Walking With El Salvador

Just a few images from early in the Christmas season, when the focus was clearly a bit more on the shopping and a bit less on the Savior... Feliz Navidad! Santa Claus even made it to the altar!

The country was occupied.  Soldiers marched in the streets.  The occupying government ordered the people to report to officials in their home towns.  María and José had no choice.  They had to go.  It didn't matter that they were poor.  It didn't matter that María was pregnant.  The expectant couple  packed up a few belongings for the journey, and they went.  Lots of people were on the move.  When they were close to their destination, Maria went into labor.  José frantically searched for a room.  He knocked on doors.  No one wanted to let him in.  He was an outsider.  His accent was different.  He was dirty from traveling.  Finally a kind person gave welcome, and guided María and José to an animal stall.  Was there time to find a midwife?  Maybe José and María were on their own. The baby boy was born and José named Jesús.  There was no crib.  José made a little bed of hay in the feeding trough.  Emmanuel - God With Us - entered the world as a migrant. God says, "Th

Monday, December 18, 2017 has been designated by the United Nations as International Migrants Day.  The following is a litany which I wrote and which we will be using during a vigil and civic action today in front of the ICE office in our city. Litany for the Vigil Form a semi-circle.   Each group of 2 can share a page – one person reading Part A and the other person reading Part B. (The idea is to have the people arranged ABABAB…).   Leader A and Leader B will help to guide the group reading. Group A:   God, bless our feet which have journeyed for so many miles.   Will they take us to a place of safety, a place of welcome, a place to call home? Group B:   God, give our feet strength to accompany our brothers and sisters who have fled from their homelands, fled from violence, from famine, from persecution. Group A:   God, bless our legs.   We wait, we stand in lines, we stand beside walls, we stand outside doors.   Group B:   God, give our legs strength to stand in s

When Salvadoran pastors are asked what a sister church might bring to a companion relationship, one of the most often stated responses is:  A Scholarship Program.  I am a teacher.  I believe that investments in education are valuable and life-changing.  In my work with the Salvadoran Lutheran Church, I am asked to help sort out scholarship program messes and challenges on a regular basis - both on the Salvadoran end and on the US end.  Setting up and sustaining a healthy scholarship program has its challenges. Challenges aside, scholarship programs can dramatically change the lives of children and youth.  The best ones are holistic in nature and provide students and their families with all kinds of opportunities for learning, fellowship, community service, and spiritual growth along with the economic support for those who need it in order to be able to go to school.  The best ones help little ones and their families build the habit of good school attendance and commitment to educat