Sunday, June 23rd: Morning Worship & Free Time with the Kids

Good morning, faith partners. Today I experienced God in an unusual way. I met a boy with a physical handicap. We played baseball, and, although he is handicapped, he tried his best to pitch me the ball and to bat as I threw him the ball. His name is Michael. We went to Wal-Mart today because Slocomb needed a few things and so did other people. I was excited to buy some Honduran coffee for my mother. To my surprise, it was very inexpensive. I asked a local if the coffee was good and he said yes. As we were getting ready to leave I discovered churros. They are amazing. That's all I have to say. Carl made balloons for the kids, and, instead of letting him make hats and swords and things, all the kids wanted was just the balloons themselves. Thank you faith partners for giving me the chance to have this wonderful experience.

-Warren Stoker

This morning we were able to attend St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Tegucigalpa. The service was scheduled to start at 10:30, and I'm not exactly sure when it started. Similarly to some Sundays at Christ Church Cathedral, the church was fairly sparse when the service started, but by the time the sermon was given, the chapel was full. The congregants at St. Mary's were passionate and energetic, singing their hearts out to praise songs set to tunes such as Simon and Garfunkel's “Sound of Silence.” The St. Mary's version of the song was all about Jesus, though. Not silence. Anyway, the Lectionary this morning was (I think) the same as yours: Jesus casting out a man's two thousand demons into the herd of pigs. The priest, in good Episcopal fashion, explored how the Gospel reading might apply to the congregants. At St. Mary's, the people were mostly middle-class, relatively young Hondurans. For the priest of St. Mary's, Jesus' calling the demon-possessed man to stay in his own town and tell all that God had done for him—rather than leaving it all behind to follow Jesus—resounded. The priest reiterated to the congregation the power of Christ to cast out demons, in this instance, from Honduran society, and to bring abundant life. It was a very socially-minded sermon, exhorting the people of St. Mary's to work to “cast out the demons” from their community and country. With national elections coming up for Honduras in November, I'm sure the idea of positive social change is weighing on the hearts of community-minded Hondurans.

For me, the church service was very special because it was the first one in Spanish which I could follow relatively easily. When Slocomb and I lived in Ecuador, we occasionally attended the Catholic cathedral a few blocks from our apartment. But without leaflets or prayer books, I had a lot of trouble following. At St. Mary's, however, the prayer book was almost exactly the same as our BCPs (including using the same type face). I think that even the non-Spanish speakers in our group were able to follow along because we pray the common prayers, due in part to the genius of our world-wide Anglican Communion. Moreover, in my mind, it is a divine work that our prayers transcend language.

Thank you, faith partners and blog-followers, for your prayers and contributions towards bringing us here. I believe that, with your help and support, we are helping to empower the next generation of Hondurans to make positive social change in their own country as Christ called them—and us—to do.

-Leslie Jenkins Reed

For Monday June 24th:  Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 (The Man of the Hour)

(Enjoying their new - and very temporary - toys)

(The girls of El Hogar creating full-body self-portraits)

(Working Together)