Climb a tree: in order to see things from a better perspective.

(LWF-WICAS Regional Coordinator for Latin American South Cone and Brazil)

Latin America. South Cone. A place of very deep contrasts. Of a very non-homogeneous melting of cultures. Of all kinds of religious offers. Of many social, economic, structural and political problems. Of an apparent full democratic exercise, but with very clear authoritarian mechanisms at different levels. Violence as a clear structural fruit of all the above. There are a lot of challenges for a church, which wants to respond to Jesus' call to build his kingdom of love. These challenges are specially visible in so many needy, hungry children, who have no possibility to choose how to build their lives. These children need a church, which can change their dead-lives into something good. These challenges can be seen in the situation of women, who during centuries have been forced from early childhood to lack human dignity, humiliation, poverty, suffering for them and their children. These challenges can be seen in the elderly people who receive violence from a society which cannot base its structures in equity and solidarity. These challenges call for the conversion of so many men and women who follow the patriarchal ideology which supports the exercise of authoritative power, competition towards individualism, and the accumulation of wealth which builds an unfair society. This call to conversion is to transform their lives in the service of others.

The basic question is which kind of church are we today in the South cone? It's not easy to define it, because even within one confession and within a certain national church, the understanding of the testimony of the church and its actions are as varied as the many ethnic groups and social classes which comprise the church. In general, consumerism, rivalry, and self interest rule the lives of the majority of Christians of all denominations. I am not saying anything new under the sun. But it is important to have this present as one tries to verbalize a dream, as one tries to design a church for the future. Women have made great contributions to the reflection and construction of a community which tries to overcome the ideology of the current society. These are not exclusively church women's contributions, but we are an important part in this journey. Lutheran churches have tried, and are achieving it, to stop being a transplanted church, stop separating its members from the external world, in order to become a church which responds to the concrete realities of its members and to be a prophetic voice vis-a-vis the society. This, of course has different shades in each church, and at the same time in the communities of different regions.

Nevertheless the future of the church is in trying to be based in the daily life of people, giving the answer of God's revelation in these lives, and not copying anymore, models which belong to other times and other cultures. This change for example we see clearly reflected in the music. In some communities people might be still singing "A mighty fortress is our God" in its original version, in other communities the words have been modified, especially the last stanza, and in other communities, people are singing songs which speak of a testimony, language and music of a Latin American context, even more, some communities have incorporated inclusive language to their singing! The point, of course, is not to change just for the sake of changing, but to find a way of inclusive relationship between brothers and sisters in the community. The point is to find among communities, a way of relating to each other based on justice, peace and integrity of creation, with God's company, rediscovering God's truth revealed to humanity and new words of support.

And it is precisely here where many women and men are working for conversion. This is not an easy task and not always with the expected results. This is why we continue dreaming. We keep on dreaming, we keep on working and we keep on calling for conversion so our churches can be true communities guided by God, truly supporting and accompanying communities, truly healing communities for its members, truly prophetic communities vis-a-vis the society and those who exercise power, where children would have the right to abundant life, not only right to birth; where women would be subjects in private and public spheres, the same way as men are; and where the elderly would be privileged to receive our loving actions. True inclusive communities which overcome all kinds of discrimination so each person, who comes to it, would find already there the great feast of the kingdom of God. Bread of life, wine of joy. Overcoming every cross and every hell.

Women in Church and Society

A testimony. A bit of self-esteem!

I travel a lot. I lead and participate in many workshops, conferences, meetings, and because of this I met many people, from whom I have also received many testimonies of life. I would like to share with you a simple story, the testimony of the life of a woman. I want to share this experience because I think it can help to support, to change, to encourage those who seek dignity. It also can help to pray for those who suffer and for those who are happy. The woman tells me:

"I lived more than three years suffering from terrible suspicion about my husband, I was in a terrible condition and didn't know what to do. The problem was that in his job he had a young woman secretary and they spent a lot of time together. On payment days he used to return home very late and the people in the community started to gossip about the situation, commenting to me how it was possible that I didn't see what was going on between my husband and "that woman", and that it seemed that my husband had a pretty secretary who was more than a secretary. I went back home and cried. When my husband returned home I put on a sour face until I realized that I was transforming our home into a hell. I started staying alone at home, trying to go out as little as possible, I cried, sick with jealousy, and when my husband returned home, my face showed my moods. My imagination could only see the whole community looking at me and laughing about me. I started to eat and eat and became more and more fat. One day, full of rage I went to the shop to kick the woman out, but as I entered the shop, I stumbled and fell down, feeling ridiculous before everybody. I could not say a word.

Short time after this, I went to the women's meeting on "self-esteem", and your words on Zacheus (Luke 19:1-9), helped me so much that I changed, in such a way that I was very surprised. "Zacheus?" I asked. "The whole meeting was on self-esteem and the reference about Zacheus was only made during the worship." "Yes," she said, "but what I kept about that image was that a very short man overcame his fear of being ridiculed, and using a great sense of self-esteem and due to his strong desire of meeting Jesus, he climbed a tree in order to be able to observe what his very short condition and the multitude would not have allowed him to see. And at that very moment I decided to increase my self-esteem and to change myself in order to change the situation which is ruining my life. Like Zacheus, I said to myself, I will also climb my tree in order to see life from a better perspective, leaving aside the multitude of gossips and paying attention only to what I want to do with my life.

So, when I returned from the meeting, I made an appointment with the doctor and started a slimming regime, I also paid attention to my appearance, even using some make-up. I received my husband in good mood, and went out of my home looking sure of myself. One night, it was very late and my husband wasn't still at home. I went to the shop very decided, and as I entered, I fell down again. But this time I got up on my own and I was able to tell my husband that those were not hours to be out in the office with a young woman because people gossip and I was not ready to continue bearing this. The young woman then answered that people could gossip as much as they wanted, because they were working there and I had nothing to say in the shop. I just answered that half of the shop was mine and half of my husband, so I had all the right to give my opinion and that in some way this situation had to come to an end. My husband looked at me astonished, I think he never saw me so decided. The next day in a meeting with my husband and children we agreed on all the necessary changes to stop with all the gossips in the village.

And today I know that many things depend on our ability to climb a tree in order to see things from a better perspective, overcoming all fears. Other people that relate to us according to the place we give them. I am deeply grateful for these opportunities where we learn to respect ourselves as women." This was the end of her story.

May God grant our churches the possibility of offering to everybody, adequate spaces to build attitudes and behaviors relevant to their happiness and to the happiness of those who surround them. I dream that each community of our church in the future would be like this in all spheres of our lives: Offering spaces where people can meet, give and receive help, share, overcome difficulties, anguishes and sorrows, and praise God for all the blessings they receive, for life and the good tools they have at hand for the construction of the kingdom.

May our praise to God be not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but also because God accompanies and supports us to overcome all that which makes us sinners. We will praise God because it is already a reality among us that there is neither slave nor free, neither Jew nor gentile, neither man nor woman, because we are all one in Christ Jesus!