It is a little difficult for me to believe that it has been 4 weeks since I returned from El Salvador. Perhaps what is even more difficult for me to believe is that up until yesterday, I really haven’t discussed the journey with anyone, well, except for you. I am always amazed at the way the Holy Spirit works. Yesterday, I was pretty much minding my own business, doing my sermon on Jesus healing the leper, and suddenly I was sharing some of the most significant details of the experience with the congregation.
Oh, I know exactly how I got there, it made perfect sense as I was talking about seeing other people as children of God, and how it is important for us to see each other and love each other the way that God sees and loves us. It was at that moment that the Holy Spirit stepped in and took me a direction that I hadn’t planned. Suddenly, I took the sermon one additional step, “What happens if we fail to see each other as children of God, what happens when we no longer see each other as human at all. To be honest I didn’t even see that one coming. Suddenly I was sharing with the congregation a whirlwind tour through the atrocities of El Salvador. The funny thing was, as soon as I turned that corner in my sermon, I new exactly where I was going and exactly how I was going to get there. Isn’t the Holy Spirit great!
I wanted to share with the congregation about Concepcion Sanchez and my experience in El Mozote. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about and reflect on my experience there. As a matter of fact, that will be the story that I will share with the congregation at school Tuesday when our El Salvador group leads the chapel service. I am not sure that I will ever understand how anyone could take an M-16, put it to the head of a 3 day old baby and pull the trigger. This question will haunt me for the rest of my life.
The interesting thing is that sharing with the congregation yesterday seems to have been a defining moment for me. For the first time, since I have been back, I am ready to talk about the experience that I had in El Salvador. I am ready to share the stories of the people, and to put them into some sort of historical perspective. Of course, you may say, but you have already shared these stories in your blog. That is true, I did do that, and I think that getting those stories written down was a critical step in being able to share them with others. So those of you who have read my blog got a sneak peak of what I will be sharing with others in the next couple of months.
However, that doesn’t mean that you get to stay home when I give the actual presentations, and besides, I actually have over 3000 pictures to choose from to share with everyone, and if you don’t come to one of the presentations and see the best pictures that I pick out to show, then I will come to your house and show them all to you:) And I know you wouldn't want that!
Blessings
Oh, I know exactly how I got there, it made perfect sense as I was talking about seeing other people as children of God, and how it is important for us to see each other and love each other the way that God sees and loves us. It was at that moment that the Holy Spirit stepped in and took me a direction that I hadn’t planned. Suddenly, I took the sermon one additional step, “What happens if we fail to see each other as children of God, what happens when we no longer see each other as human at all. To be honest I didn’t even see that one coming. Suddenly I was sharing with the congregation a whirlwind tour through the atrocities of El Salvador. The funny thing was, as soon as I turned that corner in my sermon, I new exactly where I was going and exactly how I was going to get there. Isn’t the Holy Spirit great!
I wanted to share with the congregation about Concepcion Sanchez and my experience in El Mozote. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about and reflect on my experience there. As a matter of fact, that will be the story that I will share with the congregation at school Tuesday when our El Salvador group leads the chapel service. I am not sure that I will ever understand how anyone could take an M-16, put it to the head of a 3 day old baby and pull the trigger. This question will haunt me for the rest of my life.
The interesting thing is that sharing with the congregation yesterday seems to have been a defining moment for me. For the first time, since I have been back, I am ready to talk about the experience that I had in El Salvador. I am ready to share the stories of the people, and to put them into some sort of historical perspective. Of course, you may say, but you have already shared these stories in your blog. That is true, I did do that, and I think that getting those stories written down was a critical step in being able to share them with others. So those of you who have read my blog got a sneak peak of what I will be sharing with others in the next couple of months.
However, that doesn’t mean that you get to stay home when I give the actual presentations, and besides, I actually have over 3000 pictures to choose from to share with everyone, and if you don’t come to one of the presentations and see the best pictures that I pick out to show, then I will come to your house and show them all to you:) And I know you wouldn't want that!
Blessings
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