Remembering the Rev. Omar Maren Turcaz

Last Updated (Friday, 25 March 2011 14:11) Written by Roger Powers, Miriam Naranjo, John Walter Friday, 25 March 2011 13:54

REMEMBERING THE REV. OMAR MAREN TURCAZ

On Monday, we received the tragic news that the Rev. Omar Maren Turcaz
was killed in a car accident on Sunday afternoon.  He was 34 years old.

Omar was the general secretary of El Centro Presbytery and served as pastor
of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Santa Clara.  He was also a member
of the coordinating body responsible for nurturing the partnership between
El Centro and Baltimore Presbyteries.  He was one of the principal organizers
of the Inter-Presbytery Encounter held this past January  in which eighteen of
us from Baltimore participated.  And in recent weeks we had been making
arrangements for him to visit Baltimore Presbytery in September.

Omar was born in Guantanamo, Cuba, in 1976, and later moved with his
family to Havana.  He became a member of First Havana Reformed Presbyterian
Church and studied at the Evangelical Seminary in Matanzas.  He became
the pastor of the Santa Clara church in 2004.

An elder from his church, Miguel de Armas, said that “[Omar] was a tireless
and unselfish worker, attending to all the spiritual and material needs of others. . . .
His great love was to work with young people, [and] as a result, the church
took on a whole new appearance as many youth flocked to the church.”


The Moderator of El Centro Presbytery, the Rev. Miriam Naranjo, who attended our
Presbytery meeting last September, sent this note to us:

Dear brothers and sisters,

We give thanks to God to be able to rely on friends who are so far away, yet so close
at hand. Omar's sudden departure has no comparison in my life; I can only say to
you that I give thanks to God for having been able to know him fondly. Omar was
my friend, one of those friends that we have that are completely unlike any other;
but we complemented each other and shared burdens in this road which we call life.

At the funeral service held in Santa Clara, the Biblical text that came to mind was
Ecclesiastes 3. "For everything there is a season." Omar lived as though time were
about to run out. He always walked in a hurry or with a gang of people, and he
never stopped working. It was like packing so much into such a short time, and
accomplishing a great deal.

I don't believe we will be able to explain; I don't believe there is consolation.
If it exists, it lives in remembering him with his hurricane pace, his bright eyes
and smile, his capacity for tireless work, his commitment to the Cuban Church,
and to dream without limits. This is the way I hold him; this is the way I conceive
of his resurrection, here and right now.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your messages, for your solidarity and
accompaniment in this time.”


John Walter, chair of the Cuba Partnership Task Force, echoes Miriam’s words:
“We will miss [Omar’s] hurricane pace of walking from one place to the other.
We will miss his carrying voice, so easy to distinguish from afar. We will miss
his comical way of hurrying on the business at hand by drawing circles with
his hand, making everyone laugh…and hurry up. Most of all we will miss the
promise of his vision for the church and our partnership. We can rest assured
that Omar helped to plant strong ties between us, and those ties will live on and
thrive as we carry his memory forward.”


Please join me in a word of prayer:
Compassionate God, we come before you with heavy hearts weighed down by our
grief and sorrow at the news of Omar Maren’s untimely death.  We mourn the loss
of this dear friend and colleague, and we pray for his family, for his colleagues, for
the members of his congregation, and for El Centro Presbytery.  Comfort us all, O God,
with the great power of your love.  In our grief and confusion, help us to find peace
in the knowledge of your loving mercy to all your children, and give us light to guide
us into the assurance of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.