Report from Presbyterian Women Fall Gathering

This week I had the pleasure of attending the Presbyterian Women Fall Gathering, where Reverend Kate Kotfila spoke about her experiences on an Immersion Trip to Guatemala. There were certainly mission elements in the activities the group participated in; for example: they distributed water filters to people who were without potable water after the latest disasters to hit the region, some attendees helped with a dental clinic, others with an eyeglass clinic, they helped with a women's retreat for healing and renewal, and many other mission ventures. The experience was also one of learning, of participating in the ritual of stranger/guest-and-host, of hospitality as outlined in the Bible. Reverend Kate spoke of how their group was made to feel welcome by the people they met, and by the end of the trip the relationship of stranger-guest and host changed to one of personal mutual respect and friendship. Welcoming the stranger enhanced the lives of everyone involved.

The Albany Presbytery has a partnership with the MAM Presbytery in Guatemala, and through them, with the Protestant Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA). The acronym comes from the original Spanish name for the seminary, and if you want to read the linked website in English, look for the German and British flags at the top of the webpage, click on the language of your choice. The seminary engages in Biblical and Theological education, Women's Ministry, Disaster Ministry, and Intercultural Encounters, and the immersion trips are conducted through that last department. Another trip is being planned for February 2020, and I will share more details about how you can be involved, if you feel called to participate in this mission.

For Sunday: what is the difference between knowing, teaching, and learning? In the Jeremiah reading (31: 27-34), we will encounter the idea "No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me". Whereas 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 cautions against the echo chamber effect that occurs when we all only listen to the opinions that reinforce what we think we know, and disregard anything that disagrees. Immersion exposure to another culture challenges what we think we know, strips away pretense, and leaves those who experience it transformed. When we have been exposed to another culture in such a deep way as Reverend Kate described, upon returning home the one so transformed is better equipped to step out of the echo chamber, to hear the messages of teachers who may not "suit their own desires" (2 Tim. 4:3). We are better able to know God, and to act on God's time, when we are open to not only welcoming the stranger as host, but also being the stranger as guest.

~Rev. Andrea Joy Holroyd