10 days in Central America (pt. III)

(Typically this blog will update once a week with a reflection about the Trinity. Recently, however, I spent 10 days in Central America, and was unable to update. As such, this is the third entry in a series of four reflections of the trip.)

Part III.

Post Immersion Impressions:

My post immersion impression really began to take shape about a week into the trip. By day four I noticed my journal entries had become more invested, longer, thoughtful and questioning. No longer did my entries just consist of what I had eaten, and seen. Slowly I began to describe how I was experiencing everything; how I felt, how I agreed, how I understood (or did not), how I thought this would impact me for the rest of my life.

By day seven, then, I had wrestled with how and was beginning to look to being back in my context. I did know, however, that my context would be forever changed by this experience. So, as the immersion came to an end, and I find myself again in a privileged wealthy position, I see how my impression were reinforced, challenged and changed.

For instance, the article “Inventing Hispanics,” reinforced my idea that I had at least encountered Hispanic culture in the United State. And I have, but I have not experienced Hispanic culture in a Central American context.

There are many similarities between the two experiences. For one thing I encountered Western values and consumption during the first home-stay, when we watched the American film “Fast and Furious” with Eddie, the teenage male in the family. Eddie knew the flashy cars by name, and clearly idolized the characters in the film.

A significant difference, though, is that when I watched the film (around the same age as Eddie), many of my friends were able to afford relatively similar and flashy cars the film depicted. In the town Eddie lived in there were few cars, and I never saw a car as indulgent as the cars presented in “The Fast and Furious.” This is experience is a significant difference between my context, and Eddies.

When my friends and I watched the film we went home and told our parents these were the types of cars we wanted, and eventually we received cars nicer than we needed. In Eddie’s context, this experience is unlikely to occur. So, in the United States, the Hispanic culture is privileged in ways that it is not in Central America. This is a significant difference from my experience with Hispanic culture in the states, to the experience of Hispanics in Central America.

An experience when my impression was outright changed was in my assumption there was significant anger directed toward Americans. As I read Liberation theologies I realized that impoverished people across the world had reason to be upset at wealthy Westerners. As I read about global perceptions about Americans (and visited Europe, ironically part of the privileged West), this impression was reinforced.

As I met and spoke with people in Central America I realized there may have been some bitter sentiments about America’s policies and practices, but I was treated with respect and as a person bearing God, too. This was a healing experience for me. I realized my impressions were based on my own anxieties, and not upon reality. As I read more liberation theology I can take this reality into my readings. No longer do I need to get anxious when I read about these theologies. Now I can, in new ways, create a more meaningful context to live in where distinctions between myself and Central American’s is less pronounced.

One of the most significant impacts on my impression, however, was when it was reinforced. In seminary I have read Liberation Theologies, and I find them passionate, meaningful and encouraging. As a perennial skeptic, though, I often found myself wondering if this theology could be realized (especially living in the United States where consumption and privilege are such a part of our lives).

All of the churches we visited, though, articulated and worked to live out the theology of liberation. The experience of looking for God in your neighbor was real and happening in all of these congregations. The protesting of the idea that it is God’s will that some are destined to be poor was real and happening in all of these congregations. I will never forget hearing pastors talk about God being among them, and the importance of respecting all of God’s people.

I was humbled, and my view of liberation theology was reinforced and enlivened. In the context of a twenty or so people gathering to sing, read, and listen I realized that liberation is not an ideological or intellectual pursuit. Instead, liberation is the daily practice of, in faith, finding God in your neighbor.

(Follow RoboPreacher's link to his Picasa page to see more photos from the trip!)