Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Wow! It just hit me as I wrote that date. 2001 used to be a movie about a far distant time.

These 2001 days I often walk with our dog along a dirt road and see beauty through the barbed-wire fence that separates the road from a field of onions and other vegetables. My favorite view through that barbed wire is of the sunset over the mountains in the distance. Whatever the beauty that lies behind the barbed wire, the question hangs in the air, can I really see the beauty for the barbs?

This has become a metaphor for a challenge we face here. In the last year and a half we have seen many barbs in the life of the Presbyterian church and the seminary where we teach. The national church has seen solid evidence that the executive secretary of the church has deposited PC(USA) Hunger Program money in his private accounts, amid reports from reliable sources of a lot of other wrong-doing. As of this writing, he is still in office. At the seminary, the administrative dean was recently fired. We believe this firing was long overdue.

In the midst of all this, the question has continued to be, "Can we still see the beauty of the everyday faithfulness of our brothers and sisters in Christ here?" People like the sisters and brothers we share Sunday services with, blocklayers and teachers and electricians and housewives and students who simply want to serve and adore Christ. How important it has been to me, in the midst of all the other things that have been happening, to rediscover weekly the health of the Presbyterian church in the life of this parish! It is a weekly dose of sanity and simple beauty in the worship of the Lord.

One of the things that gave us anguish was that our brother Rafael Par, pastor of this church, was pushed out of his other job as a seminary professor by the former administration. He bore this, as he bears many things, with quiet dignity.

Rafael came to know Christ as his savior as a young man and joined the Presbyterian church. In response to a call to serve Christ’s church he went to the Maya Quiche Bible Institute, where he did basic pastoral studies. This was not enough to satisfy his thirst for the study of the Word and theology, however, and he went on for further study at the Seminario Evangélico Presbiteriano. There he was selected for a special program of preparation of Guatemala professors. For several years he both studied and taught at the seminary, in addition to his duties as pastor of the church.

And then the bottom fell out at the seminary. Fundamentally incorruptible, he was inconvenient to the former administration and thus sidelined. He found another place to teach and bore the pain with dignity.

When the call came to return to teach through the seminary, he responded. He is now entrusted with the theological education of the Kanhabal Presbyterians. Kanhabal is one of the Mayan language groupings. He goes once a month for several days of intensive theological education in this remote part of Guatemala. The journey is long, and the mountainous area cold and damp, but what a blessing for them, and for us to see this happen!

Another friend who was sidelined for a time is Gadiel Gomez. Many of you know his life story through his visits to the States or through sermons we have shared with you, so I won’t repeat it here. I do want, however, to celebrate his faithfulness through all this, and his refusal to be drawn into the corruption, even if it meant losing his livelihood and his chance to do the teaching and writing that he loved. I also want to celebrate the faith of Pilar, his wife, who never asked him to compromise his integrity. She always trusted our good God to provide for the family. I am happy to be able to tell you that they are now back at the seminary, with Gadiel serving as academic dean.

So there have been barbs, but the good Lord has given us the gift of continuing to see the beauty, not only of His creation, but also of the new creation of faithfulness and integrity and steadfast love in His servants. May Christ keep our eyes open and our hearts loving.

Shalom,

Harry and Debbie Horne

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 241