From Middle Class Miraflores to Shanty Town Collique

My Sunday morning destination, Cathedral of the Good Shepherd

Past Starbucks with its valet parking

On Sunday mornings when I head out of the apartment and walk ten minutes to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, I pass Sotheby’s, Tony Roma’s, Starbucks, a casino, Wong’s grocery store and a Pilates studio. Flower sellers tempt me with daisies and long-stemmed roses. A dear lady with a beautiful smile sitting in a wheelchair offers penny candy for sale. During Christmas week, children sell sparklers and wrapping paper, and  I  run a gauntlet of hawkers trying to make extra cash for Christmas. Filled with the Christmas feeling of good will, I buy flowers, and Ian generously blesses the smiling lady in the wheel chair.

Archangel Michael defends the area in front of the grocery store, Wong.

Lima is a city filled with contrasts. Comfortable in my middle class Miraflores apartment,  I am saddened when I hear and see the needs of the less fortunate and the outright poor. As someone who professes to be a Christian, I ask myself what is my responsibility before God? Sunday worship and conversations provide answers.

Cathedral decorated for Christmas

When I attend the cathedral, I worship with people from all over the world inclluding South Africans, Canadians, Americans, and Peruvians. It is not a large gathering: 20-70 (Christmas Day). We sing traditional hymns accompanied by an organ, use the Anglican liturgy for communion and listen to a ten to fifteen minute sermon. One of my  favorite parts of the morning is coffee hour when I can sit and talk with the various people who live here or are traveling through. Often we plan get togethers for later in the week. The cathedral has created a welcoming atmosphere during this time of fellowship, and the regulars are careful to include all the visitors in conversation.

Ian suspended this Advent wreath last month using ropes and scaffolding

An adult forum precedes the 10 am service and children’s sunday school overlaps the service. Ian and I contribute to the forum, and I help with the children’s program upstairs during the sermon time. Most Sundays we return to our apartment for lunch and ask ourselves– what more could we be doing here at the cathedral? Where is God at work,  and what would he have us do? We know that we want to become more involved with the Spanish congregation as our Spanish improves, and their service follows the English one.

In Collique with Edith looking at a possible new site for the church

On some Sunday afternoons, Ian and I head out to the Pueblos Jovenes, the new towns, or what we would call the shanty towns. This week we went to Collique to worship with Edith Varilla and Jerry Acosta’s hillside congregation, Jesus the Fountain of Life.

The two hour trek was a tour of Lima as we began with a combi (small bus); continued with the new express bus, the Metropolitano; caught another branch of the Metro to Collique; and then finished with another combi to the hillside where the church stood among other brick and concrete structures set into the hillside. Edith escorted us from the Metro stop in Collique up to the church where we took time to walk the neighborhood greeting parishioners on the dusty dirt street and looked up at a rocky hillside where Edith is praying for a gift of land for a new church building and health center. This mission church feeds and holds Bible school for 70 children 4 times a week, along with Sunday worship. Because of the poverty of the area, the “lunch” of bread and milk for the children in the late afternoons is most important. Edith and Jerry (married, ministering couple)  are asking the cathedral to help support this feeding ministry. We are hoping this relationship can be built upon and enhanced. Already, we are considering taking some parishioners up with us on a Sunday afternoon (an ambassador, no less!). With the Metropolitano, the two hour journey is smooth and safe.  Perhaps this is a work God would have us build: linking the cathedral with this mission church. It’s worth praying about.

Houses on the hillside around the church

Around four o’clock we headed down the dirt road to the church which meets in a borrowed brick building. Contemporary Christian music spilled out the open doorway from a CD player and speakers. Adults and young children continued to gather on the wooden benches and wait for the service. The altar was a simple table covered with a cloth, decorated with two candles (unlit) and a vase of several plastic flowers. The walls were decorated with verses of scripture and reminders of what Christians believe. A few red and green balloons left over from Christmas celebrations hung from the ceiling. A podium stood in the corner with a Bible upon it.

Maria and Edith in front of the church which is the lower level

The sanctuary with Edith playing guitar and Ian as celebrant

Edith played a guitar for the opening song, and other times we sang along with the CDs. I mostly clapped and smiled since I did not know the Spanish words. Children and adults continued to trickle in and out. One little girl played with her pink plastic doctor kit using the stethoscope to capture her heart beat. Meanwhile, we listened to the lessons from the Bible and added to the prayers of the people. Ian was the celebrant (in Spanish) since Edith and Jerry are seminarians, not yet deacons or priests. We are looking forward to their ordinations in the near future. Jerry preached a evangelistic sermon, and you could tell he had been a minister for years (in another denomination). After the service, Edith called me forward to greet the people from up front, and I stumbled through my Spanish greetings; however, I felt welcomed and understood.

Afterwards, I talked with some of the women who guided me in my Spanish and used their limited English to share about how they had come to faith in this church through the ministry of Edith and Jerry.  I had noticed Ruby and Marisol when they had come in; they had that special sparkle of light in their eyes. They later walked down to the Metro with us and continued to share about their lives. How refreshing to walk and talk with young women excited about life, their faith and ministry!

Worship at Jesus-Fountain of Life church in Collique

Ian and I rode back on the Metro with Edith and a parishioner named Jack. While Edith and Ian talked about ministry, Jack helped me with Spanish, and I helped him with English. He lives near Edith and Jerry and works in the import-export business. My guess is that he is a leader within their church. How kind of them to accompany us on part of our journey home.

Sunday had been a day of contrasts, but all with the family of God. We worship the same God in middle class Miraflores and shanty town Collique. We met together, shared our lives and faith and made plans to continue our fellowship. So, God, what’s next? For Ian’s perspective on the day check out his blog.

Around the church

Thinking about the possibilities!

Sunday sights around Lima:

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