It helps, now and then, to step back
and take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our
efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.
(Oscar
Romero)
A modern challenge for reflecting on
important global issues such as suffering and poverty is that, as modern
people, we fail to consider that we too suffer and are poor in some material or
spiritual sense. To externalize these deep realities may lead us into arrogant
“solutions” for the poor and those who suffer. Thankfully, every once in a
while we are offered a great gift which seems to help us understand eternal
things. I had such a gift given to me during a recent service trip to Nicaragua
wherein I witnessed the divine language of mercy come alive through committed
relationships of self-giving love.
During the trip we worked in a very
poor neighbourhood of the capital city, Managua. We helped build a home with a
local contractor, his workers and members of the family who now live in the
home. We had a far-too-brief glimpse at some of the living conditions and
socio-economic realities of day-to-day life in this neighbourhood.
I would like to briefly tease out the
depth of one word which was on my mind a great deal while working in Nicaragua.
The word is Charity. It is a word
that is largely understood as something like, “giving to a person in need” or
“a generous act.” One could most sincerely say, “I give to charity” and this is
entirely true and worthy of thanksgiving. I do not wish to engage in etymological
dualism, but rather a discerning deepening in the true sense of the word. As
such, I would like to show that the Christian sense of the word charity is based on the New Testament Greek
word agape, which means something
much deeper than to simply give; it means to love dearly. Agape was translated into
latin as caritas and the King James
Version of the Bible translated caritas into
charity. As such, Charity today seems
to me to be a watered down version of the essence of the Greek word from whence
it comes: agape. Agape denotes a
concept which is far deeper than
simply giving to a person in need; it is indeed giving of the self to someone
or something else. Therefore, implicit in the nature of this word is relationship. In John 3:16 we see that
God so agape the world and later, in
John 12:43 that we agape the praise
of one another rather than the praise of God and we are told to agape one another as God agape us.
Relationship…relationship…relationship.
Love implies a relationship. The
modern notion of charity implies simply giving which establishes a relationship
with CRA as we await our income tax return.
As I write from my comfortable office
in the geographically tiny parish of Trinity Church Halifax – our parish
boundaries are not much more than 1 km by 2 km, there are hundreds of lonely
people within this small area. Great numbers of people who want an Inn from the suffering and poverty of loneliness
caused by a myriad of factors, many of which point to a breakdown in
fundamentally important relationships and institutions that have historically enabled
healthy community. The need is great, the labourers are few and it takes a toll
on us as individuals and society.
We all suffer and are poor.
So, with all the need that exists in
my own city and inside my own parish the question I struggle with is, Why do I sense such a strong desire to work
among the poor in places like Managua, Nicaragua? I have often brought
Galatians 2:10 into prayer where Peter and John said to Paul as he was about to
embark on his mission, “They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor,
which was actually what I was eager to do.” Geography matters; there are poor
here, in the midst of where we have been planted.
I have come to sense that what is really
at play here is less about any idealistic notions of solving anything here or
there, it is much more about cultivating a deep sense of gratitude for
relationships. Relationship with Our Lord and one another. This deep sense of
gratitude for the transformative love I have been offered through Christ not
only brings into focus the gift of life but also brings into focus what I have
and what I take for granted here in Nova Scotia.
Yes, I built a home in Nicaragua and
that was a good work for a dear family. But, really, I didn’t give anything to
the people of Nicaragua; they gave to me. I was the student as I soaked in
eternal truths revealed to all of us by Jesus. All of this brought home by a
service trip to a desperately poor part of the world. By working in such an
environment, my own poverty and suffering is brought to the surface by the Holy
Spirit who speaks, stills, leads, reassures, enlightens, encourages, convicts,
comforts and calms us through a thundering, still voice of unity. We are one in
the Spirit. God loved us first; our love for one another is a dim reflection of
that perfect love.
We all suffer and are poor but we are
never alone.
So, with all this in mind, in
February 2015 I went on a service trip Managua, Nicaragua with a fabulous group
of people from Halifax, NS, Summerside, PEI and St. John’s, NL. We went in
support of a Halifax-based organization called Pathway to Progress Nicaragua.
It is a Christian organization which is dedicated to supporting an innovative
program in Nicaragua that provides educational opportunities for Nicaragua’s
most vulnerable sector: children and youth living in poverty.
I love a good testimony! The founders
of this mission in Managua have a great testimony which took them from living
in the South End of Halifax to mission in Nicaragua by an experience of Our
Lord’s immeasurable and transformative love. It is not my testimony to tell so
I won’t, but I will tell you that in 2005 when Ed and Barbara Dunsworth moved
to Managua they were shocked to see the conditions in the public pre-schools
and primary schools. They began to tackle the huge educational deficit and
devised a project to select bright children from families living in poverty and
sent them to a very good private school. In the first year they had three
children in the program. Now they have approximately 100 students in the
program, 14 local social workers and other staff members and they build 10
houses a year.
My charitable act is enabling a
beautiful relationship of agape by a
team in Nicaragua committed to self-giving. It inspires me to engage in relationships
of agape in my own city.
As a participant in this service trip
I had the opportunity, with a dozen or so others from Atlantic Canada, to
deepen in the attitude of gratitude for all that we have and all that we easily
take for granted. I hope to make it an annual trip for my family and I as we
all deepen in our faith, hope and love as we listen to the deep crying out to
deep.
Would you like to sponsor a child in
support of the Pathway to Progress mission? Perhaps you would be interested in
being part of a service trip to Nicaragua?
If you would like to consider being
part of a service trip please email me at rev.rob.elford@gmail.com
OR, if you would like more
information about Pathway to Progress Nicaragua or how to support the agape of this mission please contact:
www.p2pnicaragua.org PO
Box 27092
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
(Oscar Romero)
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