What’s the brashest way
you can think of to proclaim “Jesus is Lord”?
Picture a van careering through traffic on a dusty street, crammed with
12 people in the back with about enough seating for 6, open to the air except
for a brightly painted wooden frame enclosing them, decorated with vibrant
patterns, joyful pictures and religious phrases written in French or sometimes
Creole. This is a tap tap and they function as buses all over Haiti. The phrases vary – you can ride in a “Blood
of Jesus” tap tap, or a “Promise of
God” tap tap, or a “Jesus is Lord” tap tap.
These
were some of the first sights to greet me when I arrived in Haiti and they
surprised me. I went to Haiti thinking I
was going to a very poor country, and I was.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the poverty I
saw was crippling and horrific. Disease,
disaster, malnutrition, poor education, a history of oppression, dictatorship
and corruption conspire against life. But,
Haiti is not hopeless.
Naïve
Haitian art is colorful and daring. It focuses on what makes Haiti so very rich
– its beautiful natural surroundings; its welcome of the stranger; its familial
sense of mutual support and biblical neighborliness; its lively faith. It sees what a cursory glance cannot
see. It sees through all of the rival
powers that seem to overwhelm the country and declares that they do not have
the final word. Jesus is Lord.
Our
reading from 2nd Timothy tells us that all scripture is useful training
for righteousness. The insight from
today’s gospel that brought the crowd such joy – that the Christ is Lord – is emblazoned
on so many tap taps because it’s part
of the Haitian training regime. It’s
what gives hope. It’s what tells them
that wounds don’t get to have the last word: resurrection does.
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