August 31, 2017--Liberation Theology Becomes Real

Today we began to immerse ourselves in liberation theology. After our regular class, we had a lecture followed by a visit to a human rights organization in Cuernavaca.

Rev. Brad Walston

Irregular verbs; if you’ve ever taken a language – including English – you know that these words are the words that confuse most students. This was a major part of today’s Spanish class. These are the verbs that we learn growing up by simply using and hearing them over and over. As adults learning a second language, the challenge now is memorizing them; and then using them and hearing them over and over.  Today, I walked about a mile to school with my backpack, and a it’s all downhill. Coming home I took the bus -- by myself! It wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it might be. I feel like it’ back-to–school for me as well as all the kiddos at home!

This afternoon we took an excursion to the small traditional town of Tepoztlan (yes, every letter is pronounced). A beautiful old town, it’s one of the 111 “Pueblos de Mexico Magicos,” which means, “Magic Villages of Mexico.” Tepoztlan is famous for being one of the places where the Nahuatl Indians – the indigenous people of the area – lived until the Spanish conquistadors came in the 16th century, followed by the church. We saw the convent where the Dominicans lived, as well as the gorgeous churches. We were also lucky enough to actually meet one of the local artists in the museum. We were able to talk to him – through our  “Maestro” of course – our teacher (they don’t call them professors at CETLALIC).  His art showed a representation of the first book published in Mesoamerica. He said that wanted to show what really happened when the Conquistadors came and colonized the indigenous people and the land.

I still have some mixed feelings when I see the Spanish colonial art and architecture. I want to appreciate its beauty. I want to love it, and I daydream about having one of those elegant colonial mansions. ON the other hand I grieve the genocide of another equally beautiful people with equally beautiful art and architecture.

Melinda Baber and Denise Bender

Curtis Gay

Day two – reviewed my notes from yesterday to help the info sink in.  We have a wonderful teacher and although we haven’t even opened the class book, just through a flow of related questions we fill boards full of notes and explanations – all without effort.

Bus trip to a famous town, however it was fascinating to view the neighborhoods we passed in 30 or 45 minutes.  I feel that I am not appreciative of all that we in the U.S. have.  A 30 minute hot shower, not sitting all day in a garage-sized room waiting for someone to come do business with me so I can feed my family, not earning only 80 pesos a week (at 17+ per dollar) and trying to live off that.  . . I don’t think we’re undeserving of our ‘riches’, but we’re definitely headed that way if we keep up our ungracious, unsharing/caring and self-serving way. 

Wonderful full day.

We celebrated Youngsook's birthday early, and she 

participated in a Mexican birthday tradition:

Biting the Cake!

Rev. Dr. Youngsook Kang

Spanish Language course: We had another 3 hour intensive class of Spanish language today and the expression that I learned and used the most today is “POR QUE NO” (Why not?)

Former Convent of the Nativity in Tepozltan:  We travelled to Tepozltan by bus for a cultural immersion experience.  Tepozltan is a traditional town in Morelos state and I will long remember the former Convent of the Nativity that we visited in Tepozltan.  This ex-Convent, which was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1994, is now used as a museum. I felt as if I was observing the life of those who lived there in the 16th century- their study, prayer life, and walking in the courtyard. We were fortunate to see people making the murals with seeds (beans, corns and etc.) as their main religious festival of the Former Convent of the Nativity is approaching (September 8th).

Pedagogy of Public Transportation: I’d like to say a few words about taking the public transportation (bus) to Tepozltan.  Perhaps we could have rented a private van for our group, but, I believe CETALALIC intentionally had us on public transportation. This is important because when you take the bus for 45 minutes each way, you just cannot be neutral to what is going on in the real world.  I observed many people going on and off the bus during the rides both ways and remember two women in particular.  One was a grandmother who was with a young school girl.  The other woman was carrying two heavy boxes alone.  I felt I have a little deeper understanding of people in Mexico by walking alongside them and sharing seats on the bus. On the way back at least 3 different people sat next to me.  What did I see in these people who are living the real life in their real world?  Resilience of life and hope. Esperanza.

Rev. Jim and Joanie Calhoun

Put a picture by the word "Hospitality" in the dictionary and it would be Natividad, our hostess. She entertains in her neat little home with graciousness, attention to every detail, good food and good humor.

We leave home ready to embrace the events of the day, learning, adventuring, having fellowship with our team and the most capable personnel of the school, and absorbing culture, history and surroundings of Meh-hi-co. We're so glad we came. Buenos Dias!

Rev. Melinda Baber

"The hope is not in the crucifixion. The hope-- our hope-- is in the Resurrection!" These words, said out loud by our Maestro, Francisco, louder and more beautiful  than the church bells of the Cathedral,  reverberate thru my day. 

I notice how 'revolution' and 'insurrection' are both inside the word, and the Idea of 'Resurrection', like the fetus Jesus, was nestled and jostled inside Mary's womb.

The quote in this photo,  on the wall of another of today's sacred spaces/classrooms, reverberates,  too, with the same sound. We are too good at crucifying, and making a whole religion out of that Body-- and not good at being the Body of the Resurrection. 

Lord, have mercy. Don't we yet  know?? God is the God of the living,  not the dead! 

Raise us up Now. Not on the last Day. Now....

Bishop Karen Oliveto

Today I found myself convicted, over and over again, by the Gospel's demands. Listening to our teacher talk about the practice of Base Christian Communities, which gather people together to 1) see--what is going on in our lives and in our community? 2) to think--what can be a response that ushers in equality, justice and wholeness? 3) to act--to engage one another as disciples of Jesus, extending God's beloved community in the world through communal action; 4) to evaluate--what did we learn from our actions, from one another, and from those we are now in relationship with? and 5) to celebrate! And then to start the whole process over again.

So many churches I have been a part of do #1 and #2, but we seldom get beyond that. How can we engage one another in the full theological practice and participate in God's liberating acts? For me, this is how our churches can truly be agents of hope, liberation,  and transformation.

Later, when I listened to our lecturer talk about Bishop Sergio Arceo  I was again convicted.
Arceo opened himself up to be converted over and over again by staying close to the people, to hear their voices and the truth of their lives. He allowed himself not to be a distant observer but to be so deeply moved by what he heard that it became the starting point for his vision and leadership. I pray I might embody this same kind of leadership.

So, too,
Arceo found that this kind of orientation to ministry is dangerous--for it is not the "powers that be" that have authority any longer, but the lives of the people. This compelled
Arceo to take stances that were unpopular to both the Church and the government. The result of his faithfulness to the Gospel and how it was rooted in the people is that it still lives on as people cross lines of difference to work for justice and fairness.

This convicted me deeply. In just the last couple of weeks/days, our nation has seen a failure of leadership in our country and in our churches. We are not calling out racism in Charlottesville and across our country with clear, unyielding voices. We have not protested the creation of a ban against transgender people serving in the military, the removal of a White House web page with statistics and resources about sexual violence, the discontinuance of an equal pay initiative which collected salary data based on gender, race and ethnicity, and an assault against LGBTQ people by evangelical leaders. We are not standing solidly with the more than 600,000 young people who came to the US as children who are anxiously awaiting their fate as the president prepares to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Today, I was reminded of intersectionality. During a time in which we are being divided by gender identity, race, class, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, we who follow Jesus must do as he did--reach out across lines of difference to create a movement of liberation and unity. We must do so embodying Love's power. We know it is risky and might come at a terrible cost, but this is what God expects--it is the cost of discipleship.

God, make me worthy.

Rebecca Wilson

"La esperanza muere al ultimo."

This phrase, common among the Mexican people, literally translated means "hope dies last." The sentiment of the phrase is "never give up." Today in class we talked for the first hour about hope. CETLALIC, the school where we are studying is rooted in the pedagogy of Paulo Freire. Freire believed that we have to be a source of hope for others and for our community and at the same time we need sources of hope in our own lives. Survival depends on hope.

Mario and Rebecca

As class went on we talked about the reasons that people and communities in Mexico and the United States lack hope; poverty, hunger, unemployment, employment without fair wages and benefits, sickness, and frustrations of everyday life. We talked about the political systems and social structures that reinforce hopeless. We agreed that in our world today it is hard work to be hopeful and to offer hope, but we also agreed that we can't give up.

Mario, my teacher said something that I can't get out of my head. His hope is that our group will return home to the United States to dispel the stereotypes that so many in the United States have of Mexicans. "We are not all bad hombres."

I hope I'm able to keep my word to Mario; to share what I'm learning; to retell the stories I'm hearing.

I'm more hopeful than I was a few hours ago.

"La esperanza muere al ultimo."

Rev. Denise Bender

This evening as I listen to the thunder roll through the skies and hear the rain on the roof I reflect on these sounds as they remind me of my experiences of today. As we continue to learn more of the gentle Spanish language and sentence structure we are also learning through lectures about the important ministry of liberation theologians for the people of Morales.

The power of the oppressor is that which causes sin. Many times the poor are not aware of the root cause of their oppression. When justice reigns there will be no broken relationships (sin) with one another or with God. Therein lies our task.

Robin Ridenour

What a wonderful discussion today about liberation theology as a process. We "see" the reality, think, take action, evaluate and celebrate! 

The reality is: who are our neighbors and is there justice, work, food, clothes and  housing?  What is their experience and how do we interact with our neighbors?  Do we talk to them about what they might need to make their lives dignified?  Do we help by taking action together?  Do we evaluate how things went from our and our neighbor's perspectives?  And then, do we celebrate together?

Brad, Robin, Denise and Pat with instructor Francisco