Followers in a Dangerous Time: Colombian Mennonites Living Their Faith
April 15th, 2007
Tim Schmucker
Text:
Acts 15:27-32
Psalm 118
Excerpts from lectionary readings
• Acts 5:27-32
27When the captain of the temple and the temple police had brought the apostles, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in Jesus’ name….29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
• Psalm 118
6With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?
7The Lord is on my side to help me; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. ….
14The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
24This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
29O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Also used: excerpts from Hebrews Chapters 11-12
Photo #1 Hector
Hector arrived 2 hours late to our meeting in Bogotá. Late because he had received yet another death threat that morning. Another one; countless death threats over the last 3 decades. Nevertheless, he started right into describing Colombia’s reality to us. He explained in detail the collusion between multinational corporations and the Colombian elite in maintaining the majority of Colombia’s 44 million people impoverished and displaced … or dead. He explained how this multi-decade collusion has served to make vast Colombia’s resources – both people and natural – completely available for exploitation, for wealth-building of the powerful. How they’ve used blatant robbery and law-breaking, and in recent years, labour union leader assassinations and privatizations, the latter rubber-stamped by their puppets in government. We were captivated listeners; Hector is quite passionate and engaging. Yet, we couldn’t shake the reality that this smiling, fervent man talking to us was running from a death threat. At that very moment.
Hector is a Colombian Mennonite.
He went on to describe how this incredible economic injustice and exploitation has been both a cause and an effect of the violence and civil conflict that Colombia is infamous for. You’ve probably heard the numbers before:
• 3 million displaced people (internal refugees) and 3000 kidnapped people.
• At the height of the war several years ago, 30,000 dead yearly.
• Numerous illegal armed forces, some more powerful than the official army.
Then one of us asked him about his personal story. Thirty years ago Hector was a young economics professor and human rights worker in Barrancabermeja, a city in the centre of a strategic oil producing region. Facing privatization and mass layoffs, the oil workers union went on strike, and was supported by a local human rights organization; Hector was a leader in that organization. The local government declared the strike and the human rights organization illegal, and the military took control of the city. The army roamed the streets with orders to capture Hector and his colleagues. They escaped, the workers didn’t back down, and privatization was averted (for then). But when he went back to teaching, in Bogotá this time, little did he know that the military’s “capture” list was still active. He was subsequently apprehended and tortured by the Colombian military, by a general who had graduated from the United States Army’s School of the Americas. Hector was 23 years old then.
Hector is a long-term member of Teausaquillo Mennonite Church, my wife Jacqui’s home church. Photo #2 Hector
Now, thirty years later, his hands still tremble, a consequence of the torture. He jumps when someone enters the room too quickly. His piercing, gray-green eyes are at times bloodshot and constantly shifting. Yet, he has a contagious smile and an engaging manner. He’s internationally-known as an astute analyst of Colombia’s social and armed conflict. An economist and expert in peasant and indigenous farming communities, he has been the adviser of the National Council of Indigenous People, and of the National Council of Colombian Peasant Farmers. At the same time, he has had to live much of the last two decades in hiding due to the frequent death threats. Ten years ago he and his family were forced into exile in Spain. In his words:
“My work is not secret, but I always have to speak as I am today, somewhat covertly. To create a routine is to commi
t suicide. I have to make my appointments on short notice and only with people who are trustworthy. I don’t sleep in the same bed two nights in a row. I used to teach Sunday school, but now I can’t attend church much. For the past number of years, the government and paramilitaries are daily trying to figure out how to kill me.
Hector is our Mennonite brother. He is part of the preaching team at his church, but his preaching schedule is secret and sporatic; sometimes twice in a month, other times 4 months go by without him attending church….
We were understandably stunned with the Colombian reality and his story. Then one of us asked: “What is your hope for Colombia?” He responded: “oh, I don’t have hope, but I have faith.” …. I don’t have hope, but I have faith. Hector’s words have been echoing in my mind ever since. I thought at first that I understood, but the more I’ve reflected on them, the more I realize that Hector knows or rather experiences a spiritual grounding that goes beyond my experience. How can you have faith, but no hope?
Thinking about Hector’s words – I don’t have hope, but I have faith – I’ve been drawn to the NT letter to the Hebrews. Those of you who know me and also know the book of Hebrews may think I’m joking. “Schmucker? Drawn to Hebrews? Ha ha!” …. Go ahead, you can laugh…. Not funny? I guess those of you who know me well, haven’t read the book of Hebrews recently. Let’s just say that with its lofty Christological framework and its salvation language rooted in the Hebraic system of sacrifice, Hebrews isn’t a book that I’ve tried to memorize (or even read much). In addition, it spends 13 long chapters making an argument for the superiority of Jesus’ sacrifice over the OT sacrificial system – an agenda that I simply don’t relate to.
Yet, pondering Hector’s declaration – I don’t have hope, but I have faith – I have been drawn to Hebrews, and I think the writer of Hebrews knew something that Hector also knows. Chapter 11, the first verses: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen….” Hector’s words become clearer for me in this context. Hope is based on what we know and see. In Spanish the verb for “to hope” and “to expect” is the same word. Hoping has evidence of some kind backing up the hope. It has some semblance of reasonableness. Understanding hope and faith in this way, Hector has no hope for Colombia. There’s no evidence, it’s not reasonable to expect that Colombia’s tragic reality will improve. But he has faith. He has faith. And it’s his faith that grounds him, it’s his faith that has kept him working diligently toward God’s kingdom for these decades in spite of grave personal sacrifice.
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It’s in his faith that Hector has the courage and conviction to believe that one day, that which he cannot see with human eyes, will come to fruition. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Hector would declare: “I have a faith.” He and King with his “Dream” would probably be saying much the same thing. His faith gives Hector the assurance that what he cannot see is worth struggling for; it gives him the conviction of a reality not seen. His faith gives him “a confidence now, when injustice and oppression reign in Colombia, that the promises of God for justice and peace, for mercy and salvation can be trusted. Yet, this faith is more than the inner confidence that the powers of the world that oppress and destroy human life will eventually be overcome and that God’s promises will be fulfilled someday. It’s much more; it is the reality of those promises moving as an advance Kingdom force and operating behind “enemy lines”. A few verses later Hebrews chapter 11 says “All of these [OT heroes] died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.” Hector expects to die without receiving the promises of justice for Colombia. But through his faith he can see that reality – God’s reality. And he will continue his work in God’s kingdom, with the apostles, “obeying God rather than any human authority.” And with the Psalmist, Hector sings: “With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me? The Lord is my strength and my might; the Lord has become my salvation.”
Photo #3 Marina and David Two other Colombian Mennonites who walk by faith, obeying God rather than human authorities are Marina and David Bonilla. Their quiet witness to their faith and following Jesus before all others has been a great challenge and inspiration to us. And it’s caused faith to grow in an area of Colombia where there’s little hope; indeed it’s a desolate place where despair is king. Marina and David are Mennonite Brethren church planters. Three years ago or so, their middle class congregation in Northern Bogotá supported them as they reached out to a slum on the mountainsides of southern Bogotá. “Cazucá”, a huge squatter-type area, is filled with over 50,000 displaced people who’ve fled violence and war in rural parts of Colombia, plus economic refugees – the most marginalized who cannot live anywhere else.
Photo #4 Cazucá: It’s overcrowded and impoverished. People there struggle daily to acquire their basic needs. They live in makeshift houses with few basic services. Every year, some homes collapse when rains turn the dusty hillside to mud. Cazucá is constantly expanding to cover the hills along the southern outskirts of Bogotá, with maze-like roads between simple brick houses and huts made of boards and sheet metal parts. Well-functioning water supplies and sewage systems are non-existent. There is an unbelievable absence of education and health services. For example, there is no hospital in Cazucá; residents have to travel out of the area to access medical service. With no public transportation available at night, emergencies have to wait until morning. Regarding education, one third of the children cannot go to school. Add to all this the permeating presence of illegal armed groups that vie for control of the hearts and minds of the youth. Nonconformity or disobedience to the paramilitary or guerrilla usually results in death. Several times a week, the morning greets the residents with young bodies left in the streets.
Into this context of poverty, despair and violence, Marina and David started a church. Photo #5 Marina and David. From the outset, they had a holistic vision of meeting spiritual and socio-economic needs. However, what we found so incredibly inspiring and challenging was something more. You see, Marina and David soon realised that to be fully present among the people, to truly walk with them, to authentically do the work of God’s Kingdom church in Cazucá , they couldn’t continue to live in their comfortable, middle-class area of Bogotá. So they gave up their comf
orts and security, their nice apartment and solid jobs, and moved to Cazucá. Yes, they moved to this zone of despair and violence, of makeshift houses and few basic services. Umm, sounds like “And the Word became flesh and lived among us….” But that would be another sermon.
David and Marina lead the Mennonite Brethren Church “El Progreso”. Integrally joined to the congregation – both physically in their structure and theologically in their gospel – is a pre-school for the neediest children of their neighbourhood. Here they accept the most vulnerable children and provide them with loving care, education, and meals. They are expanding their programme one level per year. For example, last year senior kindergarten was the highest level; this year it’s Grade One. Next year they will also offer Grade Two. And so on. (We need to pause here for a 10 second commercial break. The majority of the funding for this school and its growth comes from MCC via “Global Families”.) The gospel David and Marina preach on Sunday is vividly seen in their lives seven days a week.
I presented to them the letter that our pastor Gary Harder wrote for us to carry to Colombia. Here’s an excerpt: We have often heard about life in Colombia, and have heard many stories of how you followers of Jesus are courageously living out and testifying to your faith in Jesus and his way of peace. In our church here in Toronto we have often prayed for the churches and the Christians in Colombia. But we also need your prayers so that we will be faithful to what God calls us to live out and witness to.
David and Marina were touched by the letter and send their love and greetings to us at TUMC. They also asked for prayer regarding a specific personal burden. As you may have noticed, Marina is pregnant; they are expecting their first baby late this spring. Due to a sewage lagoon at the bottom of the hill that the church/school and their home is on, babies and small children are sick a lot. The lagoon dries and sewage dust fills the air during the windy dry season. They are worried about the health of their baby yet to be born. Do they risk the baby’s health in order to continue the work they feel God has called them to? “Pray for us” they ask us.
And again I’m drawn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12 this time, the well-known “so great a cloud of witnesses” passage. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” With the example of such witnesses we are enabled to put aside that which hinders us, and with Jesus leading us, we run the race which is building God’s kingdom of justice and mercy.
Marina and David, and Hector too, are a living part of that “great cloud of witnesses”; they give us courage to lay aside every weight and run the race, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. We can live with joy in every day that the Lord has made. We don’t have to fear with God on our side. And we have courage to obey God rather than human authorities. While hope may falter, we have faith.
I close with the paraphrased words of that great Baptist preacher, who struggled for justice for the marginalized blacks in the American south 4 and 5 decades ago. This is for all the Hectors, Davids and Marinas of Colombia, indeed for all Colombians.
I Have a Faith (with apologies to Martin Luther King)
I have faith that one day Colombia will rise up and live out the true meaning of its constitution: “all persons are born free and equal and shall receive equal treatment from the authorities and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities without discrimination.”
I have faith that one day on the hills of Montes de Maria where so much blood has been shed, that the children of former slaves and the children of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of sister/brotherhood.
I have faith today.
I have faith that one day even the province of Córdoba, a province sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of justice and dignity.
I have faith that one day, in Magdalena Media, and in Sucre, and in Putumayo, with their vicious paramilitaries enforcing the will of the elite and the corporations; one day right there, poor kids of all skin colours (whether black or white or indigenous or mixed) will be able to join hands with the children of the elite families and with the children of the commanders of the armed groups, join hands as sisters and brothers.
I have faith today.
I have faith that one day in Cazucá every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all Colombians shall see it together.
I have faith today! Amen and amen!