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April 2001
Dear Friends,
This past Holy Week was the most powerful and moving one I have
experienced. Frontera de Cristo, the Presbyterian bi-national
ministry with which I serve, is part of an emerging small group
of rag-tag Christians we call "Healing our Borders/Sanando
Nuestras Fronteras." We are praying and working for a more
just, peaceful, and humane border.
In 1994, the year NAFTA was passed, the U.S. government began
constructing large walls on our border and pouring millions of
dollars into technology and border agents to keep Mexicans and
Central Americans (especially poor ones) from coming into the
United States. Half of members of the Lily of the Valley Presbyterian
Church in Agua Prieta cannot even cross the border to worship
with the Presbyterian congregation in Douglas. In addition, as
a result of the building up of the wall, the number of migrant
deaths has increased each year since 1994—over 400 people
died in our deserts last year attempting to arrive at jobs that
awaited them in the interior of the United States.
Are there new Spanish speakers in your community? If so, it is
not unlikely that they have risked their lives crossing the deserts
near Douglas and Agua Prieta.
From 2:30 to 6:00 a.m. on Good Friday, we walked on the U.S.
side of a portion of our border wall, just three miles of the
ten miles of twelve-foot steel barrier. We carried the cross and
participated in the Stations of the Cross. With prayer and reflection
around the image of Jesus as migrant, we walked in the swath of
desert between the wall and the high-powered halogen lights that
illumine the border for miles. It reminded me of "walking
the mile" toward the electric chair and death. I sensed evil
all around, like a concentration camp or what I imagine the ghettos
of Nazi Germany were like.
We were also responsible for leading he ecumenical Good Friday
service, which was also a very reflective and powerful experience.
We had a dialogue sermon with four persons answering the question:
"Were You There When They Crucified Jesus?" One person
decided he wanted to participate spontaneously and assured us
that all of us are complicit in the crucifixion of our Lord and
Savior.
Easter was wonderful with the sunrise service in Mexico at the
Lily of the Valley church. The women of the church, following
the women in the New Testament, heralded the good news that our
Lord is no longer dead, but has risen. The sanctuary was packed
with a lot of visitors, many of whom were migrants who would be
risking their lives the following week to arrive in the United
States. The good news is that they know that in life and in death
we belong to God. The service was followed by a traditional Mexican
breakfast of menudo (tripe).
Following the breakfast, my colleague Jesus Gallegos, his wife
Rosario, and Miriam, my fiancée, crossed the border to
lead worship at the First Presbyterian Church’s 10:30 Communion
service in Douglas. It is a bi-lingual worshiping congregation,
and as we gathered around the Communion table I marveled in the
reality that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility
and gave thanks for this small group of sisters and brothers—English
speakers, Spanish speakers, Tagalog speakers, German speakers,
Japanese speakers, undocumented people and Border patrol agents,
which can gather around the table together to witness to a gospel
reality not always apparent here on the border.
In the afternoon, we then joined the Lily of the Valley folk
at Ejido Cuahtemoc for a great afternoon picnic, with swimming,
singing, and hiking. Easter is wonderful for the hope it brings
to face the division that means death.
May this good news empower us through our lives!
Mark Adams
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 248
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