God Working In & Through Us

After our “Jesus Fiesta” last night until 11pm, we were up early for more chicharrons and pan de bono by the pool. After such a late night and long day of travel for many ladies, we were thoroughly impressed that the ladies were up and energetic, dressed and looking fabulous in perfectly composed outfits.

You may have already observed from the photos that Colombian women here in Barranquilla always look gorgeous and fashionable. Such is the culture here, and yes, it can create a lot of peer pressure for women to look good (including us feeling underdressed in our monochromatic and utilitarian Canadian clothing!). You might see lots of phones being held up to record videos and take photos. But don’t you underestimate these women. They are as bold with their faith and opinion of God as they are with their colour choices. They will “AMEN” and declare truth in a way that commands attention. They are not afraid to work nor to sweat. You’ll see from one of the videos that when it comes to worshipping, these ladies are raising their hands and jumping in their 5” platforms. And they’ll wake up the next day and readily put on hair nets and aprons to cook food for migrants. (It was hard for Fiona to recognize some of the ladies from last year!) And they are influencers for the kingdom, shamelessly recording the preaching and songs and sharing them on social media for Jesus’ name to be lifted high.

I wouldn’t want to mess with these ladies, and they use that power for good and Glory. The special guest for the conference is a lady named Nancy Ramirez. Yes, she too was always impeccably dressed as she ministered with songs and preaching. But this lady is FIERCE. She sings songs that she writes herself, dense with meaning and profoundly full of faith as she is a widow, twice over. She preached with well-placed jokes that pointed at our hypocrisy and fascinating cultural context and in-depth theology. She was imploring the women to pray for children and unbelieving friends and family like the persistent (nagging) widow to a just God, to tear them away from the clutches of the evil one. And her teenage daughter, oh man – she worked together with her mom without missing a beat, also singing powerfully, and translating her mom’s preaching into multi-syllabic English words and reciting scripture from memory.

If that wasn’t amazing enough, another theme of today was really learning and enjoying how interconnected we are.

Fiona got to share a devotional today to express our love and appreciation for our Colombian sisters and brothers, and remind ourselves how interconnected we are. God graciously inspired her with a metaphor of the science of trees to Christian community. It would be a whole other post to share about it, but basically, the resilience and interdependence of trees perfectly describe why we need individual community and global community. It was fun to share what fall is like and bring a bit of “Ca nada” to this this two-season climate. We brought some decorative maple leaves and led the ladies through a Lectio Divina exercise that had us ending in praying for each other with held hands, “roots.” It was really beautiful.

After the retreat wrapped up, our team went for a walk to the mall to grab dinner. We laughed like crazy and asked each other deep questions as we navigated the dimly lit and irregular sidewalk paving, but admiring the special kinds of giant tropical trees here. As we sat down at the food court, and savoured Dani’s favourite fried chicken, something really special started to happen. We got talking about our different experiences at Peoples Church, realizing that some of us don’t really know each other and the “parts” of the church where each of us serve: Worship Arts, Media & Communications, Kids Ministry, Newcomers Network, Refugee Ministry, Global Mission, Welcome Team. In a way, even in our own church community we don’t realize how interconnected and interdependent we are. We talked about how we see God working in each of our little corners of church, places where we might not have the pleasure of serving. We need each other to welcome, take care of kids, facilitate our worship. And to hear each other’s stories beyond outward impressions of each other was important.

Just as much as we look forward to seeing God work through us, God is simultaneously working in us, as individuals, as Peoples Church, as the Church.

Tomorrow we’re off to La Guajira! Praise for safe travels on our 6 hour drive, love beyond language, cultures complimenting each other.