A letter from Doug Orbaker in Nicaragua
November 30, 2008
Struggling to light the Advent candle
It is warmer here in Managua than it is in the United States so, even in November and December we have fans going all the time, everywhere, even in church. This morning being the first Sunday of Advent, I watched a young girl in the Moravian church that I attend struggling to light the first Advent candle. The fan kept blowing the match out before she got to the candle. The pastor came down to help her, and they finally got it lit. It went out again before the little girl got back to her seat. Then one of the church leaders came forward and turned off the ceiling fans, the pastor lit the candle and we went on with the service.
But it got hot! The people sitting in that front area were uncomfortable because they didn't have their fans. By the end of the service they were fanning themselves with their bulletins and damp with sweat. It made them uncomfortable to light the Advent candle and keep it burning. (Being a life-long Presbyterian I sat near the back where it was more comfortable.)
Hope. Love. Joy. Peace. Beautiful, aren't they? We light those candles every year and fill our hearts with our wishes for hope, love, joy, and peace. We fill our hearts and minds with all of those good wishes that come as we move through the Advent season into Christmas—wishes for the joy of a new beginning, for the love of family and friends, for the joy of gifts given and receive, for the coming of the "Peace on Earth, good will to all." Do these candles burn in our hearts all year, or are they blown out by the winds and storms around us?
Here in Nicaragua there are plenty of things to blow out these candles.
- It is hard to keep hope burning when there are claims on every side of fraud in the recent election and when friends are threatened with political retribution.
- It is hard to keep love burning when the daily demonstrations proclaiming that "love is stronger than hate" are in reality a show of support for a child molester.
- It is hard to keep joy burning when we watch the cost of the basic rice and beans needed for life increasing for our friends even as their wages stay the same.
- It is hard to keep peace burning when every post-election demonstration from one side is met by violence and fear from the other side.
There are plenty of things to blow out our candles here in Nicaragua. But somehow these people keep themselves going and find reasons for hope, love, joy and peace. How do they keep their candles burning?
- There is hope here. Despite its autocratic way of doing things, and the squelching of any political opinion except its own, the current government is putting more medicine into health centers and more teachers into schools than has been done for many years. There is support for advanced study, both in universities here and in Venezuela. In these improvements of health and education, there is hope.
- There is love here. There are deep and lasting friendships that sustain people through difficult times.
- There is joy here. I never pass a single day without laughing, sharing a joke, or finding something funny in relationships with friends. The newspapers joyfully do political humor and satire as people laugh at their situation and at themselves.
- I'm still searching for peace here, and the post-election violence and threats have not helped. But I do know that the Nicaragua people have lived through decades of war and they don't want it any more. I have never met a Nicaraguan of any political party who supports the war in Iraq, and I've never met anyone eager to throw their country back into the turmoil of the 70s and 80s. The search for peace is illusive, but I know that I'm not searching by myself.
Maybe the secret to keeping the candles burning is to be a little bit uncomfortable, just like the folks in the front of the church this morning. Maybe I need (and we all may need) to move out of the back section and into the front, where the fans won't keep us so comfortable. Maybe we need a little discomfort to find the deeper hope and to search for the deeper peace.
May this Advent season help each of us to turn off the fans, to be a little less comfortable, and to look for the deeper joy that comes our way in the process of the search.
Peace,
Doug
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 263
