January 2003

Dear Friends,

For the year-end worship service of the women's group at my husband's church, I was preaching on Romans 8:18-25. It perhaps does not seem much like a Christmas or an Advent text, at first. But Christmas is about the birth of Christ, and Advent is about expecting that birth. An expectant mother knows she must go through the birthing pains before her child is to be born. In Romans 8:22 Paul says that the whole of creation is suffering labor pains, and in verse 18 Paul considers that the current sufferings of the world do not compare with the glory that is to come. In verses 24 and 25, Paul notes that we hope for what is not visible, since a hope that is visible is no longer hope.

Christians living in a troubled world know what the pain is like, and yet like a mother in labor, although they may scream because of the pain, they keep up the struggle because they hope to see something worthwhile result from their pain.

Christmas is about light shining in the darkness. Christmas is about hope in the invisible results of a painful struggle.

Beatriz is typical of the women to whom I was preaching. She is 25 years old, has four daughters; her husband is unemployed and wants to have another child. She does not want another baby right now. She does not know how to read or write, mostly because her mother died when she was in third grade, and she never went back to school again.

Beatriz's oldest daughter is in sixth grade, and she is trying to learn to read with her. She started coming to church occasionally because her daughters come to the Saturday Bible school and lunch program. Since then, she has had some serious heart-to-heart conversations with my husband, the pastor, and has begun to think in very different terms about what her life could be.

This past year has been difficult for most Argentines. On December 19 last year, masses of people began ransacking supermarkets and progressed to ransacking businesses and banks in general. The next day huge crowds of people gathered spontaneously in Plaza de Mayo, banging on pots and pans. That night, President Fernando de la Rua fled the Casa Rosada in a helicopter and abdicated the presidency.

Unemployment has increased in all sectors of the population. We have felt it strongly in our church community. Prices of basic food products have also increased. Our soup kitchens have been feeding approximately 125 children a week this year, an increase from about 60 last year. More of the mothers have been coming sporadically to the women's group meeting, as they seek some kind of spiritual and social support in their struggle to maintain sanity in the midst of increased craziness in their homes.

At another end of town, at the University Institute, ISEDET, where I teach church history, the students have struggled to understand the relevancy of theological education in the midst of the economic, political, and social turmoil Argentina has lived through in 2002. Many of the "historic Protestant churches" are still very ethnically oriented towards the immigrant groups that brought them here. They are not sure how to reach out to the spiritually and physically hungry youth of the multi-ethnic Argentine population. I challenged the students at ISEDET this past year to consider how to leave the university setting to teach the Bible to illiterate young mothers. I wonder how many seminary students and professors in the United States have thought about how to leave the University-like settings of the theological institutes to teach the rural and urban poor in the United States? Certainly some have.

How many members of the PC(USA) have thought about what it means to proclaim the gospel message of hope to their brothers and sisters in Christ, and in humanity, around the world? Not all will pack up their bags, leave home, and go to a foreign country to share the good news of the reign of God with others. However, are there ways, attitudes, prayers, contributions in which members of the PC(USA) can participate in announcing peace and proclaiming news of happiness (Isaiah 52:7) to those who are living in desperate or nearly desperate circumstances?

In January, the Pentecostal Association (Asociación La Iglesia de Dios, or ALIDD) with which I am affiliated here will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. The pastors are planning a huge celebration in the city of Rosario in the province of Sante Fe. ALIDD has been extremely hard hit by the economic crisis. The three-day celebration will cost participants 30 pesos, plus transportation. Thirty pesos is now less than $10 U.S., yet the cost is prohibitive to many members. Still, we are convinced that we must celebrate God in the midst of the struggle. We must sow the seeds of gospel hope in the midst of the party. We must search for celebration, because happiness and festivity give people energy to keep up with the struggle of sharing hope with others in spite of their own limitations.

Waiting for hope is painful, even excruciatingly painful. But the birth of hope is cause for great celebration. Jesus Christ is born!

May God bless you and your loved ones as this year closes and the new year dawns.

Shalom,

Katie Griffin

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 257