3 years already! Can you believe it? And we celebrated three years of meeting together as a church this past Sunday. It was a great service!
Rod did a great job leading the service, guitar in hand. He started with our Bible reading of the day (Psalm 119:57-64). Several people shared their thoughts on the passage.
Then we had some worship music, interspersed with testimonies from various people (see above). The focus was on the local church – how has the local church been a blessing to you? But of course it “digressed” into general praising of God and what He has been doing! (Just kidding – it wasn’t a digression, it was the main point!)
We watched a video that Rod had put together of moments from the past year (and what a year it has been!). Then – cake!
I believe this was taken by Antonio Muñoz — right? That’s Shari, cutting the cake…
We had some time to chat and pray and eat cake, and then back to the service. More testimonies. And then I led the time of communion, talking about God as our “portion” as it says in our Bible reading of the day, and also Psalm 16.
And we had a special speaker on Sunday – Antonio Muñoz (who also helped teach the hermeneutics class on Saturday). We first got to know Antonio way back in … well, never mind how long ago. Let’s just say before any of us were married!
Anyway, it was a challenging and encouraging sermon from 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10.
Then we closed our service in prayer.
Antonio Muñoz preaching
It was so encouraging to hear how God has worked through this church in the lives of so many people. And we all got to take part in the service – Nathanael running the PowerPoint, and Shari cutting the cake!
We were in a different building from last week, and will be on an entirely different property next week. But hey, we’re pilgrims and we know it! At least God knows where to find us (even if occasionally people trying to come to the service get confused).
Thanks to so many of you who have had a part in the planting of this young church. May God continue to work “in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!” (Hebrews 13:21)
This isn’t the greatest photo, but I keep using it because it was an historic day. 🙂
10 years ago today was the very first baking class. It was at Claudia’s house (seen on the right in the picture below), and 8 women attended, with Shari, Mayra, Aurora and Tiffany teaching. They made Christmas sugar cookies.
But it was most historic because Tiffany came and visited from Arkansas (in the middle). Tiffany moved down the following year and served with us here for more than three years, and actually became Claudia’s neighbour.
So – first baking class, first visit from Tiffany – two things that led to a lot more great ministry in the years to come!
The most popular posts here at Finding direction from the past 90 days. Thanks for reading! These are in chronological order, the most popular post in bold, as usual. I combined the three posts regarding my Dad into one, to add a bit more variety.
Happy Reformation Day! For those who don’t know, Reformation Day is a holiday that has been celebrated in October since the mid 1500s, to various degrees in various places, to remember the revival that took place during the Protestant Reformation.
Initials of Patrick Hamilton at the location of his martyrdom. Photo thanks to Remi Mathis
Anyway, recently I was reading about Patrick Hamilton. My favourite Patrick is the one who was a missionary to Ireland, but this Patrick is pretty amazing too – and he was Scottish. Patrick Hamilton is believed to be the first martyr in Scotland during the Reformation. He was burned at the stake in St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1528.
I thought this quote from Hamilton was quite interesting. He’s talking about the error that some people make, thinking that the Old Testament is all “Law” while the New Testament is all “Gospel”. Check it out:
Many there be, who, reading the book of the New Testament, do take and understand whatsoever they see contained in the said book to be only and merely the voice of the gospel: and contrariwise, whatsoever is contained in the compass of the Old Testament (that is, within the law, histories, psalms, and prophets),to be only and merely the word and voice of the law. Wherein many are deceived; for the preaching of the law, and the preaching of the gospel, are mixed together in both the Testaments, as well the Old as the New; neither is the order of these two doctrines to be distinguished by books and leaves, but by the diversity of God’s spirit speaking unto us.
For sometimes in the Old Testament God doth comfort, as he comforted Adam, with the voice of the gospel. Sometimes also in the New Testament he doth threaten and terrify, as when Christ threatened the Pharisees. In some places again, Moses and the prophets play the Evangelists; insomuch that Jerome doubteth whether he should call Isaiah a prophet or an evangelist. In some places likewise Christ and the apostles supply the part of Moses; as Christ himself, until his death, was under the law (which law he came not to break, but to fulfil), so his sermons made to the Jews, run all for the most part, upon the perfect doctrine and works of the law, showing and teaching what we ought to do by the right law of justice, and what danger ensued in not performing the same: all which places, though they be contained in the book of the New Testament, yet are they to be referred to the doctrine of the law, ever having them included a privy exception of repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. …
Many publicans and sinners were unkind, unmerciful, and hard hearted to their fellow servants; and yet many of them repented, and by faith were saved, etc. The grace of Christ Jesus work in us earnest repentance, and faith in him unfeigned. Amen!
I’ve written quite a bit about the Day(s) of the Dead (DÃa de Muertos), and I’ll link to some of those posts below. There’s good reason – the celebration is a huge part of Mexican culture. But it has been remarkable to see its continued evolution during the time we’ve been in Mexico.
Part of an altar to the dead. Notice the candles, food for the dead, beer, candy skulls and image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
For those that don’t know, the days of the dead is a time when the dead are believed to return to the earth. Altars are set up with offerings to the dead, to help them on their journey through the underworld (see Retro: Elements of the Offering). The indigenous celebration has been mixed with Roman Catholicism, leading to the addition of prayers to Mary to help give merit to the dead. Here’s more on the holiday from 2007: Festival of colour, mockery and family
Then came Halloween. It came as an exotic foreign addition to the Day of the Dead, threatening to overcome the native tradition. But instead, it simply lengthened and expanded the celebration of death, solidly adding the 31st of October to the 1st and 2nd of November. You can see some examples in my post Hallowe’en In Mexico (like never before) from 2013.
As I wrote then, “And not only is November 1&2 influenced by Hallowe’en, Hallowe’en is influenced by November 1&2. Here in Mexico, the fun costumes are rare. The emphasis is on the dark, the dead, the occultic.” Witchcraft and the worship of the dead are not fun scares in horror movies here, they are very real and shockingly common. This time is a high worship time for Santa Muerte, Saint Death.
But the days of the dead were not satisfied with swallowing up Halloween. In 2018 I wrote about The Insatiable Appetite of the Days of the Dead, and the new popularity of Hindu worship practices – especially worship of the Hindu god of death. In 2016, of course, the Day of the Dead parade was introduced. This year, the Zombie parade on the 19th of October, because one parade is not enough.
Of course in 2017 came Coco, and the holiday became even more entrenched and popular outside of Mexico, with the commercial additions of t-shirts and skull decorations and even the day of the dead Barbie doll. Many perhaps forget that for many in Mexico, this is not fantasy but something with a basis in reality. You can read more at The Day of the Dead, Coco, and the Bible. This year, in an all Mexican production, DÃa de Muertos is back as a new similarly animated movie, alongside the required horror and dark movies of the season.
When our children were young elementary students, we would hear Mexicans lamenting how Mexico so easily absorbed foreign holidays. People were encouraged not to celebrate Halloween – not because of its origins, but because it was not a “Mexican holiday”. All of a sudden, it seemed that the days of the dead were on the decline, and Halloween would become king. An ad agency measured the mention of Halloween as opposed to Day of the Dead in 2014, finding that Halloween was more commonly mentioned in Mexico.
But quite the reverse has started to happen. In 2018, the same ad agency found that the Day of the Dead was the clear winner, mentioned 9.5% more of the time. It is taking the darkest parts of Halloween, and the money of commercialism, and the traditions of the Aztecs and the Roman Catholics and other religions and cultic practices, and snowballing them all together. And the celebration has broken through borders, and is expanding rapidly around the world.
This is not to say that it’s all about religion. For many, the whole party has become very secularized, although death clearly remains the focus. Even years ago, the days of the dead were marked by family time and heavy drinking, not simply bowing to the altar of the dead. And now, yes, there’s a theme park in Mexico dedicated to the days of the dead, which is planning new sites in the years ahead – both in the USA and in Spain!
At the same time, movies like Coco and the many traditions and beliefs of this time of year continue to give false hope to millions, giving them a way to confront death without recognizing its reality and what truly lies beyond it.
For us, this time of year is not about seeing creatively carved pumpkins and clever costumes, or even the thrill of a quick scare. Walking through the community we see altars that people will bow to, images of Saint Death that people will give offerings to, and children who are told that doing this or praying that will help dead relatives on their journey. Just the right ritual or good work is enough to give peace to our dearly departed. But – is it?
And the strange evolution of the days of the dead continues.
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