By Lee Gardner and Leslie Evans
LEE: Thank you Bill for your recognition of the mothers in our congregation. We respect their wisdom and mentoring abilities as we develop our church community. In the village in Nicaragua which Leslie and I visited earlier this year, we found this same respect for mothers in their village. With many of the men off to Costa Rica or Honduras to obtain employment, the women of Nueva Vida are called upon to provide the leadership of their community.
As our text from the Gospel of John indicates, Jesus extended an invitation to take a journey unlike any other. Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, accepted an invitation to “come and see”… to see and be transformed…. at the beginning of the journey, they saw the Christ, and followed his invitation. This morning, Leslie and I would like to share with you the highpoints of our “Come and See” journey to Nicaragua as part of a mission initiative of our presbytery.
In 2005, our Presbytery received an invitation from CEPAD, an organization in Managua, Nicaragua. The invitation was to “come and see.” Come and see what God is doing in Nicaragua. CEPAD is a Christian non-profit, non-partisan association of different protestant denominations, Christian institutions, and pastoral committees that confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and desire to live out the gospel through service to others through empowerment. _CEPAD brings together churches or groups of churches in North America and churches, pastoral committees, organizations, and communities in Nicaragua and facilitates covenant partnerships between them.
In February of 2006, Leslie and ten others from our presbytery spent a week with CEPAD learning about the economic, social, and religious aspects of life in Nicaragua. They saw churches, factories, co-ops, and schools, and had a 3-day home stay visit with families in the rural village called Nueva Vida. After prayer, discussion, and reflection, our presbytery affirmed that the presbytery should take the next step toward becoming partners with a community in Nicaragua.
In January of 2008, thirteen representatives of churches in our presbytery (including Leslie and myself) continued the “come and see” journey to Nicaragua. CEPAD took us to Nueva Vida, to become reacquainted with them, and together with them, see if we would be a good fit for partnership.
LESLIE WILL DESCRIBE THE VILLAGE FOR US… LESLIE…
LEE: The partnership into which we are being invited is referred to as a “covenant partnership”. A covenant partnership is not a one-time mission excursion – where we go in, build something, and leave. A covenant partnership is based upon love – love of God – love of one another. A covenant partnership is mutual – gifts are given and received by both partners. It is based upon building relationship first; it is based upon spending time together, observing and participating. A covenant partnership is to accept and embody as fully as possible the values and customs of our partner. It is not speed dating --- it is a courtship. Before a hammer is lifted or a dollar is donated, we are to develop a relationship – we are to know one another as brothers and sisters.
LESLIE WILL NOW SHARE A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE from our visit to the village of Nueva Vida… LESLIE…
LEE: Thus, a covenant partnership is very different from the familiar mission project of seeing a need in the world, going in and building, fixing, or feeding, and moving on. There will always be times to immediately address a need – to alleviate horrible suffering – like the special offering today that Mikal has quite appropriately organized to help the people of Burma. A covenant partnership is different. It calls us to a mutual relationship of exchanging gifts, a relation of mutuality that will be transforming of both partners. Peter, Andrew, Philip and Nathanel had no idea they were stepping into a journey not of tasks, but of transformation. A covenant partnership asks us to step into a journey of transformation.
LESLIE WILL NOW DESCRIBE ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE OF COVENANT PARTNERSHIP EXPERIENCED BY OUR TEAM. LESLIE…
LEE: When the 13 of us met to take this trip, all of us knew at least one other person in the group. By the time we returned home, we knew each other quite well! We had eaten together, snored together, shared toilet paper and hand sanitizers, prayed together, laughed and cried together. We were transformed by the gifts and graces of each other. As we sought to build relationship with our Nicaraguan hosts, we built relationship with each other. We came from 8 LA area churches: Immanuel, Covenant, Brentwood, Culver City, United University, Church of Peace, Bethesda, and West Hollywood. 8 women; 5 men. This partnership is an endeavor not of one individual, nor of one church, but of the whole presbytery. As we strengthen our relationship with brothers and sisters in Nicaragua, we will strengthen the relationship among each other and among the churches in our presbytery.
To conclude, let me briefly describe how I personally was transformed by this “Come and See” journey. When I first thought about going on this mission trip, I thought to myself, "Oh, this is just another plea for money to support an overseas mission project to build something." But as I was exposed to the development planning and purposes of this journey, I learned that this journey would re-define my understanding of "Missionary Work". It was truly a “life changing” event for me. I came back eager to take on the new responsibilities of being an elder in our church, participating more actively in our adult Christian education programs, and dedicated to listening better.
I would invite you to pick up in the narthex a copy of our trip pictures, our trip group diary, and a fact sheet regarding CEPAD.
Let us now join in Hymn #525 as our response to the issues raised to think about this morning.
