Here is what I learned today:
The old Haitian woman is brown, and bent and slight as her walking stick. I was so glad to see her. I had
worried in all this heat. In the past, she has told me that she has many years
since made peace with the voices in her head and her need for Jesus. With
Jesus, she told me, she has a happy life off her meds which often seemed to make
things worse. It was not always thus; a jagged life she is glad she is long past.
She came to join us today carrying a bouquet of wild flowers, all green
and yellow and sienna and orange. They were beautiful. Finding no vase, she took
a can out of the recycling and left them for everyone to enjoy.
She told me, through long missing teeth, to go to the local
village fest. It features the music from many cultures, it is important for all
of us to try to increase our understanding of other people if we are going to
live well with one another. I must go too because they have a gospel tent. They
are bringing Jesus to the people.
Jesus, she says, is locked up these days in the churches. It
wasn’t always thus. She tells me of her childhood in a poor mountain town where
the RC church was so far away that they could only go twice a year. The
Pentecostals were out among all the small villages. All the Catholic parents would
send their children to the Pentecostal bible school and worship services held in tents so
they could learn about Jesus. All carried strict instructions no to go down to
the Alter Call. Many did, though, and later brought their parents.
The people need Jesus today, she tells, me. He needs to be
brought out of the churches and back to the poor, hurting, struggling people.
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