Embrace

It´s nearly the end of the year - and in the last couple of weeks I´ve been keen to finish a few things before the New Year. One of which has been reading a book that I´ve had on the go for a long time; Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, by Miroslav Volf. It´s a big book - and fairly heavy in every sense of the word, so it´s taken me more than a year to get through it - but given me lots of things to think on.
I began reading it, in one sense, seeking to reflect on the reality of living in a very violent society, and keen to explore more of what I learnt in Theology lectures about the 'myth of redemptive violence'. I guess I was already sold on the intepretation of Jesus as a passivist - as non-violent. But what did that mean in a society that suffers violence and lose on a daily basis. Now as I finish reading the book, the media is focused on the so-called 'right to bare arms' in the USA after another mass school shooting. (And for a really interesting take on that discussion have a look at.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-claiborne/what-would-jesus-say-to-the-nra_b_2360543.html)  I guess the issue doesn´t go away! The book is written out of real life conflict and loss as well, the author being a native Croatian and having taught in Croatia during the war in the former Yugoslavia.  His experience saw both (multiple) sides of the conflict in which generational hatred for the 'other' grew, each 'justified' by their own suffering and loss.

The motif of embrace is a very powerful one. In our world, we have essentially been taught that difference is bad. And in extreme cases, somebody who is different to us, in whatever way, can become the 'other', or 'them' - those who are not like us - and from whom we must defend ourselves. This happens as much in high school playgrounds as it does between neighbouring countries or people groups. The author addresses this issue with a clear understanding of the gospel  - salvation as reconciliation - with God and with others. And the way in which we can be reconciled to 'the other' is through embrace. It may sound a bit too warm and fussy - but there´s nothing weak or weedy about it -- vulnerable, definitely  - but weak no.

He explains the drama of embrace in 4 acts.
1. Opening the arms  - it´s a sign of non-self-sufficiency, it suggests a pain of the other´s absence and the joy of the anticipated presence. It´s a sign that I have created space in myself for the other to come in - and a willingness to enter the space created by the other. It´s a gesture of invitation.
2. Waiting - An embrace is not forced - it must wait for desire to arise in the other and for the arms of the other to open. For the drama to continue, it has to be reciprocal.
3. Closing the arms - each is both holding and being held by the other, both active and passive.
4. Opening the arms again - the embrace does not end with the two as one. The other is not neutralized or merged into myself. The embrace must end with a parting - a recognition that we are still two people - two different people with separate identities - but yet enriched by the traces that the presence of the other has left.

In one sense, it´s very simple, and yet it takes great strength and vulnerability. The first stage of opening the arms is not to be taken lightly. It involves us recognising our own need - our lack of self sufficiency. It is a huge risk - for the other might reject us - or even harm us. But it is a signal of us wanting to see 'the other' as they are - humans - as flawed and faulty and damaged as we are - not as the pure evil that we want to portray them as.

I was reminded of this recently in the girls prison. For a Christmas event, a friend of mine came along with me. She herself had been a victim of death threats and extortion gangs in the area where she lives. But as we left the prison she commented on the girls (who could well have been the perpetrators of the threats she herself had suffered) - 'they looked so young' she said  - we talked of some of the typical elements in their life stories - broken families, poverty, a culture of violence - and it was clear that she had begun to see them as real people - not just the type who had caused her own suffering. In one sense her visit with me, was a symbolic opening of her arms.

And that gave me hope.
And got me thinking more.
What do I do? What can I do to open my arms to 'others'?  - not the 'nice' people or the ones that are just like me - but to 'others'. What can I do to really listen and understand their lives? To recognise differences and be enriched by them?

Christmas Stats...

Christmas Day
> Cooked Christmas dinner for 9 people
> Lost at arm wrestling
> Lost the After Eight Challenge
> Thrashed everyone at Racing Demons

Boxing Day
> Christmas dinner for (mostly different) 8 people
> Won Bancopoly

27th Dec
> Turkey Curry for 9 people
> Bananagrams -- won some, lost some

Tomorrow
> Still enough for turkey sandwiches!!! 

Statistics......

So it´s the end of the year (almost) - and also almost the end of the first year of the new government in Guatemala. The government got into power with a number of promises to improve security  - so I thought I´d have a bit of a search for stats to see what has changed. The governments own reports say that the murder rate has gone down by 13%, and this seems to be echoed by UN figures, which says Guatemala now has a murder rate of 38.5 per 100,000 people. Ever since I´ve been here in Guatemala, it has been around 45 - so this is a great improvement. (For the sake of comparison, Colombia has 33.4, South Africa 31.8, Mexico 16.9, USA 4.2 and the UK 1.2. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate for the full list.) Guatemala was also always in the top 4 on this list - but has now been relegated down to number 8!

Neighbouring Honduras and El Salvador´s rates have got worse - although I´ve also read elsewhere that El Salvador had improved because the 2 main gangs have a truce at the moment.
The British Embassy in Guatemala also report that the impunity rate has decreased from 97% to 72% in 2012.

So sometimes statistics bring good news!

Who am I?

Random thoughts this week.....
So I spend a whole morning at immigration office on Wednesday, and just thought you´d like to know that due to the very strict rules about the sort of photos they will accept, the Guatemalan Immigration Authorities think that I look like this.....

Then on Thursday, I visited my churches Kids holiday club. They´d had great fun all week - and every day had had a half hour missions slot. They´d learnt about some famous missionaries from the past. The day before I went, the leaders had showed the kids a photo of me (thankfully not this one) and told them that I was coming. When the kids were asked what they thought, apparently they said.....
Es canche  (she´s white)
Es bonita (she´s pretty)
Tiene ropa  (she´s got clothes) !!!!

So I am very pleased to confirm that I am one of those missionaries that does wear clothes!

Ads

So I´m sitting in the immigration office and realise that I forgot to bring a book (rookie error!). But whilst I wait, it gives me a chance to write about something that I´ve been pondering for a while - advertising. 

I´m no expert in advertising or communication strategies but it seems to me that generally adverts or slogans are based on the idea that we take things in sublimally - so adverts don´t tend to say anything clearly (ie "Buy this product. It´s great") but instead try to portray an image or scene in which your life is better because you´ve bought the item in question. Of course most of the time it´s completely untrue - but that´s what we expect from adverts. 

So with that in mind, I´m surprised by a couple of adverts or campaigns that I´ve seen recently in Guatemala. What got me thinking initially was a huge advert on a bill board on the main road in the city. It simply says in big black letters "No violarás" (Don´t rape). No gimmick or subliminal message - just a straight forward 'don´t rape'. No discussion or explanation ... perhaps the reasons are obvious - but then if it´s considered necessary to say 'don´t rape', then it´s probably also necessary to explain why. Guatemala has a high rate of rape (mostly unreported) and femicide, so there is lots of work to be done in changing attitudes regarding the value and dignity of women. 

The other advertising campaign that´s caught my attention was by the Bible Society of Guatemala, and attempts to highlight the long term effects of the violence in the country.

 Each shows the distintive yellow crime scene tape - but with pictures of who is left on the other side: children orphaned by violence etc.

They quote from Deuteronomy 30: 19 "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live". 

This campaign aimed to raise awareness of the effects of violence on our society and asks us to choose "peace instead of violence". 


And then there´s Ricardo Arjona, the most popular singer /songwriter in Guatemala. His latest album Guatemorfosis was released with an accompanying advertising campaign (sponsored by Pepsi!).

 It uses phrases like "El cambio solo empieza si vos cambias" (Change only starts if you change) or "El cambio sólo empieza si yo cambio" (change only starts if I change) or "porque el corazon de Guate sos vos" (because the heart of Guatemala is you). 

Essentially he´s saying that if we want change in our society, then we need to stop complaining (of violence and insecurity etc) and start doing something ourselves - looking out for neighbours, standing up to injustice etc etc. But surprisingly this message has been somewhat controversial and has received some critics. His message is clear - change starts with us - but whether advertising has any part in that change, I´m not so sure.