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January 2001
Reflections on Advent, Christmas, and the beginning
of a new year
Dear Friends,
For most of you the days of Advent and Christmas are but a dim
memory, but because this was my first Advent and Christmas season
in Guatemala many things are still fresh in my mind and I want
to share some of my reflections on this time.
Second Sunday of Advent
While most folks in the States celebrated the second Sunday of
Advent by lighting the candles on their wreath and reading the
lectionary Scripture passages during worship and in the afternoon
perhaps getting started—or finishing—their shopping
or addressing cards, I was in a church, Estrella de Belén,
in the presbytery of Pacifico, meeting with the women of the presbyterial.
We had planned our meeting at the home of one of the women who
lives near the church, thinking there would be Sunday school in
the church building at that hour. Upon arriving we found that
Sunday school had been suspended so that everyone could go out
to the fields to cut and then harvest the corn the church had
planted.
We call the first day of each week Sunday, or in Spanish, "domingo,"
and we know that this is a time to focus our lives on God and
what gives us life. For most North American Christians that happens
in worship. For the members of the church, Estrella de Belén
(Star of Bethlehem) that happened in a cornfield.
Sights, sounds, smells
Fresh pine needles are a sign of celebration here. For festive
occasions, a party, worship, Christmas Eve, they cover the floor
and their smell fills the air.
Fireworks! Every important event—and some not so important—is
announced with the sound of fireworks, at midnight on Christmas
Eve the heavens are filled, not with the song of angels, but with
the boom-boom-bang of fireworks. Again, mid-day on Christmas Day
and midnight of New Year’s Eve, in every village and city
and hillside, folks set off fireworks.
Fortunately I do not live near large malls, so I experienced
the "Christmas rush" in the markets— so many people!
The vendors selling plastic toys, glittery twinkling lights, and
figures of Santa Claus from China were next to others selling
traditional ornaments made of straw or crèche figures in
indigenous dress, and they were alongside vendors with stalls
full of apples and grapes, the traditional food to serve with
the ever-present tamales and punch.
Christmas party
I went with a group of women from one of the presbyterials for
their traditional Christmas party for children who live in a very
poor community within the presbytery. As we arrived, we were greeted
with shouts of joy as the children had been waiting at least an
hour in great anticipation of our arrival. Somehow the women got
the children to all sit down in the church building, with the
promise they would only receive their gifts if they were quiet.
Everyone more or less listened to a Bible story, sang some songs
and said a prayer, all in anticipation of the gifts. Finally it
was time to gather outside and break the huge Santa Claus piñata.
One of the youngest children finally broke open the badly beaten
Santa Claus, and this child was buried under a mass of squirming
bodies all trying to get the pieces of candy. When the little
boy finally emerged from under the pile of children, he began
crying since he had none of the candy. Several children offered
him pieces of their candy.
After the piñata came the highlight of the party, the
long-awaited distribution of gifts. There were two lines, one
for girls and one for boys, and each received a gift. Most children
seemed content with their gift, but one little girl caught my
eye. She was dressed in a pretty flowered dress—probably
the only dress she has, so this party was obviously important
to her. Her gift was a plastic bucket, plastic shovel and some
candy. I watched the confused bewildered look on her face as she
looked first at her gift, then at the gifts other little girls
had received, plastic dolls with curly hair, a stuffed animal,
a plastic tea set. She could not quite seem to believe that the
bucket and shovel were her gifts. I felt the disappointment in
her face. Now I know that these children deserve a party with
Christmas gifts and I am sure these are the only ones they will
receive this year. I know the women of the presbyterial meant
well in planning the party and buying the gifts. I know the adults
at the church were most appreciative of the visit, and told us
how important the party was, but there must be a better way to
share the love of Christ with these children, another way so that
every child who leaves the party knows a little of the love of
Jesus for her.
Christmas Day
The couple of days before Christmas at the seminary were very
quiet. The personnel and staff were on vacation. Only a handful
of workers were around to keep the grounds clean and attend to
the few people who came to use the swimming pool or play a quick
game of soccer. But on the morning of Christmas Day all that changed
dramatically. I watched as pickup trucks full of people (the buses
were not running on the 25th) pulled into the seminary and people
piled out. Then families began to arrive, again by the truckload.
I had been told that there would be a soccer game, but it looked
like much more than one soccer game! As it turned out, there was
a soccer tournament on Christmas Day, beginning at 8 a.m. and
concluding at 5:30 p.m., with the seminary team winning the trophy!
I spent most of the day watching the games, enjoying the warm
sun and the visits with neighbors and friends. I am still trying
to understand what it means to play a soccer tournament on Christmas
Day. Perhaps you have to be Guatemalan to really understand!
Spectacular things!
I received a letter from a women’s group in the States,
in which they referred to the theological education project for
women I work with as "a daunting undertaking," while
they (the women in the States) were involved in less spectacular
things for God. Some days this project does feel like a daunting
and impossible undertaking, but it never feels like a spectacular
way of serving God! This project, as well as all my work, involves
riding on lots of buses, shopping in the markets, going to committee
meetings, planning workshops, working on a budget, trying to get
a message to someone in a community where there is no telephone,
and on and on. In the end, I believe none of us is doing spectacular
things, but all that we do, however ordinary and mundane when
seen in the light of the ministry God has assigned to us, can
be seen as one small sign of the breaking in of God’s kingdom
of justice and peace and love, and that is a spectacular thing
that the Lord God is doing in and through us.
Ellen Dozier
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 241
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