May 6 gathering

Folks interested in Crescent Hill’s new mission partnership with the Q’eqchi’ Estoreño, Izabal Presbytery gathered at Ken and Amy Linfield’s house (pictured above) on the South End on Wednesday, May 6.

Ellen led us in a discussion about the second chapter of Acts, the scripture which we are to be studying simultaneously with the Estoreño folks during this month leading up to Pentecost Sunday (May 31). Ellen pointed out that Pentecost was already a Jewish holiday. Jesus’ followers were gathered in Jerusalem awaiting direction, in the weeks after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. At the same time people from all over the world were converging on Jerusalem, some there to celebrate Pentecost (a spring holiday - festival of fruit?).

Ellen, Carlos, and others said that for many people – including Pentecostals – in Guatemala and elsewhere the Acts phrase “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (wording is from the King James Version of the Bible) means working one’s self into a frenzy and speaking in languages no one else can understand. Ellen questioned this approach and suggested that the passage may communicate a different kind of vision in which people from many different cultures are understanding each other despite differences linguistic and otherwise.

Ellen also wondered about what a Pentecost experience would be for us today. Several of the participants in the spring 2009 Guatemala mission trip talked about episodes from the trip that were spirit-filled for them: for Lowell - the two daughters from his host family giving him good-bye kisses, for Ben - witnessing the men play the marimba in church, for Jane - all of us with different personalities getting along, for Ellen - the final coming together and singing of “Unidos, Unidos” at the last church the team visited, and – for me Perry - the partnership dialogues leading up to that song. (Luke?) We also talked a little about what Pentecostal experiences for others in Guatemala and at Crescent Hill might be and could be – including through the partnership.

What we talked about next – how to form the Guatemala partnership task force or working group, how to communicate with our Estoreño partners, and – perhaps most importantly – how the wider Crescent Hill congregation can communicate, educate itself, and engage in the partnership – Ellen said fit into a final pair of questions: what happened in the (Christian) community after the Pentecost experience and what insights into the future of the partnership might this story give us?

Carlos, Ellen, and others stressed that this was not to be a partnership between Crescent Hill individuals (including not just a few mission team individuals) and Estoreño individuals but a congregation-to-presbytery partnership. How to make that tangible, ongoing, and transformative for many people in our congregation (if not also in the presbytery) was a major topic of discussion.

A variety of educational and engagement strategies were discussed: scripture study sessions not conflicting with existing Sunday school classes and other church activities, a revamped and regularly updated Narthex bulletin board devoted entirely or partly to the Guatemala partnership, minutes for mission, newsletter blurbs educating people about different aspects of Guatemalan history and culture, and a DVD screening series (perhaps starting with the Amigos de K’ekchi’ partner’s DVD about Guatemala or the "Cracking the Maya Code" one-hour film shown the previous night).

How to communicate insights from scripture study and other issues in a form that could reach the Izabal area and that we could translate into Spanish was also a topic of discussion. We finally agreed that we would ask Crescent Hill folks on this Mother’s Day Sunday, May 10, to write short (one-word?) phrases about their hopes for the Guatemala partnership – many having sat through the April 26 worship service - on butcher block paper after church in the Narthex. Martha will make an announcement about this as church starts.

The group decided to meet next at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19 (during the furlough week) (in the Youth Room in the Education Building). An additional meeting time – at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, at Nancy’s Bagels on Frankfort Avenue – was also discussed – and we may get together then also.

Earlier on individuals discussed the situation of our friend Soila, the Honduran woman who worked with us in 2004 and who helped host the spring mission team in Guatemala City. Soila and her U.S. husband, Jeff, recently went for a “green card” interview at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, where Soila was – for now – rejected for moving to the United States. Part of what U.S. officials seemed to want was for one or both of them to already have a job and for them to have a place to live, which probably couldn’t happen without Jeff leaving for the United States, leaving Soila in Guatemala. (We’ve started suggesting Kentuckiana Spanish teaching jobs for Jeff.)

Also discussed was a tape Stu Bridgman made of the April 26 worship service, which we have transferred to DVD duplicated and hope to spread not only to Crescent Hill folks but also to Estoreño folks.

Thanks to Ken and Amy for hosting our gathering and for all of the others who participated: Jane, Ellen, Ana, Nora, Soni, Janine, Lowell, Martha, Luke, Ben, Stephanie, and Carlos. We’re off to a good start!

-- Perry