Start Over Again!

Nicaragua – Day 4

September 26, 2017

Let's Start Over Again!

Today was a long and trying day, but at the same time, each and every moment was meaningful and encouraging. The day started with the usual delicious breakfast. However, before leaving for the work site, an individual came to talk with us a bit about the history of Nicaragua. Before I go any further, let me set a few things straight.

1. Nicaragua is a country with a rich and complex history that is full of many amazing accomplishments as well as many extremely trying times. It is an interesting history, but not one that can be easily fit into a two-hour discussion.
2. Part of Nicaragua's history is difficult to hear no matter who you are or where you are from. However, if you are a citizen of the United States, this history can easily get emotionally fraught with the recognition that as proud as we may be to be US citizens and as much as we love our country, we cannot and should not be blind to some of the actions that have been taken in our history that have severely affected the Nicaraguan people.
3. In the past, these type of discussions have caused hurt feelings and unease with those who have, of their own volition and free-will, come to Nicaragua with love in their heart and a desire to do good in the world. This can negatively affect the experience of someone whose intentions are pure and are offset by what may seem at times to run contrary to the narrative they have always held fast to.

In the past I have often felt uneasy with groups engaged in mission when this type of discussion occurs. However, I have to admit that this time I was amazed at how this group responded. The gentleman leading the discussion was also respectful, easy-going and conversationally engaging. This team responded in the best possible way; paying attention, throwing aside any pre-conceived notions and willing to hear a different side of the story. I am impressed, amazed, and thankful that they participated in the positive way that they did and that they were willing to entertain some questions that can be difficult to contemplate.

After this discussion, we headed to the work-site. Our job today was masonry. Mixing cement (sometimes by hand) and laying the blocks for the special wall that will encompass the x-ray room in the new clinic. The Nicaraguan guys that worked along side us were wonderful. There was a large language barrier between the local guys and most of those in the team, but what words couldn't explain, body language and laughter could. Everyone enjoyed each others' company and even though the work was taxing, the atmosphere made it seem easier than it was.

As the work day came to a close, we headed back home to get showered and changed in time to be ready for dinner. It is my custom at the end of the day on trips like this to have a debriefing and group discussion and devotional. We talked first about everyone's impressions from the day, things that they noticed, memorable moments, etc. However, I asked them the night before to do some “homework.” Our hosts are an organization called the “Jubilee House Community.” For those who know them or know their bible, or who know both, will have an idea what the word Jubilee means and its relevance both in scripture and socially. I asked the team the night before to think about what Jubilee means and maybe why that name was chosen by our hosts and/or what significance it might have to the work we have been doing and to the work this organization has been doing over the past 30 years.

“You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sound loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month – on the day of atonement – you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you..” (Leviticus 25:8-10a)

I bring this up for a couple of reasons. Sometimes we can get weighed down with Scripture because we believe that a literal translation is the only option. Leviticus as a whole is problematic in this respect. The scripture continues on for some time and lays out exactly what is to happen in the Year of Jubilee. Rather than list the whole chapter, suffice it to say that it required all debts to be forgiven, requires all slaves or household servants to be set free, requires forgiveness for any wrongs, and the list goes on.

For my purposes, the specifics are not the most important thing. Through this scripture, if we look at it as a whole, we can see a hidden purpose. The point isn't necessarily to form a checklist and make sure everything on the list is checked off in order to uphold what God envisions with this Jubilee. Rather, the question to ask is why God felt it necessary to have the Year of Jubilee in the first place.

Human beings are imperfect, this we know, this our history tells us. We rack up debt we can't afford to pay back. We hurt others with decisions we make or actions we take. We steal, we plunder, we kill and we maim. Yet, just as we accept that humans are of God's creation, we also accept that our free-will is also necessary for God's plan to reach fulfillment. God is no amateur and God knows this about us. At the same time, God also recognizes that every so often we need to start again. We need a blank slate. This is where the debt forgiveness comes in and the setting slaves free. We need to begin again. While debt forgiveness is mentioned specifically, it is important to realize what is really being asked of us here. The Year of Jubilee is about making a plan to totally forgive all wrongs done. Not forgetting, but forgiving.

This forgiveness is key. If we don't forgive, then we can't move on. If we don't forgive, then it means we are not willing to look past ourselves to the greater purpose. If we believe, as we claim to, that God has a purpose for us, then accepting our need to forgive needs to be part and parcel of seeking out that greater purpose. In other words, if we can't forgive, then we can't truly know God. If we can't forgive, all is for naught.

When we look at the world around us, we see the problems, the violence, the war. It is easy for us to pass the blame to others and refuse to accept our own guilt. This disrupts the forgiveness necessary for the reconciliation of creation. Being here in Nicaragua, learning what we have learned about our own history and theirs, it becomes necessary to recognize that nothing good can happen unless we agree to start over again. We can't erase the history, nor should we. However, me mustn't hold on to it for its own sake, for tradition's sake, for the sake of flag or patriotism. Nicaragua and the United States need to start over again. While I am referring to the history of two specific nations, the truth of scripture is telling us that this is a command for all. We need to start over again. We can't start over again unless we can totally forgive all wrongs done, all hurts caused, all blood and tears shed. We as a species need to start over again.

When the people here at the Jubilee House Community began their work, first in North Carolina while working with the homeless and creating battered women shelters, and then later here in Central America, they had to have known this fact of what Jubilee means. Our shared faith led them down this path and the name they chose couldn't be more fitting. Jubilee. Let's start over again. It is necessary for our own future development, it is necessary for our current estate, and it is required by the God we claim to love and follow. And there it is, way back at the beginning of Scripture, God is telling us, create the Jubilee, forgive, form relationships again, work hard to love, to serve and to lead. We need to start over again. I'm thankful this group has helped this week to do just that.

It might not seem like more than laying a few bricks on a wall that will help x-ray exams be done in a poverty-stricken place. It might not seem like more than mixing cement by hand to better the health care in a poor community. It might not seem like much more than that. Yet, it is. It is through these little steps that we can help answer the ancient call to help us all start over again.