Cepeda Anthology

The Chuch in the New Land

Last Updated (Monday, 20 February 2012 21:44) Written by John Walter Sunday, 20 February 2011 19:06

The Church in a New World
Rafael Cepeda, El tiempo y las palabras: artículos y mensajes 1947-1997

Message preached at the inaugural session
of the Presbytery of Cuba at First Havana,
January 1960.

Taken from Cuban sermons, Havana,
Printed at H.C. Marón, S.A., pp 41- 46

Translation: John Walter
Feb. 20, 2012

“And I saw…a new world”  Rev 21:1

We the Cubans of this generation are very fortunate; it’s we who have been called
to live in an epoch of crisis. In the Chinese language they say that the word for crisis is a
compound word made up of two characters, the first of which means “danger”, and the
 other “opportunity. In this constant mixture of danger and opportunity no one can remain
content with being a mere spectator; like it or not, we are all actors in this drama.

What we don’t realize is that the principal protagonist is moving in our very midst, who is
both author and director of the drama: God himself. What I want to say is, is that God
is as engaged in the historical process as we are. He is no foreigner to any of the events being
played out here; his powerful hand, unfathomable wisdom, and eternal objectives harmoniously
guide the characters and everyday events on the stage of history.

No one of us can conceive of our God as a spectator God, or as a potbellied Buddha
seated complacently, entertaining himself with what passes nearby. When God entered the
human realm in the person of Jesus Christ, he did so definitively and totally. Jesus Christ
moved in the historical arena as an authentic man, and was engaged in the economic urges,
the social inequalities, and the political passions of his time. The markings of his passing
are preserved in these sands for all centuries to come. [wordplay on: “arena”, in Spanish
meaning both arena and sand. JW]

A Christian should have historical perspective, guided by a sense of God’s active participation
in the affairs of this world. Christians are prepared to see what others cannot. This obviousness
should not constitute a reason for ostentation nor for fatuous pride; rather for genuine humility
and a responsible dedication to the task put before us. If Jesus Christ was in this world before
us, if He preceded us and gave us the example as to how we should proceed, then it’s enough
that we may be in accordance with Him, then all will be well. He knows, before we speak, what
we should say and what we should do.

This is what the man from Patmos did: he took advantage of his privileged position
and saw what others could not: “The New World”; and so, what I ask myself is this: “Will we
not be capable ourselves – the Church of Jesus Christ - to see in the light of his sacrifice,
resurrection and power - the new world that is appearing just before us on the near horizon? 
Will we not be able to understand that he who is seated at the right hand of God, Father All
Powerful, vigilant and agonizing, expects of his sons and church alike the visionary mission
of discovering what the Lord’s historical relationship is to the actual events now in Cuba? (1) 
Is it not perhaps the prophetic task of the church to announce to our governors and to all
Cuban people the opportunities and dangers that our [current] crisis poses?

We will all agree – with the ample perspective our privileged position affords us, from the
Mount Nebo of our civic anxiety – that we are in sight of a new homeland, a land of promise.
What’s happening now in Cuba is what we have been clamoring for for years and years from
our pulpits; that which we have expressed so many times in our amiable confessions; that
which we have craved for in the inner confines of our aching Cuban conscience, we who so
love our common homeland. 


If something is worrying us, it’s not what is happening now; rather what might happen in
the future as a consequence of what is occurring now. For that – as the Church in a new
world – we need to shout out to the Father for a transparent sense of historical perspective i
n such a way that we can clearly realize our prophetic mission in this singular hour.


What can happen here?  Is it possible that Cuba – the new world – might become a socialist
state like so many others today?. Good, well so? What’s so bad about that if it means social
justice – that which the prophet Amos so thunderously cried out for-; if that means equality
of opportunities for all Cubans, apart from their race, religion, and social standing; if that
means the abolition of abuses, exploitation, and irritating nepotism; if that means literacy,
culture, religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and meeting? Then the
Church will applaud the economical and social means of the State, and will redouble its
efforts to encourage and inspire the spiritual vitality in the vertical sense of the state’s efforts
to make life easier and more pleasant, happier- and to sum it up: more human in this new
land of ours. But beyond that, the church’s mission will be fixed: The Church will make
known to each Cuban that “man does not live by bread alone”, (Matthew 4:4); that ultimately
he is only happy having made peace with God; that Jesus’ sacrifice is a matter of eternal life
or death; that all men – satisfied or dissatisfied with their economic and social situation –
need to confront this undeniable reality.  

We may suppose then, what generally happens in these cases, and what is already happening
here among us, is that in conjunction with the socialist state a resurgence of a raw new
nationalistic sentiment is taking place.  This shouldn’t astonish us.. “Each people” says
Martí, “has to work out its own balance” [Cada pueblo tiene que sudar su propia calentura] (2) 
The church finds nothing against a people’s desire for total independence, for reaffirming its
absolute sovereignty. The church cannot cover up for colonialism, or paternalism, or
imperialism. A people’s economic, political, social and cultural maturity cannot be
denied them.


But there is a constructive and healthy nationalism, and there is another: one that is fanatical,
hate mongering, and completely dissolving. If this second appears in Cuba, we will need to
arrest it. We will need to stop it because it may well be the ruin of the country. We cannot
carry this people from their generous and “affectionate” nature to a climate of bitterness
and pointless hatred.


Also, in a nationalistic state the church has a special message, one which cannot be hushed:
the Biblical emphasis that we are all sons of the same creating and sustaining Father; and that
God is interested in the well being of all of his sons, wherever they might live on the face
 of the planet.


The church will supply the note missing for true harmony: the ecumenical note,that of the
communion of believers in the four corners of the terrestrial globe without respect to their
nationality, language or customs. The church will proclaim that a man is no more or less
valuable whether he be Chinese, Arabic, Mexican or Cuban, but will be judged by his human
qualities and spiritual values. A man may be discredited for hypocrisy, being a liar, a thief
or assassin, not by the color of his skin or the language he speaks or birthplace. For the sole
fact of being Cubans we aren’t better (or worse) than other peoples of this orb; we will only be
better when the great virtues of daily life prevail in us all, whose fundamental premise was
announced centuries ago by the Psalmist: “Blessed the people whose God is the Lord”.
(Psalm 144: 15b)

But let’s imagine the worst. Let’s suppose what happens is what many - some maliciously, some
vengefully, some ignorantly, and others by conviction (those much in the minority) – assure us.
Let’s suppose that the new world – that which we have all dreamed of – ends by becoming a
communist state in the style of Russia and China.  This thought implies, no rather, it’s given as
truth, that the leaders of the revolutionary government, the pioneers of the new world and
second republic, are deceiving us all miserably; that behind the curtain of illusion, hope, and
Cuban fervor, they have been manipulating the treacherous strings of deception.


If it’s true, then woe to them. Woe to them because by the same token that today an enthusiastic
and thankful people follows them, tomorrow disdain and even hate will pursue them by a
humiliated and mocked nation. Poor Cuba; that she should at last learn to hate!


Woe to them, for having used lies as a political weapon they will provoke God’s anger. “Do not
deceive us governors, God cannot be deceived”. “All that man sows he will also reap.”(Galatians 6: 7) 
I want to believe that God will take pity on a mislead people; that God will have mercy on the
disappointed Cubans, and will crack his whip upon the backs of the perverse. That when they
desire to impose a system of exaggerated materialism and exaltation of atheism – another noose
around our necks – Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, as in the times of the Old Testament, will fight
for his people and come out victoriously. And if not, it’s because the Lord has other intentions.
It’s then when He wants the Church to carry out a task only it can fulfill: It’s that He wants to
speak to the church through the State and historical event.

It’s then when the church will have a special mission: that of testifying to Christ in a hostile
ambient, dominated by sinful people; that of proclaiming its love in a world permeated by
hate. The Communists need a Savior as well. Woe to them because the Church which wishes
to exterminate [hate] will grow in suffering and persecution, and the voice of the prophets
will resound as never before, proclaiming with a throaty voice the words of the Apostle Paul
 that only “Jesus Christ is the Lord” (Philippians 2: 11) and with John Calvin (3) “Only God
is Lord of my conscience.”  (4)


Well, thankfully we’re leaving somewhat before all this trembling.


I wanted to touch upon a question, so delicate in and of itself, so that we realize that we as
the church of Jesus Christ have a specific mission to carry out in this new world, whatever
the events and environmental conditions of the future may be. And if we have a task to
complete by the grace of God, there’s no reason to be pessimists or downhearted. In the
Christian perspective where God governs, the horizon is always brilliant and promising.
 If we don’t understand it as such, it’s because we don’t really understand the mission of
 the church, nor trust entirely in Jesus’ power, the source of all power. We should probably
direct our attentions [a little further] below, in the words of the visionary of Patmos, and
listen to the voice of Jesus Christ whose message carries through the centuries with the
same tremendous affirmation: …and he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I
make all things new.” (Revelations 21:5- 7)   

This power, dominion, and command, this sovereignty of Jesus Christ is what we cannot
forget nor overlook, because it is the only thing that gives relevance to our hope and firm
foundation to the mission of the church. And what is the fundamental mission of the
church in a new land, that which never varies in historical aspect or by any class of
circumstances?


We find the answer to this question in the same person, in the same message, in the same
mission of Jesus Christ. Notice when and how the definitive phrase is made: “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given me.” (Matthew 28: 18) It is made as a testimony,
like the Lord’s final bequest to his disciples; and it is made when three basic things have
occurred: The crucifixion, the resurrection, and the testimony of the church. It’s through
Jesus’ death that the incarnation - God made into man – can be understood. It’s in his
resurrection that the glory of God illuminates the centuries and gives them meaning and
objective. It’s in the testimony of the first believers that the church bases its mission upon
the new covenant. Before these three things happened He had not risked making the
tremendous and consoling assertion: “To me all power has been given”.

After all, isn’t this what happens in the life of every Christian, and in the life of the church? 
Are we not called to be crucified with Christ, and to be resuscitated with him as new
creatures? And isn’t it testimony – communication and proclamation – to which we are
called time and time again by the Lord as ambassadors of his Kingdom?  Her capacity for
testimony is fundamental to the mission of the church. The women of the resurrection were
the first believers to give testimony in that luminous dawn: “We have seen the Lord.” And
 the disciples of Emmaus, those with burning hearts, discovered the ineffable presence
of the Lord at the communion table, and from then on their sole message was that “We
have seen the Lord.” 

Permit me to regress and consider an old word, one which seems to have lost meaning and
value among us. I refer to the word “missions” or perhaps better in its singular form: “mission”.
I dare risk affirming that the church in this new world can only last if it becomes “missionary”
 [translator’s note: He uses the word: misionera]. It’s indispensible that we be in the disposition
to: “…enlarge the site of your tent and let your habitations be stretched out” (Isaiah 54:2); to
cross frontiers, to break molds, to revise and reform - if necessary - our total methodology.


I’ve heard it said lately that the worst temptation of the church, that which Satan uses as a
preferred instrument is “prudence”. Well then, let’s not be so prudent, so calculating. For
the first time let’s be imprudent and daring, risk takers, and decide to learn in the process.
In this sense the revolutionary government offers us an instructive challenge: It’s not
indispensible to have specialists with experience in each field; that at times it’s enough to
have good intentions, definite objectives and constant and sacrificial desires to work. Risks
are run, but progress is made. The church then becomes an immense beehive with a common
objective: That of producing a sweet, energetic, creative and reproductive honey; where each
and every one of us moves with a cooperative and corporate sense.  And if we should happen
to trip upon ourselves, it’s because we can’t avoid it in the heat [of our enthusiasm] for
the work. [But] it would be suicidal to remain static, at the point of inertia, when around
us all of the dormant forces of a people who have just found their new homeland and have
entered the Promised Land are being unleashed.

When I speak about a “missionary” church, I refer to a church which is constantly developing
a double mission: that of evangelizing, and of serving. Let’s differentiate the two terms.
Missionary evangelization implies the proclamation of the Word of God, oral and written,
with the objective of bringing the incredulous to Jesus and place themselves at his service.
Missionary service understands its work as directed to the needy through pastoral work and
school programs, dispensaries, clinics, literacy, and all kinds of educational and social work
that the church carries out in the name of Jesus Christ.(5) Evangelization is essentially
inspirational; service is essentially functional. Each are equally important, one cannot survive
without or displace the other. We cannot fall into the error of Churchism, which renounces
collateral institutions; nor in institutionalism, with its gallery of golden calves, foolishly
excluding the church as [only] a fundamental center of worship.


I believe that by the grace of God the Cuban Presbyterian Church has broken the barrier of fear,
having thrown itself to the [new] adventures in Santiago de Cuba and Tánamo, the first mission
stations beyond its traditional frontiers. (6)  These are the clarion calls that announce the aurora
of a new day for the vision of a new church in a new land.


The hour is upon us when the necessity for a new strategy is indispensable. A strategy which
will permit us to see the work ahead in its totality, but well adapted to the Cuban circumstances
we have been chosen to live. Permit me – as a final note - to remember here what I call “my
pagan symbol”: Pegasus, the famous winged horse of mythology, who was able to scale the
heights as well as find himself at home on the ground and securely gallop towards the
assigned goal. Let’s be like the mythological Pegasus, able to envision the whole and future
perspective, but also be able to respond to immediate and urgent necessity.


But remember, the church is not ours; neither does the mission of the church belong to us.
Because we, and the church, and “all the kingdoms of the earth are of the Lord and of Christ”
to whom is given the honor, glory, and dominion now and forever. Amen.

footnotes

1. The dizzying and radical transformations of the new Revolutionary Government are being
refered to.
2. I [editor] have not been able to identify the source of this phrase which Cepeda
attributes to José Martí.
3. John Calvin, (1509-1564) Theologian and French humanist considered to be the second most
relevant figure of the Protestant Reformation.
4. It has not been possible to identify the source of this phrase.
5. These educational and social services once developed by the churches were later assumed,
almost in their entirety, by the Cuban state.
6. Historically, the IPRC’s work has been centered in the middle and western part of the country:
the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, and Villa Clara. Nevertheless, after the victory of the Cuban
Revolution the IPRC, sith the substantial assistance of the Presbyterian Church USA and Cuban
volunteers began a project of social service on Tánamo and El Caney in the old East Òriente+ Province.