Tropical depressions flow past us one after the other providing us with a new definition of the wet word humidity. Is there a comfortable place on the whole Island? Yes! Most large shops and shopping malls. Their air conditioning plants work flat out and make them worth a visit. Then, as the time comes to enter the reality of the outside world, clothing quickly becomes fit only for the laundry basket. The local weather pundits swear they cannot remember an August quite like this one. And, even if the temperature has fluctuated by no more than three or four degrees Celsius from a few months ago, there is much discussion around the effects of Global warming on Grenada. The main debating point is can the Island escape a hurricane this season due to the changing weather patterns?The death of a lifelong member of Belair Presbyterian Church brought my first Grenadian funeral this last week. While the funeral was most certainly different from the North American or European funerals I have attended it was still a time of expressing gratitude to God for her life, as well as a start to the healing process for her family. I remember being told by the professor of preaching at seminary (a lifetime ago!) that a congregation will wait with a little apprehension for their new minister to conduct their first funeral service in the congregation. A “good” funeral service, he said, would cement the new relationship. It seems he knew about the Caribbean church too! Anyway, the gospel was preached, scripture read, prayers offered and hymns sung. God’s presence was acknowledged by many shouts of praise and many, many amen’s. This “new” minister again offers thanks for the miracles of faith, renewal and healing that the Spirit brings to those who reach out to him.
This month also brought about the much awaited Youth Camp. What fun! Forty-four children and eight leaders were caught up in a riot of Christian camping. The Bible study taught the children (7-17 years) how to “log on” to many of lives most important issues. I taught the thirteen to seventeen year olds. There were sixteen of them, six boys and ten girls. I found their reflection on life stimulating, honest and at times, provocative. We moved in three days from violence to HIV/AIDS to family planning at their direction. Do you know teenagers who would love to explore these topics? I’ll bet you do! What about some of the other highlights of the week? A sports day in which our four camp
families (Joy, Love, Peace, and Self-control) competed against each other. At the camp fire sing song and marshmallow roast, I introduced a Scottish folk song, Coulter’s Candy, into the mix. It was a novel enough melody that the kids sang it willingly, so much so, that they sang it for me during the celebration on the final evening. Too many Scots have been in the Caribbean for that song not to have been sung here before, however it brought a lump to my throat as I stood listening to it along with the night sounds of frogs and other beasties that somehow or other managed to give it a calypso style beat! We also had a bus trip to one of Grenada’s
world class beaches where we lunched on ketchup, French fries and K.F.C. I’ll never eat KFC again without flipping back to that beach where the ocean lapped gently with its turquoise edge. The social highlight of the camp was the Banquet. The kids dressed up in their best clothes, the leaders serving them as they sat at the table with their “dates”. The dance that followed had sisters demanding brother’s dance and cousins demanding their cousin’s dance too. A super evening with the camp cooks doing an exemplary job. Next year the kids would like a two week camp! Any volunteers out there? Ann and I may have to decline the second week as gracefully as we are able!I have been involved in much theological reflection since our arrival in Grenada. A Jesuit who taught me about theological reflection said I should let the thoughts, feelings, images and insights that arise from a concrete
event in my life be in conversation with the wisdom of the entire Christian community over the ages. This conversation could then be open and honest, because we trust this truth. But the conversation can only start when we allow our questions to lead us and deliberately set our fears aside. The questions then will simply carry us to a new understanding, a gift from God to us, not a prize that we earned. So after such an emotionally draining and tiring month I know again that God has many other ways of channelling love to others in Grenada than through us or the Presbyterian Church in Grenada. Community cuts both ways; when we reach the limit of our capacity to love, community means trusting that someone else will be available to the person in need. And so it is in our community here. Arguably, at the heart of the Christian leadership in any community is loving care. Without loving care church leadership has no purpose, and without showing others that you care and what you care about, other people won’t care about what you say or what you know. Ann and I are aware of how tough lives are for people here but the path to the future has always been full of challenges as well as opportunities no matter where we live in our Creator’s world. Deep down we know what a rare place this is to live and serve Jesus Christ. What a great place it is also to be and to stay in love with God! Do you know any other feeling in life that is more exhilarating and more positive than knowing and feeling that love is?Pray for us as we move into the manse this month. Give God thanks for both the patience he provides for us as well as the richness of the understanding he provides of those around us even as we are given the gift of a richer understanding of ourselves.
