And there came a certain
poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his
disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow
hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they did cast in
of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all
her living. Mark 12:42-44
I am invited
to preach just outside the city of Juchitán, Oaxaca in an area where most of
the residents are Zapotec people. Just
three years ago, the services were adapted into Spanish from Zapotec because
the new minister does not speak the ancient Mesoamerican language. Zapotec
words, phrases and songs spring from the hearts of the people in the
congregation during the worship service like the little flowers decorating the
auto repair and machine tool shop sanctuary.
Clanging work continues in the background even as the service begins.
Mary
Katherine Ball, a Global Missions Intern on loan to the Institute for
Intercultural Studies and Research while waiting her assignment in Ecuador,
accompanies me past the rubble, to the solitary pillars of what is left of the
church building. "The sisters and
brothers worked so hard to have a simple, comfortable, worthy place to
worship," the pastor says shaking his head. "Every single family in my congregation
lost their home."
As I preach,
three Zapotec matriarchs look on from the second row, their bright clothes trimmed with lace and
long braids intertwined with ribbons.
They nod in agreement and then weep openly as I remind them that we are
the children of the High King, worthy princes and princesses, who treat others
with dignity just as we expect and demand to be treated. "When you treat me with dignity, your
own dignity is uplifted. When I treat
you with dignity, my dignity is strengthened.
Dignity is expressed and experienced in community."
At the end of
the worship service, one of the matriarchs hands me an envelope. " Thank
you for coming to visit us. This is our offering so that you might bless others
in need," she tells me as she gives me a hug.
Ten dollars. Three
matriarchs. Widows? Houseless?
Churchless? Worthy queens in the
court of the High King! Again the widow's mite, becomes the widows' might, for nothing, not even a devastating
earthquake can strip them of their dignity and their power to share that
dignity with others!
