It´s funny how the things that people ask you, reveal more about them than it does about you.
During the in-between times in the prison, when I get chance to hang out with the girls, the most frequent topic of conversation is the fact that I´m single and don´t have children. To the extent that some of the girls repeat their questions several times in a row, in disbelief at the answer, reveals something of the culture here as well as their own limited expectations.

In the prison context, this always inspires me to pray - that the girls would realise that they have other options in life apart from how they are connected to others- either a partner or a child; that they would begin to know something more of God´s design for them.

In other situations, I react differently. At the weekend, I went to a retreat for Christian professionals. With a professional (married) woman, I had a similar conversation as with the girls in the prison. Having established that I´m single and don´t have children, her faced turned to a look of sheer pity and she asked if I´d got used to it yet (as if it´s some sort of punishment to be endured.) I have to admit that this caused anger to rise in me - although I´m hoping I didn´t show that. For teenage girls from marginal and poor communities to think that they have no other options in life is understandable (and often true). But for a Christian professional woman to look so pitifully towards singles, I find quite offensive. (At this point I could talk about different cultural expectations of gender roles etc etc - but that would negate the many similar conversations I´ve had with married women in England - so I´m not sure that culture is the defining factor here.)

But anyway back to the conversation at the weekend..... that all the things that she (or I) might have acheived professionally, or the character and personality that God has made her (or me) to be; that all of that counts for nothing unless you have a man is both completely illogical and unbiblical. And I guess that´s what makes my prayer for the girls in the prison so huge. When even other women in their own society don´t think that they can acheive anything worthwhile apart from find a man and have children, no wonder they don´t let themselves dream of other achievements.

For those readers who know me, you´ll have heard this rant before from me. And for those who don´t know me, please don´t misunderstand. I´m not devaluing the role of women as wifes and as mothers. I believe that they are important roles. But they are not the only option, and it´s not mutually exclusive of doing other things and achieving other goals.

I really want women to know the design God has planted in them -- and by that I don´t mean all the girly/ princess talk of so many Christian women´s ministries (which in my mind simply buys into the celebrity /beauty business which takes advantage of women´s insecurities in order to sell products of one sort or another.) Instead I mean that I want women to know that God has created them with value and dignity in their own right, each one unique, with distinct gifts and talents, which he means for us to use and excel in - not simply to wait for a man to notice them.

OK. Rant over.

Hopes and Dreams

On Monday in the prison, we talked about Mary´s story - how even though the society had expectations of her (get married and have children), God had plans that were much bigger. I asked the girls what dreams they had -- putting aside what society expected of them, what did they want to acheive. There was a real silence, as they began to consider this. Perhaps many of them had never even thought of what they wanted to acheive in life - just for themselves. Reading their responses later, I was touched by what they had written. Some said ´to get out of this place´, others 'to be a better person´, others ´to see my family again' or 'to bring up my child to have a better life than me'. Others dreamt of being an arquitect or a lawyer. Still others, wrote something down, and kept it - perhaps something so personal that they couldn´t share it, even anonomously. My prayer this week has been that God awakens dreams in their hearts - and gives them a seed of hope that they can actually acheive them.

Security (and other false hopes)

In Guatemala, there are 3 private security guards for every police officer. Every bank, shopping centre, delivery truck and local official has security guards. I´ve often thought that it must be a really boring job as they always seem to end up doing something else at the same time... security guards in shopping centres become armed car park attendants, security guards in banks become armed doormen and so on and so on.

But a recent article in the paper here, also explained the training the security guards receive. According to the law, security guards should recieve 18 months of training in issues like human rights, the law, conflict resolution. However the average training recieved by security guards in registered companies is 3 days. (And that´s in the legal companies!) The training includes how to clean a gun, but few agencies give any training in how to use it safely or in how to diffuse difficult situations without violence. And there´s many incidences that demonstrate this lack of training - security guards who have shot (and sometimes killed) people by accident simply moving or dropping their gun. Another private security guard shot a carpark attendant when he simply asked for his ticket. Others are involved in criminal activity. There´s very little accountability for the licenced security agencies - let alone for the illegal ones.

That they exist at all is worrying in the first place. I guess it started from a lack of police presence in the face of growing violence, so local businesses sought out other means to 'guarantee' their safety. At the same time, there´s been a huge growth in the number of private shopping centres in Guatemala, (in the style of American Malls), of course each with their own security officers. For those who can afford it, shopping centres provide a ´privatised´ shopping experience as people increasingly see the truly public spaces, such as the street, as unsafe, and the official protectors of society (the police) as untrustworthy or simply absent. Unfortunately when normal upstanding citizens leave the public spaces, this does not make them safer - in many ways it´s an sign of defeat, giving up on any previous attempt to stand up for what is right in the face of violence and threats of violence. By leaving, the violence, and those who use it, win. Does it need to be explained that the rise of private security services has not diminished the violence in any way. In fact it has worsened.

In the face of a similar situation, neighbouring Honduras, has recently decided to assign the Army to support the police in their regular duties on the streets. They have reported that the initial affect has been positive. The Guatemalan President-elect, who is due to take office in January, is considering similar measures, but I´m not sure that they will be received in quite the same way. Honduras has never had a civil war, in contrast to Guatemala, where the army fought a 36 year war against guerillas in the highlands, and managed to massacre 200,000 indigenous people in the process. Understandably the army doesn´t enjoy a huge amount of respect from the general society.

Even so, the President-elect might follow in Honduras´ footsteps anyway. He is an ex army general after all! He´s also considering involving the army in the countries war on drug trafficking, following Mexico´s example. Many Mexican commentators, however, would site their Presidents decision to use the Army as the starting point of an increase in violence, rather than an diminishing of it.
So how is it that governments think that the presence of guns and 'state-sanctioned violence' will decrease the illegal variety, when so much evidence proves the opposite. Some governments have even managed to convince many of their own citizens that the strategy will work.... this time ... under this new government.

I think it was Einstein who said that only a fool continues to do the same thing, and expects a different result.

Of course, new governments in themselves, seem to be the other popular false hope; it will all be better with the next President. And in Guatemala (judging from the recent election process) it seems like Christians are the most susceptable to this over simplistic belief, particularly when a candidate is labelled 'Christian', regardless of their policies or plans or integrity. Many church leaders simply told their congregations to vote for the Christian candidate, without any mention of the need to weigh up and evaluate the policies, track record, and ability of each of the candidates.

For me, within a democratic systme, our responsibility as Christians is so much more than to simply vote for a Christian. What´s needed is for normal Christians to be involved in political processes at every level of society, bringing the values of Jesus into play in the public arena. The same is true for the church to confront the situation of violence. The church tends to be very good at avoidance (buying into those good old middle class values of 'getting on in life', ie moving out to the suburbs and leaving problems behind them), and in some cases even employ their own armed security guards at the church doors (don´t even get me started on what I think Jesus might make of that!). Instead the church needs to be teaching and training Christians to engage with their neighbours, to confront the real root issues of poverty and powerlessness in their community in order to bring about transformation in communities as well as in individuals.

Thank God that there are some who do.

Wedding times

On Saturday I went to a wedding of some friends. I knew it was an hours journey away, so I left with plenty of time. Unfortunately my bus decided to wait for half an hour in one of the towns on the way, so I was getting a bit worried that I was going to be late - but I figured that in Guatemala I would probably have half an hours grace. I got off the bus at the Restaurant Hacienda Real -- only to realise that the wedding was actually taking place in Restaurant Hacienda - a few kms further on. Now being 45 mins late, I was just about to get on the next bus coming past, when I noticed a car stopping and Wendy (the bride) getting out -- So maybe I wasn´t going to be too late after all! So I squeezed in the back seat with her family and flowers etc, and they gave me a lift. We drove round to the back of the Restaurant - where she joined her bridemaids getting changed in the toilets! And I needn´t have worried about lateness.... it was another hour before the wedding actually started. (And then people were still arriving half way through the service!). In the car I had said I thought I was going to be late. Wendy (who studied in the states for a couple of years) explained that in Guatemala it´s almost a tradition for the bride to keep the groom waiting --  "Don't they do that in England as well?"  Yes I said, but only for about 5 minutes!

And it´s funny how sometimes you think that you´ve got a culture figured out - and then it surprises you again. Guatemalans like to make speeches -- it seems to me for even the most trivial of reasons. Birthday parties are not complete without every person making a speech (even if you don´t really know the person celebrating their birthday). Baby showers include a sermon and a few speeches. They hold graduation ceremonies for finishing secondary school, or primary school, or kindergarden (seriously!) and even for one day courses! So I figured there would be at least one speech at the wedding too - but no. Not even from the father of the bride.  I keep learning.

Election Results

So the results are in! Yesterday was the run off elections for the Guatemalan Presidency. Talking with lots of friends over the last week or so, the consensus seemed to be that it boiled down to '2 candidates, no choice!' - ie that both candidates were so unappealing, that it was difficult even to decide which might be the lesser of two evils. I know a few friends who were planning to ruin their voting papers. In fact the official results say that 4% of those who voted did exactly that.
But at the end of the day, Otto Perez Molino, the ex Army General, has won with 54% of the vote and will become President on the 14th Jan. This has followed the pattern of recent years - of the candidate who comes second, will win in the following election 4 years later. (Which means that we might get Baldizon back in 4 years time, if things continue as they have done!)
Now everyone comes to think about the changes coming. This isn´t just about changes to political policy, but also to personel in almost every area of the public sector. New government, new everything. This is one of the challenges of a country which prohibits a second term - a lack of consistency in policy and personel.
Yet in neighbouring Nicaragua, they have also been voting. President Daniel Ortega, managed to change the constitutional rules a couple of years ago, allowing him to stand for a second term. According to early results from their election, he´s on course to win, and yet is also surrounded to accusations of fraud and election irregularities.
Perhaps it doesn´t matter what the rules are. Those that want power, and are willing to do almost anything to get it - usually do.

Not fitting in.

Several times a week, I walk from my house to the other end of the town, where the Gym is (no comment!) On my way I always pass something on the road that makes me think, and that God has been 'pointing out to me' over the last few weeks - it´s a man hole cover. That´s probably not the most spiritual source of divine revelation, but then it´s probably more on my level!!

So what´s so special about the man hole cover, I hear you ask. Well, this one is situated half in the actual road and half on the pavement, which at that point is flat to the road. On the edge of the pavement, there´s the almost obligatory red line painted to indicate that parking is not permitted.

What has struck me about this man hole cover is that someone has obviously pulled it open at some stage since the red line was painted on, and then closed it again. But in closing it, they have left it in a position so that the line doesn´t connect with the line on the pavement on either side. In fact the red line across the man hole cover is more or less perpendicular (at right angles) to the line on the pavement either side of it. (I´ve been meaning to get a photo of it, but don´t usually have my camera with me, and would also look pretty stupid taking photos of the road!!!)

It fits perfectly and yet looks so out of place; it´s in exactly the right position but looks so wrong.

And I guess that´s a good way to understand where I am at the moment (and perhaps it´s an analogy of anyone involved in cross cultural mission). I have a sense that God has put me here, in exactly this position, in a perfect fit, and yet I don´t look right at all. I´m now doing something completely different to what I expected, and in human terms I may not ´look´right for the role but somehow it fits. I stand out as being the wrong way round or upside down or something even stranger than that!. There´s probably never going to be a time when I don´t stand out from the crowd and yet God has put me here, right at this time, doing things I didn´t expect to be doing, but for a purpose. I can be secure in His plans, and in His presence, no matter what I look like or how wierd or unexpected it feels.

going to prison

Recently I´ve started to work in a prison for girls, and I´m really enjoying it. It´s good to get back to doing 'youthwork' - but it´s quite different from everything I´ve done before. The girls are between 14 and 17 years old, although some of them also have their babies or young children with them. Initially I was only allowed to preach - without any kind of participation or interaction from the girls. Now the Director has grown to trust me a bit (I think) and I´m allowed to do more interactive discussions which has been great.
But there´s strange limitations in working in a prison. The most obvious, is that I´m not allowed to use anything that the girls could take and use as a weapon.... so no pens and paper. But then there´s other limitations that aren´t so obvious. So far the girls have had a varied response to what I´ve done. Some have been very quiet and not given any sort of verbal response. Others can be quite talkative - and always want to answer the questions --- perhaps like any other group. But there is always lots of 'right answers'. Even when I make a big thing of explaining that I´m interested in their real opinions etc, somehow people always come to the perceived right answers really quickly.
Let me explain...... most of the time, I think there aren´t many 'right answers' - what I mean is that I think there is much more benefit in an honest discussion, with all the messy disagreements and inconsistent opinions, than in the tidy polished religious answers. Mostly I think that the answers that 'religion' gives, are inadequate - or answering completely irrelevant questions. For me, our real journey of faith is found in the struggling with issues and questions and the search for God in that - often he answers us with mystery and further questions rather than answers!
So anyway - back to the prison, I don´t know whether it is simply because of the guards who are lurking nearby that prevents the girls being honest, or a much bigger issue of religiousness here in Guatemala, where many people memorize huge chunks of the Bible - but can´t ever put it into their own words because they don´t actually understand what they´re memorising.
But it´s good. It´s a challenge for me to think of new ways to encourage the girls to open up, and to communicate with them something of God´s heart for them - not the neat and tidy answers - but the unconditional and uncontrolable love that he has for them. I keep praying.

stepping up

In my job, I usually look after short term volunteers during their time here in Guatemala. But this time last year, we sent a Guatemalan Strider off to England, and he´s recently returned here. It´s been fascinating to see the experience from the other direction. What´s been really interesting has been to hear how he has changed through the experience
We met up to reflect on all that he´s experienced this last year. He explained that there were lots of things that he was worried about before he went, but he decided from the beginning that whatever he was asked to do in his placement, he would say yes... (and panic later)... and that´s how things went. As a result, he was able to step up into all sorts of new things, that he´d never done before and experience Gods faithfulness in it all.
His friends and family have also commented on how he has changed. His brother said ´he´s different ... but the same.´ It is a strange sense of being the same as before, but much more so - which somehow makes him different, almost like he has grown into who he always was - or at least had the potential to be. There´s something about being in a different culture with an attitude of service, that makes you step into more of what God has for you. In the process gifts and abilities are developed and a sense of vision and calling are sharpened. Of course that´s never the end of the story - God always has more for us to grow into but there´s few opportunities in life like it, where you can really put yourself on the line and step up.
And I love the fact that Latin Link is able to provide these sorts of opportunities.

Stormy Weather!

You might have heard that it´s been raining a lot in Guatemala. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15283869) That´s true. It´s been raining almost continually for a day or two - and on and off for the previous 2 weeks. Really the rainy season should have finished about a month ago, but it keeps on. When you live in a well built house, it´s easy to think that it´s just rain, but the reality is that this can have a huge affect on people. In rural areas, whole villages can be washed away by a landslide. In Guatemala, where the infrastructure hasn´t fully recovered from Tropical Storm Agatha last June (2010), or even from Hurricane Stan, a few years previously, storms or even the ´tropical depression´ that we´re experiencing at the moment, has far reaching affects on people, communities and the economy. As the depression has now been downgraded to a ´low pressure´, the officials begin the counting.....15 dead.... 3588 affected..... 931 in temporary shelters..... it'll be a while before they work out the financial implications, but many of the agricultural regions, which supply the country with staples have been severely affected too.
It´s interested, that just yesterday I was in the Ezra Centre office, working on a project for them about climate change and the environment. I learned that Guatemala ranks in the top five countries in the world most affected by floods, hurricanes and earthquakes, with 40.8 percent of the population exposed to five or more threats simultaneously. And that doesn´t just affect rural areas. With so much uncertainty and risk involved in agriculture, there is a sustained internal migration to the cities, where satellite communities grow up too quickly for local authorities to provide basic services and ensure that homes are built safely and away from risk areas. This reality is echoed on the news reports at the moment, as several metropolitan areas are badly affected as well.
So we keep on counting, and praying .... more rain forecasted for the weekend.

Election Update and Independence

The presidential elections were held last Sunday, - and all went reasonably peacefully.
But that´s not the end of it. Nobody won more than 50% of the vote (not surprising given that there were 11 candidates!) which means that the 2 most popular candidates go through to a second round vote in November. From where I´m sitting there´s not much to choose from the 2. Otto Perez is an ex-army general with several human rights abuse accusations following him regarding his role in the 36 year civil war. He promises a hard line against crime. On the other hand, Manuel Baldizon, is a businessman and new to politics, but he also promises action against organised crime and the gangs, including introducing the death penalty. Both are now busy making alliances with the other candidates and parties in order to increase their support. But according to the popular wisdom, that won´t make any difference. In the last 20 years or so, every elected President in Guatemala, came second in the previous election. So this time, apparently it will go to Otto Perez, because 'it´s his turn' after coming second 4 years ago. We´ll wait and see.
This week, we´ve also had independence celebrations but compared to previous years, they´ve been fairly subdued. Many local authorities cancelled the usual marching band competitions and parades because they feared complications or increased violence because of the elections. On the other hand, there´s been plenty of 'antorchas' - groups of people running through the streets with an olympic style torch - which has worsened the usual traffic chaos!!! Exactly what independence is all about!

Tearfund Conference in Honduras

Last week, I attended a Tearfund conference in Honduras on behalf of the Ezra Centre. It was all about Climate Change and Environmental Degradation, and with other Tearfun partners from acorss Central America.
It was a great week, with a fantastic group of people. We talked alot about the science of climate change and how that is affecting many of the communities here in Central America. The next steps, as we all went back to our organisations, is to work out what we should do differently in order to provent some of the worst effects. Of course Climate Change isn´t going away, and it´s the developed nations that need to make big changes in order to drastically change our prospects - but we can do stuff to lessen the effects of climate change in communities who are most at risk.
We were staying in a beautiful Nature reserve.

My impression of a whale. (It´s a long story!)


With some of the other participants.

More books

I've been reading again. This time 'Hannah's Child: A Theologian's memoir' by Stanley Hauerwas. He has had a very 'prophetic' voice calling to the western church as well as to the wider society, but he writes with real humility and authenticity about his life and what has made him and influenced him. It's interesting how he talks about his journey to faith; he describes how he became a Christian gradually and several years into studying and even teaching theology. And also I love his discussion about the tendency of the church to attempt to give all the answers in life....

"Following Jesus means you cannot anticipate or ensure results. Learning to live out of control, learning to live without trying to force contingency into conformity because of our desperate need for security, I take to be a resource for discovering alternatives that would otherwise not be present."

"When Christianity is assumed to be an 'answer' that makes the world intelligible, it reflects an accommodated church committed to assuring Christians that the way things are is the way things have to be. Such 'answers' cannot help but turn Christianity into an explanation. For me, learning to be a Christian has meant learning to live without answers. Indeed, to learn to live in this way is what makes being a Christian so wonderful. Faith is but a name for learning how to go on without knowing the answers."

I guess this is where I've got to with God too. So much of life - even with faith - just doesn't have answers. But I like learning to live with God - but out of control!

Then last week, I read ' A Just Church; 21st century Liberation Theology in Action' by Chris Howson. It's a good expression of how Christians can put faith into action in issues of social justice and building real community in order to advance the reign of God. Inspiring and challenging.

Walking

I know I wrote previously about the book ‘Your God is too Safe’ - but there´s another part of it that´s been rattling around my head ever since I finished the book a month ago. It´s to do with a passage from Isaiah 40. It culminates with the oft- quoted part

‘but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.’

This has been the inspiration for various worship songs, particularly ‘soaring on wings like eagles´. It seems that that part is supposed to be our aim. Our relationship with God is supposed to get to the point where we can soar through life, without effort or struggle; simply soaring in his presence and power.

But then this is only the beginning; ‘running and not growing weary’ comes next and then ‘walking and not fainting´. In the norms of poetry used in Isaiah, the culmination of an idea comes last, rather than being first and then explained, as we often assume of this passage.

So that would actually mean that what God desires for us is to walk and not faint. That´s the aim of our developing relationship with God. The soaring is simply a step towards that. It made me think of a parachute jump – which I guess is the nearest any of us can get to soaring like eagles. I´ve not actually done a parachute jump, but we often imagine that it takes huge amounts of courage…. But on second thoughts, perhaps not. It actually just requires a split second of bravery (or even the gentle push from a friend) as you jump from the plane. Then you just soar, but even that only lasts a few minutes before you´re on the ground again. So much of our Christian experience agrees with this idea – a great event or a great worship time gives us that experience of soaring in God´s presence, but soon we´re back down to earth, searching for the next plane ride and parachute pack.

And yet, this passage tells us that soaring isn´t the aim. Walking is. It seems he wants us to get past our desire for soaring, and get on with walking. Walking takes much more effort. It´s not hard, but it is constant. Continually putting one foot in front of the other, keeping on, whatever the circumstances, whatever the weather, whatever the terrain. It´s about keeping on. It is still God, not us that does the sustaining, but it´s in the mundane and the ordinary, even in the continual plodding, not in the extravagance of soaring.

It is God that renews our strength. It´s the experience of ´those who hope in the Lord’. It´s interesting that in Spanish the verb for ‘to hope’ and ‘to wait’ are the same word; esperar. Somehow, hoping in the Lord always seems to involve waiting. And waiting on God always includes hope. And it´s in the ordinary every day that we wait and hope.

Toybox Step Team 2011

campaign numbers

So the final list of candidates is now ready!.
There are 31,795 candidates for the 3,500 positions of public office which will be elected on Sept 11th - which includes President, Vice-President, MP´s for National congress, District representatives, local representatives (I think this is mayors), and members of the Central American Parliament. 60% of the candidates are between 18 and 30 years old -- I thought that wasn´t all that surprising in a country where the average age is 20, but they have made a big thing of this in the news as there´s been a big campaign for young people (and women) to participate more fully in politics, since the last election - and it seems to have worked.
What´s been more newsworthy is the avalanche of campaign advertising. Virtually everywhere you turn, there´s a candidates face staring back at you. Much of the advertising breaks the electoral rules, but nobody seems to do anything about it. In a street near my house, there´s 15 posters -- for the same candidate!!! -- in the space that it takes me to walk 40 paces (yes I´ve counted!!). The papers have called this 'polution'!! I´m no advertising expert but I doubt that this kind of saturation makes someone more likely to vote for the candidate. There´s still precious little of any real policy or plans.
So what can you tell from someone´s photo??
One of them looks like superman -- but more arrogant.
According to a friend of mine, another just looks like a drug traficker, and of another they say 'it´s his turn' (because he came second in the last general election!)
What any of this means in terms of the actual result, is anyones guess.

Step team arrived

Thank You Step Team!!!!

How safe is God??

I´m been reading a book lately -- How Safe if your God by Mark Buchanan, which has been great - and really made me think.
The whole book is about what he calls the Borderland and the Holy Wild. He explains the analogy of crossing a border from one country to another - but in some places - there is space between leaving one country and entering another - like a no-mans-land where no country claims jurisdiction or responsibility. He suggests that much of Christianity lives in the borderland, where people have left one realm -- but not really entered into another. It´s a place where we can make up our own rules, and live in a ´safe´and well structured way that´s completely of our own making - but not at all what God is calling us to. God is in the Holy Wild. (I love that phrase!) In the Holy Wild, God is not boxed in by the tidy arrangements of church or the limitations of our pre-prepared answers to the pre-prepared questions.

There´s a really interesting chapter on (Doubting) Thomas. To start with - what a demonstration of our own prejudice when we name him ´Doubting´ because of one incident in his life, and ignor the rest. It´s also really interesting to see Jesus reaction to him. The story is in John 20, and is shows us Thomas saying ´unless I see´.... 'I will not believe'. It´s funny that within the church we usually see doubt as the opposite of faith, and as a wholy negative experience, and yet it is doubt (ie the desire to see more, to examine more closely) that brings us to faith. Jesus´reaction to Thomas wasn't in condemnation of his doubt, but an encouragement - to do 2 things.
Firstly he says ´Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hands and put it into my side....´ .... it´s an invitation to come closer, to scrutinise (in the best sense of the world) more rigorously and to experience God himself. Thomas actually didn´t touch Jesus´ hands - but he exclaimed ´My Lord and my God´. It wasn´t the science, the proving, or the carefully crafted theological argument that drew this response, but simply the act of drawing near to Jesus, of him experiencing his resurrected life.
Secondly Jesus says ´because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed´. Another invitation - to go beyond what he has experienced so far, to go beyond doubt and scrutiny.

I love this ..... I think God is always in this attitude of inviting us in, inviting us closer, of giving us chances to see more of Jesus´ life.
"Sometimes doubting is not a lack of faith but rather an expression of it. Sometimes to doubt is merely to insist that God be taken seriously not frivolously."
I think so often our doubt is not a doubting of God but rather a doubting of the borderland, of the tameness of organised religion, of the safeness of the God that we have made in our own image. But God is calling us beyond that ... into the Holy Wild.

Arty recycled stuff 3

All that I find in God (so far)
Todo lo que encuentro en Dios (hasta ahora)

Arty recycled stuff 2

All that I find in God (so far)
Todo lo que encuentro en Dios (hasta ahora)

Arty recycled stuff

Since I´ve come back to Guatemala, I´ve been thinking and praying about various things, and wanting to create stuff that not only explains something of what God is doing in my life - but also acts as a reminder for me to keep on praying into some of the things that he has spoken into my life. So here´s a few blogs entries with the results..........

Breakthrough


Joy in the centre of my life.

The list still isn't ready

So yesterday was supposed to be the last day in which any appeal could be made for presidential candidates. Sandra has been working hard and has gone through every conceivable appeal process, all of them agreeing with the first -- that she has committed electural fraud by divorcing her husband in order to stand. Alongside the legal appeals, she´s also pulled all the stops out by bussing her supporters (generally from the poorer rural areas) into the city to protest and march, at every opportunity, causing havock with traffic systems, already at capacity. These protests continue.

There´s been a lot less news of Harold Cabelleros. Perhaps he´s decided to bow out gracefully........ or maybe just hasn´t got as many supporters to protest for him!

In other political news, other presidential candidates played a televised game of football against journalists!. Can you imagine that in England???? (David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown vs Jeremy Paxman, Fiona Bruce and David Dimbleby all in their football shorts....... it doesn´t bare thinking about!)

Discipleship consultation.

Last week, I was helping out with a regional consultation run by the Ezra Centre. They are a Guatemalan organisation that trains local pastors (and others) in holistic mission. Every year they hold a consultation around a significant topic. This year is was "Discipleship: Responsible citizenship in the world". It was great to have 300 pastors from Central America, not only listening to great teaching, but being part of a process of learning with others.

One story which shows the significance of the theme, was that the week before the event, Israel, the Director of the Ezra Centre was invited to talk on one of the Christian radio stations. He was introduced by the DJ explaining that the consultation was a training event for a new discipleship programme or course. That is the usual understanding of discipleship here in Guatemala -- that you can follow a course, run by a church, and then you arrive at being fully discipled.

The focus of the consultation was actually much more about encouraging a lifestyle of discipleship - which allows our faith to touch and affect every area of our lifes. Yes it´s about churches - but not about programmes - more an ongoing atmosphere and attitude of Christians learning from older Christians, or an intentional effort to share the reality of our lifes with each other so that we can grow more into the likeness of Jesus.

I was part of the team helping out with the running of the event, and it was great fun to get to know other people and be part of the action!.

news update

The political drama continues. The latest controversy is around Harold Cabelleros, the ex-pastor and founder of one of Guatemalas mega churches. Inspite of handing in his paperwork in order to stand for election in May, the electoral court waited til this week, just before the deadline for candidates, to assess this application. They decided that he was not eligible to stand for election because the law states that no minister of religion is able to stand. They say that him resigning from his role as pastor of the church in order to stand for election amounts to electoral fraud. That seems logical - except for the fact that he resigned from being pastor 4 years ago, before the last election. This part of the law also seems to have been ignored during the last election because Alvaro Colom, the actual President is a practicing Mayan priest. The appeals from Harold Cabelleros continue, as for Sandra Torres, the newly divorced first lady (again acused of electoral fraud).

The challenge to govern Guatemala is huge. In the midst of a heavy rainy season, with several roads washed out, this is a difficult situation to run a campaign. Another Presidencial candidate died this week when his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region, where he was visiting remote areas.

In other news, the bodyguard of Otto Perez (another candidate) daughter shot an unarmed car park attendant who asked him to move his car as it was blocking an entrance. The bodyguard fled, but the candidates party doesn't seem to feel the need to make a statement about it.

I wonder how the average Guatemalan sees all of this - how do you ever unravel all the stories and work out the truth from the lies?. And this is before you even get to party policies or election promises.

But what's interesting is that this week it wasn´t the death of a politician but the death of an Argentine in Guatemala, that has seen the biggest response and outpouring of grief. Facundo Cabral was an iconic folk singer, famous throughout Latin America. He had been in Guatemala to give 2 concerts, before he was shot dead when a group of armed men opened fire on his car as he was being driven to the airport. A mass of floral tributes have been left at the spot, and artists throughout the continent, as well as presidential candidates here have expressed their sorrow.

Amongst my friends, there´s an embarrassment of what Guatemala has become. People see how the violent situation has worsened recently and over the last 4 years, and long for something different. But who knows who or which party is likely to bring that difference.

Elections

It's election season in Guatemala, leading up to the Presidential elections in October. There are political posters everywhere. There's very little that attempts to explain policies or real plans for government. Mostly they are simply a photo of the candidate, occasionally with a slogan. If the focus isn't on policies or promises, it has been on the attempts of the candidates themselves just to get to this stage. The big controversy surrounds Alvaro Colom (the present President's) wife. The Guatemalan constitution does not permit the same person - or any close family member- to stand for Presidency for more than one term. Throughout his term in power, there has been ongoing criticism that it was Sandra Torres de Colom, the President's wife, who really had the power. Earlier this year, she declared that she wished to stand in this election. In order to do that she has got divorced! (Only slightly extreme in a country like Guatemala).

But the Supreme Electoral Court has refused to accept her candidacy, despite several appeals. The final list of Presidential candidates will be clear at the end of this week. There's likely to be 15 or so candidates. Amongst them is the winner of a Noble Prize for peace, an ex military general, and an ex pastor of one of Guatemalas mega churches. Another is promising to legalise drugs, in an attempt to regain power from the gangs. Whether any of them will offer a change to the worsening situation of violence in Guatemala remains to be seen.

Of course it's not an easy decision to even stand for public office in Guatemala, and it takes real courage. At the same time as the Presidential elections, Guatemalans will also be voting for Mayors, and departmental 'deputados'. In one area, 3 mayoral candidates have already been shot dead, and another candidate arrested in connection with these deaths. Another candidate is offering 200 CCTV cameras for the town, and showed off 50 of them during his campaign.

Whatever happens, there's a huge challenge for the church in Guatemala to work out a Christian response, and to stand for justice and truth in the midst of the controversy and corruption.

From Anywhere to Anywhere

I'm back in Guatemala, and the last couple of days, I've been to a missions conference. It was aimed at Guatemalan pastors, inspiring and helping them to make missions a priority in their churches. Guatemalan Christians have a real passion for mission, and the organisers of the conference are helping churches to think through all the practicalities of sending missionaries.

On one day, we were joined by a missions team from a Korean church in New York. Their Halelujah youth football team had spend the previous evening playing a match against one of Guatemala City's football team in front of an audience of 15,000 children, in a free evangelistic event. They also doubled up as a choir - complete with dance routine! - accompanied by a Delirious song in Korean. After visiting us, the team were on their way to Honduras.

An example of missions now and in the future ..... from anywhere to anywhere......

Family

In the last few months, I've gained 3 new nieces and nephews - so it's been fantastic timing to be around and get to know them a bit.

Birthday cakes!

Wales

Next came a few days in Barmouth, Wales. Staying in a B&B, I took advantage of eating Full English Breakfasts every day (the Guatemalan equivalent is just not nearly as good- however much I try to convince myself!), as well as time to just relax on a beach and read a few good books.

Catching up with ex-Striders who are working out their next move after leaving Guatemala
Counting dead jelly fish!
What struck me in Barmouth, was the number of church buildings that were no longer used as churches. In the small town, I counted at least 5 that were now used as bargain shops, and cafes. Is that the legacy of the Wales revival??? or any revival - where conversions lead to quick church growth -- but which perhaps can't be sustained in the following generations?? Warnings to the wise maybe.

Keswick

Next came a retreat week in Keswick.

Amazing place to relax and get some perspective on things - and have a few chilly swims.

The week was led by various people, all with great experiences in mission, but also with experience of the hardship and stress and burnout that can come with it. It was a good time to reflect on what I do in my ministry and how God leads us and uses all the situations we've experienced in order to shape us and develop us in new ways.
(Chilly picnic by a lake - just before I went for a swim.)