Another wonderful time celebrating our shared faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Food. Singing. The word of the Lord. Two wonderful friends baptized. Praise be to God for a simply wonderful day.

For those of you that may be checking our website for the first time, our Celebration Sundays happen once every two months and are times in which we join together the small groups that are meeting in different parts of the city for a shared time of worship and fellowship. We sing, we pray, we read the word of the Lord, we teach and we encourage one another. Essentially, we share life and remind each other of our hope in the Lord. This celebration time brought a number of people for the first time. Some of these we have known from our work in different areas of town but had yet to participate in our weekly times of worship. So, this Sunday a number of newcomers came and witnessed God at work. Following is a video and some pictures of this really, really good day!

La Celebracion Agosto 2010 from JM Davidson on Vimeo.

Like I’ve told many of our new Peruvian friends, we just want to follow Jesus example in the ways that we are able.  While, as of yet, I haven’t been able to raise the dead or miraculously make the lame to walk, there are many other ways that we can care for people’s physical well being.  One of those ways is to invite our brothers and sisters who have been trained medically to provide quality medical care to many that can’t afford it here in Lima.

So, that’s just what we did.  In July we had a good sized group of volunteers come down from the United States to help us with our first ever medical campaign. As part of the group we had doctors, dentists and nurses along with tons of great helpers, skilled laborers and all kinds of people willing to take the time and effort to come and show God’s love to their Peruvian neighbors in this ever shrinking world we live in.  We focussed our efforts in an area of Lima called Paraiso, which mean Paradise.  This campaign was a wild success.  Many people received the kind of medical care that they hadn’t been able to get and, more importantly, God’s love was spread through a community that so desperately needs it.  The kind of community that I think you likely would have found Jesus walking through 2000 years ago.

For a better glimpse into our first Medical Campaign in “Paradise” take a few minutes and watch our video…

Medical Campaign 2010 – Paraiso from Twentyeight19 Ministries on Vimeo.

The other day, when my Mom was in town visiting, we were able to explore the Cathedral de San Francisco located in the heart of Lima. This cathedral dates back to the 17th century, and is most famous for the catacombs beneath the building. As we explored the beautiful structure which once served as home to Franciscan monks, we came across the dining room which particularly caught my attention. At the very end of the hall was a huge painting of the Last Supper.

The painting at the end of the hallway is entitled “The Last Supper” and was drawn by a Peruvian artist over a hundred years ago. Although this picture depicts the Biblical story of the Last Supper in Luke 22, there are some distinct characteristics of this painting that really caught my eye. It might be hard to tell, but look at the painting (located below) and see if anything in the painting stands out to you.

Last Supper Painting

I would love to hear your comments, but for me two things stood out. The first was what was on the menu for the Last Supper. If one looks closely, one can tell that on the plate is a Peruvian delicacy known as “Cuy”, which translated into English is “Guinea Pig.” I found it amusing that the artist when visualizing the supper that night, envisioned Jesus and his disciples chomping on the meat of grilled guinea pig.

(THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ALERT – MOVE TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IF BORED)
Here we have an instance of a person looking at the Biblical story through the lens of his own experience, own surroundings, and own culture. As a person interested in missions it makes me think about the relationship between the church and its surrounding environment. Is it more effective to transplant a model of church into a given milieu, or to allow each body to grow, develop, and mature in light of the particularity of its own environment? Does there have to be a dichotomy between faith and culture or can they work together to better reach those in a particular setting? Was the life and ministry of Jesus contextual? Was it was geared for a particular time in a particular culture. Jesus was born a Jew, not some kind of universal man. He lived his life as a Jew studying Torah, participating in yearly festivals, and attending the synagogue. Furthermore, instead of meeting general needs of humanity as a whole, Jesus’ ministry aimed to meet the needs of people in their own particular circumstances. He gave sight to the blind, gave hearing to the deaf, gave healing to the sick, freedom to the captives, and forgave the sinners. It seems to me that his ministry was highly influenced by context. Using Christ’s ministry as an example, just like the artist in the painting did, we should consider ways to communicate God’s narrative in terms of Peruvian circumstances and context. THEOLOGICAL RAMBLING ENDS HERE

The next characteristic of interest is located between the second and third guy to the right of Jesus. Can you see it? That’s right it is the devil. What is the devil doing at the Lord’s supper? I didn’t know he was invited. The artist gives us an excellent illustration of the elusiveness, influence, and reality of the Devil. How many of you saw him before it was pointed out to you? Not very many, as one really has to look hard to find him. He was there the whole time, yet hard to find. He is hidden in the background, gently whispering suggestions in the ear of Judas. Once he is recognized however, one can spot him, point him out, and realize what he is up to.

Multiples times each day, the Franciscan monks of Cathedral de San Francisco would stare at this paining. It would remind them of the contextual and relevant aspects of the Gospel and that the devil, although hard to detect at times, is always there, lurking in the background, and seeking to influence those around him.

Lima is a wonderful city, full of excitement, culture, and history. When you come to Lima we can take you to some of these magnificent places, and even hit a local Peruvian restaurant where you can eat your very own Guinea Pig. We look forward to your visit :).

Our time here has been right in the middle of the rainy season… our afternoons have been filled with dark clouds and torrential downpours. And in many ways it has been a rainy season for our team as well. We have had some incredibly difficult times. Times of strife and conflict and resolution and forgiveness. Stresses of culture shock and we’ve personally been dealing with growing from a family of 3 to a family of 4. We have mourned with our team mates through their time of loss and through it all we’ve grown together.

Even now the rains continue to fall. I pray and hope that these rains will lead to life and growth in the light of the love of our father…

The Fletchers have been planning all along on returning to the US for a while at the end of this semester of language school. After spending some time with their supporters they plan on heading on down to Lima.

But things have changed a bit… It’s seems like a lesson I keep learning over and over… our plans don’t mean much.

This afternoon, the Fletchers boarded a plane and headed back to Texas a week earlier than planned because they recently received some very scary news from their doctors. You’d be best off just reading it in Stephanie’s own words on their blog, here. Basically, after losing their baby boy earlier in the semester, despite taking precautions against it, Stephanie had become pregnant again. After an appointment with a doctor this week where they couldn’t find the heart beat they are getting back home as soon as possible to get the best medical attention they can. Please pray for them… they need your prayers… that God will protect that little baby inside of Steph… pray that God will take them under his wing and give them comfort and peace that only he can provide… pray that the storm clouds will clear and the Fletchers can rest in the warm light of the Father.

Words can’t describe the emotions that flood your heart and soul when something like this happens. I know for some, they say it is times like this when they grapple with God the most. It is comforting to know that it’s okay to be mad at God. That it’s okay to wrestle with difficult emotions and have thousands of questions that you want answered. Because no matter how you look at it or what happens in the end, it’s like Steph said on her blog post, “God is still God.”

I heard this song by Derek Webb for the first time last night. It’s called, This Too Shall Be Made Right. It’s a song full of simple verses that have a powerful message. These are the lines I heard:

Yes there’s a time for peace, there is a time for war.
There’s a time to forgive and a time to settle the score.
A time for babies to lose their lives.
A time for hunger and genocide.

And this too shall be made right.

Oh I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door.
And I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore.
I’m trading comfort for human life.
And that’s not just murder it’s suicide.

And this too shall be made right.
Oh this too shall be made right.

We love you, Lee and Stephanie. And we love the little boy we never got to meet, simply because he was a part of you and a precious creation of our awesome God. Time will heal the wounds, but the scars prove he’ll never be forgotten.

And this too shall be made right.

On July 28, 1821, San Martin declared independence for Peru by proclaiming, “… From this moment on, Peru is free and independent, for the general will of the towns and for the justice of its cause that God defends. Long live the homeland! Long live freedom! Long live our independence!”.

While the country of Peru is indeed free to this day… we know that so many of the people of Peru have continued to live in bondage. The chains of this bondage come in many forms… economic, social and religious oppression, terrorism and fear, poverty and injustice, just to name a few of the tools the evil one has used. The good news is that we have a God who’s truth brings true freedom and who’s love drives out fear, a God that saves us from the onslought of Satan. It’s this good news that we so desperately want to share… the new life of the only true freedom.