Presbyterian Mission Agency

A letter from Jay and Nancy Adams in Germany

Spring 2014 - Being the Hands of Jesus

Spending a week living in Vizuresti, Romania, a village of 3,000 Roma people, is a mixture of heartbreaking sympathy combined with the warm smiles of the local little boys and girls.

The children were eager to pick up insulation and begin to plaster the walls of the medical clinic we were building the week before Easter. In addition, three teenage boys pushed a wheelbarrow filled with a huge squawking sow past us on the muddy road as they were seeking to deliver her to the local sire…and we could see a skinny horse pulling a wagon of wood to a mud hut for warmth.

For five days of Holy Week leading to the celebration of the Risen Christ, 20 teenagers and teachers from Germany labored day and night to build indoor bathrooms as well as insulate a medical clinic for the Roma people. Government officials had set a date to shut down both buildings for not meeting minimum code standards of decency. Interestingly, none of the Roma people’s homes met that standard, but the homes are not public buildings.

A letter from Dessa Palm in the Philippines
spring 2014

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Mark 15:34).

A group of young people were performing a scene in mime. One discovers painfully that she has been diagnosed with cancer and has to go through chemotherapy. Another group depicts a community in panic due to a fire that has spread quickly and tragically leads to a girl's death. The girl’s mother comes homes and agonizes as she lays her daughter to rest. In unison, they all cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Christian Youth Fellowship members portraying a tragic scene with the choir at the back

This group was not performing in a school drama or community theater. It was at the chancel of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines—Dumaguete City Church—and the Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF) members had been preparing the creative interpretation of Jesus Christ’s Seven Last Words as part of their Good Friday service. At the helm of this task was Nikki Cimafranca, a member of the church and also artist-teacher and officer of the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts (YATTA), with whom I have worked since 2006.

The Three Days or Triduum

A 14th century painting of the footwashing and Passover meal by Duccio di Buoninsegna.

One of the first annual events of the Christian year, after the celebration of the resurrection on every Lord’s Day, was a commemoration of Christ’s dying and rising at Easter. Over the years, one day was split into three different rituals to remember the Last Supper and New Commandment (Maundy Thursday), the Crucifixion (Good Friday) and the struggle to make meaning of the cross in light of the whole of salvation history (the Great Vigil) — all culminating in Easter at …