Those who´ve followed my random interests and travels have probably observed that I like God. Tehe. That is, I like experiencing the different ways culture and heritage play into our concept of God and I like arguing with those who seem to have closed God in a box, as we all seem to do.
Nicaragua has provided the opportunity to grow in this interest. Although my community and I are Jesuit Volunteers and thus resonate with a liberation-theology-Catholic perspective, I have been able to explore multiple views of the divine. Here are my reflections on a few of them.
God Among Us: Comunidades Eclesiales de Base (CEB)
Our favorite ¨mass¨ to attend regularly is a Christian Base Community, much like CLC groups at Catholic campuses. A group of family, friends and neighbors meets every Sunday at 9:30 in an auditorium to read the Gospel and talk about living it out, share bread and wine, and sing and sway to guitar, marimba and drums. There is no priest. I like this. Firstly, there are a shortage of priests in the world, and Catholic communities in poorer places have had to adapt like this CEB has. Secondly, this weekly celebration is a reminder that a chaste, adult man isn´t necessary to encounter God. At the CEB, teenagers and grandmothers preside at the altar, guide the conversation and share their thoughts. We´ve liked it so much that my commate Tony and I facilitated a celebration with and for the 9 JVs, modelled after the CEBs. We took the readings from Wendell Berry, Thomas Merton, and the teaching of Buddha, and we sat around candles and a globe. God was personal, internal, comfortable, empowering.
Universal Energy: Buddhism, Yoga, and Tai-Chi
Two of my commates hold views in line with Buddhism. They practice yoga and tai-chi regularly and have helped me to respect my body, accept all of my thoughts and live in the moment by paying attention to my breath. I have also learned inclusive language from them. They believe in sending and receiving energy from the universe. This is their way of prayer, and there is something quite enabling to all people in difficult times, religious or not, about being able to say ¨I send you positive energy¨ rather than ¨I pray to my God for you.¨
La Pachamama: Mother God of the Earth
During our retreats, we have focused on the theme of God in the wild, of respecting nature as a miracle and as the Mother who gives us life. In the Andean spirituality of Bolivia and Peru, God is Pachamama, a feminine spirit alive in nature. We sometimes meditate on Her image, and this holds us accountable to living simple lives in solidarity with the poor. My belief in stewardship for the Earth has been expanded. The Earth is no longer ¨given¨ to humankind; rather, She is the Giver and the Creator. I am thus much more likely to think twice about my enculturation into a wasteful, consumerist society.
Iglesia de Dios: A Venture into Firey Evangelization
I recently accompanied my friend Edwin to his evangelical Christian service. Jehova´s witness, Mormonism, and evangelical Protestantism are quickly overtaking Catholicism in the number of converts per year in Nicaragua. This service took place in a high-ceilinged, linoleum-floored hall with huge electric lights and hundreds of plastic wicker chairs. The first half of the service consisted of ear-drum bursting, joyful praise and worship music, led by a hefty guitarist who sweated and jumped in his shirt and tie. Hands reached toward heaven and worshippers spun in circles for almost an hour. Edwin spent most of the first hour speaking the words of the songs to me so I could understand better.
Next a small, put-together pastor took to the pulpit and pulled out his Bible tranquilly. Before I knew it he was screaming into the microphone about what love really means and the brilliance of the prophet Isaiah. He spoke for a half hour, interrupted by ALELUYAS and LA GLORIA DE DIOS from his enthusiastic congregation. We sang and danced a little more (which was interesting, because outside the church, members aren´t allowed to dance or drink), greeted Edwin´s family, and left.
I enjoyed witnessing people on fire in their faith, whether or not I shared it. The experience was loud and intense, and I found myself wanting a little reflection time and a little more variety. I also wish I had gotten into a better conversation about convictions with Edwin. The stereotype is that evangelical Nicaraguans are closed-minded and pushy, but he was nothing but welcoming and happy. Good for him, good for them.
Saint Peter of the Rich: a Conservative Catholic Church
My commate Tobin and I once attended a Catholic mass in an infamously well-off barrio called Martha Quezada, also called Gringolandia, for all the embassies and gringos (white people) found there. San Pedro´s is huge, new, and glistening, quite an anomaly according to my Managua experience. Imagine leaving work amid cardboard homes and hungry children and then entering a palace full of ironed silk shirts, pearl earrings and diamonds, to talk about God, a God who supposedly hears the cry of the poor. It didn´t make sense. And it made me think about every time I´ve attended mass amid the rich of the States—do people commit to serving the God they believe in by living for and with the people that God loves most? Or do they too easily forget the reality of the world?
The next day I told my co-workers I had gone to mass at San Pedro´s. They´d heard of it and made fun of me. They call it ¨San Pedro de los Ricos,¨ or Saint Peter of the Rich.
In the future, I hope to attend a Korean church nearby, and have conversations with some of the Muslim vendors at one of the markets. Not only because I like talking about God—it´s more that I like talking to and learning from people.
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