When the youth group met yesterday, we started by reminiscing over Pilgrimage, a big North Carolina United Methodist youth gathering in Fayetteville, NC, for a weekend in November. The theme this past November was "With One Voice." I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think the phrase comes from Romans 15:6, "so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." As you might imagine, there was lots of talk about unity within the church, about doing things together, and about how the thousands of youth and chaperons gathered were, in fact, worshiping with one voice when we all sang together, regardless of our individual backgrounds and differences. It's a bit like Jesus's prayer for his disciples in John 17:11, "so that they may be one as we are one."
Driving through Greenville, NC, yesterday, I saw a sign near a church building that read something like: "New Ministry! NOT associated with [insert church name here]." Wow. Something is seriously wrong when we have to divide ourselves and exclude other Christians and not want to share credit for ministries, when we don't want to be one. Part of what I loved about where I served in Nicaragua (pre-seminary) was that the mission agency I was with worked together with about ten other mission agencies as well as locals to all be in ministry together. We shared resources. We shared ministry. We all worked together.
However, in any Latino ministry setting, whether Nicaragua or Grimesland, NC, those who are definitely excluded are the Catholics. The great divide is between Catholics and Protestants. Non-Latinos ministering in Latino settings must be especially aware of this division. I was raised to believe that Catholics are Christians. Most Protestant Latinos disagree with me. For them, it's a big deal to not be Catholic; Catholicism is part of every Latino's heritage. Some Protestant Latinos were disowned by their families when they became Protestant. It's considered a conversion to go from being Catholic to being Christian (whether Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, etc.). To put it lightly, there is a strong anti-Catholic sentiment.
I agree that there are problems in the Roman Catholic Church. The news makes that plain. But I'll also be the first to admit that there are problems in the United Methodist Church. And I know there are problems in the Episcopal Church, in which I grew up; those problems are equally as well known these days as the Catholics.' Still, that doesn't make them any less Christian; that doesn't make them any less followers of Christ.
Being a non-Latino in a Latino church, I find myself often teaching about our heritage as Christians. Reciting the Apostle's Creed is seen as a very Catholic act, and so I always preface it with explaining its' origins, from the early church, and why, to make explicit what we believe, and the fact that it's a prayer. I tried singing it, but that didn't go too well, so we now stand and say what we believe in the words of the early church, before there was a Catholic divide.
This past Sunday I again tried to breach that divide and stand in the middle of it, just as I often did in Nicaragua. I don't know yet how successful I was. Following the Revised Common Lectionary (which Catholics use, too), we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Stepping into potentially dangerous water, I preached about baptism and what it means. I said it doesn't matter what church you were baptized in, it still counts because God named you God's own in that baptism and God doesn't make mistakes nor does God lie. If God named you God's child, then you are. Going a little deeper in the water, I also explained why United Methodists baptize infants. In a nutshell, it's called prevenient grace. This is God's grace that comes before us (think Latin, pre-venir, or Spanish, prevenir). The authority in baptism is solely God's grace, it's nothing we do or decide. That grace is there for all ages, including babies. Stepping into even deeper water, after my sermon I led (most of) the congregation in a renewal of our baptismal covenant. It was straight out of United Methodist Spanish resources. I didn't make up one single word. And I included a bowl of water in the front, so that folks could come up and touch the water and remember their baptism and be thankful. My husband said that perhaps half the congregation came up and touched the water. I had to ask him about participation because I spent almost the whole time on my knees praying that I wasn't making a huge mistake. You see, at the back of every Catholic church is a basin of water which the faithful touch on their in to Mass.
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