A MAYA WOMAN REFLECTS UPON GOSPEL AND CULTURE

Abstract

Introduction Allow me to introduce myself. I am the product of four cultures. My ancestors were Mayas and Aztecs, two great races of people who have inhabited Mexico and Central America for countless centuries. My country, Belize, has an AfroCaribbean culture, because it was a British colony for many years. So, English is my first language. However, I chose to do my early theological studies in Guatemala and Costa Rica, where Spanish is the dominant tongue. In fact, up until now, all of my preaching has been in Spanish. This is a very special occasion for me because it is my first sermon in English, and -- of all things -- through an interpreter, to a group of Korean Christians! Talk about intercultural communication! It is also my first time to preach in the USA - although, eighteen years ago, I worked in a Spanish-speaking congregation in St Croix, Virgin Islands, which is a US territory. What a rich gospel we have, incarnated in so many different cultures! I understand that this Baptist congregation represents the marriage (literally and culturally) of Korean and Anglo families. This union of Korean and North American cultures is, perhaps, a paradigm of the unity of Christ's gospel with the different cultures in which it has been proclaimed. None of the cultures that have enriched my life are rich in money. Your cultures and my cultures are full of symbols and understandings of the richness of Christ. Every people express their spirituality and respond to their daily struggles in unique cultural ways. I am eager to learn more about your culture and how you experience God as Korean Christians. Would you allow me to share with you something about my own indigenous culture? Jesus and the Maya people It is important for us today to understand who Jesus is within each of the myriad of cultures -- including my own culture -- where he has revealed himself. The Maya culture developed over thousands of years. Very early in their history (probably in southern Guatemala) they discovered a grass with a tasty grain and it became their staple food; over time, they were able to breed the maize that is now the basic food of millions of people all over the world. In the fourth century A.D., when Europe was living in the Dark Ages, great Maya city states began to emerge in the lowlands of southern Mexico. They reclaimed swamps for large scale agriculture and constructed huge pyramids. They developed a sophisticated writing system, tracked the stars and worked out a calendar with an accuracy that has only been surpassed by atomic clocks. For social and ecological reasons that are only now beginning to emerge, in the tenth century this civilization suddenly collapsed all over the region. Meanwhile, new religious centres, influenced by invaders from the north, arose in the Yucatan peninsula and the Guatemalan highlands, and lasted until a century after the arrival of the Spaniards. While they worshipped many gods, they believed that these were all but manifestations of the one invisible creator God, who is both male and female. Their Council Book, the Pop Vuh, and other surviving literature contain evidence of this and of their hope of a coming messiah. This explains why, when the Spaniards invaded them in the sixteenth century, they surrendered so easily. They thought that the blond and blue-eyed invaders were divine messengers! The Spanish missionaries sent to evangelize them, despite learning their language and appreciating their culture, did everything possible to destroy that culture because they considered it diabolical. Today, the Maya people, for the most part, are landless, jobless and discriminated against. During the past three decades, the Guatemalan army has massacred thousands of indigenous peoples. But they have something that cannot be taken away from them, their faith in God. Covered by a veneer of Catholic popular religiosity, the indigenous peoples of the Americas continued worshipping their multiform God in Christian churches, in dense jungle clearings and upon isolated mountain tops. …