Communication

Today I brought a maraca in my box. It was given to me this summer, when I was fortunate enough to travel to Cuba as part of a mission team from St. Mark's Church. While there we worked with our sister parish of St. Mary's in Itabo, Cuba to put together a Vacation Bible School for their children and youth. Each morning we enjoyed several hours of songs, Bible study, crafts and snacks with preschool and elementary age children, and after a break for lunch we did the same thing with teenagers in the afternoon. Although we had a wonderful translator with us, SMEDS graduate Cathy Hardin, most of us in the mission team spoke little to no Spanish. And most of the residents of Itabo spoke no English. Everything we did had to be either translated by Cathy, or worked out by communicating with a combination of limited Spanish and hand motions to indicate what we needed, or were going to be doing, or eating. It was challenging, but an incredibly rewarding experience.

Over the week, as we spent more and more time with the children, youth and adults at St. Mary's, an amazing thing started happen. Even with the language barrier, we began to understand each other. We shared information about our families. We learned what the volunteers there did for a living. We ate together and played together and prayer together and by the end of the week we had formed a wonderful community.

Our story today was about the Tower of Babel. Often the focus in that story is on the division of humanity into different cultural and ethnic groups. God splintered our language and made communication difficult so that we would separate and fill the earth. What I reminded the children, was that when we allow God to work through us, when we share God's love and grace with others, no communication barriers can keep us apart.

We can experience difficulty understanding each other without traveling to a  foreign country. Are there people in your life with whom you have a hard time communicating? Think about those relationships as your "mission". Bring Christ in as well. See what happens.