Rev. Dr. Marc Stewart

One of the fine habits of faith that I learned from my father-in-law, Ken Bisbee, was tithing. I had been reared to have a generous and compassionate care for the world, yet through Ken I learned to make a habit of generosity. When my wife Cheryl and I met at Andover Newton Theological School, Ken used half his tithe to go towards Cheryl’s seminary education. Cheryl’s parents were semi-retired and had very meager means, and so I did not expect that their financial support could continue when we got married during the middle of our seminary years. That is when I learned how tithing creates habits of generosity, “there is no question that we will continue supporting Cheryl’s tuition, it is what we do when we tithe.”

One quarter (8) of our Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference congregations tithe, or more, in providing direct support of missions. Churches in the habit of sharing at least 10% to a combination of Our Churches Wider Ministry and special offerings such One Great Hour of Sharing include our largest congregations, such as Billings Mayflower and First UCC Billings and Missoula and Great Falls and Red Lodge, and some of our smallest congregations, such as Worden, and Molt and Fairfield and Power.

As your congregation does budgeting and stewardship this Fall, I would ask you to look again at setting tithing as a model for a fine habit of faith. The Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference UCC practices this habit of faith in supporting the national setting of the United Church of Christ with a tithe. Tithing fosters the satisfaction of supporting the greater good. Tithing is as ancient a habit as the hunter-gatherers who share their bounty. Tithing is as current a practice as churches that fill food banks.

Tithing is a habit passed on from person and from church. Would your congregation also develop this habit and so increase your total OCWM support to 10%? I wonder what could happen if those ¾ of our churches which do not tithe chose to increase their total giving to 10%. Might something happen even more than another $76,000 available for our mission work? How might it be for you to increase giving towards a 10% goal, if not all in one year perhaps by increments?

My father-in-law has long passed from this world, but Cheryl and I will always live in the habit of faith he practiced. Ken invested in a way of life he believed in (Please know, here, that this was not simply investing in “his own” as Cheryl had abdicated to the United Church of Christ and he was a life-long Methodist). His habit of faith perpetuates the worthy way of life he cared so much for, even if it is now so far out his control. But this is what he always knew, that tithing allowed faith to be lived out beyond one’s own life!

Well, it has been hot enough this week to burst two tires (one on the car, one on the U-Haul) as I move my family from Hillsborough NC to Billings. I have been keeping track of the fires happening in our region and have to wonder how much heat is being blasted into our weather by the forest fires and prairie fires consuming so many thousands of acres in Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado.

I have appreciated national news reports and updates from local pastors on what is happening in communities affected by fires in Montana Northern Wyoming Partnership congregations. We have kept the Helena congregations in our prayers, especially as some members of Helena First Christian Disciples of Christ were evacuated from their homes.  Powder River Congregational United Church of Christ has also been in our concerns as Broadus has been without power this week even as the community is providing relief to families and elderly evacuated out of Ashland.  Rev. Karalee Ringo Mulkey has been checking in on her parishioners and participating in community efforts to coordinate assistance in Broadus.

In addition to our prayers and pastoral concerns, we are able to be present to Powder River Congregational UCC through our One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering.  On Thursday I received an email from our UCC Executive for Disaster Ministries, Florence Coppola, in concern about how best to support local church and communities most affected by the fires.  The congregation will receive $2000 of OGHS  emergency funds to be used for special needs known to the pastor and congregation.  Powder River UCC was concerned to support the efforts of their local retirement home to feed and house evacuees, and so $1000 of Montana-N.Wyoming Conference crises response funds will assist that effort. I will worship with the congregation on the final leg of my journey West on my way through to Billings Sunday morning (yes, I know Rte 212 is closed West of Broadus to Ashland, so I will take the jog over to Miles City to get to Billings).

For now, though, I just wanted to share this reminder: that in our Partnership, we are congregations in relationships of care, prayer, and presence.  Keep me posted, and keep posted to the blogs and newsletters, emails, and telephone calls that remind us how vital this Partnership is!

God-speed,

Marc Stewart, 406.647.0822    marc@mnwc-ucc.org

Today, June 10, I preached at Big Timber UCC.  The sermon is the Mark 3 sermon in the pages listing on this blog.  But I thought I would adapt the first part of the sermon for this blog here, because so many people found it helpful to their understanding of what I do:

I would like to tell you a bit about my week, if I may.  You might think of it as a bit of a “report in” from one of your ministers.  After all,  you are part of a wider church that does ministry throughout Montana and Northern Wyoming.  I’m one of those ministers, along with Ruth Fletcher, whose ministry is on behalf of many churches throughout this part of the country.  So here is a week in the life of a conference minister:

Last Sunday, First United Church of Billings celebrated the beginning of a new ministry.  It was the first Sunday for their Interim minister, Tom Hall.  They had been getting by with guest preachers most of time since their pastor left in February.  First UCC Billings wanted to celebrate this new beginning of church life by recognizing that God had a plan for this church.  It was important to them that someone beyond their congregation acknowledge and witness God’s love for them, so I joined them in welcoming Tom Hall.

Maybe it is like when a couple come to get married in a church, like here, or

when a family comes before you with a child to be baptized, or

when the community gathers to remember the life of a dearly departed loved one:

there are times when it does our souls well to acknowledge before others that “God is good” and that in God, “everything is going to work out.”  Sometimes, churches need to know this, and a significant part of my ministry is representing to others, in their time of need, the God who keeps good faith.

On Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday I was in our United Church of Christ Billings office on Alderson Avenue.  It seems all too much time in the office, but that is what it takes to run church life.

So on Monday I looked at the scripture for today’s sermon and communicated with Karen about the worship bulletin.  Three more churches called to ask if I could come a preach sometime this summer or fall, so I put Mayflower UCC in Billings, Columbus UCC, and Glendive UCC on my calendar. Also Worden UCC called to invite me to their 100^th anniversary celebration worship happening in September, and Amber Dixson, the new pastor in Miles City called to invited me to participate in her installation in August. Worship is the bread and butter of church work, or more appropriately, what we might call the bread and chalice of church worship.

There is also the nuts and bolts of church work that happens out of our office. So, I spent half a day reviewing our financial statements with our bookkeeper to account for the dollars that pass through or get expended by our ministry.  Tracking our financials is a humbling experience on two counts: first it is an awesome responsibility to oversee the stewardship the faithful and devoted giving of those who entrust their gifts to ministry, and second is humbling to exist so close to the edge and somewhat unsure how to sustain this ministry.

So, the ministry continues in large part by prayer and inspiration.  On Tuesday, I wrote two proposals for our upcoming Board of Directors meeting next weekend: What if we could connect with each other, in our wider church ministry, not primarily through the Billings or Great Falls offices, but more directly according to what moves and inspires us in relationship to each other.

For example, like what Big Timber UCC has done in restoring the Big Timber cabin at Camp Mimanagish. Do you know, this weekend, that Rev. John Sellers from Columbus UCC was at the cabin with his confirmation class?  Your church gift of restored retreat space matched a church’s need to get away, and the connection was made between these two churches.  The conference office and Camp support these connections through scheduling and maintenance, and that is what I propose we do more of as a conference. What if we had an internet communications system that provided each church a way to communicate together through WEB and Calendar, video conferencing and file sharing?

What if we had as a conference and partnership, just like local churches do, deacons or elders, who come to know the local churches and can be there to assist in times of special need or show where connections can be made that you might be looking?

By Wednesday afternoon it was time to get out of the office, so I headed over to Butte.  A deeply respected church leader in Butte UCC, Jim Johnson, died last week.  Jim and his wife, Diane Kimball, have provided plenty of leadership to the conference over the years, so I went to Jim’s funeral to offer words of condolence.  It was one of those standing room only funerals that was truly filled with thanksgiving and appreciation for life.

There was more church business that day in Butte.  Earlier in the week, our Great Falls partnership office received an email from the pastor of Butte Disciples of Christ, our other partnership church in Butte, announcing his retirement.  So while I was in Butte, I met with 6 members of their congregation, which represented 1/3 of their total church, to talk about their options for ministry.  I was able to give them three names of pastors who expressed interest in ministering with them.

By Thursday evening I was on the road heading back this way, in order to spend a few days at Camp Mimanagish.  I figured, why go all the way back to Billings since I am preaching here on Sunday in Big Timber?  Being at Camp Mimanagish would give a chance to check in with staff, meet Young Adult campers, assess damage from last week’s windstorm that took down about 200 trees in the lower camp, and do some personal retreat time (including writing a sermon).  Seven miles in on the gravel road, my VW Jetta car hit the first rock jutting out in the middle of the road, and the oil pan cracked open. The rest of the evening was spent hitching a ride to camp, getting the camp truck and towing the car in.  On Friday I did some of what I planned to do while at Camp Mimanagish, except that instead of taking time for retreat, I arranged to get my Jetta hauled into Big Timber, and found rides back to the Billings office so to pick up and use the conference’s Buick LaSabre.  Everything, worked out for good, at least I trust so.  It may be another month before I get back to pick up my car from Mr. Rob.  Ah, a week in the life of a conference minister.  (Oh, and the Camp Mimanagish staff wanted me to remember to say that this Sunday morning, I also helped prepare for camp breakfast by cutting up fruit…unfortunately I had to leave for Big Timber before the eating part of breakfast started.)

The old board is weather-worn around the edges and grayed by many seasons of being strapped to the tree. It is not an obvious direction marker. It does kind of point to a trail, though the path is so clearly laid out that many hikers would not notice it to be sign.  A wise guide will draw a visitor’s notice to its barely visible etched words: “secret place of the most high.”

The trail winds its way to the top of a boulder-strewn hillside. The forest all around has been thinned enough to see through to the Boulder River and to hear its roaring waters.  Over on the next rise, dug into the hillside, the Gallatin National Forest road continues south. The end of hillside path we are on is topped with a boulder that has become a sacred place of quiet mediation. A sturdy wooden cross is set on the flat top of the boulder, making it like an altar. I was curious to see that a number of quarters (25 cents) had been wedged into the base of the cross.

The place evokes memories, but more than the “remember when?” type of memories. It is a place where we remember how life happens. It is place from which we return remembering where life happens. The life remembered in this soulful way is the life of love, peace, compassion, redemption, purpose, and calling.  Down in “The Lodge” there is place for plaques that name those who lived this sacred way in their days yet have since passed into eternal life.

If it appears to be a place of memorial, then more time is needed to contemplate questions of when, how, and where.  I was afforded some of that time during this past Memorial Day weekend spent with 20 others at Camp Mimanagish.   This may be place of fond memories, as I had suggested in my “first impressions” talk at Conference Annual Meeting a few weeks ago, but I have now been shown the path that Mimanagish provides for living forward in the way of faith of those who have come before us.

I wonder if you remember when personal faith and community relationships came together in your life. How glorious it is to know that you were not alone! Are there others you can show to that place?

I wonder if you remember how sharing with others strengthened your life so that you had the resolve to live faith. What solace is to be found in faithful companionship that upholds you in times of need! Are there are others you can uphold along life’s way?

I wonder if you remember where your faith resolve made a difference out in the wider world.  Such assurance of purpose may be God calling you to works of faith.  Are there others looking for direction in what to do with their lives?

We have each been one of these “others” who needed faithful companionship and righteous direction.  I know you remember, or if your memories are murky then I know a trail you can take to place of silent reflection. There are people of all ages who so deeply need to know what you remember about faith. It is a sacred endeavor, as those who have gone before us so clearly showed in their lives and as we so fully know through out life experience.

I wonder if there are people you know who are looking for the life that faith offers.  As you remember what has changed your life in faith, perhaps you might invite them to join you on a walk to this place.

I wonder if I will ever return to Guatemala.  Might it be just another country visit stamped into my passport along with India, Philippines, and Israel?  I have always said that I want to go back to the places I have visited.  Friendships made were not ready to end.

There is a curious background to this recent journey.  I have been on the move so much in the past year:

from local church ministry to conference ministry, and

from Newport News, VA ,to Hillsborough, NC, to Billings, MT, and

travels to Maine (3 times), and

travels to London, and

a cross country drive to LA and back and again to Montana.

The seven consecutive nights I stayed at the Catholic hostel in Guatemala City are about as long as any stay I’ve had since February.  I am very aware that my time in Guatemala City was another stopping point along my journeying way of life.

Being in Guatemala this week was a different experience than other pilgrimages I have done.  It was special to be in Guatemala but for reasons other than it being an exotic place.  My attitude in going on this pilgrimage was different than other trips because I have being going to new places practically every week.  I have been in a mode of almost constantly “taking in” new sights, sounds, different foods, different waters, new peoples, and new cultures.   In this week, I found myself particularly open to people-blessings more than being awestruck with finding myself in an exotic place.

I witnessed some extraordinary people-blessings this past week (May 16-21), especially within the interfaith celebrations that happened when Rosalina Tuyuc returned from Japan as recipient of the 2012 Niwano Peace Prize.  It was a great privilege to be invited into a private Mayan Sacred Circle ritual held at the home of 1992 Noble Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchu and led by the most revered Maya ancestors (elders).  The Mayan ancestors suggested that this Sacred Circle, as an extremely rare event in Mayan culture, might be the beginning of a series of observances marking the end of Mayan calendar, and the birth of a new era.

It was very special to be with these living saints and to get glimpses of how the unique giftedness of their lives stands alongside the unique giftedness of many I have had the privilege of meeting lately: at church potlucks, at Bed and Breakfast homes, in airports and airplanes, at social functions and official meetings, at checkout counters and in shuttle bus driver seats, at the café counter and hair salon, in Chicago and in L.A., and from Baker and Broadus, Montana, over to Kalispell and Polebridge, Montana.  There is goodness and care towards creation and grace and reconciliation towards people that expresses itself wherever people care to call God into their life perspective.

With blessed people everywhere why go to places so far away?   Sometimes when we see the giftedness of people so far away we more fully realize the blessings of home.  The more people I meet in life, the fuller I realize the truth that Howard Thurman preached about the fullness of God being known through diverse relationships.   One reviewer of Howard Thurman (Alton Pollard, The Promise and Peril of Common Ground, 228) suggests what it feels like to live these blessings:  one “who is loved by God and receives the blessings of God’s presence as an act of grace is thus impelled to continue that sensation in interpersonal relationships.”  Relationship with God moves us to deepening relationship with others, far and near.

As our van driver, Edwin, took us to our hostel for our last night’s rest, our Spanish language interpreter, Adriana told us she had a personal affirmation to share for each person in our group of 13.  What a gift it is when some takes time to notice and tell of the blessings they see in your life!  Adriana’s affirmation for me was that she observed how genuinely interested I was in other people.  Her gracious observation is a gift I keep receiving as I consider its significance.   I know the blessings I might come to see in others make life so special.

Pilgrimages can change a person’s outlook on life.  I want to learn Spanish now.  I hope to return to Guatemala again, perhaps with youth from our two Billings congregations who are considering a trip next year.  I will work with our Montana-Northern Wyoming Partnership to establish ongoing relationship with CONAVIGUA and to promote a Partnership pilgrimage for next year.  I will continue following the news of political, cultural, ecumenical, and Mayan developments in Guatemala.   Most of all, though, I will seek to live in the blessings of faithful relationship in Christ with others I meet on life’s journey.

In the morning we met with FUNDAMAYA, a group that brings together the Maya peoples of Guatemala in advocacy and education.  We learned that an Italian hydro-electric company is seeking to build dams throughout Guatemala and force Mayan farmers off their land with little compensation.  Like many indigenous peoples, the Mayans hold land together in community trust and so the removal of land from use effects the whole people.  The government has responded with severe force against protestors of the dams.  The government has also granted hydro-electric dam rights for fifty-years to Enel Corporation of Italy.  FUNDAMAYA realize the political reality of not being able to turn back the dams, as much as they tried in recent years.  After the arrests of many protestors, FUNDAMAYA tried to sit down and talk with company officials.  FUNDAMAYA asked for 20% of profits from the hydro-electric dam be returned to the Maya, as has been done in some European countries.  Enel refused to consider this proposal, so FUNDAMAYA will seek assistance on the issue from Enel stockholders, the European Economic Union, United States, and the United Nations.  Norway has long been a close partner to Guatemala and stands with the Maya in advocacy.  (The Norwegian ambassador was present at each of the three events we were at in the past three days to honor the 2012 Niwano Peace Prize recipient Rosalina Tuyuc.)

FUNDAMAYA is also starting a university for Maya that teaches the ways of the ancestors.  The classes will be discussion and field research guided by the elders.  The university is seeking accreditation for its course offerings, and may achieve accreditation through a university in Nicaragua or Mexico.

Back at the ecumenical center we debriefed our 5 ½ day pilgrimage, and though there was much tiredness and some illness among us, the time was richly remembered for the gifts of hospitality and the “once in a lifetime” experiences that were shared with us.  Gifts were shared back and forth, with each state represented receiving a shawl gift and the pastors receiving stoles.  I was blessed with a green stole in honor of my love for the environment, as they said when placing it around my neck.

The afternoon was spent shopping in a covered market full of touristy things, but the better market was the next floor down in the basement where the local shopped.  It was bustle with craft shops fashioning everything from jewelry and wedding dresses to music instruments and memorial flower arrangements.

We didn’t get back to the hostel until after 9:00 PM because of a special honoring event for Rosalina Tuyuc held at the University of San Carlos.  We took a collection among ourselves to provide a tip to our van driver, Edwin, and our translator, Adriana.  On the way back to the hostel our translator said she had a gift from each of us, and so gave a personal affirmation of each person in our group of 13 people. (For me she affirmed my genuine interest that I showed in others).

It is now 11:15 PM and we get up at 3:45 AM to leave for the airport to fly home.  This has been a rich week, in a rich month of this new conference minister position, in a rich year of transition.

What if Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, Mayan spirituality, along with international diplomats, farmers, business leaders, children, musicians, health care workers, marching band, marimba band, dance troupe, street vendors, teachers, pastors, lay people and lay people representing dozens of language all joined together for a celebration?  That is what happened on Pentecost Sunday in Guatemala today.

It actually started last night (Saturday) with an ecumenical Pentecost service at Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Church.  Twelve pastors representing 12 different faith communities, plus the Vatican’s representative to Guatemala, participated.  All six pastors in our group were invited to read prayers and lead liturgy.  As we clapped through the last “alleluya” song led by the youth band and choir, there was such great Spirit among so many people of different faith communities enjoying the simple experience of being together in worship.

This Sunday took us out of town to the home of Rosalina Tuyuc in San Juan Comalapa Chimaltenango.  It looked as if everyone who was at yesterday’s Mayan Sacred Circle celebration was also here today, plus another couple thousand or more people.  We convened with the crowd at the edge of town a mural wall depicting Mayan history.  The murals stretched a few hundred yards along the cement walls along the road.  The parade of people was led by Rosalina Tuyuc and dignitaries, and followed by the town marching band.  At various intersections other crowds joined in the parade and residents waved from second story windows.   The parade route wound through the town and stopped in front of Rosalina’s home to dedicate 2 plaques placed on her home designating it as a special place.  The roads we walked were narrow and paved with cobblestone, though as we come to Rosalina’s home, the stones were freshly covered with a soft carpet of green leaves.  It took about an hour to walk the mile to the town square, where a worship area had been set up in front of the 2 churches on the square.  I was privileged with the honor of helping to lead the prayer liturgy for the worship service, along with Teresa, our Regional Minister group leader for the trip.  My Spanish reading of the prayer was lamentable, but there was a great Spirit of welcome and care at this service, after all it was Pentecost!

It had been cloudy all day and threatening to rain.  It didn’t downpour, but there were some sprinkles that caused a sea of umbrellas to be pulled out in the congregation.  By the end of the service and ceremonial speeches that followed, patches of blue sky colored the afternoon nicely.   Following a long ride back to the hostel and some desperate “potty breaks” for some of us, we went to the Guatemala City public square to view some displays, dramatic presentations, and candlelight vigil sponsored by 15 groups within Guatemala that work with HIV and AIDS education. One of our hosts, Misael, from the Ecumenical Center has spent a few days with us and he is particularly involved with the HIV ministries.  It was worth the trip into Guatemala City public square just to receive the gift of meeting Misael’s friends and leaders of this important ministry, and witness the pride they have in doing good education and public awareness events around STDs.

Pentecost Sunday is a day of celebrating the Spirit’s presence coming into the world.  Many of us have felt various degrees of illness throughout the past few days, mostly the lower digestive problems that can plague us in developing countries.  I had my own experience of some discomfort on the long van rides today, and I can only think that the Spirit gave me the intestinal, or sphincteral fortiutude, to make it through! On the other hand, we were thankful for the ambulance following the parade, so that one of our group could be transported to the church when she felt faint after spending the previous day ill back at the hostel.

My final Pentecost story for today’s blog comes from a visit I made to the San Juan Comalapa Chimaltenango public restroom in the public square.  There are some things that cross barriers of language, like “I’ve got to go.”  Using the public restroom (Banyos) cost 1 katales (about 15 cents), for which one is handed a wade of toilet paper before going in, and a jug of water to flush upon coming out.   It least they did a better business here than in the movie “El Bano del Pappa.”

I never imagined an avocado tree could be so huge, like an oak tree, and with avocadoes as plentiful as acorns.  The tree was in the center of a bare earth circle so wide that a hundred people could sit in the shade on one side.  On the opposite half fit a Mayan sacred circle still within the shade of the avocado tree.  This circle had five wood piles in the middle, ringed by an arrangement of herbs, perhaps rosemary, and then a ring of flowers including white roses laying with stem towards the center.  Then there were two more rings about eight inches wide made of layers of flower petals, white for the inner ring and red for the outer.  Sixty pink points, like points on compass pointed out from the red ring onto a green carpet of palm leaves that formed a path circling the whole arrangement.  At the outer edge of path was an arrangement of various more flower petals, flower stalks, and herb stalks.  And then the avocado tree, itself, was decorated with flower bundles and herb bundles, and hundreds of oranges, lemons, and apples hanging from branches by threads.  The smells and sights and tastes of this were exquisite, like something from a full color dream.

As mater of fact this scene came from a dream, though it was a real tree at the real home of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchu Tum.  Mayan spiritual and honored guests gathered at Rigoberta’s outside Guatemala City on May 19 in response to a dream that the Mayan way of peace could change the world.  The spiritual leaders saw that there was a way to restore what was right and peaceful, especially in Guatemala following the civil war that didn’t end until 1996.  Just this week another Mayan spiritual leader, Rosalina Velasquez, received another international peace award, the Niwano Peace Prize.  Some other Mayan spiritual leaders dreamed of lifting these two recipients up in blessing, and saw that the avocado tree was the place to set up the sacred circle.

Maybe it took dreams to set up the circle and choreograph the four hours of presentation of basketfuls of flowers, fat wood, grains, plants, and herbs into the fire because the ceremony is performed ever so rarely.  Josefin officiated the ceremony with assistance of the ceremonial couple who dreamed up the event an fire-stirrer.  Rigoberta and Rosalina and their families were present within the circle throughout the four hours, and there were at least half a dozen processionals of dancers bringing baskets to the fire.  Music was played almost constantly from one of four groups: a string group, 2 marimba groups, or harp.  Eight guardians of the event stood at various points on the edge of the circle holding 8-foot tall poles covered with flowers and herbs.  Eight incense burners were constantly waved through the circle and outside the circle where onlookers sat.

Follow sacred circle ritual, gourds containing hot herb tea were shared around, followed by melon and pineapple pieces.  Plates of food were then given to everyone and people fellowshipped.  There was enough for all, and more.  It was not our ritual and most of the symbolism escaped us, but it did not matter because we knew that this was the one of the deepest expressions of faith: thankfulness.  And at the end of the day we were so thankful to have been let in on witnessing one people’s expression of super-abundant blessing.  Yes, we were blessed!

Guatemala City is in the center-southern part of the country surrounded by mountains.  The population is said to be about 2 million, though this certainly seems underestimated when one looks out over the slums and ghettos hugging hills and ravines.  People and cars are everywhere.  Though 70% of the population is under 30 years old, there are few recreational areas or parks seen in Guatemala City.  Perhaps this is because the poverty rate is about 80%?  The most prevalent workers that we see are shop vendors and their armed guards.  Banks and all shops selling anything more than modest goods are protected by guards displaying shotguns.

It was a joy to travel up and out of the valley into the country-side today.  Cultivated farm land was prolific, even up many hillsides.  All the work was done by hand and we saw many farmers walking their fields with their two tools, a hoe and a machete.

We visited a town where the protestant church pastor’s home had been attacked a few months ago.  The church was home to a medical clinic that utilized traditional Mayan healing practices and also housed an ecumenical theology institute.  The theology institute trained up to 25 people at a time to be pastoral caregivers in their communities.  There were currently 19 students from 12 different communities, representing Protestant, Catholic, and Mayan traditions but all working together in Christian mission to strengthen their communities. It was hard for us to imagine this, so it took a few times of telling it to us before it sunk in, but one Presbyterian group was being served, and receiving the ministry, of a Catholic lay minister! Talk about ecumenical work: for these people of faith ecumenism was born out of the necessity of mutual support because so among them were being assassinated on account of their faith.

Why is there persecution of people of faith today, even through military rule ended in 1996?  It is really the same old story of the rich and the powerful wanting what others have (farmer’s land) to mine or develop.  Many farmers are subsistence farmers and so will not relinquish their small plots of land, because they know their families would starve within a year if they had no land to work.  Recently, two farmers in the northern part of Guatemala who refused to sell their land were murdered.  As townspeople rallied for justice to be done the government imposed martial law and arrested hundreds of farmers for protesting.  Those who stand with the farmers and who work for human rights risk harassment, imprisonment, or death.  There is saying that “life is very cheap in Guatemala.”

Of course the political and social and religious situation is very complex, but the work of faith can stand in righteous contrast to this dire life.  The ecumenical theology institute teaches its students how to go into their communities and bring together the best of people, that is to be pastoral agents of peace and reconciliation. We heard the story of Josephine, a Mayan Christian who had suffered abuse through much of her life but always felt called to ministry.  Finally, she was able to find a way in through the ecumenical institute to become one of the first Protestant woman pastors in Guatemala.  She now works with women of all ages to help them affirm their dignity and accept what God calls them to do, rather than give into the demands of men who would seek to control their lives through violence.

I wonder if our Montana-Northern Wyoming Partnership of United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ Region and Conference might find ways to stand with those who are doing this faith work in Guatemala?

The Military Police complex in Guatemala City is huge.  Behind one kilometer of wall, hid the police academy.  Another couple kilometers of cinder block wall looked like an old fortress complete with gun turrets.  Piled 4-6 deep, for another couple kilometers, travelers could see the shells of thousands of wrecked vehicles, with a few tow trucks pushing new wrecks into the mess.

Passing through a control gate in a break along the wall, we entered into the parking lot of a building housing the official police achieves.  It may be the most important building in Guatemala.  We knew we were somewhere unique by the colorful murals painted on the inside of this section of cinder block walls, murals depicting the need for peace and reconciliation in Guatemala.  A stone monument twice my height was attributed to “memorial.”   It was simply two pieces of stone split down the middle with a gap between them and cracked on one side and smooth on the other side and set at an angle to each other.  The building housing the police archive was designed to be a hospital, but it was never used for that purpose.  Rather than being a place where lives were saved, it contained secret corridors hid behind double thick walls to be used as torture chambers.

Throughout the 1950’s to 1996 military rule in Guatemala brutalized the population, with over 200,000 people tortured and over 45,000 people “disappeared.”  After democratic elections in 1996 human rights groups sought official government records that might reveal what happened to these people.  The government denied that any such records existed, but in a survey of this one particular building thousands of bags and piles of files were discovered.  Through international support, 120 document archivists are now on site restoring, organizing, and digitizing these records.  Our American Ambassador to Guatemala will visit the site next month to dedicate some electronic archive equipment, but our role in creating the original files might be considered suspect as any of these documents shared with the public are required to be first cleared by US intelligence service censors. Thus far, about a third of 12 million files found have been restored and processed.

One version of the history of the period of military rule in Guatemala calls it a time of civil war.  Of those known to have been killed during those decades, 92% were killed by the military and 8% by rebels.  Our two tour guides were directors of the archives and they both were passionate about preserving the records so that justice could be done and so that there might eventually be peace and reconciliation.  Later we learned that these two directors had very different backgrounds, as one had served as a commander in the military and the other as a guerilla leader.

We ended our day at CONAVIGUA offices, a women’s group that is seeking restoration of peace and hope for Guatemala.  They are tireless widows searching for evidence of what happened to their “disappeared” husbands and sons.  They also work for the betterment of women and children and land and justice issues.  Even as they seek resolve on what happened to the husbands of 45,000 widows, CONAVIGUA advocates for women amid continuing forms of violence in Guatemala (over 300 women assassinated already this year).   Gloria, Jean, and I brought greetings to CONAVIGUA from our Montana-Northern Wyoming Partnership and asked if we might be in future partnership with them as we United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ seek to live out faith with others.