Just As It Should Be

 We have a small group of Hispanic believers who meet at our church every week.  We have hired a pastor to minister to this group, Inez Pavon.  He and his wife Bethany have been serving in this capacity for the past few years.  They are a sweet couple who have been so faithful to the Lord and to this community.  I have known Bethany and been connected with her family ever since I had her in fourth grade.

Inez has a great testimony.  He came here illegally to find work.  He met Bethany when she was teaching English to Spanish speakers.  They married; he answered the call to preach.  Then God began to deal with him about his illegal status.  In the end he decided to go back home to Mexico and start the process of coming here legally.  It was a very trying time for their entire family.  Bethany stayed behind for a while and eventually joined him in Mexico with their daughter.  God moved and worked in many ways and finally they were able to return to the US with a green card.  He is starting the process of becoming a citizen.

So they've been pastoring this group of believers.  A couple of times a year they run a soccer league that brings out many folks who never come to our church.  The people come out to play, watch, eat, and enjoy their community.  I started helping Bethany with the food on the afternoons that I could.  I would listen to the speaker they had every week, even though I don't know Spanish.  I looked around at one point and realized that, besides Bethany, I was the only white person there.

It made me sad.  I didn't want our church members to be patting themselves on the back for having a Hispanic ministry when they really weren't doing anything to interact with them.

Don't get me wrong... interaction is hard when there's a language barrier.  When I first started going I decided that at least I was going to learn some of their names.  I asked Bethany one guy's name and when she said it, I couldn't figure out how to repeat it.  So I said, "How do you spell that?"  She said, "It won't help."  Leave it to Bethany to cut to the chase.  Now I know several of their names, and I can at least say hi.

But things are slowly changing in our congregation.  

Last Sunday we had a very special service at our church.  It was a communion service, but it was bilingual.  We sang some familiar songs in Spanish.  We sang some of the verses in English.  Jose played his guitar along with Ed and Jason, and then he sang a couple of solos.  He did a great job.

Brother Brian preached, and Inez interpreted the whole thing in Spanish.  It was choppy and awkward at times, but it was beautiful.  There we were, all together in one room, sharing the blood and body of Christ together.

And it was just as it should be.