Covenant Cuba Reflections v doc (Page 1 of 6)

Transcription

1 Covenant participants: John Braziel, Richard Tallman, Tammy Linn, Christy Green, Patricia Trimble, Jack Kern, Beth Morton, Sandra Winkler, John Winkler, Donna Barksdale & Jill Williams Dedication of Calvin Bust Some time ago, with moneys provided by God through Covenant members and mission committee, our sister church initiated monthly concerts to which the community is invited. Ricardo Alarcón, PhD, President of the Cuban National Assembly, and highest ranking Cuban politician without the Castro last name, attended one of the early community concerts right around the celebration of Reformation on the 499 th anniversary of John Calvin s birth. Pastor Dora Arce welcomed Dr. Alarcón to the church and struck up a relationship. She was summoned to several private meetings in Alarcón s office. He wanted to learn more about the church s activities, the Reformation, and John Calvin in particular. At the same time, Carlos Ham, Pastor Arce s predecessor currently working for the World Council of Churches in Geneva, was arranging financing for a commemorative bust of John Calvin commissioned of an Italian sculptor Francois Bonnot. Dora s pitch to Alarcón: If we can have a statue of John Lennon in a public park, why can t we have a statue honoring the great Reformer Juan Calvino? To condense a very interesting story, it was not too long before the Cuban church heard from the official City of Havana Historian who had been instructed by Alarcón to identify the appropriate public park to place the bust of Calvin. We were blessed to attend the official dedication of the bust Saturday, October 31 at a park adjacent to the downtown Havana train station. Keynote speakers were The Rev. Dr. Isabelle Graessle, Director of the International Reformation Museum of Geneva, and Cuban theologian Sergio Arce Martínez. (Page 1 of 6)

2 A Musical Blessing God s love was especially expressed through God-given talents of three of our group who were inspirational and spiritual leaders through two concerts and Sunday worship. At the children s concert, we heard eight young violinists who were being taught by a twenty year old woman who had no violin of her own. No one knew God s will for this teacher and her students when the violinist in our group, with help from un-churched colleagues, friends and family, took a violin to Cuba for the express purpose of giving it to a musician known then to God alone. When the violin was presented at the end of the concert to the young teacher, she cradled it in her arms as if it were her baby. She was overcome with joy and emotion. Her students, seeing her joy, ran over and hugged her. They wanted to be a part of this celebration of love. Since then, Lauren, the young violin teacher, has begun playing in Sunday worship services at our sister church. The children will be playing this month s concert in the church. Proud parents, new to the church, are bringing friends and family. This violin has recently weaved an evangelistic path few could have dreamed. We pray it continues in this ministry path for years to come. Visit with SET vice Rector Pablo Odén Marichal This year we had the pleasure of spending time with the Vice Rector of the Seminary at Matanzas. In response to our usual request that he explain the Christian church before the revolution, share his specific recollections of the church as the revolution came into being, and then share with us the current reality for the church fifty years into the revolution, he explained the rift between the Roman catholic church and the revolutionary government, and the more collaborative history of the non-roman Catholic churches with the government immediately after the Revolution, and how the Revolution has required constant adaption. For many years there was severe discrimination against religion, and Christians were generally prohibited from pursuing certain educational paths at the universities and were denied entry to certain professions and occupations. This is gradually changing, in no small part from the brave dialogue of a group of 13 pastors who began meeting with the Fidel Castro in 1984 requesting that the government cease discriminating based on religion. The ongoing dialogue that resulted spanned many years and eventually allowed for the Constitutional change that allowed the church to become officially visible again about It is truly inspirational, and serves as a glimpse of Kingdom Come Now, to see how the Cuban Christian church sees its evangelistic mission to be within the community, sharing its educational, financial and material resources with the surrounding community, even if they do not belong to the church membership. As Pastor Dora Arce says, "We have learned to not be as concerned about being closed-off within our doctrine and within our walls, and to allow room for the Holy Spirit to evangelize as we are faithful in engaging relationship within the community." This new type of evangelism is attracting more attendees to the actual worship services, and allows for relationships to be developed that lead to a ministry of living out doing for your neighbor, as you would for yourself. It turns out that the Golden Rule works. (Page 2 of 6)

3 My Return to Cuba ~ A Reflection by Sandra Winkler I had to return to Cuba. The Holy Spirit would not let me rest. Three years ago I had come home changed, but I was slipping. Forgetting. I ve often wondered how the children of Israel could forget so quickly (and so often); murmuring and complaining after God had blessed them so greatly. And here I was- the perfect example of that. So I signed up to return. Only this time was different. Even better. This time, I was not so overwhelmed by the great need of the people, the crumbling neighborhoods, the lack of food and medical supplies, the severe limitations under which they live on a daily basis. Yes, that was all still evident. But this time I was really able to connect with individuals. In spite of our language differences, I was able to truly learn from my brothers and sisters of our Cuban sister church. Their hearts are full of God s love and they pour it out on us from the moment we arrive. They are thrilled we make it through customs with all the much-needed medications, powdered milk, and clothing donations and the generous contributions from individuals and our church s mission funds. As a bonus, we ve even managed to bring a violin and wonderful donations of music for sweet Iliana, professor of music and volunteer music director at the church. This describes only a part of our mission trip. The rest of the week is spent building relationships. We attend seminars and visit in member homes. We learn about the difficulties and problems unique to the family and church in Cuba resulting from their dire political and economic circumstances. Multi-generations living under one roof, high food costs, rationing of food and gasoline, and store shelves empty of basic over-the-counter medicines -- these are only a few of the problems they routinely encounter every day. And yet, what I see now are Christians living out God s greatest commandment to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Luyanó is truly a missional church in every sense of the word. I see it in the stream of folks from the neighborhood every morning coming with nothing and leaving with a bag of food. I see it in the nutrition program teaching their neighbors how to grow and prepare healthy foods for their families in an urban setting. I see it in the clothing project providing layettes for newborns in the church and neighborhood. I see it in the Sunday morning run by the ancient church bus to pick up members all over Havana to bring them to worship. I see it in the faces of the pastor and the session members as they talk about their long-range hope to build a larger community facility so they can better serve their neighborhood and church family. And to think, Covenant Presbyterian Church in Austin has a hand in partnering with these saints to do the work of the Lord in Luyanó! I thought a lot about our wonderful new FEB while I was in Cuba. If Luyanó can do so much with so little, imagine what we can do with so much! It gives me new enthusiasm and hope that we at Covenant will be able to reach out to our community in true missional ways with the same spirit of Christ s love, compassion, and generosity that I experience at Luyanó. This is one way Luyanó partners with saints at Covenant to do the work of the Lord in Austin! What I learn from my dear brothers and sisters in Cuba is something I already know intellectually. But seeing it in action is... well, priceless! (Page 3 of 6)

4 Other 2009 trips to our sister church Two of our members, Richard Tallman and Jack Kern, spent part of the last week in April at Luyanó to participate in their 87 th anniversary worship celebration. Covenant has had representatives at Luyanó s 75 th, 85 th, and 87 th anniversaries. Covenant is celebrating its 50 th anniversary in We hope perhaps representatives of our sister church will be able to join us. Evangeline Herring spent a week in Luyanó in mid July, for the second year in a row, to help with vacation bible school. Plans for 2010 include Covenant s Director of Children s Ministries Gayla Zachry joining Evangeline to help in vacation bible school. Registration for 2010 trips to our sister church Registration will open in February for up to thirteen Covenant members to join Associate Pastor for Discipleship Tom Mitchell and his wife Mary Helen to visit our sister church in early November. For information, contact Jack Kern at or jackckern@sbcglobal.net or cuba@covenant.org. One Scriptural basis for this ministry partnership God s charge to both our sister church and Covenant may well be found in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1-15 in which generosity is encouraged and summarized by Paul in verses 13-15: 13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15 as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." One of the great blessings of this ministry is the mix of PC(USA) churches involved, and how we are able to set aside our "political" differences and unite together in mission ministry with our sister churches, presbyteries and synods in Cuba! Evangelism transcends worlds of differences. Our call is to continue building and strengthening these bridges. See a photo album of the trip at: %3A (Page 4 of 6)

5 The Story of Creation- THE FOURTH DAY Commissioned by Covenant of Roberto Bermudez, artist and member of our sister church. Brought back to Covenant November Soon to be permanently hanging in the new Fellowship and Education Building. See artist s interpretation on next page. (Page 5 of 6)

6 THE FOURTH DAY As requested by our sister church in Austin, this painting is my point of view and visual interpretation of Genesis 1:14-19: 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning the fourth day. I have tried to convey an ecological message of re-birth and hope of life. It shows an open book, in this case the Bible, as the living word represented by the wheat field in the horizon (from birth to harvest) extending to the living cross, the hope of Jesus. The four floating elements represent the cycle of nature s four seasons. The top of the painting portrays the cosmos and its movement. If one wants to define God, why not use the word Cosmos as the best idea of Him, Her or It? The multiple triangular forms of course represent the trinity. The triangle is one of man s strongest technological concepts. A prism shows the entire visual range of the color spectrum. The pyramid, a four triangular structure, is the strongest man-made structure. We are beings in a three dimensional space. Maybe one could understand God as the fourth dimension. Why not? Why a simple white triangle almost in the middle of the painting? Well, a simple white triangle is so simple, like God, but also so complex, like God the creator and origin of everything. The triangular form has always had great importance to me as a design concept. One of the more dynamic design forms developed by civilization, in this case in the painting, from my point of view, the prism portrays the origin of creation from white to the full range of colors. Finally, I have tried to represent the day-night sequence so that you can see both sides of the living cross that represent Jesus fundamental message of life, death and resurrection, nature s vital cycle. Well, these are my main interpretive points about the painting. I hope they will guide you to better understand what I have tried to convey. But I must tell you that visual works of art always have the possibility of an infinite range of messages and meanings. What do you see? ROBERTO BERMÚDEZ CUBAN REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN LUYANÓ LA HABANA ~ NOVEMBER 2009 (Page 6 of 6)