Summertime Christmas

Well, there will be no snow angels this Christmas, as I sit here in 90 degree weather with the fan on. We are having Christmas pageants at both churches, and the picture is of the Christmas pageant at San Mateo. If you look closely, you can see Joseph sweating.

I was talking to some of the women at Misión Maria Magdalena about Christmas here, and they were laughing about the fact that it is so hot during Christmas, but yet they eat a hot Christmas ham. They told me that for those who can afford it, they put presents under the tree. They said one thing that has changed, especially in their neighborhood, is that people used to gather the whole extended family, but now they stay home, because if they leave their house unattended, they have a high risk of getting robbed. Fireworks are big during the Christmas season. I recently told a four year old boy why throwing fireworks at horses was a bad idea.

We have been lighting the Advent candles on the corona (Advent wreath), and we’ve now started practicing for the Christmas pagent. Getting Maria and Jose (Mary and Joseph) to talk to each other is a struggle here too. I can only imagine how much the shepherds will be sweating in the 100 degree weather. Often they have a gallo (rooster) worship service at midnight on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Christmas lights, trees and Santa Clause can be seen all over.

I’ve been keeping busy. I have been preaching every other week and teaching First Communion with a couple church members at Misión Maria Magdalena in Resistencia. I’ve been leading an Advent devotional series at San Mateo in Corrientes. Kids are getting out of school now, and they run up to me to show me their report cards. They have summer vacation until March, so things will calm down for a while. We will have a couple youth camps during the summer. This past week James has been leading the painting of a mural with the kids (see picture), which I’ve been helping with. The design theme was “My neighborhood from my perspective,” and the design is a compilation of all the kid’s drawings. The kids get excited about painting, and have taken pride in it.

Every week at Misión Maria Magdalena, we have church meetings. One of the issues that came up in our recent church meetings was security. In the back of the church property there is a large metal dome, which some people started to take down some of the metal plates. This brought up the general concern of security in the barrio (neighborhood), and each of the women (all the church members present at the meeting were women) expressed how unsafe they feel. Their homes had all been robbed at some point. They said part of the problem is the corruption of the police, because some of the same youth that cause problems in the barrio go on to be police. If something is stolen from you, your neighbors will likely be selling it and buying it the next day, and the police won’t address this. I’ve also heard stories of police beating youth in the barrio just for kicks, and because the youth are poor. The discussion also brought up the memories of murders that have happened within blocks of the church grounds. Random acts of vandalism are pretty common. One of the more unique ones was the piles of horse manure kids put in the middle of the cement court where the kids play soccer. One day I got a bunch of the kids to go up on the roof with me to take down all the rocks that had been thrown up there (some of whom likely threw them up there in the first place).

In one of my forms I have to fill out for the Seminary, it asked the question: What does it mean to be the Church in this community? To be church here at MMM doesn’t just mean getting fed spiritually, but amidst the uncertainty of where the next meal is coming from, children can have two certain meals every day and monthly food bags. Church is both spiritually and literally the “pan de cada día (daily bread).” In the midst of vandalism and crime, they come to church to plant trees and paint murals and renew the respect and hope they have for themselves and their community. Church here is a place where hymns of praise are sung amidst the sound of kids throwing rocks on the roof. It is a place where in the midst of poverty and injustice; people come to be filled with the grace they need to make it through the week. Not only can they be filled with a sense of their God-given dignity, but by the knowledge of their rights, and resources for and ways to exercise them.

Prepare the way

One day when people came to church to pick up their monthly food bags (see picture), I remember seeing a couple small frail boys eagerly grabbing the bag of food, excited about the chance to eat a full meal. Often some of these children have no other choice to search the dumpster for their next meal. Mercy and justice seem so far away. How great the urgency is when we pray for “Thy Kingdom come.”

In our Advent devotional services at San Mateo we’ve been talking about Advent as not just a time of waiting, but a time of active waiting, of preparation. This idea is well put by John the Baptist when he calls us to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” John gives us an active call, not to just wait around for the Kingdom come, for the day when the fullness of justice and mercy are realized on earth—but prepare the way for justice and mercy. It is easy to get sucked into the darkness of this world, into the reality where children go hungry, where mercy and justice seem far away. During Advent, amidst the darkness of this world, we light a candle, a reminder of the Kingdom of Heaven, where mercy and justice flow like streams, and no one goes hungry. This candle fills us with the strength we need to work for mercy and justice on earth, and it empowers us to “prepare the way.”

Buenos Aires – Asemblea de Vida y Misión

About a week ago (the weekend of November 10 and 11), we had the Asemblea de Vida y Mision (Life and Mission Assembly) of the IELU (Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida – Unted Evangelical Lutheran Church) of Argentina and Uruguay, with guests from the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Peru and Chile. It was great to meet people from all over these countries and to learn about their churches and ministries. A group of nine people from our church, Mision Maria Magdalena, participated in the gathering.

This gathering was held in Buenos Aires at ISEDET (Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos - The Evangelical Upper-level Institute of Theological Studies), which is an ecumenical (representing most of the historic protestant churches in Latin America) seminary affiliated with the IELU. Talking with seminarians there made me miss LSTC, and reflect on the similarities between the two seminaries. From what I observed, seminarians at ISEDET were discussing familiar issues such as how to be engaged in ministry in an ever-changing religious dynamic (such as the growth of pentecostal and evangelical churches) and in light of current social and political realities. Students entering seminary with the IELU come straight from secondary school (high school), and have four years of studies, followed by two years of internship.

This was not a church policy assembly, but rather a gathering to come together as a church (everyone – pastors, lay members, etc.) and to discuss “Spirituality in our present context, from a Lutheran perspective.” To symbolize coming together from many different places, we interwove bright pieces of fabric (see picture). We heard from IELU vice president Dr. Guillermo Hansen, former ISEDET professor Dr. John Stumme, and Gettysburg Seminary president Dr. Michael Cooper White.

Dr. Guillermo Hansen’s remarks reflected the focus of the gathering. He opened up the theme of spirituality by focusing on these words from Martin Luther: “A Christian lives not in himself/herself, but in Christ and his/her neighbor.” He discussed various issues in Christian spirituality, such as the privatization of the Holy Spirit and how religion becomes only a portion of one’s life. He explained how the Protestant Reformation signified a questioning of old and new spiritualities. Luther talked about a “living God,” and this creates a tension (with sin). He brought up this key point: The Christian does not live enclosed, but lives in Christ by faith, in their neighbor by love, and the creation by hope. Here’s the synthesis: The Spirit of Christ lives a amazing, free, and unexpected character of grace. That grace comes to be from God that is made weak, that accompanies us, and heals us for a new life.

I was also able to travel around Buenos Aires, see the downtown—the Casa Rosada (presidential house), Plaza de Mayo (central plaza where the Mothers of the Disappeared during the Dirty War gather every week), tango dancers on Avenida Florida, the Cathedral, etc. I also traveled to Uruguay for a day to renew my visa, and got to walk around the small historic town of Colonia.

down town Buenos Aires (Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada):

Colonia, Uruguay:

Cristina Kirchner elected president of Argentina

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the wife of Argentina’s current president, was elected president last night. She is the first woman to be voted president here in Argentina. It looks like they are planning to continue to switch spots, to continue this new dynasty for as long as they can. She has been compared to Evita Peron, as well as Hilary Clinton (she rejects the comparisons). She has a lot of support because many people believe her husband brought the country into a recovery from the 2001 economic crisis. She pledges to spend even more focus on international relations than her husband.
Although, many remain very skeptical, and rightfully so, as Argentina has had a long history of corrupt politicians. The country is still dealing with high inflation, and many people (especially in the province I’m living in-Chaco) are still living in poverty and unemployment is still high. She will have these and many other challenges to face in this term. She won the election without having a single debate or offering any detailed proposals. Many people who are critical of the current administration voted for Elisa Carrio, who was in second place. There were instances of stolen ballots that were in her favor.I saw her speak when she came here to Resistencia a couple weeks ago. She is a good public speaker, but who knows what she will actually do. Anyway, I encourage you to read more about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/world/americas/30argentina.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

Jesus heals the Impenetrable

Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV) 11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers1 approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Two weekends ago when I was preaching, I thought the end times were coming, but it was really just the clanging of big rocks that kids were throwing onto the roof, and the sound of dogs barking. Preaching in my second language (Spanish) is challenging, but it’s getting better. The Gospel lesson was 17:11-19, where Jesus cleanses ten lepers.
The pain and suffering the lepers endured because their infected skin was magnified by the infected looks they received as they were socially ostracized because of the religious views around leprosy.
In the interior of the Chaco province in Northern Argentina, where I’m living, there are neglected indigenous communities that are dying of hunger. They live in a region known as “El Impenetrable (The Impenetrable),” because of its lack of water and thorn scrubs. (The living conditions in Chaco are starting to get a little more international attention: http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=6319354) Many of the people there move to the outskirts of Resistencia, the city I’m living in, only to be further ostracized by the people here.
Last weekend we also had a province-wide social assembly where various social development organizations gathered to network and discuss various social issues, one of which was the extreme hunger of the indigenous communities. To speak on this issue was a delegate from the indigenous community, Jose Carlos. As he spoke you could feel the pain of his community in his voice. Then in this secular assembly, he expressed his faith in Jesus, and how Jesus challenged oppression, and struggled for justice.
When Jesus cleansed the ten lepers, only one returned to give thanks. So what happened to the other nine? Were they just plain ungrateful? Or had they been infected for so long, both physically and socially (both by their blistering skin and the shame they felt every time they had to warn others that they were “unclean”), that when they had been healed they couldn’t even believe it, let alone give thanks to their healer? Had the reign of oppression become so normal that it mad the reign of God seem foreign?
Poverty in our church (Misión Maria Magdalena) community on the outskirts of Resistencia eats away like leprosy. Children are underfed and mothers go through the dumpster to find food. When it seems that all I can see is the effect of the reign of discrimination, corrupt politicians, and yes, even the policy of the U.S.; it’s hard to see beyond it to see the reign of God. When we go through difficult times, when we are in pain, when society ignores us, it is hard to see God’s grace.
Like the nine lepers, it is hard to see that because of Jesus, we have been healed. It is hard to look past this world of pain, and see that Jesus is bringing a new world, that in heaven there won’t be all this leprosy, oppression, suffering and pain.
We read that even though society doesn’t see the lepers, Jesus sees them! Over and over (especially in Luke) Jesus reminds the oppressed that God’s reign is a complete reversal of what they are experiencing now. They have dignity and beauty in God’s sight, and they shall be healed and free.
The leper who returned to give thanks to Jesus was a Samaritan (a foreigner, despised by the Jews), which made him the oppressed of the oppressed. Despite all this, he saw past the way the world looked at him and recognized in Jesus’ look that the One who gave him dignity, sees it in him, and promises him that it will be restored in him.
When I heard Jose Carlos express his hope in Jesus in the midst of his pain regarding the current situation of his people in the Impenetrable, I thought about this leper that returned to give thanks to Jesus. It is this beautiful ability to see the grace in the midst of suffering.
Even though I see the hunger on the faces of the children in our church community, when they come to the church for merienda (afternoon snack) and dig into a ham and cheese sandwich, in their eyes there is a moment of grace.
As overwhelming as the leprosy of this world is, may we feel the grace in Jesus’ healing look, to which nothing is impenetrable. Like the Samaritan leper, may this look bring us to our knees, and give us the strength to praise God, and give thanks to Jesus.

Trip to Misiones and Iguazu Falls

At the beginning of the month we went on a trip to the city of Eldorado in the province of Misiones (named after the Jesuit missions of indigenous Guaraní of the early 1600’s which functioned with political and economic autonomy until they were expelled by the Spanish crown in 1767 - see the movie “The Mission”), located in the northeast finger of Argentina, which is a beautiful rolling landscape of rich red soil and lush green forests.

With two members from each of our churches we gathered for the Northern District Assembly of the IELU (Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida). On Saturday there was the election for the new district president and reports from the various congregations. It was good to see what was happening in other churches in the district, in the areas of women, youth, Christian Education, and church mission. There is growing work with farmers in the area of sustainable development. On Sunday we heard a presentation on Natural Church Development, which began with an illustration of people struggling to pull a square-wheeled cart, which was carrying a load of round wheels. The idea was to look within the congregation to discover and use the potential that God has put in each congregation.

I also accompanied the pastor there in funeral for a man in his 40’s that committed suicide (Protestant pastors are often asked to do funeral services in cases of suicide, since Catholic priests cannot do them). People said their goodbyes to this man with tears and by tossing the red Misiones dirt onto the casket.

Then there was a pastor’s retreat with pastors from two of the Lutheran churches here in Argentina, and the Lutheran church in Brazil (which is pretty big). Therefore, many of the pastors spoke a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish (some people helped translate for me). There were many themes touched upon, but a big one was the question of “how to do ministry in an increasingly individualistic society?” The pastors of the Lutheran Church in Brazil talked a lot about the rapidly changing religious dynamic. The pope recently visited Brazil because the percentage of Catholics has been cut in half over the past decade or so due to the rapid growth of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007051100287.html
Overall, it was interesting to see that there were issues that were similar to issues the Church deals with in the U.S.

As a part of this trip we also went to see the world’s second biggest waterfalls, Iguazú Falls, which is 2km across, and lies on the border of Argentina and Brazil, and close to the Paraguay border as well. It is truly spectacular (see picture) and it’s not just the visual beauty that takes, but you can feel the sheer power of the falls in your chest (it makes Niagara look like a leaky faucet). Here´s some more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/JoshEbener/Argentina

We also saw iguanas, a toucan, and these funny long nosed raccoon type animals, one of which hopped onto my table and stole my sandwich! It was a good sandwich too…oh well.

Thanks for reading, my goal is to update the blog every other week or so.

Extreme Hunger in the Chaco province

The issue of extreme hunger in the Chaco province in Argentina (where I am living this year) is finally starting to get a little more international attention. Please read the following article:

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=6319354

Hunger persists despite Argentina's economic boom
Reuters
By Jorge A. Otaola

RESISTENCIA, Argentina (Reuters) - "Sometimes I have enough for milk, sometimes I don't," said Marisel Rivas as she cradled her underweight baby in an Argentine shantytown, where hunger persists despite the country's economic boom.
One of Latin America's wealthiest countries, Argentina has prided itself on having less of the acute poverty common across the region. But five years of strong economic growth have not lifted Chaco's residents out of poverty.
The slums that circle Chaco's main city of Resistencia are a world away from the elegant shopping malls and bustling steakhouses of Buenos Aires, some 650 miles (1,050 kilometres) to the south, where Argentina's 8 percent annual economic growth is palpable.
While nationwide poverty rates have dropped sharply since a 2001-2002 economic crisis, in Resistencia's slums, about 112,000 people live on $2 or $3 (98 pence or 1.47 pounds) per day and almost half of Chaco's 1 million people live below the poverty line.
As Argentines prepare to elect a new president next month, front-runner Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the first lady, has trumpeted the successes of her husband's presidency in halving the number of poor Argentines.
More than half of Argentines were plunged into poverty at the height of the economic crisis, but it has dropped to about a quarter due to strong economic growth since President Nestor Kirchner took office in 2003.
Cutting it further will be a challenge for Fernandez, whom polls predict will likely win a first round victory in an October 28 vote.
SKEPTICAL
In the shantytowns of Chaco, no one has much to say about the presidential race, and residents are sceptical after seeing endless politicians on the campaign trail make reams of unfulfilled promises.
Rolando Nunez, coordinator of the human rights group the Nelson Mandela Center, said life has worsened for Chaco's poor during the last two decades.
"It's the failure of the government's social and economic policies that has brought us to these levels," he said.
Without an industrial hub or other major economic development, generations of northern Argentina's residents have lived in poverty. Kirchner rolled back some free-market economic policies that many Argentines believe led to the economic collapse, but critics say many parts of the country have lagged behind.
Some analysts say Chaco's economic problems have been aggravated by the soybean boom that played a leading role in the country's dramatic economic recovery.
Soy farming needs less workers than the province's traditional cotton fields, driving people from the countryside to the tin-roofed shacks that circle the main city.
Rivas, 20, lives with her baby and another 2-year-old daughter in a tiny dirt floor hut with no water or electricity.
She gets by on a $50 bag of food staples that the city government hands out once a month and coins her husband picks up running errands or washing car windows at stoplights.
But it's not enough to keep hunger at bay.
Nearby, residents pick through garbage, competing with goats and pigs for the richest pickings.
"There are people who are going through worst times than me," said Jorge Ojeda, 44, said as he looked on, swatting flies. "There are people who have nothing to eat and the only thing they have is the dump."

Spring has sprung

I have now been in Argentina for over a month, and all is going well.
Spring has sprung, and it came with a lot of rainfall, which is much needed in the interior of the province of Chaco where a drought has been killing cattle and other animals.
We are moving the church office to rooms in the church mission building that used to be a kindergarten. New alarms are being installed.
James, a volunteer from Milwaukee will be working with the children programs in at the church mission, recently arrived. One of the programs is one focused on the environment. The kids worked hard to plant over 20 trees on the church property. Last Thursday the children had a party to celebrate the first day of Spring (a little of an adjustment to see flowers budding instead of leaves falling). There were over a hundred kids there, and there were games like retrieving a piece of candy from a plate of flower, and a potato sack race. The kids are great and are always excited when we come.

Local elections for governor of this province, Chaco were held last week. The election was decided within less one percent of the vote, and with issues in the voting process, a recount was called for. It’s expected to take another week.
There was one rally that we saw that had buses full of people, and a lot of intensity. However, talking to many people, there is a deep skepticism in the political process, given the country’s history of political corruption. As my host mom said, “They’re all dirty.” Voting in Argentina is “mandatory,” and turnout tends to be 80 and 90 percent of the population. Although, I think the high turnout isn’t just because it is “mandatory,” but I get the sense that, despite much (quite justified) skepticism, voting is more ingrained as a part of civic responsibility.
It got me thinking about the poor voting turnout in the US. Part of that is that I think is the pervasive apathy. What if voting was mandatory in the US? What if it was more deeply engrained as not only one’s right, but responsibility?
Argentina’s presidential election will be in October.

I’ve been getting to know a lot of new places, and the best toppings for pizza. Pizzerias are abundant here, and typical toppings are ham, green olives, onions, tomatoes, and garlic. Most restaurants don’t get going for dinner until after 9:00pm.
Often my accent will begin conversations about the US, in which strong opinions against the US government/president are often shared.

I have been observing that while some of the most visible and typical signs of globalization, like such corporate chains as McDonald’s aren’t visible, there is much US influence in other ways, like the entertainment industry. It is difficult to find videos to rent that aren’t from the US, and it is difficult to listen to the radio without hearing a song in English.

I have been using the bus to get around. The church mission is about a 30 minute bus ride. The fee is one Argentine peso, which is about 33 cents. There are many cars as well, but it is somewhat of a luxury. Many people ride bikes and scooters. It is not uncommon to see an entire family riding on a small bike or scooter. There are also a lot of horse buggies. There are some horses that graze near our house.

There was a boy that came to my door asking for cardboard. People who are called “cartoneros,” go around the city looking for cardboard, in order to live on the few pesos they will receive for turning it in.
There was also a boy that came by my door and asked: “Tiene para el hambre?” which translates: “Do you have for the hunger?” That word “hambre” started buzzing in my ears and in my heart. I couldn’t think of a more grave injustice that the pain this boy is forced to feel in his belly.
I have been thinking about repentance a lot lately, and how it is often it is personalized. That is, I repent, I ask God to forgive me for my personal wrongdoings, like all the times I lied, etc. However, when we think about the gravity of the wrongdoings we do as a society, our “social sin,” like injustice, poverty, etc, is this something we repent for?
It would be easy for me to feel guilty about the ways I am implicated in a social structure that puts the pain in this boy’s stomach. This pain is not a cause for guilt, but it is a cause for repentance. Hopefully this sort of repentance leads to an honest pursuit of justice.
Anyway, I’ll leave it there for now. Thanks for reading.

Pictures of Plaza 25 de Mayo

Here are some pictures of the 25 de Mayo Plaza, the main plaza in Resistencia. Check out the rest of my pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/JoshEbener/Argentina

Greetings from Argentina

My blogs for the next year will mostly center around my seminary internship, which I’ll be doing in Resistencia, Argentina, with the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Global Mission Horizon International Internship program. The internship is the third of four years for me in my studies (pursuing a Master of Divinity degree) at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Greetings from chilly Argentina, where winter is finishing up, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s, and lots of clouds and rain. It may seem strange to those of you sweating in 90s and 100s that I broke out the winter coat, long underwear, and am clinging to a box heater. I am also sipping lots of mate, the classic Argentine tea, which I may actually like more than coffee.

Here’s the play-by-play of my last week… I left on Monday, August 13 from Chicago Ohaire to Washington DC, and that night I flew to Buenos Aires, arriving the next morning (Tuesday). I was picked up at the airport by the ELCA Global Mission South America regional directors and spent the day with their family. I was also able to meet the president and staff of IELU (Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida – United Evangelical Lutheran Church), and to see some of downtown Buenos Aires (see picture). It’s true that the city has a European feel. We walked past a political rally (no, I didn’t participate), which was for Cristina Kirchner, the wife of current president Nestor Kirchner, who seems to be the current front-runner for the presidential elections to be held in October (an exciting time to be here).

I took the bus that Tuesday night, which headed northward for 12 hours as I slept, and then arrived in Resistencia (where I’ll be living this year) Wednesday morning. Pastor Raul Gleim picked me up from the bus station and I spent the first two with him and his wife in their house. Then on Friday after last year’s YAGM (Young Adults in Global Mission) volunteer took off, I moved into the house where she stayed. It is a little house in the back yard of a very sweet elderly couple’s house, and in the front of the house is the church office.

The terrain is flat and swampy with tropical plants and lagoons. Resistencia, a city of roughly 400,000 people, is a city of sculptures of all sorts of styles. The city centers around a very large plaza, Plaza 25 de Mayo (25th of May), which is the actual Independence Day of Argentina (and also my birthday). The culture here is distinct, especially as compared to Buenos Aires. It’s more laid back and they have a nice siesta in the afternoons. This is the capital and main urban center of the Province of Chaco. Chaco is home to many indigenous people, who are an ostracized minority in the country. Chaco is also one of the poorest provinces in the country. There are many children throughout the province who suffer from malnutrition. Because of these realities, there are many people that migrate to the city and settle on the outskirts.

So far I have been getting acquainted with my pastor/supervisor, who along with the other people I’ve met, has been very warm and welcoming. I have already gotten to attend a worship service at Misión Maria Magdalena (Mary Magdalene Mission), which is on the outskirts of Resistencia. The church has been a driving force for, and partner with, many social programs in the neighborhood, and the pastor works with a couple of social workers. There are hot meals for children, after-school programs, health programs, and several other programs the church is involved with. The other church I’ll be with is in Corrientes, a city of about the same size, which is across the Parana river. I’ll be preaching at both churches next week.

That’s it for now, thanks for all of the prayers and support you all have offered me.

Deportation of Elvira Arellano

Please read the article below. Several months ago I was able to meet Elvira Arellano, her son Saul, and the pastor of the church she was taking sanctuary in, and I can say that her spirit of hope amidst adversity is absolutely inspirational, and this New Sanctuary Movement (a movement where undocumented immigrants are staying in churches as a means of sanctuary and protection) is equally inspirational. It's no wonder her story of perseverance has drawn national attention. I hope her deportation will only strengthen and put more attention on the grave injustices of the current immigration system and the seperation of families.
For more information about the New Sanctuary Movement and how you and your church can get involved, go to: http://www.newsanctuarymovement.org

Illegal immigrant deported after leaving church
Activist and national symbol for illegal immigrant parents leaves son behind

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20284646/

LOS ANGELES - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church’s pastor said.
Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change.
She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living.
“She is free and in Tijuana,” said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. “She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border.”
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman’s family. During a news conference in Los Angeles after Arellano’s arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor’s wife and wiped away tears.
Arellano had said on Saturday that she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents.
“From the time I took sanctuary, the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want,” she said in Spanish. “I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight.”
Second deportationArellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O’Hare International Airport.
She was arrested in 2002 at O’Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
She had not left the church property until she decided to travel by car to Los Angeles, Coleman said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her arrest and said she was deported Sunday night through San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing. The discussions there included Luis Cabrera, Mexico’s general consul in San Diego, and Robin Baker, ICE’s director of detention and removals in San Diego, ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
“Obviously this was a woman who didn’t want to go. They wanted to make sure any possible legal avenue that may have been open to her was closed,” Mack said. “This was a very, very sensitive removal for us as well as Mexico.”
Outside an ICE office in Chicago on Monday, about 50 people protested Arellano’s deportation. “It wakes us up to do something,” said Bertha Rangel, who brought her three young children to the rally.
Arellano is staying with a friend in Tijuana, Coleman said. He said she had brought to light her struggle, and for that, “she has won a victory.”
Vows to fight from Mexico“She’ll be organizing on the Mexican side of the border while we’re organizing in the (United) States,” Coleman said Monday. “She’ll be talking to organizations throughout Mexico and congressmen in Mexico City.”
Coleman said he and other activists will continue Arellano’s original plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform at the Capitol on Sept. 12.
Immigration activists promised protests and vigils to support Arellano.
“We are sad, but at the same time we are angry,” said Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with Arellano. “How dare they arrest this woman?”
Anti-illegal immigrant groups said the arrest was long overdue.
“Just because the woman has gone public and made an issue of the fact that she is defying law doesn’t mean the government doesn’t have to do its job,” said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
Arellano has repeatedly called for a stop to immigration raids that break up families with some members who are in the U.S. legally and others illegally. She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did.
While being arrested, Arellano spoke briefly with her son before submitting to authorities, said Emma Lozano, Coleman’s wife and head of immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras in Chicago.
“She calmed him down, hugged him and gave him a blessing,” Lozano said.

Driving responsibly

This past March I got the news that my cousin Ben, who is the same age as me (25), was in a serious car crash. Ben and a friend were traveling back from fishing all day, and Ben’s friend was driving. Ben’s friend was driving under the influence, and took a corner too fast, spinning the car into a muddy ditch. Ben suffered major injuries and was left in a coma. He was resuscitated on the spot, and flown out on an emergency chopper. Ben’s friend survived with minor injuries.

Ben fought for two months in the coma, and died on May 17. I was able to be with him in those last days of his life and to say goodbye. I will miss Ben, his vibrant personality, his wit, and his giving spirit.

I have been thinking a lot about how fragile life is, and his death has certainly been a reminder not to take life for granted. Particularly, I have thought about how his life ended because of one wrong decision, and that’s all it took. Because Ben’s friend one decision to drive drunk, he will have to live with what he did for the rest of his life. There are countless other scenarios just like this one.

I’m mentioning this because I believe that we live in an alternate reality to this one. Somehow we have developed every justification for driving under the influence. We’ve done everything psychologically to remove the possibility of such a tragedy. Driving under the influence can become so normalized, because one has done it so long without anything ever happening. Maybe someone drives after one glass, then two, then three…

However, for Ben’s friend, all it took was ONE time, and that was it.

If you think I sound like a cheesy commercial right now, please just hear me out. As much as driving drunk may be something we can just laugh off, I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. When someone does it they don’t just put themselves at risk, but innocent people who deserve a full life.

I believe we all owe it to victims like my family to drive responsibly. Sometimes a tragedy can cause us to reevaluate our lives. That’s all I’m asking.

Save Darfur video by Green Day

Sojourners' Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty

Coalition of Immokalee Workers win against McDonalds

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community-based worker organization, are immigrants working in low-wage jobs picking tomatoes throughout the state of Florida. They have been taking on major fast-food companies that use their tomatoes, and last weekend they celebrated a huge victory against McDonalds.

McDonalds agreed to:

• A penny more per pound to workers harvesting tomatoes for McDonald's;


• A stronger code of conduct based on the principle of worker participation;


• And a collaborative effort to develop a third party mechanism for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating workers' complaints of abuse.

Here in Chicago they had a "Concert for Fair Food" to celebrate the victory, where Zach de la Rocha and Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) played, among others. Tom Morello had this to say:

"We worked the entire set up 20 minutes before we went onstage, but it went pretty well. It was very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included. I mean, the place was just packed to the rafters and even the stage was packed with this ring of 25 photographers two feet away from us while we were playing, so it was kind of a trippy, you know, way to do our first show. But it was a great cause and we were happy to be a part of the Immokalee farmworkers victory."

Find out more here:

http://www.ciw-online.org/CIW_McDs_Agreement.html

Mourning with Virginia Tech

As the nation mourns with Virginia Tech after the mass killings there last Monday, our inability to understand such a tragedy burns inside of us. In the Virginia Tech memorial convocation Tuesday evening, professor and poet Nikki Giovanni said:

"We are Virginia Tech.We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.We are Virginia Tech.We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.We are Virginia Tech.We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.We are Virginia Tech.The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.We are the Hokies. We will prevail. We will prevail. We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech."
http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/giovanni_transcript.php



As we struggle to undertand this tragedy, our prayers go out all those who mourn at Virginia Tech, that God's healing presence would be felt.

Christian Peace Witness for Iraq

Christian Peace Witness for Iraq

On Friday, March 16 I traveled with over 20 seminarians, mostly from McCormick Theological Seminary, and a couple from Chicago Theological Union to the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq gathering in Washington DC. We were a part of over 3,000 Christians uniting in response to our faith, to call for an end to the War in Iraq. This was the first of a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war. The CPW gathering started with a service at the Washington National Cathedral at 7:00pm, where we sang songs of hope and heard from several speakers, including Celeste Zappala, who lost her son in the war, and shared the following words:
“Tonight we’re in the National Cathedral, the alter of the nation, and we lay before God the sorrow that lives in all of us because of this war. Since Sherwood (her son who died in the War in Iraq) died protecting the Iraq Survey Group as they looked for the weapons of mass destruction 2,483 more American lives have been lost… And how many limbs? And how many eyes? And how much blood? And what about the souls of soldiers who pick up the pieces of their friends? Or fearfully fire into a car and discover a minute later a shattered Iraqi family? In Iraq shamefully no one could say how many children and old people have died, those counts are only kept in the hearts of the people who lost them, keep these people in your heart. An Iraqi mother searches a morgue for the familiar curve of the hand of her child beneath a pale sheet. An American father watches his son beheaded on video tape. An Iraqi child wakes up in a shabby hospital in excruciating pain, because of the loss of his arm. An American girl writes letters to her dead soldier father. An American vet wraps a garden hose around his neck, and leaps away from the nightmares that beset him. And the ocean of tears spreads across both countries along with the numbers: 1,950 US kids have lost parents, 25,000 wounded and struggling through the VA system, scores and scores of suicides, 500,000 and more dead in Iraq, 2 million refugees, a wail rises from the throat from all who love these people and shakes our hearts as it reaches the crucified open arms of Jesus. We’re here tonight as the church, each one of us is a witness to this war and to our own complicity in it, when were we silent when we should have spoken, whose eyes would we not meet to face the truth? Now we are prostrate at this alter, begging: ‘Lord, help us, war is our failure to love you, and peace is your command, peace isn’t the easy way out, its creation is the most confounding, the hardest thing we can do, help us, we lay our souls open to you and question, how can we follow your command to love each other?’ Surely it cannot be by mindlessly sending the children of others to kill people we don’t even know. I know that nothing I say, no amount of logic or protest will bring my son back to me, or any of the lost ones home. Yet I ask the Lord to help us, we lay this grief before the Lord, our souls broken open, ready to rise to witness, ready to love God’s world to peace. Bless you and thank you.”
Other speakers included Rev. Dr. Raphael Gamaliel Warnock, Senior Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church (home of Martin Luther King Jr.); Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, President of the North American Region of the World Council of Churches; and Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
After the service we marched in the snow and cold with battery-operated candles to the White House singing hymns of peace and hope. When we arrived at the White House, 222 people prayed on the sidewalk (an area where it is required to keep moving), and were arrested, and put on buses to be processed, and fined $100.
It is hard to believe that this war has gone on for four years. This gathering gives me hope, and the bill the House of Representatives has just passed (March 23), is a good start. May our faith call us to sing in choirs of peace, and speak out against this war, and plans for surges of troops. As Rev. Raphael G. Warnock said: "Mr. Bush, my Christian brother, we do need a surge in troops. We need a surge in the nonviolent army of the Lord," he said. "We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling."

For the full story, see: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_PROTEST_CHRISTIANS?SITE=TXHOU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I am Barabbas

"I was sitting in chains, both hands and feet, in a dirty, cold and damp prison. I had robbed. I had murdered. I knew someday I would be caught, but until then I had always been able to slip through their fingers..." This is a part of a monologue from the perspective of Barabbas. What happened in Barabbas' mind once he heard the news that he would be set free after all the terrible things he had done? How did he respond to this radical grace? How do we respond to grace in our lives?

This monologue was part of a Lenten Wednesday worship service series I am doing with Lara (another LSTC student) at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in West Chicago for our Ministry In Context (field education) project. Each week I memorize and perform a different monologue from a Lenten drama series called "Am I Guilty?" by Audrey Surma (published by Contemporary Drama Services). The monologues have been from the perspectives of Caiaphas the High Priest, a moneychanger, a member of the mob, Barabbas. Next week I will be Cornelius a Centurion and then Peter for Easter. I perform these monologues in first person story form, walking around the room, and then inviting discussion. Each monologue has sparked discussion on the parallels between these biblical characters and us today. Do we seek power like Caiaphas? Do we practice unethical business like the moneychangers? Do we follow the crowd like members of the mob? Do we still see a lot of these tendencies today? What does this tell us about sin? What does this tell us about grace? These are many of the questions the people of St. Andrew and I have been reflecting on and engaging during this Lenten season. Peace and grace to all of you.

Nicaragua trip summary

NICARAGUA: COFFEE WITH A CONSCIENCE- LWR COFFEE PROJECT
My J-Term Visit with Coffee Farmers in Nicaragua

For my January term course this year I made a week-long visit to Nicaragua with the to learn more about Fair Trade and the lives of small-scale coffee farmers. My trip was made possible by a scholarship for seminarians to go on Lutheran World Relief study visits. I traveled with a delegation of 20 people sponsored by Lutheran World Relief and the Center for Global Education of Augsburg College. Representatives from Equal Exchange, a Fair Trade organization that imports coffee, tea and cocoa, were also with the group. We heard from several people working with farming cooperatives, and the positive impact Fair Trade has had on their lives. We spent two nights with a gracious family from a coffee farming cooperative. I joined the nine year old son Julito (see picture) in picking coffee from the trees. We were able to observe all the steps involved in producing the coffee, which I will attempt to summarize. After picking the coffee, it is brought in burlap bags down to a Wet Mill, where it is de-pulped. Later it is brought to a Dry Mill where it is preserved and then cupped and tested for quality.
Coffee is a vital source of income for hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers and their families in some of the poorest countries in the world. In Nicaragua, coffee has been a leading export and one of the pillars of the national economy. Consequently, coffee growing communities have been devastated as the world market for coffee collapsed from $1.40 per pound in 1999 to just 45¢ in the summer of 2001. Prices have gained some ground in the past two years, but years of low prices have caused massive disruption in farming communities. As a consequence, rural incomes have plummeted, thousands of jobs have been lost and many people are migrating into the cities or out of the country. It is estimated that approximately 300,000 Nicaraguans, many of them coffee farmers, have migrated to Costa Rica to look for work.
“When small-scale farmers can’t get a fair price for their coffee, it has a ripple effect in their communities, their country and even the world,” said Aaron Dawson, Equal Exchange Interfaith Program representative on the trip. “Without a stable income, they can’t afford to invest in their farms, they can’t pay for their children’s education, they can’t afford medicine and they can’t plan for the future.”
Meanwhile in the U.S., the ELCA is part of a movement promoting an alternative: Fair Trade Certified coffee. The coffee is imported by Equal Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative founded to create a more equitable model of trade with small-scale farmers. The company imported its first container of coffee from Nicaragua in 1986, launching “Café Nica”. In 1991, Equal Exchange became the first coffee trader in the U.S. to adopt internationally recognized Fair Trade standards. Today, Equal Exchange is one of the few companies that follows the Fair Trade standards of TransFair USA, an independent certifier, on 100% of their coffees.
Since 1996 Equal Exchange has worked in partnership with Lutheran World Relief to promote Fair Trade to U.S. Lutherans. Lutheran World Relief has funded a number of coffee farming initiatives in the region, including training for Cecocafen women members who run an eco-tourism project that hosted the delegation in farmers’ homes. In 2005 Lutheran World Relief and Equal Exchange launched Organic Sisters’ Blend, a blend containing Nicaraguan coffee, honoring women coffee farmers and U.S. Lutheran women who promote Fair Trade in their communities. Equal Exchange’s Interfaith Program also works with other faith-based relief, development and human right organizations.
Does Fair Trade work? This is the frequent question I asked myself while I was in Nicaragua, and I’ve been asked since I’ve been back. My answer is: Yes. Reason #1- Perhaps most importantly, given low market prices, Fair Trade ensures farmers a fair price, Equal Exchange ensures a minimum of $1.41 per pound of organic coffee. For the high quality coffee which comes from their cooperative partners in Nicaragua, the company often pays considerably more. For small-scale farmers, a fair price is just the beginning of the benefits of Fair Trade. “We do not want people to buy our coffee, to pay a fair price, because we are poor. We want you to buy our coffee because of its quality,” said Blanca Rosa Morales, the President of Cecocafen, the coffee co-op visited by the group. “And this quality translates into many other qualities: not just the quality in your cup, but our quality of life, the environment, and of our children’s education – it is total quality.”
Reason #2- By trading directly with farmer co-ops, Equal Exchange cuts out layers of “middlemen,” who small scale farmers are usually forced to sell to because they are isolated from markets. This ensures that more money reaches the people who do the hard work of growing and harvesting coffee. Reason #3- Another important Fair Trade standard is to provide the cooperatives with loans so that the cooperatives can pay their members for the coffee well before the coffee is shipped to the U.S. This provides the farmers with funds between harvests – money for farm improvements, seedlings, and training programs, as well as family expenses such as medicines, clothing and school supplies – helping them to stay out of debt. In 2005, Equal Exchange arranged for pre-shipment financing of $1.7 million to its cooperative partners. This was one of the most frequent benefits of Fair Trade that we heard in the cooperatives we visited. Especially since the Central American Coffee Crisis hit Nicaragua about six years ago, where sales went down significantly, the instability of the coffee market haunted our hosts. One story that is still burning inside me is a testimony about a nearby community that suffered the deaths of 25 children because of the Coffee Crisis. Therefore, Fair Trade in some instances even means the difference between life and death.
During our time we also experienced a huge day in the history of Nicaragua, as Daniel Ortega was inaugurated president. He was the president elected by the revolutionary Sandanista party after the revolution in the 1980’s, until the CIA sponsored Contras took him out. We watched the ceremony and speech on TV, since it was in Managua and we were in Matagalpa, but the city was sounding with fireworks. In his speech he spoke about how his presidency is for the campesinos, the small scale farmers. He signed the ALBA agreement with Venezuela and other countries, which counters the disadvantages of CAFTA. Most of the areas we visited were of Ortega´s Sandanista party and have hope in the new government. It was quite an exciting time to be in Nicaragua.
After this trip, when I drink coffee I can remember the nine year old boy Julito picking each coffee cherry off of the tree, and all the subsequent labor that was invested in it. This is the type of solidarity that Fair Trade offers. I will close with a reflection on the sermon we heard from the Lutheran bishop of Nicaragua who talked about the star that the Magi followed, and the ways that God’s revelation encounters us. I saw Christ’s presence revealed in countless ways in the hope and resilience in the people we met in Nicaragua, which had a profound impact on my faith, and will certainly have an impact on my future ministry.

Please take a look at my trip pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/JoshEbener/Nicaragua
To get a day by day synopsis of our trip, visit our online study diary at: http://www.lwr.org/studydiary/itinerary.asp?VisitID=13
For more information about Equal Exchange, Fair Trade and Equal Exchange’s Interfaith Program visit http://www.equalexchange.com/, or call (774) 776-7366. For more information about the Lutheran World Relief Coffee Project, visit http://www.lwr.org/coffee/index.asp, or call (410) 230-2800.

Saludos de Nicaragua

follow me in Nicaragua...

I am leaving tomorrow for Nicaragua (Jan 5-14). Our group will be keeping an online study diary, so please check it out:

http://www.lwr.org/studydiary/entry.asp?ItineraryDate=1/5/2007&VisitID=13

¿Donde esta Jesús?

Yesterday I delivered a sermon at my “Ministry In Context” (field education) church. It was great experience for me getting to preach in Spanish. The Gospel text was Luke 2:41-52, where Jesus at 12 years old goes to the Temple in Jerusalem, and his parents go frantically searching for him, and finally find him three days later. We can picture Jesus’ parents frantically searching for him while he’s dazzling all the professors of Systematic Theology.

When Jesus’ parents find him, he says: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” He must be in his Father’s “house” or “engaged in his Father’s business.”

Sometimes we can “loose Jesus” too, leaving us frantically searching for him. It is in our searching that Jesus finds us and invites us to join him in being engaged in his “Father’s business.” As we enter this season of Epiphany and this New Year, may Jesus encounter with radical and abundant grace, in ways that are fresh and new, that we never would have expected. May our faith keep us with eyes wide open.