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December 29, 2000
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Nicaragua! As I write, the Christmas season has
passed, replete with firecrackers and tamales, and the New Year
is upon us. My husband Elmer and I enjoyed our first Christmas
in Nicaragua, having spent past Christmases in Honduras or the
United States. We are preparing for a new year with new joys,
challenges, and opportunities.
For some time now I have been wanting to write another newsletter,
but have found it difficult to articulate some of the more challenging
aspects of my work with CEPAD during the last eleven months. Since
February 2000, I have been working in CEPAD’s "Nehemiah
Office," assigned to work with visiting delegations (mostly
church groups) and longer-term covenant partnerships. At the cusp
of this new year, leaving behind a season of joy and giving, I
feel inspired to write again about the very dynamic and complex
matter of mission
in general, and how we live out mission through our office.
The Christmas Spirit
As a child growing up in Michigan, I always reveled in the energy
and excitement of crackling fires in the fireplace, an ornament-laden
and aromatic pine tree, special sweets and treats, and plenty
of gifts under the tree. For me, the tree was the most central
part of what made Christmas what it is.
This year Elmer and I went out—for the first time—to
buy a tree. We purchased a five-foot laurel tree, which we decorated
and plan to plant in our backyard sometime after the New Year.
Elmer noticed how totally bent I was on having a tree—even
if it weren’t a 10-foot pine—during this special season.
This was a non-negotiable for me. A family tradition. In Elmer’s
family, however, neither Christmas trees nor Christmas gifts hold
importance. Tamales ("nacatamales," to be exact) and
fire-crackers have been important elements of this holiday season
for Elmer and his family. So each of us holds dear our traditions,
and we look forward to creating new traditions as we
grow a family over the years.
What is "mission"?
The nature of mission has many faces, just as Christmas does.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) attempts to carry out mission
in partnership, in relationships that are mutual and respectful,
that maintain the dignity and humanity of the people of partner
organizations such as CEPAD in Nicaragua. As hard as it is to
make mission a truly mutual endeavor, it can no longer be a one-way
street, where one part is the cheerful giver and the other the
humble receiver. Mission cannot be about feeling good about ourselves
for the donations we bring to Nicaragua, or about leaving the
mission field unchallenged or unchanged as a group or individual.
Mission must go deeper, breaking old models and moving into another
level of reflection and action. Mission must stretch us, if only
a little bit, beyond our comfort zone.
Challenges in my work
One of the most difficult parts of what I do is working with
visiting delegations who have come to be with Nicaraguans without
being fully willing to let their experience here be an educational
one. I believe that every single group that comes to help must
also come to learn, whether or not they are involved in service
or work projects.
I applaud the courage it takes to make the decision to step
out of what is most familiar and comfortable to help in any way,
particularly when coming to a totally new context. But I also
believe that our mission must go further than simply helping and
that we must be willing to stretch ourselves by asking hard questions
if we are to grow as Christians in one faith, across cultural
and geographical lines.
Asking the hard questions
There are many questions we must ask ourselves, I believe, if
we are to "do" mission in Nicaragua and in other places
in the world: Why did Hurricane Mitch cause so much damage in
Nicaragua? Why do 80 percent of the world’s population live
in poverty? What can I—and what can’t I—do about
it? What will my challenge be as a Christian in the year 2001?
In attempting to follow more faithfully our brother Jesus Christ,
born into a poor family more than two thousand years ago and living
out a passionate ministry of justice, what is my passion? What
is my mission? These are questions that I ask myself all the time,
although I do not always take time to ponder on them,
to wrestle with them. And I certainly do not think I have all
the answers to them, either! I do believe we all have certain
missions in life—to be a more creative teacher; to listen
more carefully to a child, spouse or friend; to build a house
in Nicaragua; to learn something new; to be a better father or
mother; to share a toy; to visit a sick neighbor; to plant trees
or pick up trash along the highway. The trick is in how we follow
our missions, our passions. The key—to me, anyway—is
in carrying out our passions with integrity and utmost
respect, and with an open spirit of learning. To carry out our
missions in ways that challenge ourselves to go a little farther,
that stretch us a little more. And never, ever to carry them out
at the expense of another’s dignity and humanity. My prayer
for this new year is that I would heed these words myself, and
have the valor to say them when they need to be said.
In the peace of Christ,
Ellen Sherby
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 251
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