Archive for August 2007
Learning from Guatemala
Shelly and I spent almost six weeks in Guatemala City. Our experiences there provided a framework for significant theological reflection that has continued since we’ve arrived back in the States. After all, these kinds of trips without theological reflection amount to nothing more than evangel-tourism. What follows are excerpts from notes I took near the end of our trip, on the plane, and during the few days we spent in Grand Rapids after our trip.
Psalm 137
“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?…”
Shelly and I traveled to Guatemala to learn God’s song there, to observe God’s work there in the context of lives, communities, and churches. We did not go to preach the Gospel. We did not bring God to Guatemala City; we cannot bring God anywhere. Instead, we went to listen – to observe God’s ongoing work in a different place, to listen to God’s revelation in a different social, economic, and political context.
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