Reflections

Returning from the 2009 Inter-Presbytery Conference in Santa Clara, Cuba

Written by John Walter Friday, 27 March 2009 15:43

Returning from the 2009 Inter-Presbytery Conference in Santa Clara, Cuba.

(Por favor, mira abajo por la version en espanol.)

As the culmination of nearly a year's worth of planning, our delegation, once set at fifteen people, had been reduced to a servicable eleven, all survivors of the hours of briefing and planning meetings that composed our part of the program we would share with the pastors and leaders of El Centro Presbytery in Cuba.

The delegates for Baltimore Presbytery were:

Rev. Peter Nord, our estimed Exec. Presbyter.

Ms. Deb Milcarek, Associate for Mission and Justice.

Rev. Kate Foster Connors, Brown Memorial Park Ave. in Baltimore.

Rev. Jennifer DiFrancesco, Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.

Rev. Christa Burns, Faith Presbyterian Church, Baltimore.

Rev. Margaret (Liz) Johnson, Dickey Memorial, Baltimore.

Rev. Roger Powers, Light Street Presbyterian Church, Baltimore

Rev. Brett Morgan, Ashland Presbyterian Church, where in 1999 the partnership was born, then under the pastorate of Rev. Bill Johnstion.

Mrs. JoAnne Torrie, Ashland member and bilingual aid to the conference.

Mrs. Sandra (Sandy) Losemann, Ashland member and director of cultural programs for all us North Americans.

John Walter, project convener for Baltimore Presbytery, and member of Ashland Presbyterian Church.

Also in attendance was Rev. Tricia Sidle, World Mission's Mission Co-Worker for Cuba.

For the Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada en El Centro, the participants were:

PP Omar Maren Turcaz, the General Secretary of El Centro.

PP Miriam Naranjo Alonso, El Centro's Moderator and pastor in Taguasco.

PP Mairolet Vega Comas, El Centro's Vice Moderator and pastor in Cabaiguan.

PP Marielys Dias Aragon, Sagua la Grande

PP Dalia Margarita Valdes, Calabazar

PP Mirielys Negrin Navia, Sancti Spiritus

PP Edelberto Valdes Fleites, Caibarien

PP Javier Naranjo Toledo, Remedios

PP Aned Marreo Machado, Encrucijada

PGCP Olga Comas Perez, Placetas

PG Xiomara Arenas Lorenzo, Director of CANIP

PG Yakelin Valdes, the wonderfully talented music director from Sancti Spiritus.

PG Magalys Mas, Camaguey.

PG Yoanny Marrero Aguilo, Cabaiguan

PG Mercedes Garcia Crespi, Caibarien.

PG Norma Martinez Correa, Taguasco

PG Idelsis Afonso, Iguara

The idea for an Inter-Presbytery Conference grew out of the November 2007 Centennial celebration of the Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada en Cabaiguan. All the veterans of the partnership journeyed to Cuba to share that very special time, renew friendships, and begin thinking of our partnership in a new light as we approached the five year mark in our first partnership aggrement.

If the first five years of the partnership could be characterized by the idea of exploring and  mutually investing in eachother, perhaps the second five year agreement will serve to define unprecedented new ways of working together, imagining / inventing partnership, and creating new levels of communication to  support understanding and transparency

To that end, it seems providential that the new officers in El Centro are  alert to the world that is literally shifting beneath our feet ~ ALL OUR FEET ~ as the global economy seeks to right itself through the imposition of fairer and more equitable financial and foreign policies.

GREEN IS IN, but that's not exactly news in Cuba, where organic gardening is a staple of the community and gravitational water systems are the norm for each house, but I digress.

In fact, I was in Cuba just after President Obama had been newly elected. Everywhere I turned I had people approaching me with SMILES on their faces and hands extended to congratulate the only North American in sight.

WE ALL FELT IT:  The rush of optomism, the promise of new possibilities for a hurting world. A new force was-is driving us back together, and each of us is beginning to grasp a sense of our part in the work to be done.

That, I think, is what floated in the air above us as we went through our Bible studies, reflections, small and plenary sessions, and cultural nights. Something new is arriving, even amidst all the clutter and debris of the old paradigm decaying.

Even as I write, equivalent teams in both Presbyteries are convening to consider this fresh opportunity.

Even as I write, the newcomers to the partnership are reading the informative reports coming from Miriam Naranjo in Cuba and beginning to unnderstand how they and we all fit together in the Kingdom.

Al Regresar del Encuentro Inter-Presbiteral 2009

Creo que la idea por un Encuentro Inter-Presbiteral se derivo de la celebracion del Centenario en la Iglesia Presbiteriana Reformada en Cabaiguan, el noviembre de 2007. Todos los veteranos del hermanamiento y nueva gente viajaron a Cuba para compartir ese tiempo especial, renovar sus amistades, y comenzar a pensar de manera completamente novedosa en el hermanamiento como acercabamos el fin del acuerdo primero.

Si se caracteriza los primeros cinco anos por la idea de exploracion e inversion mutua, quizas los cinco aons siguientes sirvan para definir vias imprevistas de trabajar juntos, imaginando e inventando hermanamiento, y por crear nuevos niveles de comunicacion para apoyar entendimiento y transparencia.

A este fin, parecio providencial que los nuevos oficiales del Presbiterio del Centro se mantienen alertos y despiertos a los eventos en el mundo que verdaderamente se mueven debajo de los pies  TODOS NUESTROS PIES - como la economia global trata de arreglarse a traves de la imposicion de policias economicas y extranjeras mas justas y equitativas.

VERDE es la palabra del dia, pero esto no es exactamente algo sorprendente en Cuba donde la base de la vida cotidiana es la agricultura organica y cada casa tiene un sistema de agua colgado del techo, pero disculpe, divago demasiado¦

De hecho, estaba en Cuba justo despues de la eleccion de Presidente Obama. A cada vuelta veia gente sonrniendose y con una mano estrechada para felicitar al unico norteamericano a su alcance. Celebrabamos.

Todo el mundo lo sintio, esa rafaga de optimismo, la promesa de nuevas posibilidades en un mundo hundido por muchos anos. Una nueva fuerza nos iba- ES agrupando, y cada quien comienza a detectar un susurro del sentido de su parte en la obra adelante.

Esto, creo yo, era lo que flotaba, lo que se suspendia en el aire arriba, mientras seguimos con los estudios Biblicos, reflexiones, devociones, sesiones en grupo y plenarios, y las noches culturales. Algo de nuevo llegue, aun en medio del derrumbe del paradigma marchitandose.

En este momento, equipos equivalentes en ambos presbiterios se reunen para considerar esta idea fresca.

En este mismo momento los principiantes del hermanamiento en Baltimore leen los informes escritos por Miriam Naranjo, Moderadora del Presbiterio del Centro, y comienzan a entender que cualidades pueden anadir, que talentos pueden llevar, y como juntados cabemos en el Reino de Dios.