Posts in month: August, 2009

Hello everyone! I hope your week has been a good one.

Last Monday we went to visit with some house church leaders in a city about an hour from Joinville. They had contacted us about 2 weeks ago, the day after I put contact information on the Portuguese language blog. However, we were all sick then. After getting well, we called them and set up a time for the visit.

We spent about 6 hours with them, including a tasty lunch that they served us. It was so very good to talk with folks who understand house church and the struggles that come in Brazil from pursuing that return to the New Testament church. It was a great time of mutual encouragement. They were able to confirm some aspects of the culture in Santa Catarina that I thought might have been different from the culture in Rio Grande do Sul, where we had been working to make disciples and plant house churches. Even though they have been meeting as a house church for a couple of years, they don’t have much experience outside their own house church. Since I have been through thick and thin with several house churches, I was able to share insights into questions they have been struggling through. It was a great time.

In the past, we’ve noticed that a sticking point in developing a house church network was the lack of biblically qualified leadership in the house churches. The Brazilian culture does not lend itself to nurturing the kind of men Paul described to Timothy and Titus. From all appearances and throughout our time last Monday, it is apparent that God has raised up several families in that town who want to be more like Jesus every day, and not just in word, but in deed. This is an incredible answer to prayer. In our meetings last month with our colleagues, this was my prayer request – that God would give us biblically qualified men to lead the house churches.

When we scheduled our visit for Monday, we did not realize that their house church meets on Monday night. That night, the leaders shared with the house church many of the things we had talked about during the day. The information was well received by all.

This small group of believers has a vision that goes well beyond their own group, beyond their own city, beyond their own state, and beyond their own country. They have some ideas about how to develop house church networks that I had not yet considered. And, I have some ideas about training house church leaders that they had not yet considered. So, there are a lot of ways that we could work together in making disciples and planting house churches. I’m not sure exactly when we will visit this house church again. And, I’m not sure what God will do through this connection. But, we are in contact on the phone and by e-mail.

Please praise the Lord with us for His making this connection. Please pray that all involved will be able to discern what God wants to do through us.

I went to the nearby town of Araquari last Thursday. They were having the Festival of Bom Jesus (Good Jesus). I thought I would go and see and take some pictures. I’ve been in Brazil for five years and this is the first time I’ve actually been to a religious celebration of this kind. So, the feast, mass, street fair and procession were new to me. It was very interesting to take it all in. I’ll share more about it here.

 The city of Araquari is about 12 miles from Joinville. It was settled around 1750 by people from the Azor islands who settled among the indigenous tribes and runaway slaves of the area. There are around 21 thousand residents. Over 2,000 residents there are fishermen and another 700 are artisans. The city is said to be both religious and mystic and is described as a cultural and religious mosaic due to the blending of the Azorian, tribal, African and Catholic religions. The principal religious and cultural event of the city is the Festival of Bom Jesus of Araquari which is also the third largest religious festival in the State of Santa Catarina. People come from other states of Brazil for this festival as well. There were literally thousands of people at the festival this year. It was almost overwhelming to see the multitudes of people swarming in and around the church building.

 Below: Crowd Inside

Below: Crowd Outside

I arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon. The street fair was in full swing – people selling a myriad of products (ranging from kids’ toys to shoes) and snack foods. There were games and toys (inflatable slide and trampoline) for the kids. They were also still serving the feast, but I don’t care much for taking pictures of people eating so I didn’t go in. 

After a while they started some activities inside the church building. Rather than going in for the mass, many people stayed outside. I stayed outside too, walking around taking pictures and talking to people. There were many families there. It seemed the older generation was there as “the faithful” and the younger generation was there for “the festival.”

I got to talk to the young man, Edson, who would be driving the truck with the statue of Bom Jesus on the procession route. He was a nice young man and very willing to talk even after I told him I was an evangelical missionary. It was his first year to be the driver and he was excited about it.

Finally more of the people outside the church building began to gather nearer the doors. I took that to be a sign that the mass would be ending soon. So, I got in my position next to the truck so I could get pictures of the statue being brought out of the building and placed on the truck. People in the crowd began to get ready for the procession. Some donned scarlet capes embroidered with golden thread and trimmed out with gold. A few began to pull out small statues of Bom Jesus. Others began to prepare and light candles for the procession. The statue in the picture to the left was given to Edson so it would actually make the procession in the truck that carried the large statue – I guess you get extra blessing for such a feat. I stood there for quite a while watching all these preparations taking place. About an hour later, the crowd inside actually began exit the building.

As the people filed out of the church building, one of the officiating priests came out. I later found out this man was Bishop Irineu Roque Scherer. He is the Bishop of Joinville. He was flinging holy water on the crowd as he walked out of the church building and down to the truck which would carry the statue on the procession. He flung some holy water on the truck too. As I’m not Catholic, I’m not certain of the correct terminology for this. I think the correct terminology may be that he was blessing them with holy water. I don’t mean to be disrespectful by saying that he was flinging the holy water. So, please take this description as an outsider’s view of what was taking place. 

After Bishop Scherer applied the holy water to the crowd and the truck, the procession of Bom Jesus to the truck began (it was a Chevy, in case you were curious). From the church building a couple of people emerged carrying scarlet banners embroidered with a gold BJ and trimmed in golden thread. These two were followed by several priests (who boarded the larger blue truck , as did a band). Then came the man carrying the large statue of Bom Jesus. The crowed cleared a path for them to the back of the truck. The statue was quite large and all around the base of the statue was an arrangement of scarlet roses with greenery and babies’ breath. It was quite a sight to see.

This young boy was a member of the crew that brought the statue out to the truck. The crew was very careful with the statue and made sure it was secure in the back of the truck. They road with the statue on the whole procession and were accompanied by four young men from the Brazilian Navy.

 The procession followed a set path through the town. I think it probably lasted for about an hour. I managed to reach three or four different places from which to take pictures along the route. The people sang songs, prayed the Lord’s Prayer, and said various ritual sayings along the way. As the big blue truck passed by one of the places I was taking pictures, an elderly priest actually primped his hair for me to take a picture. It is all about image after all.

Below: Thousands in the procession. Some had already passed me and some were still around the corner way behind the blue truck.

One young lady walked the processional route in a wedding gown. I have to talk with some people about that. I imagine there is a belief that she will get married or have a future blessed marriage for walking the procession in her wedding gown. She was accompanied by her mother on the procession, though her father was nearby earlier in the day. I don’t know if he was with her on the procession or not.

The procession wound its way through town and returned to the Church building. The folks accompanying the truck cleared a way for Edson to back up to the point from which they began. After the truck was in place, parked and turned off, I glanced over and saw Edson. He had his hand over his face, as though he were overwhelmed. It did not appear to be the weight of glory, but more the stress of driving so slowly with a throng of people all about. The crowd pressed in tightly around the truck now. The big blue truck arrived too. Bishop Scherer made his way atop that truck to deliver a message to the crowd.

The part of the message that struck me was the part about Bom Jesus. This was no sermon about Jesus, this was a talk about the statue Bom Jesus, and the little statues of Bom Jesus. If you’ll just take home a statue of Bom Jesus your spouse will become faithful (or come to faith), your sicknesses will be cured, and your finances will get better. All this if you take home a statue of Bom Jesus. At one point in the message Bishop Scherer actually said “Jesus” when he meant to say “Bom Jesus,” but he quickly restated Bom Jesus instead. It couldn’t just be about Jesus the Savior, it had to be about Bom Jesus the statue.

When the crew on the truck thought it was time, they began to take roses, greenery, and babies’ breath from around the statue and throw it to the crowd. Evidently the time was not right because Bishop Scherer called from the truck for the crew to stop. I don’t think he ever got them stopped. Once the roses began to fly, everyone in the crowed wanted one. So, fly they did.

In the end, I was taking pictures of the statue of Bom Jesus, looking up before they took the statue off the truck. Through viewfinder of the camera it struck me how sad was the look on the face of the statue. The crowd around me out of control, grasping for roses simply because they had been in an arrangement at the base of a statue. I was thinking about the message attributing great blessing to little statues, if you’ll just take one home everything will get better. All this was racing through my mind there at the end. And, I realized the sadness on the face of the statue was very much the sadness of the Savior Himself as He was robbed of His glory and His power, and His worth and it was all given to a graven image upon which His name had been placed. I drove home sad, feeling the weight of the lostness of the crowd. Getting maybe a glimpse of what Edson was going through. The task is so huge, the workers so few. Pray for us – that God will open a way for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to reach the ears and the hearts of those who were at the Festival of Bom Jesus of Araquari.