Church

Where do you go when you’re new to a community, city, country?  Over the past three months, we’ve experienced three places/people:  the professional boat handlers (marina staff, repair people, suppliers), the sailing community (other folks on a boat), and the church.  The first two are logical starting places and the third one is consistent with our lives.

We have spent a good bit of our Sundays getting acquainted with the East End Methodist Church.  It’s about a quarter mile walk from the marina.  The building sits on a hillside with a wonderful view of the water, looking east.  The pastor, Helen Maurose, was born in St. Kitts, raised in Guadeloupe, worked in New York as a sous-chef, before going to seminary in Jamaica and has been assigned to pastor the six congregations on Tortola for the past three years.  Her husband and co-pastor, Jeanty, is from Haiti.   He preaches at the church nearest the manse on Sunday mornings and then takes a ferry ride to lead a second service on Jost van Dyke (one of the outer islands).  She preaches at two of the churches, moving around from week to week, and arranges for lay preachers to cover the other congregations.

They are a wonderful clergy couple filled with great enthusiasm and energy and good wisdom.  And they’ve enjoyed meeting another clergy couple in us.

The Methodist Church has a long and large history in the islands.  The first missionaries came from South America and sailed north as far as Antigua before landing at 5:00am on a Christmas morning.  They came ashore and the first thing they did was to hold a worship service on the beach.  Stemming from that tradition, the Methodist churches throughout the Caribbean do not hold Christmas Eve services.  Rather the communities gather at 5:00am Christmas Day for worship!  Now, not all members attend because another tradition is that carolers gather and drive around the neighborhoods, beginning sometime around 11:00pm Christmas Eve, and sing all night!.  They stop at someone’s home and sing outside and the host is expected to have cookies and hot chocolate (or some snack) to offer in response.  (We happened to be staying with Helen and Jeanty this past Christmas Eve – the night a certain kidney stone decided to move – and the carolers arrive around 2:30am.)  The Methodist Conference includes all the islands from Haiti and the Dominican Republic to Grenada, Tobago, and the Dutch islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). 

The congregation has been so welcoming and it is a community where we’re getting to know the “Belongers” (islanders) a bit.  We’ve met the retired librarian, sister of the marina owner who writes children’s books…the owner of the Laundromat…and a retired banker who pumps gas and sits with me on the “old farts’ bench” at the Petco next door.  And, their welcome has been deeply appreciated.  On Sundays, we walk up the hill for the two hour services; we’ll be the only Anglos in the congregation.  We’ll be greeted with lots of smiles, welcomes, good humor and good wishes for the week.  The folks know we’re retired ministers – Dave even gave the children’s message on a Sunday in Advent. 

Each week we learn a bit more and marvel at God’s good work in the building of welcoming communities.  I suspect we’re welcomed because so few sailors take time to meet the church here.   I’d like to say that it’s my good looks that make me interesting, but I know better.

This past Sunday we were struck by the passion of a lay preacher, Ellen by name.  She is a teacher at one of the elementary schools on the other side of the island.  She preached on several themes (the importance of lay people leading in the church, of children being given opportunities to serve, of the value of engaging the community around them in welcoming and servant ways).  And she was passionate.  When, as Marney observed, there wasn’t a loud enough response to the question, “Do you hear me?”, she left the pulpit, walked down into the center aisle and delivered the rest of her sermon from there!  And she is a teacher.  She handed out copies of the essay, “Paradox of the Age” (circa 1995) and had the entire congregation spend 10 minutes to read it in unison! [“The paradox of our age is that…We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, yet more problems; we have more gadgets but less satisfaction….”]

The Caribbean Methodist Church now has its own hymnal, Voices in Praise.  It is a good 2 ½ inch thick volume with many standard hymns, but now includes the island church’s favorites as well.  As one parishioner told us, “Before this we had that old English Methodist Hymnal.”  Last Sunday, we sang, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” and “Siyahamba” (Zulu).  And, I noticed in the very back is a collection of the national anthems from all the islands!  I suspect these aren’t sung all that often in church (anymore than we do in the US) and more often at the inter-island cricket matches.  But I was curious and borrowed a copy to read more.  The words are revealing, from the British islands tradition of Empire to the new nations forging their future.

Here are a few brief excerpts:

God Save Our Gracious Queen  (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos)

God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen

Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the Queen.

God bless Anguilla

God bless Anguilla. Nurture and keep her, Noble and beauteous she stands midst the sea.

O land of the happy, A haven we’ll make thee, Our lives and love we give unto thee.

The Virgin Islands March  (USVI)

All hail our Virgin Islands. Em’ralds of the sea,

Where beaches bright with coral sand And trade winds bless our native land.

All hail our Virgin Islands. Bathed in waters blue,

We give our loyalty Full to thee, And pledge allegiance forever true.

 O Sweet St. Martin’s Land (St Martin)  (the island of St. Martin is half French, half Dutch)

Where over the world, say where: You find an island there, So lovely small with nations free,

With people French and Dutch, Though talking English much, As the St. Martin of the sea?

Sons and Daughters of Saint Lucia  (St. Lucia)

Sons and daughter of Saint Lucia Love the land that gave us birth.

Land of beaches, hills and valleys, fairest isle of all the earth,

Wheresoever you may roam, Love, O love, our island home.

Gone the times when nations battled for this “Helen of the West”.

Gone the days when strife and discord, Dimmed her children’s toil and rest.

Dawns at last a brighter day, Stretches out a glad, new way.

Land of the Free (Belize)

Arise ye sons of Bay-men clan, Put on your armour, clear the land!

Drive back the tyrants, let despots flee, Land of the Free by the Carib Sea!

Eternal Father Bless our Land  (Jamaica)

Eternal Father bless our land, Guard us with Thy Mighty Hand.

Keep us free from evil powers, Be our light through countless hours.

To our Leaders, Great Defender, Grant true wisdom from above.

Justice, Truth be ours forever, Jamaica Land we love.

March On, Bahamaland!  (Bahamas)

Lift up your head to the rising sun, Bahamaland;

March on to glory, your bright banners waving high.

See how the world marks the manner of your bearing!

Pledge to excel through love and unity.

Knowing only a bit of the Caribbean’s story of battling over these islands by the European nations (Spanish, English, French, Dutch), of pirates stealing the riches from Central and South America, of the long history of slavery and the island by island rebellions that eventually led to freedom, it’s no wonder that these national songs focus on freedom and hope.   And both that freedom and hope are, for many of the folks we’ve met, grounded in their faith in God. 

I am an institutionalized Christian.  I can’t think of a better way to meet a new community than through the church.  I’m glad and very grateful.

Dave