I used to think (as a child) that it would be better if we were all the same - or, at least, that we could OVERCOME all our differences. And by OVERCOMING them, erase them.
The differences that lead so many to prejudice and hate… they seem to cause hardship and heartache for so many - those oppressed because of religion, nation, language, race, orientation… and God wants us to be happy… to find peace and joy and satisfaction.
In Isaiah 55, God says to the prophet: “Enjoy the richest of feasts… Why spend your earnings for what doesn’t satisfy?”
So God wants us to be satisfied. To find satisfaction. To find peace and joy.
Why did God create us all so different if these differences lead to so much discord and conflict? Why not just make us all the same? Why give us all different experiences, different cultures, different understandings, and different gifts?
For the past 10 days I have been experiencing a culture that is different than my own - the culture of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is different - and it’s also very far away.
I grew up less than 30 miles from here, but Puerto Rico is some 4,000 miles away. I spent most of yesterday flying back home across five time zones to get back home, from a rainy 80 degrees in San Juan, to a layover in Chicago where it was zero degrees, then to 80 degrees here in beautiful southern California.
The trip I went on was sponsored by the Global Ministries committee of our regional church, the CC (DOC) PSWR. I am the new co-chair of this committee, which operates jointly with the So Cal Conf. of the United Church of Christ…. So it seemed like a good idea for me to go on this trip, to learn what the committee is really all about.
At least, it seemed a good idea to Ginger and to a few other people. So I went.
When I was asked to be the co-chair of this committee, I said yes for THREE reasons.
- I HAD been looking for a way to get more involved in regional work in some way. I’ve always been involved with camping ministry at Loch Leven, our regional camp, but I haven’t had much to do with regional committees or boards.
- The mission of Global Ministries is something I feel called to…. I was once asked if I would chair the regional finance committee, but that’s not really my calling. But Global Ministries - I can relate to that.
- I believe the work G.M. does is strongly connected to who we are at BKCC, and the work we do here. It has long been important to this congregation that WE celebrate the diversity that exists within the body of Christ. We are a multi-cultural, multi-racial congregation, with members from a number of different countries, and an online presence that has drawn interest from dozens of countries around the world…a congregation that welcomes and affirms the spiritual gifts of all people, including people of different races, nations, cultures, sexual orientations, and gender identities.
Yes, God created us to be diverse. Different. And the people of P.R. - and their culture - ARE very different from my own.
But is that good or bad?
After flying overnight to Puerto Rico a week and a half ago, our plane landed just before sunrise. Our flight actually landed a few minutes early - and that was the only time anything happened early for the rest of our stay. After that, we are on Puerto Rico time.
About two hours later, our host Jose arrived in a 15-passenger van to pick us up. We were hungry, and Jose said he knew just the place to take us.
15 minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a large city shopping mall. Jose was taking us to the food court.
(pulling into the parking structure…)
Soon we arrived at Camp Morton, where we would sleep and eat most of our meals. This is the same camp Tristan attended 2 ½ years ago; but the camp looks quite different today.
A year after Tristan’s visit, Hurricane Maria hit. Many of the camp’s trees were blown down, including most of the pine trees on the hill above camp.
Many mudslides took place all over camp, including one that buried the camp’s basketball court under 10 feet of mud. And, like the rest of PR, the camp was without power for many months.
Since then, most of the mud has been moved and graded, and the power has come back. However, the camp became a center for rebuilding efforts for the surrounding communities, and it remains so today.
That’s why we went there.
It will be another year before Camp Morton is able to host youth camps again.
We learned that over 3,000 people died in PR because of Hurricane Maria. After the hurricane, another 300,000 people left the island. This makes economic recovery even more difficult. In some ways, PR will never fully recover.
During our time in PR we noticed that many people and businesses still had their christmas lights and decorations up. Manuel, another of our hosts, told us that last year, no one had Christmas lights up, because there was no power. They’re leaving their lights and decorations up extra long this year to make up for not really being able to celebrate Christmas last year.
Camp Morton is owned by the CC(DOC) in PR. Over 100 years ago, missionaries from our church, the CC(DOC) in the U.S. & Canada, sent missionaries to PR.
Today the Disciples in PR have a strong relationship with Disciples in the US, even though we are two separate organizations. Last Sunday my group went to worship at one of the 106 Disciples congregations in PR. Their 2-hour worship service started the way ours often starts, with a praise band leading the congregation in song.
But Puerto Rican Disciples worship in a much more charismatic way, which was startling to some in our group. They also have a strong emphasis on prayer, which I appreciated and learned from and was inspired by.
They had a guest preacher last week: Huberto Pimentel, who actually was active here in our own region for a number of years, providing leadership at DSF and in other ways. I heard him preach once at our regional assembly, in English, but of course last week in PR, his sermon was in Spanish.
I understand less than 10% of the spoken Spanish I hear. It was easy for me to follow the scripture reading, since I was already well-familiar with it in English. It was the story of the paralytic lying on his mat next to the pool, hoping to be healed by Jesus. And when Jesus came along and saw him, Jesus looked at him and said, “Quieres ser sano?” And I understood that, in part because I knew the story, and in part because those are words I actually know in spanish. “Quieres ser sano?” Do you want to be healed?
I also understood when Huberto Pimentel said: “No es facil, pero es posible.” It’s not easy, but it is possible.
I’m not 100% sure what the context of that was, but it made me think of what we’re doing here at BKCC: our New Beginnings program, transformation, and re-inventing ourselves.
No es facil, pero es posible.
It’s not easy, but it’s possible.
And from that point on in our trip, I was eager to return home to BKCC and continue with you our work of accomplishing things that may not be easy, but - with God’s help - are possible.
But I couldn’t do that yet - we still had a week to go.
The work we did took place mostly at homes in Barranquitas and Orocovis. I was on a roof for most of the week - a flat roof - pressure washing and sealing. Most of the houses are made of concrete and have flat roofs. This helped them withstand the hurricane, but they still needed repairs.
Our 2 hosts, Jose and Manuel, were different from each other, and of course, they were different from us. Even within our own group, there were differences among us, which we quickly recognized. At times this led to frustration. But at other times, our differences allowed us to work together, using each person’s gifts, to accomplish goals and overcome obstacles.
Some were good and keeping us on track and organized. Some were good at lightening our moods and lifting our spirits when things got frustrating. Some were able to keep us spiritually grounded. Some were physically strong. Some were able to guide us with wisdom.
What would this trip have been like if we were all the same, and if we all had the same gifts?
Well, for one thing, there probably wouldn’t have been a trip. What would be its purpose?
But because we are all created differently, with different gifts, we were able to learn from one another, enrich one another, and grow together in ways that were of great benefit to us and to the communities we come from.
Once upon a time, mission work was one directional. Members of one culture and religion went to another culture to give their gifts of knowledge and insight. They shared their gifts in the lands they went to, and sometimes they did it regardless of whether the inhabitants of those lands wanted to receive their gifts or not. In other words, they forced it upon them, sometimes with tragic results.
Mission work today involves a mutual sharing and receiving of gifts. We went to PR to receive the gifts they had to share with us just as much as, if not more than, we went to share our gifts with them.
It’s humbling to admit this.
It’s humbling to admit that someone else may, in some area, be more spiritually gifted than we are.
But it’s a humble-ness - a humility - that we need. There’s far too much arrogance and prejudice in this world on the part of people who think they have all the knowledge, all the understanding, all the insight, all the wisdom.
When we consider the diversity of gifts, and the diversity of humanity - and we do so with a humble spirit and open heart - we find a greater richness and a greater depth than we ever possibly could if this diversity did not exist. And this leads us to the greatest gift of all, the gift of love.
That’s the topic of the next chapter of first Corinthians, and the topic of next week’s sermon...
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