawares.  The whole experience was over in 30 seconds or less. 

                Cut now to the worship service at a suburban (suburban here means “poor” rather than “middle class”) local church that same evening.  I am preaching on the theme “acquired tastes”.  I am arguing that the Apostle Paul had had to give up his naturally, ethnically transmitted tastes in religion and had acquired new tastes as follows:  I want to know Christ^,  and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death.  I have split the passage into three points, in good Princeton seminary fashion.  I have explained the desire to know Christ, wanting to experience Him ever more deeply in each relationship, in each activity, in each stage of life.  On my second point I am saying that wanting to know the power of His resurrection is delighting in each little victory of the Kingdom of God, kind of a thrill of team sports sublimated, where one is constantly looking for an opportunity to “touch the ball”, to shoot or pass to score a goal.  I then go on to give a great example, the second of my two experiences, of course.  And God leads me to set a trap for myself in which I proceed to fall with eyes wide open. 

               

                A few minutes before, they had taken up the offering.  I fingered a $1000.00 peso bill (2 US dollars).  Now, they have a curious custom here.  The choir sings a special for the offering, and after it is collected and before they finish, the offering is brought to the front of the church where it is dumped (that sounds wrong—read “placed”) on the secretary’s table, which is to one side of the altar area.  She proceeds to count the offering while the congregation begins singing a song—so that the choir has an opportunity to give their offering.  The offering bag gets passed to the clergy during the choir’s offering.  Well, when the offering is “placed” on the table, I see that it is all coins, not bills.  So I proceed to put a $100 coin instead of the bill.

                Back to my sermon.  As I describe my little act of kindness, I said “and it was such a little thing, just a coin (thinking of the widow with the two mites, I guess), like the coin we place in the offering.”  You know, as a preacher a Pentecostal congregation that gives you “amen”s and “preach it”s is usually a good thing.  They encourage you and you preach better than you would have otherwise.  On the other hand . . .       A voice from somewhere said audibly (maybe it was God’s voice again, though it sounded male this time), “Oops, now he told us how little he put in to the offering.”  Everyone laughed out loud, and despite the cold, I got red from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.  And I loved it!  What a gentle, tender, and beautiful way God had to put me in my place, surrounded by the laughter of those who love me (and most of whom didn’t put any more than 100 pesos either).  Maybe all of us had our spiritual pride taken down a notch.    

                You know, there was after all that third point, “and the sharing of his sufferings.”  I had always thought of these as great persecutions, illnesses or trials.  But apparently sometimes all it means is learning to laugh at yourself when you haven’t been all the Christian you were supposed to be.

                Enjoy the discipline!

David J. Huegel

Interesting turn of political events

Maybe those of you have been following the political news from Chile heard about the right wing presidential candidate, Pablo Longueira, stepping down from the race due to being diagnosed with depression.  Chile had been working a long to to agree on policies for primary elections, and had finally put them together for the first time with a surprisingly good turnout.  The two right wing parties agreed to support each other no matter which of their candidates came out first, and Longueira, from the far right, won.  On the left, Michelle Bachelet not only had the highest number of votes by far, but also the highest turn out of voters.

With the election coming in November, the right ended up with no candidate at all as their coalition fell apart with Longueira's resignation.  The right has more or less agreed on a new candidate.   The new candidate, running against Michelle Bachelet, is also a woman, Evelyn Matthei.

So Chile may just have two women as the main contenders for the presidency, interesting for a country that is still very conservative in many ways.  But the comparisons go even further. Both women are the daughters of Air Force Generals - they knew each other as children.  Bachelet's father was a military attache in Washington DC at the Chilean embassy so she speaks excellent English, while Matthei`s father served in the Chilean embassy in London where she also learned English. Bachelet´s father was on the "wrong" side of the coup and died in the air force  institution where Matthei's father was the director.  Bachelet`s family contends that the former General Alberto Bachelet was murdered.  General Matthei always insisted he knew nothing about the internal operations of that institution and that he was only a figurehead .  General Matthei was the Minister of health for the military junta under Pinochet, and Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician and epidemiologist with studies in military strategy served as Health Minister and Defense Minister under President Ricardo Lagos after democracy was restored in Chile.  

Bachelet is a separated mother of three who raised her children alone while  Evelyn Matthei is a still married mother of three. 

General Matthei was the first Junta member to publicly admit that the military regime had lost the October 1988 referendum to elect General Pinochet for a new eight year term.  Michelle Bachelet and her mother were held in a concentration camp and finally had to flee the country living first in Australia and then Germany before finally returning home after Pinochet was defeated. 

It promises to be an interesting election with the dynamics of two women who seem to have lived parallel lives with so many points of comparison and yet with personal stories shaped by their father's decisions and loyalties.  Mirror lives,  one on the left and the other on the right, that have lead to vastly different political positions and personal convictions, and public interpretations of the modern history of Chile.