Rev. Carolyn Eklund, Rector

July 20, 2008 - From Mexico

Today is Sunday and I'm sitting at a table on a small outdoor patio having espresso and writing postcards to our bishops. I came to this coffee shop, bookstore because it is just across the street from the Roman Catholic cathedral in Cuernavaca, Mexico where I attended Mass. The cathedral was built in the 16th century and was updated very beautifully in the 50s. I just heard the Roman Catholic bishop preach. He talked to the many teenagers and children, and the place was packed. He said, ¨Young people say they want sex, clothes, alcohol, drugs.¨ Then he asked the young people, ¨What do you prefer?¨ And the children and young people said altogether, ¨¡La vida en cristo!¨ ¨The life in Christ.¨

The Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Cuernavaca where I studied my first two weeks asked me to celebrate La Misa (the Mass) at the early service in the Episcopal Church right next to the Diocesan Center. Laura, the diocesan Christian Education director coached me several times in the oratorio so that I could speak the Spanish of the Prayer Book well. That Sunday was a gift! I loved celebrating in Spanish. It felt just right. I am grateful to Bishop Delgado for having confidence in my Spanish and for sharing the altar with me. I have a long way of studying to go, but now I feel we can offer Mass en Español at Grace.

I haven't checked email much but when I did, I was very heartened to see that ¨The Washington Post¨ and Representative John Conyers wrote about the struggle we're having with the threatened closure of Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center. I wrote about this problem and presented it to my classmates last week for my oral Spanish presentation. I'm really proud of the people of Plainfield who have fought against the closure. I'm proud of my colleagues, the Revs. Jim and Sarah Colvin and the parishioners of Grace who have also continued to give voice against the closure. I hope you'll read the article from the ¨Post.¨ Jim's quotation is right on point.

St Paul teaches the life in Christ in his letters. It's the priority of any community that calls itself ¨Christian.¨ Let us continue to read and study the gospels this summer and pray to Christ asking him to show Grace Church ¨la vida en cristo¨ because we are all together in this life.

Well, I'm off to see a marionette show about ecology and care of the planet. It's being presented for children in the auditorium at Jardin de Borda near the Roman Catholic cathedral. I'm going with a classmate (an Episcopalian from Pennsylvania!) and her five-year-old daughter. The art and theater here are marvelous.

Con mucho cariño,

Carolina

Click here to check out Mother Carolyn's blog from Mexico.