Two baptisms at Grace this morning. One a baby in arms, one about three years old. Beautiful Latino girls welcomed into the body of Christ . Lots of Latino friends and relatives. It seems like we, at Grace Episcopal Church in Norwalk, are burying many of our Anglo parishioners and baptising babies from young Latino families.
When Grace Church merges with Iglesia Betania we will be more Latino than anything else. Our priest, Lois, is learning Spanish to better serve the Latino faction. A handful, a small handful, of us are trying to learn Spanish in an effort to show our good will. I put it this way because I am so slow to learn and will probably never really get to be able to speak it very well -- but I try. Others are doing better. Lois is doing VERY well. In fact today she is filling in for the Betania priest missioner and celebrating at their one o'clock service.
At three-thirty a delegation each from Betania and Grace will do a walk-through of the entire Grace Church plant that we now share. There is much needed work to do. We will list the needs, prioritize, and formulate a plan to do the work.
This is one way that people from different cultures and individual backgrounds can learn to be together peacefully and harmoniously in the love of Christ.
We are in conversation with the local Latino congregation for a future merge. They are a much younger congregation than we are. There is energy. There is love. They represent heritage from a variety of Central and South American countries. Their mission priest is from Puerto Rico -- and only six years ago. It is opportunity abounding. For all of us.At our first meeting we had an interpreter. Last evening's meeting we were on our own. Their priest, Jose Diaz, speaks English very well. Our priest, Lois Keen, is learning. Their young people are all bilingual. We are not -- any of us. We did a Bible study together using the Gospel appointed for this Sunday -- Jesus sending out the disciples to preach and anoint and heal. Jose and Lois read each in their own language and then in the other's. It was really hard understanding the responses from some of them. I felt that I was really missing a lot by not hearing them. AND, of course, it took away from the meaningfulness of the Bible study -- at least for me. I am almost seventy two. The thought of learning a new language is daunting. One of my recent interests is in the brain and I am finding out amazing things. The brain has plasticity and can keep on learning at any age. In fact learning a new language is one of the greatest opportunities for growth -- along with learning to play a musical instrument or knitting. And in the learning our brains stop aging and put dementia and Alzheimer's at bay. Sounds like a plan.God is calling us in new directions, both as community and individually. I have suggested that our people learn the new language together. But we seem to be a busy people and that isn't going to happen. It is difficult to learn such a new thing without support and accountability. I am still working on how I am going to do that. But, God willing, I am going to figure it out.
