Juanita's message

Here's a version of Pastora Juanita's message at the Sunday evening, March 29, 2009 worship service at the Arca de Noe church, in El Estor, Guatemala - translated then into Spanish by Elena and into Q'eqchi' by Pastor Gerardo - as gleaned from her sermon notes:

[The] Apostle Paul [was a] missionary. [He] preach[ed] the Good News of Jesus. [He] visited churches. [He] even started churches, like you do so well. But he couldn’t always be there [at the churches old and new] so [he] wrote [them] letters.

Much of the New Testament is letters sent to whole churches.

Today’s reading is from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. [Paul was] getting ready, hoping to visit [folks at this church]. In the mean time, he wrote a letter to be read in worship.

The introduction of this letter express so well how we have been feeling as we have prepared to come to see you. So we have used these verses as “our” scripture. [We] talked about [these verses] together and with our congregation.

So these words to the church at Rome also express how we feel about the churches of Esoreño Presbytery.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at least succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you – or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s face, both yours and mine (Romans 1: 8-12).

In the spirit of Paul’s letter to the church, my message today is in the form of the letter. Think of it not just from me, but from Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. This really is a message from all of them to all of you.

Sisters and brothers of Estoreño Presbytery: Dear friends around Lake Izabal:

We thank God for all of you. We have heard of your faith from those who visited here before. Ever since that first trip we have been praying for you - and asking God how we can remain in relationship with you.. We have been hoping that some people from our church could come to [see] you again. We have worked hard to make [this] possible. [We] had a concert to raise money and fixed paches and tres leches to sell so we could help these friends come [to visit]. Today – and every day [thoughout] the trip – we are praying for you all. As a congregation, we have also talked – a lot because we do that! – about what this means and why we want to develop a partner relationship with you.

Some of it is that we realize there probably are gifts that we have that we can share with you. We have a few skills that may be helpful. We are a congregation that knows a lot about being Presbyterian. Maybe we can be helpful in that way. We can also offer moral support and emotional support. We can love, listen, pray, and encourage.

But, the more we have talked about this as a congregation – and listened to the group that came here before – [the more] we realized how much this relationship will be mutually encouraging. [Already] you have helped strengthen our faith. And simply through you prayers for us we are encouraged. But you have so much to teach us about what is most important:

New insight on the Bible
Evangelism and church growth
Help us see our place in the bigger world
Be aware of El Estor not just as a spot on a map but . . .
Learn from your way of life
New ways of seeing our faith and life
And for thinking about our own neighborhood in Louisville . . .

Mostly, though, we want to be in partnership with you because it is together that we can best understand what Chris is all about. From one another we can learn about compassion and how to care, which is what Jesus was about.

Because we are in Christ, our lives are intertwined. And, the more we experience that, [the more] we have a better chance of understanding what life in Christ means.

Two years ago, after our group left here, one woman shared with us how important the time with you had been. She said: “I’ve never known so much what it means to be a Christian.”

That is our deepest hope for this partnership – that we all will learn more about what it is to be Christians.

With that hope, we thank you for receiving with such generous hospitality these friends who come in our name and with our love and prayers. . . .

May God bless you all.

From the brothers and sisters of Crescent Hill church