October 1, 2000, was a Sunday. Four of us from Park Presbyterian Church in Beaver, PA, had arrived in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday after a long flight from JFK and a delay in Sao Paulo. A bit tired, we had been up in Favela da Ventosa at the soup kitchen in old church building. Now it was Sunday. Sunday, October 1, 2000, was the Lord’s Day, and on our North American church calendar, World Communion Sunday. Only later would I find out that few churches outside of North America know anything about World Communion Sunday. But from my very North American perspective it seemed like the perfect day to worship with Igreja Presbiteriana no Jardim América, to dedicate their barely completed new sanctuary, and to gather around the Lord’s Table. World Communion Sunday or not, it turned out to be a great day to worship.
Years earlier, my seminary classmate and first Brazilian friend, Robson Gomes, had issued a standing invitation for Becky and me and our kids to come visit them in Brazil after graduation. “Yeah, right,” had been my thought at the time, but now I was in Brazil with Robson and Juliane and their daughters. In Brazil ready to preach a sermon – in English – assist with a baptism, help at the Lord’s Supper. Ready to worship with the people of IPJA. Ready for a mission partnership.
Twenty years. Some of the details. Ten months later Becky and I and our three children were part of Park Church’s first mission trip to Brazil. Becky and I, especially, would return often. We’ve lost count of the number of trips we’ve taken. In September, 2000, I did not know a word of Portuguese. During our delay at the Sao Paulo airport, I deciphered “lixo” as the word for “thank you” since it was on the flap of the trash cans at the airport McDonald’s (the first and only Brazilian McDonald’s to which I’ve been). It turns out that lixo means trash. Since then Becky and I have learned to speak passable Portuguese and it’s the language of my sermons when I preach at IPJA, and of deep and long conversations with good friends.
Twenty years. Things change. Robson is no longer pastor at IPJA, but still a dear and valued friend. After some tough times, Michael Costa would be called as the pastor at IPJA, and we would become friends of the best sort. The partnership with Park Presbyterian would last nearly a decade, but things change. In time Langhorne Presbyterian Church would become a part of a more limited partnership, and who knows how things might change. Covid-19 has delayed the plans Becky and I were beginning to make for an early-in-retirement trip to Belo Horizonte. We’re still looking forward to that trip – in God’s time.
That first trip to Brazil and the many since then have changed me. My perspective is a little less North American than it was twenty years ago. I have learned to see and understand my own culture in the light of a different culture I have come to love. I have learned the best standard by which to measure differences has little to do with the categories of better or worse. I think I have caught a glimpse of the day described in Revelation 7, “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” I’ve learned the church is bigger and better than I once imagined.
On October 5, 2000, a day before our team of four would leave Brazil, I posted some thoughts to the old Park Church E-Pistle. I re-read that post this week and I think I may have gotten several things wrong. But I also got something right: What a week this has been. What amazing friendships we have made with the people of IPJA. …Their love is deep, genuine, and contagious.
Becky and I agree that our lives have been changed forever by what began twenty years ago. We understand culture and differences and the mission of the church so much better than we did. And amazing friendships begun twenty years ago are still filled with a deep, genuine, and contagious love. Thanks be to God.
Meus amigos brasileiros: Vinte anos. Com grande saudades de vocês. De eu e Becky – obrigadamos por tudo, por suas amizades, por sua hospitalidade, por sua parceria no evangelho. Não é possível falar nomes, porque são muitos. Mais uma vez obrigado! Nós amamos vcs.
