Day Eleven

On Monday, January 15th we began the day by watching “The Mission,” a movie with Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons on the Jesuit mission activity in the Americas. Following that us, we heard a lecture called “Indigenous Cosmovision: Hope for a New World Order” by Dr. Carlos Lenkersdorff, professor of linguistics at UNAM (the National Mexican Autonomous University), based mostly on his work in the indigenous language of Tojol abal. Then, after lunch with Dr. Lenkersdorf (Hermano Carlos, as he calls himself), we heard a lecture called “Mother Earth Theology” by Dr. Rebecca Montemayor, a pastoral theologian with the Baptist Church of Mexico and the first (and so far only) ordained Baptist woman in all of Mexico. She talked about the importance of caring for the earth, saying that “What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves” and asking “La tierra es una inherencia o una mercancia? (The Earth is an inheritance or a commodity?)” She also talked about the Cycle for the World: Recibir, Defender, Perder, y Volver a Luchar (Receive, Defend, Lose, and Return to Fight). Following this, 9 of us went out to Chapultapec to Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd) Lutheran Church, where PLTS Student Lara Janssen is serving her internship. We had a tour of the place and Holden Evening Prayer in the Sanctuary, followed by a bus/subway/bus ride back to San Angel for dinner and margaritas (the first we’ve had since coming to Mexico!). Side note: Being back in the big city has its disadvantages: my breathing is labored again . . . 25 million people produce a lot of pollution!