“Noche de Talentos” the youth called it. Saturday roughly 220 folks gathered, milling in groups for almost an hour before the program finally started. Our girls helped act out a drama on the parable of the 10 virgins and closed with a song from Mensajeres. But the act that brought the most applause was Jorgito straining for every note and Zoila accompanying him when his voice was too tired. You see Jorgito has CP and though his mind is active, his body won’t cooperate in the way he would like it to. He was in several acts, his Dad or Richard carried him up onto the stage and had to push those stubborn arms into place so that he wouldn’t be sprawled out of the chair. But this is “normal” in our church. Broken bodies, fractured lives that Christ is restoring. As I paste together photos into the directory I am more aware of the lives that He is healing through their incorporation into the Body. Many of the photos include loose family groupings and finding a name to place on the unit can be a challenge. Alcoholism, drugs, street gangs, children out of wedlock…these were the norm for so many before they learned to “walk in His way” as the Spanish translates.
As we took communion yesterday I looked around and I thought,”Yes, I’m finally feeling a part of this body.” Though most of my life looks so much different, we have joined to become hands and feet on this mountain. When I walk to the mercedito, I enjoy greeting folks I know from this body. I’m excited that in about a month we’ll have another “mass wedding” and witness 5 couples making their marriage official before God. As the plate goes by I draw out my own small piece of cracker and smile at Belkis beside me. I tuck the sermon notes with all my scribbled definitions into my back pack. Some days I feel I spend most of the morning flipping through my bilingual dictionary. I suppose language is one of my areas of brokeness that God is working through right now. Some days it’s almost overwhelming. I’m so glad He uses our small talent while we are still broken.