El dia de los inocentes.....

Sermón 12/29 Así que es el quinto día de Navidad. ("Cinco anillos de oro!”) Soy uno que cree en celebrar todos los 12 días. Hemos terminado con toda la sociedad secular construir. Ahora es el momento de celebrar la Navidad de la iglesia. Litúrgicamente, este es el primer domingo después de Navidad.  Litúrgicamente, tambien tenemos la "Fiesta de los Santos Inocentes." Esta historia más oscura dentro de nuestras narrativas navideñas. Ha habido apenos tiempo suficiente para desenvolver los regalos de la visita de los sabios cuando Herodes vuela en cólera, creyendo que está surgiendo una amenaza a su trono, un niño con más legitimidad que su reclamo.  Así que envía a sus secuaces para asesinar a todos los niños menores de dos años en la región de Belén.  Siempre hay debate sobre la historicidad del evento. Pero la conclusión es algo como esto ...este tipo de comportamiento era tan típico de Herodes, que incluso asesinó a su propio hijo, como para ni siquiera llamó la atención, especialmente en un pequeño pueblo insignificante como Belén. Todo bien y bien, pero ¿qué significa para nosotros? Creo que empieza aquí….vivimos en un día en que en otro mundo, más personas están en movimiento justo no que en cualquier otro momento de la historia. Tal vez algunos de ustedes aquí esta mañana han venido aquí desde otros lugares. Y el hecho es que la mayoría de las personas que están en movimiento lo están haciendo porque sus amores se han vuelto inhabilitables donde están. Puede ser por razones políticas: * Como un musulmán en Cachemira o * Un Ambazoniano en el Camerún o * Un Rohingyan en Birmania O personas amenazadas por su gobierno como un nicaragüense o venezolano que protestó por tener que huir O porque alguna combinación de agronegocios y cambio climático y degradación ambiental ha hecho imposible la agricultura de subsistencia. La gente sale de casa cuando el hogar ya no es viable. La Navidad se trata de la encarnación ….Dios quiere estar en medio de nosotros, Dios quiere ahora nuestras vidas íntimamente. Desde dentro de nuestra carne, por así decirlo. Así que Dios en la forma de un bebé humano vulnerable es con una familia que tiene que huir por sus propias vidas a otro país. Conducido desde su casa. Sin papeles. Indocumentados. Ilegal. Buscando asilo. Como va la narrativa bíblica , encontrar asilo en Egipto. Y la comunidad cristiana en Egipto está muy orgullosa de esta tradición. Te mostrarán lugares donde ocurrieron varios incidentes a la Sagrada Familia. La casa donde vivían, acerca de la calle desde donde Moisés estaba abajo del río. Están orgullosos de haber protegido al humano, al santo, al niño santo. Qué diferente habría sido si hubieran encontrado una pared de 30 pies rematada con alambre de afeitar en la frontera con Egipto. O se habían visto obligados a dormir afuera en la calle durante semanas esperando la oportunidad de contar su historia con un 2% de posibilidades de recibir asilo. O sido forzado a salir a la parte más peligrosa del Sinaí sin siquiera un burro. O tal vez separados con José y María deportados de nuevo a una muerte segura en Israel y Jesús puso en una jaula en el desierto.  El punto es, Dios está experimentando nuestras vidas en este momento. En medio de nosotros. Nuestro desplazamiento, nuestro exilio, nuestra falta de vivienda, sea lo que sea, sea cual sea su historia, Immanuel, DIOS ESTÁ CON NOSOTROS.  Veamos el rostro de Dios en los que nos rodean en este círculo. Y que nosotros, a su vez, mostrar el rostro vivo de Jesús a cada uno que nos rodea. Al recibir la Eucaristía este día, seamos nosotros los que somos transformados en el cuerpo vivo de Cristo resucitado, uno al lado del otro. Emmanuel. Dios es con nosotros. Feliz Navidad. Amén. Evangelio Mateo 2:13-23 13 Y después de haberse ido, un ángel del Señor se apareció a José en un sueño y dijo: "Levántate, toma al niño y a su madre, y huye a Egipto, y permanece allí hasta que te diga; porque Herodes está a punto de buscar al niño, para destruirlo.14Entonces José se levantó, tomó el niño y su madre por la noche, y se fue a Egipto,15y permaneció allí hasta la muerte de Herodes. Esto fue para cumplir lo que había dicho el Señor por medio del profeta: “De Egipto he llamado a mi hijo.” 16Cuando Herodes vio que había sido engañado por los sabios, se enfureció, y envió y mató a todos los niños de Belén y sus alrededores que tenían dos años o menos, según el tiempo que había aprendido de los sabios. 17Entonces se cumplió lo que se había dicho a través del profeta LEA LE: 18“Una voz se escuchó en Ramah, wailing y fuerte lamentación, Rachel llorando por sus hijos; ella se negó a ser consolado, porque ya no existen.” 19Cuando Herodes murió, un ángel del Señor apareció repentinamente en un sueño a José en Egipto y dijo:20“Levántate, toma al niño y a su madre, y ve a la tierra de Israel, porque aquellos que buscaban la vida del niño están muertos.”21Entonces José se levantó, tomó al niño y su madre, y se fue a la tierra de Israel. 22Pero cuando escuchó que Arquelao gobernaba Judea en lugar de su padre Herodes, tuvo miedo de ir allí. Y después de ser advertido en un sueño, se fue al distrito de Galilea. 23Allí hizo su hogar en una ciudad llamada Nazaret, para que lo que se había dicho por medio de los profetas se cumpliera: “Será llamado Nazoreo.” Install the app on your smartphone and use it offline ReplyForward

Fifth day of Christmas Holy Innocents

12/29

The Ecclesia worship crew

It's a mild winter day as I head to the Marcus Garvey Park Drummers' Circle for the weekly gathering of the Ecclesia congregation for eucharist and breaking bread with te homeless. More intense scrutiny by the NYPD has had a negative effect on people coming out, but still a congregation gathers and still there are conversations to be had. During prayers, one congregant prays  that his son may avoid the fall into homelessness he has endured. We tend to forget that most who are homeless once had homes. We assemble the alter and prepare for worship. Sing  "Joy to the World" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." Read the Gospel and it's time for reflection....

So it’s the 5th day of Christmas. (“Five golden rings!”) I am one who believes in celebrating all 12 days. We’re done with all the secular society build up to Christmas.  Now’s the time to celebrate the church’s Christmas. Liturgically, this is the first Sunday after Christmas.  Liturgically, we’ve got the "Feast of the Holy Innocents.” This darkest story within our Christmas narratives. There’s been barely enough time to unwrap the presents from the visit of the wise men when Herod flies into a rage, believing a threat to his throne is arising, a child with more legitimacy than his claim.  So he sends out his henchmen to murder all children under two in the Bethlehem region. 

There’s always debate over the historicity of the event. But the bottom line is something like this….this kind of behavior was so typical of Herod, who even murdered his own son, as to not even drew attention, especially in a small insignificant town like Bethlehem. 

All well and good but what does it mean for us?

I think it starts here….we live in a day when across our world, more people  are in motion right now than at any other time in history. Maybe some of you here this morning have come here from other places. And the fact is, most people who are in motion are doing so because their lives have become unlivable where they are. It can be for political reasons:

* Like a Muslim in Kashmir or 

* An Ambazonian in the Cameroun or 

* A Rohingyan in Burma

Or people threatened by their government like a Nicaraguan or Venezuelan who has protested having to flee

Or because some combination of agribusiness and climate change and environmental degradation has made subsistence farming impossible.

People leave home when home is no longer viable.

Christmas is about incarnation ….God wanting to be in our midst, God wanting to know our lives intimately. From inside our flesh, as it were. So God in the form of a vulnerable  human baby is With a family that has to flee for its very lives to another country. Driven form their home. Sin papeles. Undocumented. Illegal. Seeking asylum. As the Biblical narrative goes , they find asylum in Egypt. And the Christian community in Egypt is very proud of this tradition. They’ll show you places where various incidents happened to the Holy family. The house where they lived, right up the street from where Moses was drawn from the river. They are proud of having sheltered the human one, the holy one, the holy child.

How different it would  have been if they had encountered a 30 foot wall topped with razor wire at the Egyptian border. Or if they had bene forced to sleep outside in the street for weeks waiting for a chance to tell their story with a 2% chance of receiving asylum. Or been forced out into the most dangerous part of the Sinai without even a donkey. Or maybe separated with Joseph  and Mary deported back to certain death in Israel and Jesus put in a cage in the desert.  The point is, God is experiencing our lives right now. In our midst. Our displacement, our exile, our homelessness, whatever it is, whatever your story is, Immanuel, GOD IS WITH US. 

Let us see the face of God in those around us in this circle. And may we in turn, show the living face of Jesus to each around us. As we receive the Eucharist this day, may it be we who are transformed into the living body of the risen Christ, standing side by side with each other. 

Immanuel. God is with us. Happy Christmas. Amen.

Eucharist is shared. Then the meal is laid out. Turkey sandwiches. Salads. Peach pie. And festive egg nog. More conversation. the police stop by to check things out. Are offered sandwiches. Slowly the circle disperses. People off to their separate directions.  Until next week. 

Gospel Matthew 2:13-23

13Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:18  “A voice was heard in Ramah,
          wailing and loud lamentation,
     Rachel weeping for her children;
          she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

19When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead.” 21Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

• 
  

Christmas Eve 2019

12/24

Christmas Eve  2019

Merry Christmas from the West Park family...

Walking up the street towards West Park, I see the glowing farolitos on the steps giving a welcome and invitation to all who pass b to join us for our  Christmas Eve celebration. Leila and Dion have decorated the church. A  team of volunteers is getting the shared meal together and Andre is rehearsing with John the pianist.  Soon it is time for the service to begin.  After reading the Christmas story in Luke 2: 1-20, I lead a call and response version of "Mary Had a Baby..."

                                                        Bruce Cockburn

Farolitos

Then it is time for my reflection:

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

And so it’s here. Christmas Eve at last. The days of  hustle and bustle and planning and shopping and light up nights and holiday parties and ….have you noticed Christmas cards have all but disappeared?…all come to an end....and if you’re like me, you’re not quite done yet…but there comes that moment when you just take a breath and let it be…and let it be….

I realized this afternoon that this makes the 25th anniversary of my first Christmas at West Park…and every one of them different…from full churches with choirs to me and my boys and two homeless people to singing carols on the steps of a church locked behind gates to the gates coming down and  us all coming back again.  And we are still here…

I’m thinking about the holy family tonight. Just where they might be. 

There are images on the internet….the artist Banksy, you know the boy with the hammer on the wall on 79th street?

Banksy on the Upper West Side

…has an installation in a hotel in Bethlehem…a traditional manger scene in front of  a concrete block  wall…the wall has been pierced by a mortar shell leaving a Christmas star shaped  hole …he calls it “Scar of Bethlehem…”( https://www.huffpost.com/entry/banksy-scar-of-bethlehem-nativity-christmas_n_5e031970e4b05b08babbc5ad) Then of course there’s the manger scene without Jews, Arabs, Africans or migrants…it of course is completely empty of human beings. Wondering where the holy family is tonight. I think of scenes from my recent travels. And another wall. And in the streets of  Juarez tonight people camped out on the side streets in tents. Looking for a room in the inn. Or at least chance to tell their story and seek asylum. And tonight in the Sonora desert, in the most hostile part of the desert where the night winds blow cold, what holy family makes its way seeking shelter? And tonight in New York City, what holy family seeks shelter, in this case, over 65000 people recorded as “homeless” in this city of riches.  Where is the holy family tonight?

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

You see Christmas always comes in context. A very human context. It is ever so. And we’ve got all the context we could ever need right now. And that is the point and that is what it’s about and why we are here. And this, this congregation here tonight is a holy family too. It’s not a Marvel superhero origin story where Kal El comes down from Krypton to land in Smallville and save us all or Dr. Manhattan strides boldly across the earth. Or Jesus comes down from heaven to fix everything.  No. It’s deeper than that . It’s about God…the nameless one, the creator the force of creation the  spirt that blows across the waters and through our every breath…it’s about God wanting to get up close and personal with us. To know us in the most intimate of ways. To understand what it is to be us. To be in our midst and in us. Immanuel, God with us. Incarnation, in the flesh. God in us.  In the total fragility  of a baby in the most vulnerable of circumstances. And in that baby, we see the face of God. And the baby, the human one looks out to see how we welcome such children.  In God’s own image we were created…and we celebrate that incarnation tonight….

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Thia is a season of light.  From time immemorial people close to the earth celebrate the solstice and the the coming back of the sun. The darkest day is past already…Our Buddhist brothers and sisters celebrate Bodhi day…I have participated in the celebration in Riverside Church with hundreds of  monks passing the lotus lights from one to the next until the whole sanctuary glowed. In these days our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate Hanukah, a celebration of liberation from cultural oppression and dominance, with a light that grows each day as the light should aways grow brighter.  Likewise, in the Christian season of  Advent, we add a candle each week until we come to tonight and light the Christmas candle, the Christ candle. 

A word about light….when I was a kid, we did this ritual like making the whole church dark with only the Christ candle burning. Then as we sang Silent Night, we would dramatically light each other’s candles until the sanctuary glowed. The symbolism was clear. Before Jesus, all the world was dark. And then Jesus comes, and like cousin David in “Merry Christmas from the family,” he “..throws the breaker and the lights come on and we all sang Silent Night, O Holy Night.”….But, well, not really. You see from creation on, the light is always there. Sometimes we can’t even see it, but it’s there. The Biblical narrative is clear, whenever the darkness seems so deep, the 

Prophets come to light the way.  Eloquent court prophets like Isaiah and working class prophets like Micah and Amos. And sometimes in the form of  a teen age girl named Greta who comes from Scandinavia in a boat. The light keeps shining. Keeps on shining. 

I think of my friends in Chile tonight. As summer comes on. Feeling their light grow after decades. Seeing a new beginning. And tonight Light is shining here  for us too.

So tonight when we light our candles, look into the face of the one who passes it on to you. See the light of the holy one in our midst. And let our light shine back. And take it out back into the street so the light will shine brighter.

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Immanuel. God with us. Incarnate. In humanity. In our very midst. Tonight.

Let us all receive heavenly peace. Tonight

.

Amen.

Then Andre comes forward to share with us "In the Bleak Midwinter" as only he can.
Then we light our candles and pass them one to another and sing "Joy to the World" . and the service is over. I feel I am home.  People who mean so much to me. Andre. And Martin and Soledad and Martin's mom. And my friend and frequent singing partner Rabbi Steve Blane.  And Dion and Berik and Leila who did so much work. 

We all shared a pot luck meal together and then Dion opened the evening's sharing of music and comedy. Later Mandola Joe will grace us with a dramatic recitation of "'Twas the night before Christmas..." And there will be a very full night. 

We've created something good and valuable here. After two years, it begins to feel like this could become a tradition. There are neighbors. And visitors. And tourists from China. Musicians. Comedians.  Couples and singles. People from condos and people from SRO's. People with no other place to be and people who'd rather not be any place else because this is community. Despite all, after all, a flame still burns here. And we are home for Christmas...

Our manger scene

Mandola Joe

Dion  opens

Dion and Leila

with Rabbi Steve

Soledad, Martin and Luli

Andre

Andre sings "In the Bleak Midwinter"

Nicaragua Notebook

12/19

Nicaragua: La Lucha Sigue

Sandino stands watch

I. Notebook

During the 1980’s, as my plane neared Managua the pilot would dramatically announce “Bienvenidos a Nicaragua Libre!” And as the plane touched down on the tarmac, the passengers would burst into applause. Today the plane just lands. That’s it.

                                                                                ****

Our original 1983 Task Force had been profoundly moved by the experiment in living liberation theology that was Sandinista Nicaragua. The Christian Base Communities were combination Bible Study/Reflection and support groups and also building blocks for revolutionary community organizing. I was anxious to see what had happened to them in the intervening years. We met with leaders of one Base Community, one of only four remaining in that neighborhood. His brief summary of classic liberation theology was certainly a theology I could agree with. But it was disappointing to hear the leader describe the voices of opposition to the Ortega regime with a predictable litany of words like trouble makers, criminals, anti-social hooligans, foreign agents, etc.…More than a little disturbing to hear his wife confide to the person sitting next to her the her husband had been responsible for the removal of Auxiliary Monsignor Silvio Baez to Rome. 

Hoping for a deeper dialogue, I described to our speaker that as his country was painfully divided, so was ours. I asked how people of faith could reach out to those who were in disagreement and create dialogue, perhaps even understanding. He responded that they knew where their opponents lived and that “…we can visit them and explain to them where they are wrong and persuade them to change…”

It was as if the Base Community had become a neighborhood enforcer for the government. Nicaraguan friends generally agree that the Base Community movement has become simply an arm of the regime.

                                                                        ****

I had also wondered what had happened to el Consejo de Iglesias Evangélicas Pro-Alianza Denominacional (CEPAD). Originally formed as a way to organize the Evangelical community’s response to the 1979 earthquake, CEPAD had in effect become the Protestant Council of Churches in Nicaragua. It became both a connecting link with the Protestant community through a series of denominational mission partnerships (including the PCUSA) and an ecclesiastical network in solidarity with the revolution. Founder and coordinator of CEPAD, Dr. Gustavo Parajon, was a doctor, mission worker and mediator who had worked tirelessly to facilitate reconciliation with indigenous Atlantic contra groups and other parties in conflict. What was CEPAD’s role today?

After a Bible study based on Ecclesiastes, we celebrated birthdays and talked about the conflict. While more nuanced than our conversation with the Base Community leaders, it was clear that CEPAD participants were uncomfortable with criticism of the Ortega government and primarily saw their role to be in solidarity with the regime. Although still providing some important basic services, CEPAD does not appear to have any vital or creative role in the current political situation.

                                                                         ****

The Nicaragua Commission on Truth, Justice and Peace was established to establish  the facts of the political violence in Nicaragua and create a way forward. Death totals have ranged from somewhere between 300 and 600 and over 3000 injuries. The energy of the commission as presented to us seemed to be concerned mainly with establishing an accurate number of bajas with not much being said about processes for reconciliation. The commission has been criticized for its essentially pro-government makeup. It had been hoped that highly regarded priest Father Uriel Molina might bring an objective voice to the process. But his comments have not been encouraging. In February he was quoted a saying  that people in Nicaragua “owed” the “advantages in this country” to the revolutionary ideals that “live on in Commander Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo.” (Father Molina was receiving an award during our visit.)

The InterAmerican Council on Human Rights has also raised concerns about the Amnesty processionals announced earlier this year by Mr. Ortega essentially freeing any police or military personnel from charges stemming form the mani duro response to the protests. 

                                                                             ****

Overheard in the passport line at Augusto C. Sandino airport. Two businessmen, one Canadian, the other American (US). Both own houses in Granada and businesses in Managua. And spend half of each year here. One says to the other he has just returned from six months away. ‘So..you missed the …the…” says the one. “Yes” says the other. “ I find it best not to have an opinion on such matters.” “I agree” the other responds…

****

A visit with US embassy officials also raised a number of questions.  For all intents and purposes, Mr. Ortega had reached a workable place for himself. Internationally, his leftist anti-imperial rhetoric kept him in good stead with the progressive left community. (A wide thoroughfare has been renamed for Hugo Chavez and ends with a a large portrait of him surrounded by Rosario's arboles de vida. )

Hugo Chavez y los arboles

He had manipulated the constitution in such a way to virtually quarantine any efforts at democratic opposition and electoral or legislative vulnerability.  He had made peace with and was in alliance with the domestic and international business communities and the economy showed (comparatively) decent growth in a Chinese style authoritarian capitalist economy. Enough benefits were falling to the poorest of Nicaraguans so as to keep opposition to a minimum. Peace had been made with the church with his old nemesis Cardinal Obando y Bravo performing a Catholic wedding for Daniel and Rosario.  The most stringent anti-abortion laws in Latin America and been passed.   Even a modus operandi with the US had been reached. Despite its heated rhetoric (part of the “triangle of terror” for example…), the US greatest concern is stability. And that was working. Why throw all that away in responding to protests over changes in Social Security? 

The mano duro response has led only to greater and more wide spread protests, the erection of barricadas and tranques, international condemnation and US sanctions. There are wide ranging speculations, many involving Ms. Murillo, Ortega’s wife and effectively co-President. But no clear answers.

Now Ortega has created a widespread opposition. He’s lost the church again, with Ortega claiming to having discipled himself and Rosario  to a Neo-pentecostal preacher. He’s lost the artists with revolutionary popular musicians  like the Cardenals and Mejias in exile and unable to return. Broad based Nicaraguan expat groups organize in the US.  A US embargo has been put into place.  In response Ortega has doubled down with house to house block to block investigations. He has reportedly promised to arm his people to defend his revolution. And one of his sons has apparently claimed to be the reincarnation of Sandino.

                                                                                                        ****

For every scar on a wall

There's a hole in someone's heart

Where a loved one's memory lives

Bruce Cockburn

in the museum

On the University of Central America Managua campus, a pop up “memory” museum has been created by the Mothers of April Association (AMA), the mothers of children who were killed during the April protests.

Love and do not forget

There’s an intimacy to the exhibit, the items on display selected to portray the lives of those who were killed. Favorite t-shirts, hats, shoes. Photographs. Backpacks. Unique and personal items.

in memory

in the museum

A sense of profound sadness at what… and who...has been lost.  Mothers are present to tell their stories. Perhaps most disturbing are photos of the protests and videos showing turbas (gangs) with black and red bandanas over their faces brutally beating students. The slogan of the museum is  "AMA (Spanish word for love) and do not forget, museum of memory against impunity".

****

Saying no to sexual harassment

Signs as you enter the UCA clearly define sexual harassment, and how to recognize it and that it is simply not tolerated on the campus.

                                                                                            ****

We meet with one of the internal exiles. One who has not left the country but cannot go home, Her house has been broken into and vandalized at east three times. She does not feel safe. She is a lifelong Sandinista militant. I tell her about the images at the museum. Especially those of the turbas in black and red.  She takes a deep breath. “I cry every day” she says. A sense of betrayal at the deepest possible level.

Anther former Sandinista official says, “I don’t know…maybe we could  have worked  it out. If only he didn’t kill so many of us…”

****

Over a nacatamales dinner in Costa Rica, we meet with a circle of expelled…and exiled students. Not only are they expelled, but al their academic records have been erased. Disappeared. As if they had never existed. Graduate students. Medical and nursing students. Tech and science. Law.  Their records gone. They wait in Costa Rica, in a state of limbo.

Somewhere between 60 and 100000 Nicaraguans are now in Costa Rica. Though, compassionate, Costa Rica does not have the infrastructure to handle the crisis. Ticos (Costa Ricans) worry about the centralamericanizacion (Central Americanization) of Costa Rica. A thinly veiled word of anxiety about the impact of so many Nicaraguans. 

Resistance leaders among the exiles are increasingly frustrated. There is little or no ability to provide assistance for newly arriving refugees. A feeling of helplessness at such a distance  from the struggle. A feeling of it’s being time to return, in spite of the danger. Better to be doing something, engaged, and at risk than be safe and removed from the struggle.

                                                                                           ****

From high atop the Tiscapa hill we stand beneath the 18 meter tall Sandino memorial. Tiscapa is the site of the old Presidential palace where Sandino, leaving after having negotiated an agreement, was assassinated by agents of Anastacio Somoza.

Sandino

As we look into the city, directly below us we see the Interamerican Hotel and Bank of America, survivors of the earthquake. 

still standing

Beyond them we see the skeletal remains of the historic cathedral. To the left, we see the old city, still gap-toothed in what exists more than 40 years after the earthquake. Barrios where directions are still rendered as …donde fue…where was… To the right, the new city of shopping malls and commerce. And snaking through the streets the string of Rosario Murillo’s Arboles de vida, trees of life, her idiosyncratic vision of an icon for her Nicaragua. Many trees  show signs of having  been torched during the protests. 

Rosario's arboles

Looking to the Mostepe volcano, there is an empty hill side where once giant FSLN letters stood. When Arnoldo Aleman was elected President, he covered two letters so that it now spelled FIN (ie,  end) then had them removed altogether.

Beside Sandino, there are two large flags, the azul y blanco of the bandera national and the rojo y negro of the FSLN. The once ubiquitous red and black seems to be fading.

Sandino and flags

on Tiscapa

Ortega has declared public carrying the azul y blanco to be illegal.  Adelante el frente sandinista is no longer the defacto national anthem as the traditional Mi Nicaraguita  has returned to popular use. 

The towering silhouette of Sandino looks our over the city, the country.   

****

II. Conclusions

In the flash of a moment, you’re the best of what we are.

Don’t let then stop you now, Nicaragua.

Bruce Cockburn

1. Looking back, for many, both people of faith and political progressives, it was too easy to over romanticize the Nicaraguan revolution. It was almost as if we wanted the Nicaraguans to live out the revolutionary

vision we could never create for ourselves. Those of us from the reformed theological tradition forgot to bring along our historic hermeneutic of suspicion. The infrastructure of the revolution insulated itself from a criticism of solidarity which could have corrected more serious errors of judgment or execution. ( Liberation Christians involved in the struggle seems to grant  to the revolution an unquestioned authority like that previously afforded to the Roman Catholic Church from which so many came…). We truly wanted to believe what Canadian singer-songwriter Brice Cockburn sang: In the flash of a moment, you’re the best of what we are.

This is not to say the earlier PCUSA task force was wrong in its theological or political analysis. Certainly, traditional liberation theology provides an appropriate and biblically based lens through which to view the world around us. And we were right in critiquing US intervention in Nicaragua as well. As William Sloane Coffin, Jr. said so many times, I don’t have to believe everything the Sandinistas are doing is right to know that everything my  government is doing is wrong…

An important question moving forward in times of social change is how to bring a critical analysis within the context of solidarity and then how to know when solidarity can no longer be extended. When does it become necessary to break solidarity?

The danger of idolatry as can be applied in Nicaragua is clear. Belief in the revolution became so central, in a way with theological and spiritual dimensions, that many can not give it up. It’s especially difficult for North American veterans of the 1980’s solidarity movement to make this change. Those seeking change in Nicaragua today feel they are left on their own with no interest shown by old colleagues. 

2. Likewise, liberation theology is going through its own reassessment from the inside. Critics like Rubem Alves have pointed out the limitations of a theology that is primarily materialist based. The need for beauty imagination and creativity to sustain long term struggle is clear.  In earlier discussions, former Sandinistas spoke of pursuing a theology of transformation, both personal and societal. 

As Presbyterians, we need to recognize the gift of our own theological tradition in this context.

3. The ecclesiastical landscape has shifted significantly since the 1980’s. During those years, it was primarily a struggle between the traditional hierarchical Roman Catholic Church and the progressive, liberationist church of the people with the historic evangelical (Protestant) churches a minor sub set of that conversation. Today, the major dialectic seems to be between the traditional Roman Catholicism of the country and a rising tide of Pentecostal (especially neoPentecostal) religious expression. Of the latter, some  are based in the US but others from Latin America itself. 

4. The Ortega government retains a significant base within the population, especially among the poorest sectors of society with whom a client relationship has been established. Its benefits have been real materially although not politically.

5. Geopolitically speaking, the historic Cold War dialectic that informed the struggles of the 1980’s has been replaced by a multilectic in which Russia seeks to reestablish former Soviet relationships and China seeks to establish its own business and political influence.

6. A major change in Nicaragua since our previous visits is the emergence of climate and environment as a major issue.  Agribusiness has been devastating on the capacity for sustainable self sufficient agriculture. (And has led to broad campesino support for resistance.) The ill-conceived proposal for a new canal is an example of economic  development taking place with little regard for the continued environmental degradation taking place. 

7. Nicaragua has so far resisted the influence of gangs and drugs that has so affected other parts of Central America. Leaving aside speculative conspirational  theories a critical factor would seem to be the fact that regardless of what the governmental reality may be, the revolution has left Nicaragua with a social coherence and organizational capacity that continues to function at the barrio level. ( A similar observation could be made of the reality that the area most free from drugs and gangs in El Salvador is former FSLN stronghold Morazan province and similarly in the indigenous highlands region in Guatemala.) This capacity led to the rapid response in setting up blockades (tranques) and turn outs for manifestaciones. Clearly awareness of this capacity has led to the Ortega government’s strategy of “house to house” interventions and development of a network of informants towards the end of breaking up the solidarity of neighbors.

8. The Nicaraguan people have now been in a state of struggle for nearly a century now.

a century of struggle

a people of struggle

On the one hand, there is a sense of frustration and weariness in terms of how many times do we have to go through this?  On the other hand, this historic experience has led to a reservoir of resilience that continues to sustain the people through the ongoing struggle.  In Nicaragua, la lucha sigue. And despite all we can be confident in the hope that Nicaragua vivira. (Nicaragua will live…)

a  resilient people...Nicaragua vivira