Nicaraguan Churches

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I have had some interesting expereinces at the various Churches of Nueva Guinea. Nueva Guinea was founded by a Baptist pastor in the 1970´s, so it has highly Evangelical roots-- apparently one of the only cities in the country that is predominantly Evangelical, as opposed to Catholic. Although I have noted the predominance of the Evangelical church in the Nicaraguan culture here in general; as opposed to the highly Catholicized society of Mexico, where the Catholic Church reigns supreme. I shall begin by describing my trips to the Evangelical Churches...

I have attended two different Evangelical churches: the Baptist church, and "La Profecía" (apparently a version of Baptist). La profecía can best be described as "HIGHLY Evangelical". The first service I attended was complete with a teenage boy jumping around and screaming nonsense,crashing into ppl and falling over chairs, before falling to the ground and convulsing-- "slain in the spirit". Elders stood over him, spouting Christian-isms and laying their hands on him (I could see them shaking him: egging him on to keep going with his convulsions). And this, apparently, was normal. Everyone kept worhsiping as normal-- the raucous music and dancing (which I LOVED, by the way. THAT at least we could learn from!) drowing him
out. But, while I liked clapping and swaying along to the music, I couldn´t help but feel MANIPULATED. The ever-increasing desible of the pastors voice as he yelled "FIll this pace, Father, FILL this place! LIBERTY! LIBERTY! LIBERTY!" for literally 10 minuets...it became like a mind-numbing chant. Intoxicating. Manipluating ones emotions and drugging the senses. I felt madness descending (or was that just God?). And when the music finally stopped, crazy-spirt-boy got up, right on cue, and walked back to his chair perfectly normally. It was
creepy. All a big act (or so I felt). I felt manipulated: Pressured to join in the social orgy of God-filled sensuality, to close my eyes and raise my arms and shake them around like a puppeteer gone-mad.

A week later, I brought my 2 little neighbours Elisa (aged 4) and Maris, (aged 9) along with me to the Fathers Day service at that same Church. They had asked me to take them. But when we eneterd, I immediatly felt self-concious for them: their ragged, dirty clothes, unbrushed hair, and Elisa´s oversized hand-me-down shoes stood out like a sore thumb amongst the fancy clothes of the other attendees. The little Church that they attend at the end of our street apparently does not have a dress code, as they had not thought to dress up. I suddenly became very protective of them (lioness instinct?), and took their hands and guided them to a seat, taking Elisa in my lap. Poor things-- they were so tired that Elisa´s warm little body soon relaxed into mine in the blisfully unaware and unselfconcious sleep of the very young. And that was probaly for the best, as the lady at the front then spoke about how: "HUMAN BEINGS did not decide that its is mans´responsibility to be head of the household. God did. It was his idea, his holy order. Man is to be the head of the house over woman because that´s the way God wanted it". Dismayed, I saw all of my work in CEIMM, informing the people about the socially-constructed nature of gender washed down the drain in a swirl of Christian enthusiasm.

They then told everyone to move their chairs and get into their "family groups", sitting with members of their family to pray. A nice gesture on Fathers´day: except that it totally overlooked those who might not have a father, or might not be there with their family but are lone vistors (such as myself). However, upon reflecting, I realised that:
a) visitors are rare in this small city
b) the family unit is so central to the culture here, it would be virtually unheard of to visit a Church alone. Unless of course you happen to be a visiting Canadian student.
And so I watched in astonishment as those around pulled and scraped their chairs into a few large circles (I realised that the Church must be composed of a few principal famailies). And there we sat-- Elisa sleeping in my lap, Maris´wide-eyes taking it all in-- lone cast-aways in a sea of family-unit-islands. I didn´t feel lonely, just surprised. But that didn´t last long: the freindly faces of our neighbours quickly turned to us and opened up a space for us in their "family unit". Christian kindness-- THAT, at least is sincere, I thought.

After I dropped Maris and Elisa off at home, I wondered what they had felt about the whole thing...did they feel as manipulated as I did? Probably not. Loud, raucus Evangelical Church services that go on into all hours of the night (literally until 1 and 2am) screaming their repetative mind-numbing "worship" for all to hear (what with no city bi-laws requiring silence after a certain hour) are common in every neighbourhood in Nueva Guinea. No reason to feel manipulated-- just daily life for the people here. You can hurl yourself on the ground and convulse one night in front of your neighbours ("brothers"), and the next day walk around town smiling as if nothing happened. You can do this every day of the week, if u so desired-- and at a different Evangelical church for every day, at that! There are a LOT of these small, neighourhood churches here-- and becaue Nueva Guinea is such a young city, it can currently boast that there are more churches than bars. (We´ll see how long THAT lasts... )

So that has been my expereince of the Evangelical Church. Now for the Catholic Church... In Mexico I was repulsed by the opulance of the Catholic Churches (one on almost every street corner of some cities) amidst the relative poverty of the surrounding buildings. Impressive, towering cathederals with walls lined in gold paint and cold signs that say "Do not touch" and "No flash". I witenssed congregations who came in to pray silently and leave just as silently, with no sense of community. It was for this reason that I has stayed away from the Catholic Church here for the first few months. However, after deciding that the Evangelical church here is not really my cup of tea, I decided to check it out. And my trip turned out to be a pleasant surprise!

Unlike the excessivly elegant churches of Mexico, the Catholic Church here is a simple affair-- no stained glass windows, no baroque-style wall murals, not even any gaudy gold-laden icons-- just a simple hand-painted picture of a welcoming-looking Jesus, his arms spread wide to embarce the congregation. And even a statue of a BLACK Jesus (hurrah!), with a sheep and a child. The pulpit is equally simple, made of wood, with the words "and the Word was made flesh" carved into it. I was enchanted. My enchantment grew when the singing began: unlike the emotionally-manipulative music of the Evangelical churches (where the only goal seems to be to raise your pitch higher with every verse, and to see who can shake their arms the hardest and appear the most holy and blessed), the gentle hymns were respectful and serene. Familiar words were translated meticulously into Spanish: yet they contain a particular Nicaraguan flare. The music is melodious, with traditional-style flute and flamenco guitaur used to accompany and rhythems alterd so as to be more reflective of the culture. And when the pastor preached (not yelled) about the need to maintain God´s earth by practicing environmentally-friendly farming and lifestyle techniques, my respect for this little Nicaraguan Church grew ten-fold. I left the service feeling refreshed. I was surprised that I should feel more at the Catholic Church than the Evangelical-- but such is life!

Not only that, but the Catholic Church here is very involved in social work and pursuing social justice. The Church itself is flanked by several smaller buildings, including a gym/auditorium for the youth and for giving seminars, and the office that co-ordinates over 300 Catholic schools across Nicaragua (serving the smaller towns, where there are no public schools-- and the teachers work for much less pay, at that). There is also a hostel, complete with dorm rooms, showers, bathrooms, and a large kitchen. These fcailities are used both to house conference attendees, and to house people who are left homesless for whatever reason: homelessness is rare in Nicaragua, as I mentioned earlier, but it does occur, as in the case of financial difficulties after a death, or battered women who have no place else to go. This service in particular impressed me greatly. Although after sitting through an hour long sermon this week on "the EVER-virgin Mary", I am undecided as to whether or not I will keep attending-- yet such theological quarrels do not negate the good work that the Church here is doing.

These observations about the Church seem very superficial to me, as they cannot do justice to the depth of emotion that I have felt-- or been caused to feel-- by my experiences in these respective Churches. It has been bad/hypocritical enough at times to almost make me lose my faith- yet, at the same time, I have learned a lot and seen a lot of love, charity, and generocity demonstrated by Church members. Nothing is ever black or white, I suppose. The Church: the good, the bad, and the ugly-- I wonder what God thinks when He looks at His bride?! ttyl.
Seeta

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Photos

Family groups
Once again the "family groups" on fathers day in la profecía. As you can see, the caulture here is much more PHYSICAL: personal space is mch reduced, and touching to express affection is common, especially among family members.

raucous prayer in "family groups"
Here they are at La Profecía, waving and shaking their arms in the air....

The Catholic Church, Nueva Guinea
I like the Catholic Church here: Not a grand and fancy affair, but down to earth and very REAL.

Me & Elisa at Church
Lone visitors adrift in a sea of "family unit" islands!

The compund outside the Catholic Church
I like this scene: there is something so homey and inviting about a Church that hangs its laundry (even peronsal items) outside in the sun without shame. It somehow doesn´t seem so aloof and distant as some more ornate and "elegant" Churches do.

Prayer garden outside the Catholic Church
The grounds around the Church are really quite lovely: complete with a well (u can kina see in the background) where local residents come to get water when there is no power for days on end 8and consequently the water cannot be pumped thru the pipes). It is very much a Church "by the people, for the people" (to quote Nicaragua´s government propganda slogan!).