Friends -- Let us pray for the bishops of our church throughout the world as many meet in Lambeth for the international gathering of bishops. 25% of the bishops are boycotting this meeting: it must be stressful for the ones who are there. Our own Bishop Marc has been very vocal in his support of LGBTQ people and has boldy redesigned the way people are married in our diocese.  He is therefore taking very visible stands.  Let us all hold him in our prayers and in our heart with the strong support he has offered us and the strong leadership he has offered to the entire diocese and the communion. From what I read, many bishops are building relationships that are warm and open to the Spirit: may that bear fruit for the entire communion.

Mark

I attended the graduation tonight of the five women in the adult literacy and math class I have had the pleasure of assisting these past few weeks. The lead teacher  in the literacy section, Mike, asked me to work with Rosa, who is the student who has the most difficulty in reading.  Indeed, while the other students can actually read whole sentences, she has difficulties in remembering her letters or identifying single letters much less entire words and she especially confuses letters for which there is no corresponding sound in Kichuah, the indigeneous language of he Andean countries. There are about 6 Spanish letters and sounds like that. 

They prepared a wonderful meal of chicken and rice and potatoes.   Rosa made the potatoes and sat next to me along with her three year old daughter.  I so enjoyed chatting aimably, simply and humorously with her.  I was very happy to give her a chance to share some of her knowledge which is of her own first language, Kichuah, the language of the indigeneous people in the Andean countries. She delighted in teaching me the word for "delicious" which is "mishkii-mishkii", a lovely sound. When the other several Kichuah speaking women in the class heard that and my, apparently, quite acceptable pronunciation of it, they laughed and added their own ways of describing our meal.

As we said goodbye, Rosa's eyes were moist as were mine. I was so happy to have been some help to her these past few weeks. She can now write her own name and the names of a few friends of hers with minimal help. This is a big accomplishment for her, one that I am honored to have had a part in.

One year of Spanish learned from CDs is not quite enough to conduct interesting daily conversations in Spanish and the more I learn of Spanish, the more I realize that I know very little.  It is one thing to be able to recognize a particular verb form while reading and quite another to produce it in a conversation. People are kind here and know how to speak a bit more slowly and clearly and use a simpler vocabulary for me. Still, I do feel frustrated. I wish I did not have to think so much or pause so much of feel awkward at times. I know that the only way through this is through more practice and through being kind to myself.  No choice around that. 

Actually, I have heard some 3 year olds with a larger Spanish vocabulary than mine: I guess that is no surprise really. 

Patience, kindness to myself.

Saturday, July 5
Today, I went with my teacher to try a very old Ecuadorian delicacy, kwee (cui) which is BBQ guinea pig -- the sort of guinea pig that appears on your plate with head and teeth and claws.  I thought I would eat it just to prove how adapted and cool I am but honestly and surprisingly, I liked it -- a lot.

No, it is not like chicken except for the fact that it is white meat. It is much more flavorful than chicken. Guinea pig tastes a bit fatty, not gamey, very fresh and clean, ok, a bit like chicken -- but not too much. It tastes better than chicken and certainly better than the KFC or Texas chicken that people love down here.  The skin is a bit tough probably because it over-cooked and there are lots of small bones and I did not like seeing the claws. 

But I have now joined the indigeneous people here in enjoying this delicacy and praying in gratitude for the life of the cui. Indigeneous people here for centuries have eaten cui to give them strength, good company, and have used them for medical diagnostic purposes.

I am grateful for the wisdom and good taste of the indigeneous people here as well as for the life of the cui.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Today I wandered throughout the local huge mall called just “El Super-Maxi” and explored the avenue where we live.  Mainly, El Super-Maxi is an American mall with KFC, McDonald’s Tony Roma’s, to name a few of the American companies present in this mall.  Most of the mannequins have skin as white as mine though most of the people here have much darker skin. I went to the Tony Roma’s, sipped a glass of Chardonnay and read from Vincent Donovan’s book Christianity Rediscovered.  When I read a passage in which the author recounts a Masai elder’s understanding of God’s work, I began to cry.  I was not weeping but a few tears came down my cheeks and I felt deeply deeply touched and relieved to cry. 

Why was I crying? I was very very touched by the image of God’s work the Masai offered.  God, according to this Masai elder, was like a lion hunting. All of the lion is involved in the hunt – ears, nose, legs, and the strength of the lion’s entire body. When the lion goes for the kill, in Masai lore, it embraces the victim with both paws and by killing it, incorporates it into itself.  Donovan calls this story “the Lion is God”.

And that got me to cry. Not that I myself spontaneously think of God as a lion but I like much within this image.  There is the lion’s strength, total dedication, a desire to become one, and a surprising reversal of how we Christians usually think that we eat God.  God, the lion, pursues and devours us.  God pursues us vigorously and wants to become one with us.  I have experienced enough of God’s pursuit to know that I sometimes feel hunted and killed and consumed.  Life ain’t all Kumbaya.   

Not living in the plains of Africa where I relate to lions, I later put this image into my own terms but long before I translated this image into my own terms, I was tearing up and felt very relieved to do so.   What I thought later is that God is constantly pursuing people in order to break down any barriers that prevent us from being in communion with each other – class, race, education, geography, ethnic identity.  I thought of how graced I feel to have been led to meet people here in Quito I never would have met without El Centro.  I sensed how El Centro brings together as friends so many middle and upper class Americans, young and old, well educated and not so well educated, with people living in 8 by 10 smelly rooms surviving on about $5 a day.  i see how we share our gifts with each other and that we never would know one another without God's work at El Centro.  God, the relentless hunting lion, pursues us to make us one.   

That is what the church project is all about – the slow but relentless pursuit of whatever prevents real communion between people, God, and all creation.  And God, the lion, according to one Masai chief, devours us so that we can become one with all that exists. 

To me, this image of God’s activity is worth a few tears.  And, writing as one who rarely cries, it feels very relieving.