"The Angel of Los Fieros"
April 19, 2008
Bruce Davis
St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church
Omaha, Nebraska
©2007 Bruce R. Davis
NOTE TO READER: Some of this would make more sense if you’d seen the pictures we used to illustrate the message, but I think you’ll get the gist of it. BRD.
St. Andrew’s has bought in heavily to what the Nebraska Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church terms SIX SIGNS OF DISCIPLESHIP. They are:
Radical Hospitality
Heart Warming Worship
Vital Faith Formation
Risk Taking Mission
Gracious Generosity
Connectional Joy
It occurs to me that this evening we get to do all six in one fell swoop, beginning with the HOSPITALITY of welcoming guests who’ve come a long way to be here. I’ve been to Nicaragua myself four times now; it’s always a culture shock, and I don’t doubt that this culture is something of shock for first-time visitors from rural Central America. We’re so glad you’re here!
I want to say a word of appreciation to those who’ve been particularly intentional about hospitality this weekend, including the great folks from our Matthew Ministries Team who’ve put together the reception that will follow this service (you’re all invited), and Adrian and Sherri Alvarez, who are opening their home to our guests this evening.
St. Andrew’s has found great JOY in our CONNECTION with the people of Nicaragua and our namesake community of San Andres. Those who’ve made the journey to see this ministry in action have come back with hearts warmed by the experience. In my most recent visit, in early February, my heart was warmed to hear that the people of San Andres had set aside the Tuesday of Holy Week to be in prayer for St. Andrew’s. What started as a benevolence connection--St. Andrew’s supporting San Andres--has become a spiritual connection of genuine JOY!
I would add that we’re hoping to put together a work tour to Nicaragua next winter, opening the experience to still more Saints of Andrew. I’ve never known anyone who made this trip who wasn’t glad they did.
We celebrate the St. Andrew’s/San Andres connection this evening in an experience of worship designed to warm the heart. The Lord Jesus said that whenever two or more are gathered in his name, he’ll be with us. Tonight we have two cultures gathered in his name, and it warms my heart.
The MISSION wing of St. Andrew’s has long been called MATTHEW MINISTRIES, from the text we’re about to read, the 25th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, verses 31-46. The same reading serves as the scriptural foundation of what Rainbow is doing in Nicaragua; the passage is often read at organizational gatherings. We’ve asked Mark Roberts, who’s been to Nicaragua three times now, to read for us. May the attentive hearing of the Word be an experience of FAITH FORMATION for you:
Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are
accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is the Word of the Lord
THANKS BE TO GOD, AMEN!
As I read what Jesus is saying in the passage just read, feeding the hungry, and giving clothes to those who have nothing to wear, offering folks who are thirsty something to drink, welcoming strangers and such is not an elective; it’s a mandate from the Lord, and our eternal salvation may well rest on what we do or don’t do in ministry with those whom Jesus called “the least of these”—referencing not their value as human beings, of course, but the resources they have to live by.
Seen in this light, a commitment such as the one St. Andrew’s has made to San Andres—$20,000 a year for three years, to cover the estimated cost of the Rainbow Network-provided feeding center, medical care, schools, micro-loans, and much, much more—is as much about FAITH FORMATION as it is RISK-TAKING MISSION.
We read in the New Testament letter of James: “Faith without works is dead.” Our mission to the people of San Andres is the kind of work through which faith lives.
Knowing there was going to be a lot going on this evening, I wanted to tell just one story (and not a long one at that) from my most recent sojourn to Nicaragua. We had stopped at the village of Los Fieros, up in the hill country.
A year ago, when we visited, Los Fieros was under construction, new homes being built on adjoining hillsides. Rainbow housing is of concrete block, each home about the size of a modest North American garage. Nobody’s going to confuse these new communities with Westin Hills, but the habitat is a vast improvement over what the residents had been living in previously.
Here’s something that would not have occurred to me. Before Rainbow came to town, these rural folks had been living in houses with dirt floors. A leading cause of disease in these areas is parasites living in the dirt, entering the human body through the foot, creating all sorts of biological havoc. The new houses include concrete flooring which in and of itself represents a big step forward in the health prospects of those living there.
I would add that the people who living in these new homes do most of the construction work themselves, and make a monthly mortgage payment to cover the cost of materials and such. Rainbow is big on sweat equity, the pride-of-ownership, and self-help at every level of the ministry.
Returning to Los Fieros this year, the houses were completed, people had moved in, the community was taking on a lived-in look.
Los Fieros is situated on two hills, facing each other. Our guides wanted us to see something on the opposite slope, so we walked down, then up again. You get a lot of exercise wandering around Nicaragua.
We stopped at the home of a nice lady; I counted four children.
I was particularly taken by the little girl in the doorway. These are the prettiest kids.
I’ve never been very good at staying with the group. I got to lollygagging around, taking pictures. I looked up and saw Mark Roberts, Dean Hollis and the others hiking off without me.
This was not a cause for particular alarm. In fact, I thought about just staying where I was, waiting for them to come back, but then it occurred to me, we had left the vehicles on the opposite hill. Perhaps my fellow travelers were taking a circuitous route back to our transportation. So I set out after them.
The group entered a heavily wooded area; I was far to the rear, but could see them through the brush and trees, so, again, I wasn’t particularly concerned. But then, I couldn’t see them anymore, and I became concerned. Furthermore, I noticed, on either side of what started had out as a flat trail, there was now a fairly precipitous drop, a long and hard way down in either direction. Further-futhermore, the path in front of me was getting dramatically steeper, going down, down, down, each step more precarious than the one before.
It occurred to me that if I was in a movie, about now the music would turn ominous. How many films have I seen where the naďve tourista sets off blindly and unconcerned into the jungle only to have bad things happen? The music in my head grew more alarming as I stumbled and actually fell.
And now I’m hearing something coming up behind me. What might this be? What do I know about the beasts of Central America? I think they have jaguars down here. For that matter, I’ve read that kidnapping is a big business in South America; I wondered what the United Methodist Church would pay to ransom me? Whatever this is coming through the woods behind me, it’s almost here….
And what do I see? The nice lady whose house we’d just visited. I came to understand she’d seen the stupid gringo going off by himself and decided to follow along to make sure I was okay.
I found myself mentally paraphrasing Matthew 25: I was lost and you found me. Bless her heart. She was my angel.
With the angel’s help, I caught up with the rest of the group—and was glad I’d made the effort. The arrow is pointing to a thin, flexible pipe coming out of the hill, stretching out across a gorge. Los Fieros has many issues, but apparently water supply isn’t among them. In fact, Los Fieros has water to share. The pipe is designed to facilitate the flow of water from Los Fieros across the gorge to a village on the opposite hill that is without natural water supply.
I thought that was pretty neat.
The Rainbow people wanted to show us the village on the other side of the gorge. As the crow flies, it wouldn’t have been much of a trip, but we weren’t crows, so we had to travel this road instead, on a round-about journey that seemed to last forever. I have previously compared the experience of traveling these roads to clothes bouncing around inside a commercial dryer. Finally, we arrived at our destination and went immediately to the receiving end of the pipe. Having made its way across the gorge, the water is stored in this tank—and this child, when she’s thirsty, has something to drink.
It occurred to that the water pipe across the gorge could serve as a metaphor for the Rainbow Network. What is goes into pipe in places like St. Andrew’s, in terms of resources, gets funneled to people in places like San Andres. In that same community on the receiving end of the pipe, one of the guys showing us around was wearing this shirt with a logo many here will recognize: UPWARD! A piece of clothing put in a container by someone in North America had wound up in this village, on this man’s back, taking both the giver and receiver in the direction of UPWARD!
But my lasting memory of this trip will be my angel. After visiting the pipe on the Los Fieros side, we returned to her house. Knowing we’d be thirsty, she’d prepared us something to drink. The touristas are heavily discouraged from eating or drinking anything in the villages. The food and water are not processed for our systems; I made the mistake, my first time down there, ten years ago, of eating a cheese ball—as in non-processed goat cheese; the cheese ball tasted yummy going down, but made me violently ill a few hours later. That said, at this moment, I was willing to take the risk rather than refuse an angel’s kindness.
She wanted me to see inside her home. Like so many of the Rainbow residents, she has a little shrine to the Lord, attesting to her faith in Jesus Christ.
I get to thinking, many of us live in homes with many rooms, large rooms; some of us have offices as sizable as her house. I find myself wondering how many of us have anything on the walls of our work or our home giving outward witness to our faith!
As some of you’ve heard me say before, these people may be poor in things, but so many are rich in soul. It’s good for my soul to be in their presence.
As one who has myself been on the receiving end of Radical Hospitality and Gracious Generosity from Nicaraguans such as my angel, I am not at all bashful about inviting St. Andrew’s to be gracious in our generosity toward her and others like her.
Joining me in this evening’s “invitation to grace” are our most recent travelers, Dean Hollis and Mark Roberts. Dean and Mark have witnessed first-hand, the work God is doing thru Rainbow, using our gifts to help folks who, as Dean puts it, “are much less fortunate, but NOT less blessed.” So, we’re going to do something we just never do at St. Andrew’s: We’re going to pass the plate a second time. Every dollar you put in tonight actually amounts to three dollars, as Mark and Dean have graciously offered to match what is given. Heather’s going to sing a song appropriate to the occasion: Put A Little Love In Your Heart. You, too, can be an angel!
BRD 4/19/08