There They Go - Here They Come - A Photo Journal

What Did You Learn? – Q & A

Here’s a smattering of what we learned over the last four years.

What did you learn about yourselves?
• We were much more “successful” in the Christian life when things were pretty much routine, safe and controllable.

What did you give the kids?
• That they can follow God into what and where He is leading them regardless of their season of life – free to be adventurous.
• An experience of another culture and the enrichment of seeing life from another perspective.

What did we learn about ministry?
• Focus on the things God has put in your heart to do, not the things screaming to be done.

What did you learn about spiritually?
• The importance of community in our lives
• The Christian life is a Trinitarian experience and to pray: Father, establish me in the foundational truths of Yourself; transform me by the Gospel of Jesus Christ; control me by the indwelling Holy Spirit

What did you learn about missionaries?
• An understanding of why missionaries indulge themselves whether on food, questionable content or unhealthy relationships. Under enough stress you begin to think, “I deserve this, I owe myself a little pleasure, I need the relief.”

What did you learn to appreciate about Mexico?
• Bright colors; tortillas; inexpensive public transportation; fresh fruits & vegetables; fresh bread & pastries; sunny cheerful days; soccer; open air cafes and restaurants; great buys on flowers; traditional markets; u-turns; cappuccinos

Ken how have you changed?
• How I view the world – I see the world through a third world lens
• How I view myself – I see myself through the fullness of the gospel
• How I view spiritual conflict – I see how the enemy’s lies cause bondage

Diana how have you changed?
• Children – I have become more aware of what they need for life
• Confidence – I have grown in facing new situations
• Criticalness – I have learned to see missionaries, parents, others’ beliefs with more acceptance

Did you learn anything else?
• The necessity of laughter, living life with zest and a twinkle in the eye

Nineteen Days

It’s nineteen days before we leave and the girls are already packed. What does that tell you? We are going through the same process as we did four years ago with our things….tossing, packing, selling and giving away. It’s amazing how much power “things” can have over you, everything from books to worn out clothes to scraps of paper. We are once again feeling the tingling liberation that comes from giving up some of those treasures. Of course that doesn’t mean we have taken a vow of poverty. We still have a stock pile of stuff to round up. By the time we get back to West Virginia we will have things in Mexico, Houston, Nashville, Louisville, Cosby, Daniels, Hurricane and Shady Spring. Fun, fun, fun.

While we live in the storm of preparing to return, life goes on. We celebrate the resurrection, host Doug and Wes in their quest from Kentucky, hang out with friends, meet with our Thursday group…

Syncretism - Condemn It

It’s a slap in the face to the Resurrection and the Gospel! The idea of Cristo-paganism first grabbed my attention at a cultural training center in North Carolina. It wasn’t until we arrived in Mexico that the reality of syncretism really hit home. This fusing together of indigenous paganism with Catholicism is why we have seen nuns preparing an altar for the Day of the Dead, the Aztec calendar and the serpent god Quetzalcoatl at the basilica in Mexico City, idols sold alongside crucifixes, and indigenous dances in church courtyards.

Syncretism hasn’t just become in vogue. It’s been around since the days when the Spaniards brought their priests and monks. History tells us that the indigenous peoples were forced to convert to Catholicism, and that while complying they did not abandon their practices nor their gods. In an effort to bring about conformity these gods were given names of the saints. Consequently, pagan beliefs were absorbed into the Church, and a new belief system began emerging.

The Amparo Museum in Puebla provides the perfect backdrop to confirm this history. Not only is it filled with abundant supply of Pre-Hispanic gods and Post-Hispanic religious images but proudly declares, “Indigenous groups appropriated for themselves the images of the Virgin, Christ and the saints. They integrated them into their world views which included masculine and feminine principles that govern life. They were also familiar with use of sacred objects to symbolize and signal the presence of the divine, which is not so different from some of the functions of images in Christian traditions.”

Today the outworking of this historical syncretism provides a lush greenhouse for the continued blending of other belief systems. We are seeing a leap from pre-modernism thought over modernism into post-modern thinking. Of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t technology, fashion and advanced medicine, but that the mindset of people hasn’t become humanistic and atheistic as it has in much of the western world. When it comes down to the supernatural verses the scientific, the supernatural not only can still win out but the majority of time probably does. An example of this comes from a missionary friend (another country) who told us he had a highly educated professor who wore a dead bird tied around his waist because it had been prescribed by a witchdoctor to cure his sickness.

So what we see is a widening incorporation of various other beliefs in Mexico. We meet Hare Krishna missionaries, encounter groups who help “achieve complete self-realization…providing instruction in meditation and other yoga practices” and see an array of Buddhist, Hindu and Egyptian images. Recently I met a lady who believes that her spirituality is wrapped up in positive energy and that when she goes to ritual sites she is tapping into the positive energy of pilgrims who have gone there before her.

Having said all that about Mexico, I do wonder what we will encounter when we arrive back home. Will we get a good dose of the same post-modern relativistic syncretism? Are there Hindu temples and New Age sanctuaries being erected along side of our churches? Has vampire theology and avatar theology been absorbed into the Christian worldview? Are we passively blending mother earth sympathies into the purity of the gospel?

I really, really hope that the answer to all these questions is a resounding “no.” Thankfully, if not, Paul has given us clarity in this whole syncretistic mess, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”

The serpent god Quetzalcoatl at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan

The serpent god Quetzalcoatl at the Bascilica in Mexico City

Also at the Bascilica in Mexico City

Nature cross at the outdoor chapel beside of the Cathedral in Cuernavaca