Christmas will never lose its universal appeal. Despite all the craziness and loss of focus on what the season really means, people continue to find this a special time of the year. The joy and festivities of the Christmas season adds something to the spirit in which each year comes to an end. And no matter how tough a year it has been, the end of the old and promise of the new brings hope. Jesus the Christ whose Advent and coming is celebrated this time of the year, is the one who brings hope.

I take the greatest pleasure in wishing for you my readers and your loved ones, the  blessings of  more Love, Contentment and Peace this Christmas and in the year to come.

This Christmas, please remember that it is Love that lies behind the meaning of this season we celebrate. Be Content with the blessings that kept you going this past year. Cultivate an attitude and lifestyle of Peace and bring a peaceful presence to the world now and in the future.

May the Light of the World brighten your heart and that of those you meet.

Maranatha!
Marvia

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Once again, I’m Blogging World AIDS Day and adding my voice to the Bloggers Unite campaign in support of persons living with HIV and AIDS across the world but especially here in Panama.

Recently, I sat with several members of the religious community here in Colon, Panama to finalize plans for an Ecumenical service of worship to mark World AIDS Day, Tuesday December 1, 2009. Our congregation, First Isthmian Baptist, will be the venue for service in partnership with IDEMI  and several other organizations. Youth from about 4 other provinces will meet in Colon, City for this service at which they will sign a Pact to eliminate risky behaviour and “stay negative.”

The main focus of this service is to provide a setting for the signing of this covenant by youth.  The service will be followed by a parade at which time some NGO’s that are not church related will be handing out condoms. The word “condom” and church leaders never seem to go down well, and of course the Roman Catholic church is its biggest opponent. The rigorous debate on that issue almost derailed the whole process.

But it was an eye opener for me.

Coming from Jamaica, and being among the earliest groups of religious leaders to be trained as Voluntary Counselling and Testing Providers has been an invaluable part of my last 2 years of ministry in Jamaica before leaving for Panama. My ignorance of the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS was drastically reduced. I was now in a position to do more, and to lead a congregation to be compassionate toward persons with HIV as we are all “living with HIV and AIDS” directly or indirectly. The many myths I had about AIDS have thankfully been eliminated!

Subsequent conversations with health workers including nurses in my congregation lifted up again the frightening reality of this global epidemic. In Latin America it is dubbed “the hidden crisis”. The shame, stigma and discrimination in these parts force persons to go underground. This is particularly so because of the overwhelming widespread belief  and continued propoganda that it is mainly Gay men who have AIDS. This leads to further discrimination and quite understandably people hide rather than live with the stigma.

Campaigns for testing has met with disappointing results, as people seem not to want to know their status until it is too late. I had hoped that on an occasion such as this, it would be a perfect opportunity to have attendees at the service access testing. It made perfect sense to me that if you are going to join the youth in making a covenant to ’stay negative’ that you should at least know your status. So today there will be no strategic points to encourage persons to get tested.

In addition, the critical Pre-test and Post-test counselling provided by certified Voluntary Counselling and Testing counsellors is practically non-existent in Colon City like the rest of Panama. None of the people I have spoken with who work in the Colon City health system for example have any idea what I am talking about. In addition, there is very little knowledge of or ability to explain the somewhat confusing Window Period.

I will never forget that it was through being trained and offering this service along with the Health Department in Trelawny, Jamaica that I met, counselled and officiated at the wedding of a non-christian couple. While both were negative, the counselling session with a pastor who did not have hang-ups about talking them through an examination of their lifestyle without being condemnatory helped them to see the value of the role the church. They saw compassion rather than death warrants.

Our silence and distancing ourselves to keep the body of Christ holy and unpolluted only helps to perpetuate the shame, discrimination, isolation and suffering of those who are living with HIV and AIDS. This WAD even as the youth are signing their covenants at First Isthmian, I am making one too.

Mine is a renewed Covenant of Compassion to increase our contribution as church to the wider community and join with other like-minded congregations and individuals to make a greater effort to minister to persons HIV infected persons, and those with AIDS in Colon City. We must also take the lead especially among our women and youth to educate in order to help protect and save lives.

Read More:

http://www.worldaidsday.org/

http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp

Download the WHO 2009 HIV-AIDS progress report

Stay Negative!
Marvia

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Portobello’s Black Christ (Cristo Negro de Portobello or Jesus el Nazareno) seen outside its usual secure case inside Iglesia de San Felipe (St. Phillip’s Catholic church), is one magnificent statue.  And when the shouts of Viva Cristo Negro rang out in the chapel, I couldn’t help but agree that I was experiencing something truly awesome. Wednesday October 21, was the grand culminating ceremony of Cristo Negro de Portobello.

After 3 years of never being able to attend the celebrations surrounding the Black Christ of Portobello, opportunity came banging on my door this year. I opened the door and next thing I know I landed in Portobello. As was anticipated, we had to park outside the town and walk about 1 mile to get into the jam-packed town. We walked not to be ‘pilgrims’ too but because there was no parking left in the town.

There were thousands of people either making their way to the church, buying prayer beads, incense, and all kinds of last minute religious paraphernalia for the ceremony.

Along the way, we passed devotees hoping to get to the chapel before el Nazareno is taken outside. The man above is one of many still making their way on their knees to the chapel. The woman below is taking a rest, outside the chapel and prepares to make her way in.

These devotees or pilgrims, are generally accompanied by a friend, family member or some other devotee who give them water, encourages them along the way, or oblige them by pouring melted candle-wax on their backs. The pain is their reminder of what Christ went through for them and they want to share in this pain as well.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, based on the scanty information I’ve generally received from those who’ve been to the event at some point in the past. I was reminded again why nothing beats firsthand experience. The main thing that I don’t recall hearing before is that an actual Mass, without the Eucharist, is held prior to the Black Christ being taken from the church on a procession through the town of Portobello and returned to the chapel.

The Mass began at around 6:30pm and ended around 7:40. All the pews were removed from the chapel to create space. Cristo Negro stood on a raised platform in the center of the chapel. The crowd was unbelievable as we stood almost pressed to each other. It was a real ‘charismatic’ celebration. Listening to thousands of Catholics respond to the liturgy with spontaneous petitions being shouted to Jesus Nazareno was quite touching.

Occasionally, we heard cries of “permiso” (excuse me) and the crowd would part to let the devotee(s) adults and children crawl in to reach Cristo Negro with their petitions, gratitude or to be blessed before he was taken from the building.

As the mass wound up, someone started pounding a bombo. The vibrations from the bombo was bouncing off the walls, hitting my chest and the hum at the back of the sanctuary grew louder. Devotees with all kinds of icons, miniature replicas of the Black Christ and other items symbolic of their sacrifices, desires and gifts began an almost hypnotic swaying from left to right, forward and backward with loud outbursts of “Viva Cristo Negro!” and “Vive!” I soon found out that the ‘disturbance’ at the back of the chapel had something to do with the time.

It was getting closer to 8pm. Cristo Negro starts his processional march from the San Felipe and through the streets of Portobello at exactly at 8:00pm. Not before. Regular attendees knew what to expect and so the dancing began as though to hasten the time.

When the bells tolled announcing that 8pm arrived there was a deafening roar of ‘ariba’ from the crowd, calling for Jesus Nazareno to be lifted up for the procession. The sound was electrifying.

And the synchronized hoisting of the platform with the statue – impressive!! A few hushed “wows’ was all I could manage when the procession began. Seriously, I wanted to clap my hands and jump up and down in glee at the sight. It was a real goosebumpy kinda thing…

El Nazareno resting on the able shoulders of between 80-100 men (not a single woman in sight helping…hmmmm ok back to the story) kicking a hypnotic rhythmic swaying out the doors of the church and through the streets of the town. Seriously, this was an amazing sight to behold. All the carriers are dressed in red t-shirt. The are tightly huddled together up to 40 on each side (my best count!). They sway in a stepping motion like 3 steps forward, then 4 steps backward, occasionally turning to the sides as they go. I still need the correct answer on these steps.

The devotees mimic this same motion as they process with their symbols on their heads. And the pilgrims crawling through the streets also have a specific style of crawling, evident in how they move their legs, turning from side to side, and sometimes crawling backwards. Amazing!!

This crowd is not for the fainthearted. The statue was cordoned off and escorted by personnel from the police who struggled to maintain order on the march and keep  the statue away from the massive gathering that lined the very narrow streets of the route of el Nazareno.

Think typical Spanish era, narrow cobbled streets whith thousands of people bursting through every crevice and corner, taking over people’s front yards in some instances.

The procession which begins at 8pm from the church will end at midnight. Although the route is a short one, with the crowd, the swaying steps and crawling pilgrims there were frequent stops for rest. As if on cue, to signal the end of each break and resumption of the procession there was a short breathtaking fireworks display. I want to believe they purposely selected the loudest cannon like explosives for this event!

Finally at 11pm Cristo Negro arrives back at the church. It was way too early for his return inside. He had to go in at midnight, not before. So they process along another side street by the chapel to let Jesus Nazareno remain longer with the people.

At 11:30 the procession returns to the front of the sanctuary for one last rest before the entrance. Then after another thrilling fireworks display, the carriers rise with a flourish, turn El Nazareno to face the street. He was going to be taken into the chapel, backwards. Of course I asked why, but didn’t get  a satisfactory answer. I wondered if maybe it was symbolic that he never turns his back on his people? Or something more mysterious and interesting.

With tears, and roars of “Viva Cristo Negro” the crowd blows kisses, lifted their symbols and waves goodbye. There is only breathing space in the chapel. One set of pilgrims have gone inside and the others with the crosses remain outside.

The dancing carriers are re-energized and put on one last elaborate swaying and stepping as the Black Christ returns to the chapel and soon to his secure case until October 2010.

And we set off for a brisk 1 mile walk back to the car to head home at 12:30am. What a vigil that was. It was too much to take in all at once, so many questions, so much to reflect on. But I’ve seen firsthand the deep devotion of Catholics in Panama to the Black Christ of Portobello. And I have much food for thought…

Still swaying,
Marvia

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Panama’s Ministry of Health has mobilized Panama’s health sector and the general public to launch a Prostate Cancer campaign for men during this month. October is celebrated globally as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It continues to have as its aim, raising the consciousness of women to the benefits of early detection for higher chances of survival. This month Prostate cancer will share the same stage.

Since 2006, when I first came to Panama, I’ve been most impressed by the obvious national effort to raise awareness about breast cancer. There were huge billboards and strategically located signs on major buildings along with the usual commercialized pink accessories in practically every store. But I’d never seen a national coin dedicated to any kind of cancer awareness before. So imagine my delight when I received as change, a bright shiny 25c Balboa (Panamanian currency). I was impressed!

And yet, with all that effort, breast cancer is still the second leading cause of death among Panamanian women. Awareness and is still not growing fast enough. Worse, many women have never even heard of Inflammatory Breast Cancer and are still looking for lumps and dependent on mammograms. And sadly too, it is the poorer and more disadvantaged indigenous women who suffer the most. Much more needs to be done to spread the word, and make tests affordable and accessible to all women.

Even with much more ground to cover, women’s awareness of issues surrounding breast cancer is far more advanced than prostate cancer awareness among men in Panama.

Prostate Cancer is most prevalent among the West Indian and Indigenous/Native Panamanians. Panama’s “macho” male image does nothing to help raise awareness. These men, like other ‘manly-men’ elsewhere refuse to go to the doctor to be tested. Usually, when they do and cancer is detected, its already way advanced or too late.  This year the Ministry of Health came up with a  new measure to raise awareness.

Prostate cancer awareness  in Panama, will this year share the spotlight with breast cancer awareness. Perhaps it is hoped that men will catch the spirit of the month and be motivated to join their female counterparts and be tested as well. I really hope that is the case. The waiting list for prostate surgery in major hospitals in Panama is horrifying, and more men need to take preventive measures while they can.

So this month, I’ll be wearing a double ribbon (seen in photo below) in Panama; and hope to encourage all the men and women in my sphere to increase their breast and prostate cancer awareness by educating themselves about detection methods, treatment alternatives, diet and lifestyle changes and so on.

Some additional things I plan to do that you can do too:-

1. Women, especially, should educate themselves about alternative methods of detection of Breast Cancer. There is a lot of controversy surrounding mammograms and their high failure rate in accurately detecting breast cancer.

I’ll encourage women to learn more about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This is a silent killer that mammograms will unlikely detect it. There are no lumps, and you usually find it when its very advanced. I’m still mystified as to why I hear more about mammograms than about Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

2. Keep the focus of Breast and Prostate Cancer in your home, workplace, social organizations, and worship services using flyers and brochures; send informative links by email; provide educational bulletin inserts, and share power point presentations to raise awareness.

3. Make donations or help raise funds for cancer research.

4. Invite special speakers to come in and address your group members, staff, or congregation about breast and prostate cancer.

5. Pray. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. So pray for others who are diagnosed with or are survivors of cancer, pray for those who are conducting research, and pray that information reach those who are most in need.

Stay healthy!
Marvia

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Today, Friday September 18, 2009 is the 8th anniversary of my Ordination to the Christian Ministry. I was ordained within the faith community of the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU), and installed that same day as Pastor of the Stewart Town Circuit of Baptist Churches. This was the same circuit of 3 congregations; Stewart Town Baptist (in photo above), Faith Baptist in Jackson Town, and Keith Baptist in Keith, St. Ann.

I still find it hard to believe its been only 10 years since my graduation from seminary, the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI), and 8 years since ordination after completing the JBU’s mandatory minimum 2 year probationary period. Perhaps 8 years seem like nothing to you, given your own unique life circumstances. However, all my experiences since 1999 and later 2001 have convinced me that, its been 8 extraordinary years. And that’s putting it mildly.

I knew before I ’signed up’ that I had a challenging life ahead of me. Yet I have to say that there were some life changing moments, for which no amount of preparation could have made me ready. And there have also been tremendous blessings that I could never have conjured up in my wildest dreams. What a journey…..

So I pause today to reflect on the past 8 years, and to seek greater clarity on the possibilities that lie ahead.

I mark these 8 years proud to be part of the unique family of the JBU in which I was raised, nurtured, discipled, called, trained and accredited to exercise ministry in Jamaica and beyond its shores.  If I had to do it over again, I would choose no other faith community. I am proud of our rich Jamaica Baptist heritage, spawned amidst the bloodshed my African ancestors in partnership with English missionaries.

Yet, in confession I also mark this 8th year as I look back at the times when I have;

-  felt ashamed to be one of the ‘ground-staff’ of the Church across the world busy being something else other than the body of Christ, broken, salted and set ablaze to transform the world.

So I today I ask again for myself and others Holy Spirit, set our hearts on fire!

- been saddened by the shameless disunity and divisiveness among the people of God and wonder about the future of collegiality, ecumenism and interfaith cooperation in ministry when selfishness, competition, and enmity are the current trends.

So today I pray for myself and others Lord, make us one!

- grown increasingly disturbed that this year marks 20 years since the JBU accepted and sent to UTCWI our 1st woman Rev. Doreen Wynter to be trained for the ordained ministry. I became the 3rd Jamaican woman to start training 6 years later and today 20 years past and 14 women trained and in the field we are no closer to overcoming our denial of the sexism.  Discrimination against women is growing more fierce in the backlash against Womanist/Feminist theologizing in our denomination, the wider Baptist family and the global Church.

I pray for myself and others, Divine Sofia teach us your truth!

Why then have I stayed on this course in light of all I’ve confessed?

Yesterday, one of my dearest friends sent me a very touching letter to mark this anniversary with me. I was both surprised and moved by the fact that he remembered and reminded me of the recessional hymn, I Am The Way that I chose to close the service back in 2001. The full hymn is posted here but here are the lines my friend shared with me:

I am the Vine, you shall abide in Me,
I am the River, you shall be cleansed in Me,
I am the Rock, you shall have life in Me;

I am your brother, living in flesh with thee,
I am your Saviour, dying on Calvary,
I am your God, rising in victory

[UTCWI Graduating Class of 1999 - Where am I?]

Lest you think that I’m camping out in a cave in Panama complaining to God that I’m the last prophetess left, I not only confess but I celebrate the joys of this challenging ordained life that finds meaning in the One who is:

Way, Truth, Light,
Vine, River, Rock,
Brother, Saviour, God.

Today I can firmly say, that it is God’s grace that has kept me and brought me this far and it is this same grace I depend on to see me along each step of rest of the journey. I celebrate that;

- I remain convicted of my sense of call.

- I experience Christ in the constancy of affirmation of said call through individuals and communities at home and abroad.

- God provides genuine friends who support me in good and bad times and help me dig deeper to re-discover my own strength.

- In places far away, among peoples previously unknown strangers become friends and the alienated are reconciled.

- In the deserted places and among the lonely in this virtually shrinking world, Spirit connects us and we know we are not alone.

- In the wasteland of academic accomplishments for posturing and empty prattling, the gifts of intellect, perception and discernment become light to dispel darkeness and transform the landscape of this world.

And so I pray, God of Grace , grant us widsom and courage for the facing of this hour!

And the journey continues…
Marvia

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