Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Greetings! We pray blessings on all your varied ministries in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When we returned to work at the beginning of this last year of the millennium we were quite conscious of a problem that finds its roots even before the beginnings of this millennium. For most of us, the word "feudalism" is associated with medieval Europe. In the middle of preparing a course in the history of the church between the fall of Rome and the Reformation, I am constantly aware that the Spanish version of feudalism found its way to Guatemala. The Spanish kings granted huge tracts of land, known here as encomiendos, to their loyal subjects (never mind the question of whether the land was theirs to grant). Along with the land came the rights to govern the people who lived on that land. The theory was that the noble Spaniards would teach the natives Christianity and the benefits of Spanish civilization. In return, it was "only right" that the natives would provide the Spanish with material benefits.

In practice the encomendero had virtually absolute control not only over the land but over everyone who lived on that land. From religion to economic production to the economic well-being of the family, life was controlled by the encomendero, or patron.

It is difficult for North Americans, whose heritage is often linked to the family farm and to a Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist church, to imagine what it was like to live in these conditions. On the family farm, the farm family made the decisions which directly affected their lives, including when to plant and harvest, what to plant, how and whether to educate their children, and all the other decisions that determined their future. On the encomiendo, the patron made all these and many more decisions. The well-being of the family depended not on determining wisely one’s own course of action, but on pleasing the patron.

Over the course of the five hundred years between the Spanish Conquest and now, this domination took root in the minds and hearts of the people here in ways that go far deeper than conscious thought. For example, the campesinos who lived under this domination developed a keen ability to discern what the patron wanted to hear, and to say it. In seminary classes it sometimes takes a conscious effort to get students who unconsciously live out of this heritage to say what they think, rather than attempt to discern what I seem to want to hear.

Domination itself became a central theme in relationships at all levels, as campesinos assimilated the models offered to them by the encomiendo system. Even today, the campesino who lives in a hut may be heard dominating his wife and children in unconscious imitation of the patron. "El hombre manda!" is a way of saying that to be a man is to dominate.

It is our belief that the gospel of Jesus Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples, has the power to cleanse the consciousness of his disciples of the will to dominate, as well as many other negative effects of the encomiendo system; that gospel grace has the power to tear these things out of people’s consciousness by their very roots, and replace them with the love of Jesus Christ, who came not to be served but to serve.

We see this happening with many of our Guatemalan sisters and brothers, and are deeply grateful to the Lord whose grace makes it possible. At the same time, we know that the church and the society in which it serves has a long way to go.

From the beginning of the Presbyterian church in Guatemala in 1882, many of those who joined the church were men and women who wanted to make their decisions about their livelihoods, their children’s educations, and their faith in Christ in the context of their relationship with the Lord God, rather than have them determined by a patron. From Presbyterian schools to the Presbyterian from of church government to Reformed theology, the Presbyterian church here has given people a community within which to move from one way of life to another, and a faith that sustains them on their journey. It still does, which is one more reason to thank you for your support and ask for your prayers that we, together with all our sisters and brothers here, may live in the grace of the Lord Jesus who is creating us all anew (Romans 12).

Shalom,

Harry and Debbie Horne