AIPRAL Conference Part 1: Theology. A.K.A. "Alex Preaches To The Blogsphere Not Necessarily About Being A YAV In Peru"

So I'm back, once again to my original adventure after having returned from another adventure.

The AIPRAL conference was a breath of fresh air, theologically speaking. Sean and I had gotten pretty used to the very traditional biblical interpretations, forms of worship and overall "way of life" associated with the evangelical churches where we work and worship here in Peru. The main points of our churches' theology are pretty much as follows:

1. God is in charge of everything.

2. God's divine son Jesus Christ, the Messiah, lived on earth and sacrificed himself to be crucified so that the sins of whoever believes in him will be forgiven.

3. If you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you will have eternal life in heaven after your life on earth is over. If you don't accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you will suffer eternal conscious torment in Hell after your earthly death.

4. In the meantime (during THIS life), you should "turn your life in" to Jesus. This means:
4a. Going to church regularly
4b. Reading the bible regularly (and memorizing as much of it as you can)
4c. Praying regularly (or even "without ceasing" - 1 Thes. 4:17)
4d. Abstaining with all your might from sin/idolatries (things that distract you from serving God) such as alcohol, drugs and sex outside of marriage.
4e. "Spreading the gospel" always by proclaiming your faith in effort to convert as many people as possible to Christianity so that they too, might be saved from Hell and given eternal life in Heaven.

5. The Bible (old and new testaments; the standard protestant canon) is God's authoritative, infallible Word. It was revealed perfectly by God Himself to writers inspired by Him. It is the Christian's definitive guide for what to believe and how to live.

Now, before I get into any metaphorical hot water, let me just say that although I don't agree 100% with these basic tenets of belief/doctrine that guide the churches with which I work here in Peru (and the majority of protestant/evangelical churches), I DO think that generally, they are a fine set of beliefs. They are most certainly Christian. They are most certainly biblical. They most certainly have created and guided life-changing spiritual/religious experiences for millions of people all over the world during the course of 2,000 years.

However I, along with the folks at AIPRAL, believe that Christians are called to more than just personal purity, and that people should have more to look forward to besides eternal life after they die. In addition to individual sin, there is societal/structural sin. And Christian beliefs can also do a lot of good in "saving" people from earthly "Hells" during THIS life, not just the next.

Enter the theme for the conference: Economic Justice. The majority of the first few days of the conference were dedicated to Bible studies and discussing just why exactly, from a Biblical point of view, Christians should be worried about poverty and global economic equality. Then during mostly the second half of the conference, we had some games/discussions/activities to learn about how/why economic injustice exists and what in the world we can do about it.

The first bible study was on 2 Corinthians 8, and discussing ways the church can be an example/beacon in demonstrating how communities can exercise norms of generosity, reciprocity and rejecting economic greed. We also discussed Isaiah 58 to demonstrate how God actually DEMANDS repentance for social sins of oppression, poverty and injustice rather than just personal purity.

The next bible study/discussion was centered around Revelation 18, in which God condemns the city of Babylon, a center of trade and city of great wealth, power and greed, to be destroyed. Although the connection was never explicitly made, there were implied similarities made to the United States during the discussion. This session wasn't really a bible study as much as it was a bible-based lecture on the history of external debt in Latin American countries. While over 50% of the population of Latin America lives on less than $2 per day, Latin American governments are using hundreds of billions of dollars a year to pay back loans taken from other countries, principally the United States. Because of compounding interest, the countries have already paid back several times over the amount originally borrowed, and will continue paying the interest for years and years to come. The most infuriating part is that these loans were used to finance the killings and "disappearance" of the government's own citizens during the tumultous 1970s and 1980s, the most obvious example being the "Dirty War" in Argentina, where the government accounted for an estimated 30,000 disappearances. The bible study leader asserted that the US government not only knew that it was funding dictatorships with the loans, but also that the other governments would never be able to pay the sums back. Biblically, we discussed the Jewish mandate of "Jubilee" years. According to Mosaic law, the Jewish people were to forgive all debts, redistribute wealth, pardon offenses, free slaves etc every 50 years, when God's mercy would be manifest. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus says he's come to do exactly that as he quotes from Isaiah 61:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor [Jubilee]."

The concept of Jubilee as being a manifestation of God's mercy/forgiveness of sins should be an example/inspiration for us to forgive debts ("forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters" -- very Presbyterian!). This biblical/theological point, as well as the story of Jesus' anger towards the money lenders in the temple (told in all 4 Gospels ex. Matthew 21) was used during the discussion to show how unchecked capitalism, as an economic system, is one of (or perhaps THE) biggest root of social/structural sin in our society.

So those two bible studies/discussion were the background going into the third bible study, which for me was the most interesting. This bible study was a theological discussion of Jesus' Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). In this parable, a "Master" of a great estate leaves on a trip. While he's gone, he leaves 3 "servants" to manage his money, giving 5 "talents" to one, 2 to another, and 1 to a third. When the master comes back, he finds that the first servant has managed his money well - using/investing the 5 talents to make another 5. So has the second: he's made another 2 talents with the 2 he was given. The third, on the other hand, simply took the 1 talent he was given, buried it in the ground and returned it to the master when he returned. The master, obviously, is pleased with the first two servants and ticked off with the third. While he promises the first two servants more responsibilities and privileges, he takes the 1 talent from the third servant and adds it to the total of the first, calling the third servant wicked and lazy. He then demands that the third "worthless" servant be thrown outside where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Traditionally, this parable is seen to be about spiritual "gifts" rather than money -- indeed it's supposedly the origin of our modern word "talent," meaning "ability." So the parable traditionally is taken to illustrate how some people are born with lots of talents, and others aren't. But the quantity/type of your talent/gifts don't matter; what matters is that you do something with what you have. This is the traditional moral: it implies that if you don't use the gifts God blesses you with, you will be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This is a decent interpretation/moral: nobody likes a lazy person. Many sermons have used this parable to preach the message that we should be thankful for what we have and dedicate its use to God, being good stewards. However the seminary student who led this bible study (named Mauricio), thinks there's a different meaning when you look at the original Greek (the language in which the New Testament was originally written).

While a couple versions say Jesus introduces this parable by saying "The Kingdom of Heaven is like," according to Mauricio, the ones that stick closest to the original Greek do not include this phrase. This parable then, isn't necessarily about the Kingdom of Heaven. Furthermore, this parable, along with the Parable of the Ten Virgins (another parable that is striking for its total lack of Grace - one of the cornerstones of protestant theology) comes smack dab in the middle of a discussion Jesus is having with his disciples about the signs of the end of the age! So this parable, according to Mauricio, actually could be about the evil in the world that serves as a sign that the Kingdom is near.

Furthermore, analyzing the Greek, Mauricio says that the word used to describe the "Master" in the parable is not keiros, the Greek word for Lord, which Jesus normally uses when describing "Masters" in parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather the Greek word for "Man" (or human being - which is "anthros" or something like that, I didn't write it down). Additionally, the word that is usually interpreted as "servant" was actually the Greek word for "slave" -- you know, the people that Jesus claimed he was sent to set free, as I mentioned above.

By now, you can probably figure out where this is going. Mauricio is turning the traditional view of the Parable of the Talents almost completely on its head. But really, we're just getting started.

During Jesus' time, a Greek "talent" was a unit of currency worth 6,000 drachma. One drachma was the equivalent of a standard laborer's daily wage. So because I'm too lazy to do all the math, let's just suffice it to say that this "Master" was the ancient equivalent of a millionaire. And as most of us know, Jesus didn't exactly predict that millionaires would have a particularly easy time getting into the kingdom of heaven.

However, the most damning evidence that invites us to turn this parable's traditional interpretation on its head is the reason the third, "foolish" servant gives the master for simply burying the money in the ground: "I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed." What's more is the master does not reject this claim but affirms it! He says: "So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed..." This is definitely the verse that frustrates the HELL out of traditional interpreters. In the traditional interpretation, where the master is seen to symbolize God, this makes absolutely no sense! No Christian believes in a God who would take as his own the fruits of someone else's labor. Such a God is unjust, deceitful and dishonest - a thief!

At this point in the Bible study, I got pretty excited. I had ALWAYS been frustrated with this parable, even as a little kid. I always sympathized with the third servant -- I mean, at least he didn't LOSE the money, right? Mauricio's interpretation seemed to resolve everything. Until, that is, you get to verse 29. In the parable, after the master takes the one talent of the third servant/slave and adds it to the 10 talents of the first servant/slave, he says "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." Reading this verse I became frustrated again, because it reminded me of something Jesus says in Matthew 13, after telling the Parable of the Sower. (The only reason I knew about this is because I happened to have preached a sermon on it to Km. 13 Church two weeks earlier.) After telling the parable of the sower, Jesus himself says plain and simple to his disciples almost the EXACT same phrase: "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him" (Matthew 13:12). So during the bible study, I pointed out both instances of these verses and posed what I thought was a "checkmate" (as Stephen Colbert would say) question to Mauricio: If the MASTER in this parable is really the wicked one, why would he be saying the exact same teaching Jesus himself had said in an earlier parable?

Unfortunately, I asked this question during a moment of the bible study in which LOTS of people had things to say, and the time was running out anyway, so Mauricio didn't really have a chance to go through and give a thorough answer. So I had to reason it out on my own, but I think I figured it out.

In the context of the parable of the sower, Jesus says this phrase about adding to the amount of people who have a lot and taking away from the people who have none in reference to the Pharisees. Furthermore, he wasn't talking about money (much to the chagrin of contemporary religious right wingers who tout the "justice" of laissez-faire supply side economics) but understanding. The Pharisees/teachers of the law were positive that they perfectly understood God's law/will and had everything figured out. So they spent their time trying to force the regulations of the law on other Jews. Jesus, however, spends most of his ministry speaking out against the pharisees, calling them hypocrites and telling them that the people they consider to be "sinners" will actually be the ones who inherit the kingdom of heaven. Basically he tells them that despite (or perhaps BECAUSE of....) their pompous assertions that they are the experts on God's law/will and they kingdom of heaven, they actually don't have a clue.

So I think Jesus has the "master" in this parable use this phrase, the same phrase Jesus himself once used, to depict the master as a Pharisee. Like a Pharisee would do, the master takes the Word of God and COMPLETELY misuses it. He twists it to fulfill a purpose totally contrary to God's will. Jesus disciples (to whom he was telling the Parable of the Talents) would have recognized this phrase as something Jesus had said before -- and would also recognize that the character in the story had used it to justify evil rather than good. I think Jesus uses this part of the parable to illustrate/give an example of something he warned the disciples about just 1 chapter earlier while describing the signs of the end of the age: "Many will come in my name, claiming 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many" (Mat. 24:5). Included in that might be people who use the teachings of Jesus/word of God to try and justify riches, greed and economic injustice.

So there you have it. That's about it. The awesome thing about this parable, as with many parables and biblical passages, is that the traditional moral: using the spiritual gifts/talents God has given you to further the glory of God and the betterment of society rather than letting them go to waste, is still a beautiful moral. This just goes to illustrate the timelessness of scripture - as authoritative, special and unique for all peoples, in all contexts. The same parable can offer two distinct interpretations, both of which are helpful, life-affirming and prophetic in the right contexts. I don't say this to mean that there is no such thing as a WRONG interpretation of the Bible -- the Bible has been used to justify racial superiority, genocide, war, the oppression of women and a host of other social ills -- but rather that the Spirit of God moves in a variety of ways that we can't appreciate if we close our minds to keep out perspectives we hadn't previously considered.

Pensamientos Brasilenos

Last night Sean and I arrived safely in Foz de Iguazu, Brazil for our conference. We have already been greeted with much hospitality and grace. Perhaps the best example of this was when I accidentally paid $20 TWICE for my food during our 4 hour layover in the Sao Paulo airport. I gave the cashier a $20 bill for my $5 sandwich and then she gave me my change. I then realized that she had charged me for a bottle of water that Sean had already paid for, so she gave me a little more change. But somehow that convesation made us confused, and I somehow forgot I ever paid her to begin with, so I gave her ANOTHER $20 bill. About 30 minutes after we had finished eating and left the restaurant, the cashier found us sitting at the gate for our flight. She had tracked me down to give me that second $20 bill back. I don't think this would have happened in Hartsfield-Jackson or O'Hare airports.

We are still the only ones that have arrived for the conference. There will be another 26 or so people arriving later today, according to Isaias, the AIPRAL conference coordinator (who's also been nice enough to let us use the internet on his personal laptop). The others are from countries all over South America. It should be fun!

reporting on the beach retreat and giving thanks for community

So it's a little late, but I promised to make an update on our YAV beach retreat to Mancora, so I guess I'll do that now, and tell the story of my adventures in Brazil later.

For a week, our group of 7 (6 yavs plus 1 site coordinator) stayed in one of the "Twin Towers," a pair of two large, multi-story beach-front houses located 20 minutes (by motorcycle taxi) down a hilly, bumpy dirt road in a small town called Los Organos. Los Organos is about 8 KM south of Mancora Beach, which is perhaps Peru's second most famous tourist destination, after Machu Picchu. Our house was huge, and the stretch of beach in front of it was almost totally deserted except for us and a couple other small vacation groups/families. The two houses share a small, private outdoor swimming pool, which we also took advantage of when the 30 meter walk to the beach just seemed too far. For a week, we definitely enjoyed a much, much higher standard of living than we have at our site placements.

Though we spent most of our week just relaxing at the beach, there were some very intentional structural aspects to the retreat. Each morning, all six YAVs each took turns leading a time of devotion or reflection. Debbie then led a bible study each evening. The house had a full kitchen, so we made several trips to the local market and cooked our own meals every day. We all pitched in to prepare breakfast and lunch, while for dinner we were divided into pairs to take turns setting up, cooking, and cleaning. It was great to spend a week relaxing and functioning like a family.

The actual beach was amazing. It was very clean (compared with most beaches in Peru, especially those in Lima) and refreshingly undeveloped - no restaurants, piers, boardwalks, tacky shops etc. And it had great (huge!) waves for body surfing. We also enjoyed hanging out at the pool, throwing around the frisbee, and watching some gorgeous sunsets. The last night we built a campfire on the beach, roasted marshmallows, and sang along to Sean's guitar playing. Other nights we played some intense card games and went for (dark!) walks along the surf.

The other objective of our retreat was to renew our visas. We received visas good for 183 days (six months) upon entering Peru. The 183rd day fell on the third day of our retreat, so that day we made a 2 1/2 hour trip north of Mancora to cross the border into Ecuador. We stayed in Ecuador long enough to eat lunch and do some shopping before crossing back into Peru, receiving a new 183 visa that will keep us legal in Peru until we return to the States at the end of July. We had been told beforehand that the officials on the border might tell us that we had to stay in Ecuador for 24 hours to receive new Peruvian visas, but luckily we didn't have any problems.

The other cool thing I did on the retreat was go surfing. One day Leslie and I went into Mancora to take surf lessons. I was pretty skeptical that I would successfully be able to stand up on a surf board after only an hour long class, but I did it. (I didn't know how much they would "help" me with the lesson though!) First our instructors had us practice our paddling positions and standing-up techniques on imaginary surf boards drawn in the sand. After about 10 minutes of that, we each got HUGE surf boards to go do it for real. The giant surfboards are much, much more stable, which is why they give them to beginners. They're also much, much harder to paddle out with! Luckily, I didn't have to do much of the work. My instructor held on to the back of the surf board while we paddled out, and while I paddled with my hands he was wearing flippers and kicking to get me into position to ride the waves. So really, my ability to surf was more dependent on my ability to follow directions. He would say paddle, and I would just keep paddling, not even looking back at the waves for which we was positioning. Then, he would suddenly say "stand up!" and I would get up us quickly as I could (which was still really slowly) to ride the wave, while he meanwhile let go. It was kind of like learning to ride a bike for the first time with training wheels - all the sudden you realize your dad isn't holding on any more. It took a couple tries, but I was eventually able to successfully stand up 3 or 4 times, and even rode one wave all the way in.

All in all, it was amazing. Our group did some incredible bonding over the week, I think. Looking back on the retreat now that it's 2 weeks old, I have become incredibly thankful for the community I have here. Not only are the 6 YAVs and Debbie a community, but I also feel very welcomed, comfortable and "a part of" my local communities here in comas: the host family, kilometer 13 church and santa isabel church. They all told me how much they missed me while I was gone, and everyone was so interested to hear about my experiences when I got back.

Yep that's about it. Moral of the story: God's awesome, communities rock, and beaches are fun.

[Global] Southern Hospitality

Today I went on my own to visit Pastor Hernando (my "supervisor" for my work at Km 13 church) at his house, because he injured his knee over a month or so ago, and hasn't been able to work since then. His house is in a neighborhood that's about a 50 minute bus ride from where I live in Comas. As I'm waiting to catch a bus back home, I hear someone calling my name. It's a cobrador (person who advertises a bus's routes and collects the fares from the passengers), and he's telling me that his bus will take me home "to the house where Javier lives." I didn't recognize the guy, though his face looked slightly familiar. And he obviously knew me and my host family, so I got in and sat down.

As he came over to where I was sitting to collect the bus fares for all the passengers, I stuck out my hand with my fare. He gave me a smile, and grabbed my wrist, giving it a firm shake. He obviously wanted to shake my hand instead, but couldn't, because it was holding the bus fare, which clearly didn't interest him. He asked me how I was doing, and I explained to him that I didn't realize this line went all the way where I was trying to go. We continued chatting for a few seconds as most of the passengers on the bus looked back at me, wondering who was this gringo who knew the cobrador.

I sat back in my seat for the long ride back. A few minutes into it, the cobrador hopped off the bus to buy a couple sodas from a street vender. He gave one to his driver. I assumed he bought the other one for himself, but sure enough he came back to where I was sitting and gave it to me, with a big smile.

"So first you don't have to pay him your bus fare, and now the cobrador buys you a soda?" the sitting next to me asked jokingly. I gave a forced laugh, embarrassed. "He's a good friend," was all I could say. But right after I said it, I realized that was an outright lie. I didn't even know the guy's name.

So I know all of this might not sound like a big deal, but it really made my day. And I'm sure some people might say "well he obviously just wants you to do something for him in the future." Or people might say "he was so nice just because he's really good friends with Javier." And any of those people might be right. But it really doesn't matter. This guy, even though I still don't know his name, made my day. And it was just the latest of a long, long list of examples of how many wonderful, nice people I've gotten to meet here in Lima.

I figured out from talking to him later on my ride back that I met the guy when he visited Javier and Raquel one night while I was home with his wife and two young children. And his kids, about 3 and 4 years old, were adorable and thought I was hilarious.

Going to BRAZIL

Just wanted to announce that fellow Peru YAV Sean Kerr and I will be representing the Presbyterian Church USA at a conference for youth/young adults hosted by the Alianza de Iglesias Presbiterianas y Reformadas de America Latina (Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of Latin America). The conference title is Acciones Juveniles para la Vida en Abundancia (more or less translates to Young Adults Acting for Abundant Life) and it will be held NEXT WEEK from March 19 to March 22 in Iguassu Falls, Brazil. We received first notice about the opportunity to participate in the conference from an email that was sent the day the group left for our beach retreat in Mancora/Los Organos, but since there was no internet access on the retreat, we didn't know about the email until we got back to Lima last Friday afternoon. So in the few days since then, we've been running around town (Sean and I, plus Debbie, our site coordinator) getting all of our documents in order, plane tickets purchased, visa applications done etc (Brazil has VERY strict requirements for giving visas to US citizens). But now everything is pretty much taken care of, and I'll be picking up our visas this afternoon (assuming there weren't any problems in processing them). Also, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Brazilian geography and/or famous waterfalls (like I am) the waterfalls that give Igaussu Falls its name are some of the largest and most spectacular in the world. I'll take lots of pictures, and will be sure to give a full report.

Old News

So in an entry about a month ago, I mentioned that I was interviewing to be a YAV next year at a national YAV site - either Tucson, Miami or Hollywood. Shortly after writing that entry and completing my interviews, I was offered a placement with the Young Adult Volunteer site in Hollywood, which I accepted. So after coming back to the states around July 30th, I will have a month or so before I move out to Los Angeles to start a whole other YAV adventure (and before then, I will start my whole other YAV FUNDRAISING adventure! stay tuned!). As a YAV in Hollywood, I will be living in an intentional christian community house with the other YAVs, working with a local social service agency (most likely one that addresses homelessness) and providing a regular service to the neighborhood (like free tutoring or bible studies) in conjunction with my fellow Hollywood YAVs. The house is located in a poor, primarily Latino immigrant neighborhood near Paramount studios, so the presence of extreme poverty in the shadow extreme wealth will be theme for my experience throughout the year (my term of service in Hollywood will last from September 2009 to late July/early August 2010). For more info on the YAV Hollywood experience, visit http://www.doornetwork.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=250

I'm back!

Sorry I've once again not been blogging too much. All last week I was on a YAV retreat to THE BEACH in northern Peru, where we didn't have internet access. It was amazing. More to come, but for now, here's a picture.