Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee There you will see him.'" 
-Matthew 28:5-7



Thank You to everyone who's been following along on our Lent Journey! We have all greatly enjoyed sharing our thoughts, experiences and reflections with you all. While the 40 days of lent are up and we can joyously celebrate the Easter Season, it doesn't mean we stop discovering and deepening our relationship with Christ. This is only one step forward on our lifelong walk with Him.

Today, we're finishing the blog the same way we started it - with pictures of the YASCers celebrating Easter around the world!

{Becky Gleason and Claire Harkey attended Easter service at Iglesia Episcopal Espiritu Santo in Tela, Honduras.}

{Easter Egg hunt in front of the Cathedral after service in Santiago City, Philippines.} 

{Charlotte File attended services at St. Andrew's in Kiyosoto, Japan.}

"O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son 

was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him 

the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen."

-Book of Common Prayer, page 283

{The cathedral in South Korea held an egg decorating contest. The English mission kids

 decorated our eggs with flags representing all the nationalities in our congregation.}

{The church in Dodoma, Tanzania, where Heidi Galagan attended service,

 is lit for the beautiful Easter Season.}

{Kids receiving communion on Easter Sunday at St. Andrew's in Kiyosoto, Japan}

"Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels, and let your trumpets shout 

Salvation for the victory of our Mighty King."

-Book of Common Prayer, page 286

{The lighting of the Paschal Candle at Saturday's Easter Vigil in Santiago City,

Philippines where Ashley Cameron attends mass.}

{Carlin Van Schaick and a friend at a potlock following Easter services in South Korea.}

{Claire Harkey and Becky Gleason lighting candles in Tela, Honduras during the 

Easter Vigil service on Saturday night.}

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. 

There is a sound of exultation and victory in the tents of righteous"

-Psalm 118:14-15

{Rachel Carter and Joseph Morin pictured with seminarian, Carlos, attended Easter service at San Cristobal, Panama City, Panama.}

{Easter morning service at The Seoul Anglican Cathedral of Sts. Mary and Nicholas.}

{Nina Boe in Brazil.}

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!
Alleluia! The Lord is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!

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Day 25: Coming Out of the Darkness

"...saying to prisoners, 'Come out', to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'...Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing-child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you." 
-Isaiah 49:9, 13-15



I’ve always been fond of Isaiah. There are so many wonderful verses in this lengthy book, and today’s readings do not disappoint—as per usual, there is much food for thought.

Isaiah 49: 9; 13: …saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,
 to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
 … Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people, 
and will have compassion on his suffering ones.


And yet…I can’t help but have a twinge of discomfort when I think about this reading, like really think about it. I mean, we gloss over it, we read it once, and perhaps consider how nice it sounds. But lately I’ve reflected quite a lot about darkness. Not in the sense of my YASC placement; I’m head over heels about being back in Brazil again. But just because things can go or perhaps are going well doesn’t mean we don’t have our own moments of being in darkness. Recently, someone very close to me had a few months’ bout of severe depression, enough so that their entire personality and communication was distinctly altered. It was a very difficult time through which to pass, even more so to come back to the U.S. and see her in that state.

I am so beyond thankful that due to modern medicine and caring, healing hands, that time has passed and that person has improved substantially, but when she was in the midst of it, the rest of us too felt like we were in some amount of darkness. Uncertain if it would pass. It brought back memories of my own struggles with depression in high school. The difficulties of coming out of that darkness, no matter how much I felt the calling to do just that. It’s easy to become used to the darkness, or to be so lost in it all that you wonder if it will ever end – even if there’s a light shining behind your shoulder.

It is so easy in times like these to feel as Isaiah continues:

14 But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, 
my Lord has forgotten me.’ 


Lent has always been one of my favorite seasons, if for no other reason it compels us to slow down. To wait and reflect. We’re closing in on Holy Week—and though that means getting closer to Easter Sunday, first we must pass through Good Friday, and the darkness that comes with it. There are times we might feel the weight of that darkness more than others. And yet, as the aforementioned verse says, not only will the Lord comfort us, but He will have compassion. At its root, compassion means ‘to suffer with.’ Not only do we have a God who calls us out of darkness, but He will suffer with us through it.

15 Can a woman forget her nursing-child, 
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget, 
yet I will not forget you.

Yes, we know the story that lies so soon ahead of us. We know how it plays out and that there’s a happy ending. But I take solace in the fact that we have our moments of darkness as well—the light would not seem so bright if we had nothing in which it could shine, and bring us to the joy that awaits.

Nina Boe is working in the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, 
part time  in support of the Office of the Bishop and part time with the 
Church  of the Most Holy Trinity's human rights ministry and community outreach.

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Day 24: Living Water

"Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.’" 
-Ezekiel 47:9, 12


Where I live in Honduras we do not always have running water, and when we do it is often visibly dirty. Never before had I realized just how precious water is. Just one day without water causes such a disruption in daily living. I can’t flush the toilet or wash dishes, let alone shower. Thankfully, I keep bottled water in the house for cooking and drinking, but even still going just a short time without water is difficult. I think often in the U.S. we forget just how important water is because we have it all the time, even in my home state of California, where they are in the midst of a drought. They may ration water for washing cars or watering the lawn, but there is always water coming out of the faucet. Still, we can see the effects that a lack of water has on the world. The plants wither and die; the lakes and rivers begin to dry up. The obvious effect of life without water is no life at all.

“Living water” is mentioned many times throughout the Bible, several times in the words of Jesus himself. The people of the Old and New Testament times knew the value of water. They walked to wells to fill their buckets, as people all over the world still do every day. Even Jesus drank water from wells. They could relate to the analogy of water that brings unending life in a way that many of us no longer can. But we have all been thirsty before. We all know what it is like to desire water, or maybe a cold soda, more than anything else.

Jesus tells us that he can give us water that will satisfy us forever – water that will give us new and unending life. In today’s passage from Ezekiel, we learn about this same water. “Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live…their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary” (Ezekiel 47:9, 12). Just imagine this place where water always flows freely and brings life everywhere it goes.

But we’re not talking about literal water here. The analogy of water is one that has always amazed me. It’s why I love baptism so much. Water can give life and take it away. Just like in baptism, we die to our old selves and are given new life in Christ. This passage talks about the new life. If you put God in the place of the river, the verse begins with, “Wherever God goes, every living creature that swarms will live.” God brings life, plain and simple.

As we push through the long somber days of Lent, we must remember that it is only by opening ourselves up to God and allowing His healing Spirit to flow through us like water, that we will reach a place of new and unending life.

O God, with you is the well of life, and in your light we see light: Quench our thirst with living water, and flood our darkened minds with heavenly light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-Collect for Tuesday in the 4th Week of Lent

Becky Gleason is 25 years old and from the Diocese of San Diego. 
She is currently serving at Holy Spirit Episcopal Bilingual School in Tela, Honduras 
where she enjoys teaching English, leading chapel services, and 
helping high school seniors apply for college.

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Day 23: Expect the Unexpected

"When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the prophet's own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, 'Unless you* see signs and wonders you will not believe.' The official said to him, 'Sir,come down before my little boy dies.' Jesus said to him, 'Go; your son will live.' The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, 'Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.' The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, 'Your son will live.' So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee." 
-John 4:43-54

Today is the 23rd day of Lent, but it is also a day that is very close to my heart: Today is the Opening Day of the Baseball's regular season. I know, I know. I had to ask myself the same question. Am I really going to bring Baseball into a Lenten reflection? Absolutely.

For many fans, especially fans living in Boston and New York, Baseball is an exercise of faith in and of itself. The start of a season is a time of reaffirmation about the teams we love. A time when fans reacquaint, and rededicate themselves to a new starting lineup. A time to say hello to new faces on the field, and reminisce about the legends that might have left last autumn. Oh yea, don't forget about all those crazy rituals and superstitions.

Go into any major city in America, and you will find those who agree with me. Baseball is a religion for many, however this idea is especially true for the fans of one particular team: the Chicago Cubs.

A lot of stuff has happened since the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. The Ottoman Empire was still in power. The Titanic was not yet built. The world was a different place. And yet, 106 years later people are still excited to fill the stands of Wrigley Field for Opening Day. And for what? Are they expecting a new result? Are they expecting victory? Why should this season be any different than the last century of seasons? Sure sounds like faith to me.

I think Jesus could be preaching to Cubs fans in today's reading from John. He seems to be preaching to those in dire circumstances. To the official whose son is on the verge of death. To those who are clinging to hope.

This is the second time that Jesus has performed miracles in the town of Cana, so I think it is safe to presume that this official who has come asking Jesus for help has heard of him before. The official wants to believe in this man named Jesus even though he may have not have any proof. He wants to hop on the bandwagon. So he begs for help, and is met with this: 'Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.'

C'MON, JESUS!

I can't help but feel for the official after hearing this response from Jesus. Why not go and see the dying son? Then Jesus tells him: 'Go; your son will live.'

What happens next defies logic. The man believes - and believes without proof: "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way." Lo, and behold, when the man arrived his son was on his way to a full recovery, and not just because of the divine power of Christ, but also because the official had the strength to believe in the midst of darkness. Because he didn't need to see signs and wonders to prop up his faith.

Jesus teaches us in this story that it is not completely crazy to expect the unexpected. It is not crazy to believe in miracles without accompanying signs and wonders. This goes for faith as well as many other things in life. Yes, even Baseball. I guess that's the reason why Wrigley Field is always packed on Opening Day. Sure, there is no reason to believe this is the year that the Cubs win the series, but that doesn't stop us from believing it could be. After all, it wouldn't be the first time a curse was reversed in the sport.

Will Bryant is 25 years old and from the Diocese of Western North Carolina. 
He is currently serving with the Mission to Seafarers in Hong Kong. 

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Day 22: Routines

"He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’" -Luke 18: 9-14

I can identify with the Pharisee in this parable. I have a bad habit of getting passive in what I’m doing and in my spiritual and personal life. In sticking to a routine, I forget why I do those routines in the first place. I am comfortable in routine, but I rarely benefit from it. I forget to question where I can continue to grow. I get complacent. I forget to come to God with an open heart, and instead I seek comfort in the ordinary.

Looking back on my life, the periods when I have been the most uncomfortable and the most challenged are the ones in which I have grown the most. The times when I felt I was the most lost and the most hopeless are the times in which I had to find the strength to keep going; these are the times that have shaped me into the person I am today. During these times, I struggled with feeling broken while at the same time knowing that they are moments of growth for me in the long run.

I’ll be honest and say Lent is probably my least favorite period of the church calendar. It’s austere, and it usually means that I have to give up something I love for a not-insignificant amount of time. It’s easy for me to want it to return to the “fun times” of the calendar. I dislike Lent for the same reasons I dislike the difficult periods of my life. Lent is hard. It’s outside of our normal church experiences, and that makes it the perfect time to examine why we have them. Like the difficult times that lead us to personal growth, Lent breaks us out of our complacency and challenges us to examine our practices and our faith by asking us to take that period to be reformed intentionally. It challenges us to acknowledge our own brokenness. It reminds us to be more like the tax collector who came to God with an open admission of his flaws and a genuine desire to repent on and improve them, and it reminds us that we should not be passive in this pursuit. In Him, we are reformed and given new life.

Seven months into my time in Hong Kong, I’ve gotten comfortable. My work is not easy or predictable, but I feel more capable of handling the challenges that come my way. As I approach the end of my mission service, I ask that God continues to shake me up and make me uncomfortable so that I may continue to grow. I ask Him to help me see my flaws and to help me improve them. May I always be seeking renewal through His grace.

Sara Lowery is 23 and from the Dioceses of Alabama and Georgia. 
She is currently serving at the Mission for Migrant Workers 
and attempting to try every coffee shop in Hong Kong.

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Day 21: More Questions

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. " -Mark 12: 28-34

What do you mean no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions? Wouldn’t you want to ask more questions about how exactly to do the Great Commandment? So I am to love God—what exactly does that entail? Is it praying, fasting, giving thanks, and going to church every Sunday? Is it connected to loving others because of the piece of God that lives in them?

I’ve spent much of my life around people who are very similar to me—similar religion, skin tone, socioeconomic status, nationality, physical and mental ability, similar criminal record (or lack thereof)—people who are easier for me to love, but how do I love those who are different than myself?

How do I love someone who kills, cheats on their spouse, or steals? Do I act impartially to them when I am around them? Do I extend them the same trust as I would to my best friend? What does forgiveness look like?

How do I love someone who experiences the mental and physical pain of not having enough to eat? Do I give them food? Money? A hug? Some of my time? Is love balancing my relative financial wealth with their relative financial poverty? What does solidarity look like?

How do I love someone who manipulates a charity for their own personal benefit? Do I excuse their offenses? Do I have to acknowledge them every day? Do I call them out? What does honesty look like?
How do I love people who make assumptions about me and treat me differently because of my race (or any other characteristic)? Do I explain/defend myself to them? Do I point out their prejudice? What does respect look like?

I’m to treat others as I would like to be treated, right? If I’ve not known the fear of one who doesn’t know where the next meal will come from, how do I love the hungry? If I have not known the bitter wind and cold for a night, how do I love the homeless? If I have not known immense wealth, how am I to love the wealthy? If I have not known the isolation of 20 years to life in prison, how am I to love the imprisoned? If I have not known what it is like to have power, how am I to love the powerful?

When I look to others claiming to express love, how do I discern what is actually love? Some believe homosexuality is a sin, and they call out gay people’s sin because they don’t want them to go to hell—is that love? I hear news about a priest who is put in jail because he believes same-sex couples should have the right to marry—is that love?

What does love look like over time? What is love in a fleeting moment with a homeless woman on the street corner? What is love with my significant other with which I’ll spend my lifetime?

I often feel like love is a verb, but sometimes I’m left not knowing what to do. Can I just spend time with others? Can I just listen to their story? Can I just be vulnerable with them? Can I just recognize and appreciate what we have in common? Is just being there enough, or is their more I can do?

What other questions do you wish the scribe had asked Jesus about the Great Commandment? Where might you find answers?

Alan Yarborough is serving in Cange, Haiti, representing the Diocese of Western North Carolina 
and the Diocese of Upper South Carolina. He's working in economic development
 for Cange and the surrounding area in the Central Plateau.

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Day 20: Thin Skin

"But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backwards rather than forwards. From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did. So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips." -Jeremiah 7: 23-28

Whenever I read verses, my first instinct is to use these words as a meter to reflect on my own behavior. And it usually isn't positive or encouraging. A dear friend and I Skyped yesterday, and we talked about how we feel we're losing our magic receptors (or in this case, the ability to "incline their ear") - that sacred perspective where there's nowhere to be, nothing to do... there is just a freedom and a graceful ease with which to relish the world around you. I call it "thin skin" - where you can listen with your whole body and the world floods in, swallowing you and your egotistical identity in the process.

But then work happens, or TV ads that reminds you you're too fat, or a friend's Facebook profile that says you really should get your act together on that grad school thing, or Buzzfeed's Top 10 Habits of Successful People and you only have 3 of them... it's exhausting, and there's no end. And so, as I read this verse, I want to protest but I'm doing the best I can! It's not my fault no one ever taught me HOW to listen!

Now, it always bothered me that the Bible seems to speak in big generalities: they did not listen to me... They did worse than their ancestors. How can I be extraordinary or good if you keep bunching me in with the rest of humanity? If we look around us, some people are clearly evil, some are saints, and some are the in-betweeners. But, like my first reading, this is still all about me. It's all about what I think of others, it's my own classification system of what's right and wrong. Here in El Salvador, I see human rights workers, I see corrupt politicians, friends who's boyfriends beat them in private, people who complain too much, people who are far too generous, people who I think are lazy until I discover what they do when I'm not watching, women who cook the best meal in the world and charge $2.50 a plate... at some point my categories are inadequate.

One of my favorite authors, Saul Alinsky (the Yoda of community organizing back in the 60s and 70s) has a great quote: "It is equally difficult for you to surrender that little image of God created in our own likeness, which lurks in all of us and tells us that we secretly believe that we know what’s best for the people." So long as we hold the ultimate authority between our ears, it's a lose-lose as often we are both our biggest advocate and our biggest critic. I will never meet my own standards, but I also will never stop pushing myself to try. But over these past few months, as my standards get higher and higher, I find I've lost that "thin skin." When there is always something more to do, I cannot listen. If someone truly was trying to reach me, "day after day," I doubt I would hear them.
And so I went back a few verses to figure just what command it was that humanity failed to obey:

Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’  (Jeremiah 7.2-7.4)

God only seeks to dwell with us. We do not surrender our egos to supplant it with another authority whom we blindly follow. We just have to give up the right to be right. It is the scariest thing in the world, to admit you don't know, but if we are to preserve our ability to speak truth, first we have to admit that we don't know it. We can't condemn others, and perhaps most importantly, we can't condemn ourselves.

Hannah Perls is 24 from the Diocese of Olympia, WA. She is serving with 
human rights NGO, Foundation Cristosal, in El Salvador. Other common names 
now include Hanoch, Hannah Montana, and Broccoli Top (Broc top for short).

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Day 17: To Be of Service

"Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
-2 Kings 5:13-15



As a YASC missionary in her second year, I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me exactly what is is that I do. Additionally, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve kind of gotten the feeling that people expect a more exciting or spectacular answer. My first year was essentially administrative and communication support, with travels to various dioceses in Brazil to get to know the wider work of the Episcopal Anglican Church here.  My second year has exciting opportunities in human rights work and community outreach…and yet, I’ve come to realize that I’m not really here to change much anything at all. After a year, it’s been clear that I’ve been changed to a fair degree. But when I’m honest with myself, I’m not here to change Brazil, or the world, however much I’m passionate about that — the real game-changer is God, and the beautiful and mysterious ways in which the Spirit works in, with and through us and others.

I was particularly struck by the story of Namaan in today’s readings. Here we have a man with a very serious situation—leprosy. As would most people in his situation, he sought to be healed from his affliction. No doubt he was in much discomfort, and was willing to do nearly anything to be relieved from it. Furthermore, he also had the distinction of being in possession of enough resources to be able to do nearly anything for it…and yet he is noticeably displeased with the simplicity of Elisha’s response. There was no clap of thunder, or mystical appearance of God in the midst—Elisha didn’t even make a personal appearance; he sent a messenger. Namaan was not exactly thrilled with the response.

 But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father,  if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?

Namaan obeys, and is healed. His life is changed.

In mission work, we talk a lot about the concept of ‘ministry of presence.’ As the name might suggest, it is mission enough to be — to be in community, to be amongst people, to participate in their lives, to walk with them. This isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do, as we so often feel like we have to do more, be more, make something, and maybe it has to be big and noticeable and make me feel like I actually did something worthwhile. In that sense, Namaan’s story is a good one for me to keep in mind: had God asked me to do something difficult, I would not have hesitated…what more then that he asked me to do something so simple? To be here in Brazil, in community, amongst people. Simplicity doesn’t negate its importance, but it’s made me realize that so very often, I try to overcomplicate things—and it’s not about that.

As author Victor Hugo wrote, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” And what is it that we remind ourselves before Communion? That we are to love the Lord our God, and to love our neighbors. That everything else we believe, why we do what we do, rests upon these two things. It is so beautifully simple, and yet we know in practice, it can all be so beautifully complex, and difficult to do. When we try to do it, life happens. God happens…and everything changes.

Nina Boe is working in the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, part time 
in support of the Office of the Bishop and part time with the Church 
of the Most Holy Trinity's human rights ministry and community outreach.

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Day 16: Love and Compassion

"Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest   in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.  As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvellous things. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old." -Michah 7:14-15, 18-20

As I say in most of my blogs, I am not much of a writer. I really don’t know how to express myself, unless it’s through dance and singing, yet alone do a reflection for Lent. What I have learned throughout my years was to just write what you feel. In today’s reading, it talks about compassion and how to help others. In my opinion, the book of Micah first talks about how to help others when in need, and to also to see compassion. In verse 14, Micah talks about how one needs to “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you.”

        From the first time I started working with kids, I felt that it was a calling from God. When I first started working at a non-profit, I struggled with coming to terms that kids were going to be part of my future. After about three years and counting, I was able to see that helping kids and teaching them was a bigger aspect of my life than I had planned. I know, many people hear the same clichés like, “you don’t want to be a teacher”, or “the education system is something you don’t want to deal with”, but, for me it is not being a teacher. It’s about showing the future that we can leave a legacy of change and hope for them.  In Micah, we are here to help the community and show that we are all one. Every time I go to work, I felt like I was shepherding the people or the students.

        This year I left my community to also see what Micah said in verse 15: “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvelous things.” I went to Panama, for what was going to be a discernment process of over a year.  As I like to note, I have never left the Rio Grande Valley, yet alone the country. It was hard at first, but since, I found learned marvelous things. In times where we are blinded from the words of the Lord, we must have courage to know how to listen to the Lord. Through the readings, I believe they show a point of why I love working with kids. My love for seeing their smile or being the person they can talk to when they need it is just marvelous. God works in ways you can see and in ways you can’t. I love to say that I can see both ways, but in reality, you can never get what you want.

  The second part of Micah shows how god is compassionate. In my most recent years, my faith has grown drastically. It has been a learning concept, but within time I will continue to grow to my full potential. God shows us compassion, yet I have struggled to do the same.

Compassion from God is shown throughout the bible. In Psalm 103 it states: “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” Most people that know me know I don’t have compassion or mercy. But with the guidance of the lord, I have grown to have it.

This part is difficult to me because this is about the first time I will say this. My brother, you know what you have done to me and throughout the years, I have never shown you mercy or compassion because in my eyes I believed you did not deserve it. However, this process that I have taken to walk in the eyes of God, has shown me that I forgive you and always had. I forgive you with all my heart and all my soul. I forgive you and know that you are not alone, you have me and the family. I love you. Don’t forget that.

Throughout the seven months I have been in Panama, I have seen many things. Most of all I have seen the people show compassion wherever you go. God is truly in the midst of us, open your eyes and let the world around you show that the lord will bring us to a better tomorrow. I would like to end with a prayer I got when I attended the Global Leadership Summit a few years ago. I say this prayer every day and know that helping others and showing compassion is something that is spoken in this prayer.

My morning prayer
God, this is a new day. I freshly commit myself to the role you have invited me to play, as you are building your church in this world I am awestruck again today that you include me in this grand life-giving, world-transforming endeavor. So today I joyfully offer you:

My love

My heart

My talents

My energy

My creativity

My faithfulness

My resources

And my gratitude

I commit all of myself to the role you have assigned me in the building of your church so that it may thrive in this world. And I will “bring it” today. I will bring my best. You deserve. Your church deserves it. It is the Hope of the World.

Joseph Morin is from Texas and serving in Panama with Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo. 

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