Mihuros Ang Hangin

Well my time to the Philippines has come to a close. So it is with a heavy heart that I prepare to return to Canada. I cannot help but think that I may never have expected most of what I have experienced in the last 4 and a half months, but I would also not trade a single moment of it. I have been changed, and I hope that I remain so. I am leaving, but a piece of me is remaining here in the Philippines.
I began this journey with the idea of the Chinook and spirit moving me, and it is the same idea I again return to. Mihuros Ang Hangin is the Cuebeno phrase speaking of wind performing an action on earth. And that is the most apt description that I have ever come across. So as I await my plane, with the hope and prayer that Mihuros ang hangin will bring me back again one day – and old familiar hymn plays in my head….

Spirit, spirit of gentleness blow through the wilderness calling and free…. Spirit, spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

One Body of Christ

During the last week of May the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) held their 9th Quadrennial General Assembly. The week kicked off with opening worship followed by... a parade. Walking through the streets of downtown Dumaguete were around 500 delegates, Bishops, Pastors, and Observers - all of whom had come out to support the UCCP and to celebrate the new phase of the church. The elation of this first grand opening did not last throughout however. As with any church there was a mix of opinions and, naturally, some discord resulted. The ideas of what direction the UCCP should be taking differed quite widely. This discord, however, came from a place of love.
The theme of the assembly was "Discerning and Obeying God's will in these Critical times" Any difference of opinion arose from how best to do this. The love and passion that the people of the UCP have for their church and their country was evident. Knowing how to proceed and remain prophetic in a climate of fear from exra-judical killings (23 pastors and lay leaders in the UCCP have been killed under GMA - with no justice in sight) is nto a simple answer. The people of the UCCP are showing us in their attempt just what it means to be One Body of Christ.

And so we continue to stand in solidarity with them, and wish their new general Secretary Bishop Ruel Marigza well as they move in to their next quadrenium.