Christian Based Community Reflection
One
of the first things I noticed was the change in the level of poverty that
steadily increased as we made our two hour trip outside of the capital city
limits to the community of Tierra Blanca. When we arrived we were met by
Hermana Elena who served as our host nun for the weekend. Due to her knowledge
of the community over the course of the weekend we were able to: visit a pig
co-op started by youth of Tierra Blanca just this month; meet a woman, Martha
Luna, from a nearby community who shared her testimony with us; get to know another
woman, Birma, who showed us her coconut jewelry and let us sit in on her dance
class with the community children; and spend time talking with a number of
young people who are passionate about improving their future and that of their
community. However, the weekend was more than just a collection of visits and
meetings with the people of the community, the trip became a brief moment of
solidarity, if only for a short period of time. The citizens of Tierra Blanca
could be called many things, but the passion they had for life, the arts, and
each other makes calling them ‘poor’ a spoken absurdity based solely on their
socioeconomic status. Through being in this Christian-based community for the
weekend we were able to contextualize many of the course readings about
liberation theology in Latin America.
For example, when Sobrino stated in The Subversive and Joyful memory of the
Martyrs that “Here in El Salvador we do not forget the cross.” my original
response was apprehensive about the truth in that statement. Yet, when we
arrived at the community center in Tierra Blanca the first thing we noticed was
a huge banner across the ceiling that had the name of Monsignor Romero,
paintings on the walls of other martyrs, and the symbol of the cross on nearly
every door in the building. This décor seemed to be excessive adornment at
first; however, as the weekend went on what Sobrino called “living memory” was
visible in the way the members of the community strove to act out their faith,
which make the visible symbols more than just a decoration but a sign of their
deep belief in the cross. Their actions
made a stronger statement than even the symbols in their building, which is
more than I can say of the large and fancy Christian community center next to
my house in the states.
An interesting fact about the community
center of Tierra Blanca is that it is owned by the community but was built and
donated by the former priest. The activities that go on in the building vary
from art classes, to dance classes, to reading time with the young members of
the community, scholarship lunch program for students in high school from neighboring towns, to agricultural
cooperative meetings , to a psychological clinic, and small store. The building
itself is a result of someone living out the Christian life by funding this
project, while the activities inside the building is full of the work of others
living out their Christian life by using the space to improve the lives of
their neighbors. In this sense, the church has truly started what Pablo Richards
in Liberation Theology in the New
International Context refers to as a “popular movement” by creating a physical
space for the social base of the development of the town. Even though this center
is owned by the community there is a symbiotic relationship between the church
and the center. If you consider the church to be more than a building but the
people who believe and live the Christian life, then understanding how this
community center is a key element of the Christian based community life becomes
easier.
Another element of the visit that
deserves discussion is Hermana Elena herself. We had the privilege of spending
a lot of time with this wonderful woman throughout the weekend. When Gutierrez
mentioned Dorothy Day’s idea of “voluntary poverty” in his Essential Writings, the idea seemed to fit well with the work of
Hermana Elena in Tierra Blanca. The very nature of being a nun seems to fit
well into the idea of solidarity from my perspective given that they are living
a voluntary life of service guided by their faith in God. Solidarity in its true form is a rare
occurrence as truly stepping out of the safety net of a privileged life is
nearly impossible. Unlike the people with whom we may attempt to live in solidarity,
we have a way out of our choice to live a simple or materially poor life. We
have the choice to live in solidarity or to not live in solidarity, which is,
in itself a privilege that sets us apart. For example, while we spent a couple
hours working at the pig co-op carrying
bricks and putting mortar between the aforementioned bricks to help build new
pig pens. We had a brief moment of solidarity of sorts with the young people
who are doing that work every day to get their project off the ground. However,
we can wash our hands, take a shower, and eventually return to our nice house
in San Salvador. We are not living their reality but we have a taste of
solidarity and awareness of what their daily experience is like. In that sense,
they did us a great service. On the
other hand, Hermana Elena, who is originally from the United States, lives the
daily experience of the poor. She shares herself, her house, her food, and her
talents with the people of Tierra Blanca. She lives very simply but is one of
the happiest women that I know. She is far closer to the concept of living in
solidarity and from our weekend experience with her it is clear to me that she
is allowing herself to be an instrument of God and, is thus, a liberating force
for those around her.
The feeling of community in Tierra
Blanca is very strong. It could also easily be called a Christian-based
community. However, much of what we experienced was only related to actual
religious practice in the idea of living out the Christian faith by sharing
talents and gifts between people in the community. The Golden rule taken from
the Bible in various phrasings that calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves
is put into action by many people in Tierra Blanca who donate their time to
helping their neighbor. While the traditional idea of “the poor” as discussed
in Methodology of Theology of Liberation
by Clodovis Boff is that by the word “poor” people mean “dependency, weakness,
helplessness, anonymity, contempt, and humiliation,” much to our surprise the
people of Tierra Blanca are lacking in opportunity to improve their financial
position due to the unequal system not a lack of intelligence or creativity. Seeing
the art work, dance, and musical talent and the general respectful nature of
the young people reinforced and expanded upon that general grasp of knowledge
that being “poor” is something quite different from not having money. Far be it
from me to state that they should have to continue living in poverty while
others bask in their own immense financial wealth, I do believe that the people
of Tierra Blanca and other similar communities around the world have a
closeness and strength that has quite nearly disappeared from the ‘first
world’.
Perhaps this is why in the parable of
the Camel and the Eye of the needle in the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus says “Verily
I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." We have our
ideas of what is important but easily the material riches can cloud out our
visceral connection and need for community. So in that sense, it would actually be
beneficial for the spiritual life of the world if we would take up the cross of
the financially poor and take on what Gutierrez calls “spiritual poverty” for
the sake of our own salvation. The political crossing of the ideas of
liberation and traditional ideas of theology is to my understanding the manner
in which Latin America has expressed the above sentiments.
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