“The Power of a Little Yeast” by Peter Bankson

July 31, 2014

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

SUMMARY

When I signed up to bring the Word on the first Sunday after the Guatemala pilgrimage, I knew that at least six of us would be together this year. I wanted to give us an opportunity to share some of our initial reflections. I’m glad to report that all 20 pilgrims are home safe and sound.

This year we worked with PAVA (Programa de Ayuda a los Vecinos del Altiplano) to help the people of Panimachavac, northeast of Tecpan with the early stages of preparing the site for constructing a new community library.

My sense is that we went to help… and we did just that: We may not have contributed much to the final building, but we helped them get something started, something that will change the way the people of Panimachavac live into the future.

INTRODUCTION

THE LIBRARY AS A PACKAGE OF YEAST

We thought we’d probably be digging foundation trenches, building rebar columns and maybe even pouring footings for the walls of a new building, tasks many of us had done in the past. But the work flowed in a different direction. It turned out that there was a dense tongue of solid lava running across the construction through the volcanic sand where the foundation was to be built. After two days of serious pounding with the best wedges and mallets available, the tough men of Panimachavac were not able to crack the lava. The architect needed to change his plans, and decided that it would be necessary to raise the building about six inches to make the lava part of the foundation and the floor.

That shifted our efforts from the building itself to the need for a retaining wall on the steep bank behind the future building to minimize the chances of a landslide. It wasn’t the kind of work we had expected, but it was necessary. Once again we had to learn the lesson of what has become a theme song of the pilgrimage:

I step into the flow, and then I let it go.

I open my mind, my heart and my soul.

That kind of letting go seems to be a necessary, if uncomfortable part of recognizing that the Realm of God is already all around us.

As I began to look at the Scripture lessons for this week I was immediately aware of all the possibilities to relate our pilgrimage experience to the readings:

$1The Gospel includes the parables of

the mustard seed,

the merchant who sells all he has to buy the pearl he has found, and

As I read this rich collection of images of the Realm of God, I was immediately drawn to the parable of the yeast, so I’ll focus there and leave other images for other Seekers.

Since I woke up on Wednesday morning I’ve been thinking of the Panimachavac Community Library as a container of the yeast the woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until it was all leavened, ready to be baked into bread and given as food for the community.

Yeast is pretty amazing stuff. It’s persistent and prolific, waiting until the conditions are right, then acting swiftly to transform its environment in helpful ways. It helps the community by preserving its sustenance and improving the quality of life. It improves the flavor of life. Just like the contents of a library! Here’s what I mean.

Yeast is persistent, waiting patiently in dry powdered form until it runs into the right mix of flour and water. The shelves of the temporary library at Panimachavac are already filled with books and games and CDs. There’s an open invitation to stop in when the library is open on Monday or Friday. And as soon as the adults and kids show up, those books and games and CDs spring to life, nurturing the community.

Yeast is prolific. It only takes a little yeast to leaven a big batch of dough. We’ve all seen curiosity and excitement and knowledge spread like yeast. In Panimachavac there’s a big sign on the side of the road right beside the school, inviting people to come to the library. It says:

COMMUNITY LIBRARY

WE OFFER SERVICES OF LOAN AND RETURN OF BOOKS,

STORY HOUR, RESEARCH, READING,

EDUCATIONAL GAMES,

KINDERGARTEN,

READING CLUB,

PRODUCTIVE PROJECTS AND MORE.

AND FROM 13:00 TO 16:00 PM.

WE’RE EXPECTING YOU!

All this from a small room in the school building. Wait ‘till the new library is finished!

I’ve been thinking about the way yeast has been used for millennia to preserve food, and drink, changing it somewhat to preserve its essence for the future. Food can be preserved by fermentation in many different ways, as bread or beer, yoghurt or wine or nuoc mam, saved to be nourishing in the future. Books do that too. On the last day of our work week we went to La Loma, where last year we had helped begin construction on their community library. We were honored by the children, who offered us a traditional Mayan dance giving thanks for corn, the main staple food in their diet. Only this time, the children were raising up BOOKS – giving thanks to the Holy One for the sustenance they will get from books.

OTHER REFLECTIONS

There were six Seekers on the pilgrimage this year, each of us standing in a different place, seeing things from a different perspective. This morning several others would like to share something they noticed that seemed to be going “according to God’s purpose.”

Sandra Miller

Others can talk about how we put a bit of yeast in the village of Panimachavac, or how we planted a mustard seed that will grow into a tree of knowledge, but for me the pivotal moment was the exhibit I saw at the cathedral, Inglesia Santo Tomas in Chichicastenango.

Marjory Bankson

I think the community library has also made staying in San Juan a creative possibility for our guide.

Deborah Sokolove

During my two weeks of Spanish study, I had been to the shrine of Hermano Pedro in my walks around Antigua, and was deeply impressed with the faith of those who came there to pray. There was one family, in particular, that I remember — there must have been ten or twelve of them, from an ancient abuela to a baby in arms, all kneeling in a row on the stone floor, deep in prayer. When the baby began to fuss, a little girl of no more than three or four went over, holding her finger held up to her mouth to shush the infant. She already knew that this was a holy place, a place of seriousness and silence.

Glen Yakushiji

So there are many stories because we were there for a couple of weeks and hundreds of things happened to us.

We went to see that library on the day that it was going to be dedicated. We went to the town we where spent so much time and were welcomed by the villagers who thanked us for being there. I looked at the beautiful building and I could remember the last time I saw it as a construction site.

Dixcy Bosley-Smith

(Dixcy and her family are part of the 8^th Day Faith Community, and worshipped with us at Seekers today.)

CONCLUSION

Thanks to each of you for sharing your different perspectives on our time in Guatemala.

What might it mean for those of us who spent a week in Panimachavac to “… be a lamp or a ladder” for the people of that community as we worked with them to build a library, a place that could hold and nurture the yeast of learning that is embodied in their emerging community library?

As we got ready to leave on Friday I looked again at the big sign announcing the library. I thought about what it might have meant for the women and men of the village for us to have spent a week working there and donating some of the funds needed to help the construction of the library.

Thank God we’re in this together.

Amen.