Last week was Carnival. Here in Bolivia it is a big deal, essentially a four day week non-stop weekend. While it may have some innocent activities involved with it such as water fights between friends and dressing up in costume, in the larger picture it is more than a harmless bunch of fun and games.
The main even of Carnival in Santa Cruz is the parade that is held on Saturday evening and on into the night. In that parade there are floats, bands and dancers and the carnival queen who is previously chosen by a process that I don't understand.
Alcohol and sex seem to be the two main ingredients in the celebration of Carnival with the defacing of others' property a close third. The alcohol problem has gotten so bad that the city bans the use of alcohol by anyone dancing in the parade but beer is still sold on every street corner along the parade route.
Sex flows easily in these days and will be followed nine months later by a rash of births, most of which will have been unplanned and unwanted. Still sex is encouraged by everyone and the city distributes thousands and thousands of free condoms as if somehow that will make it better. (The carnival queen proclaimed, while promoting the distribution of condoms, Sex is good and doesn't harm anyone! - Then why the condoms . . .?)
The churches often respond to Carnival by trying to get their people, especially their young people, out of the city and away from temptation. Carnival camps and retreats are an important part of that strategy.
As for us, we simply hole up in our house for the long weekend and take advantage of the time off to barbecue with friends, play games, enjoy the family and sleep.
Ash Wednesday follows immediately on the heels of Carnival offering the opportunity to confess all one's Carnival excesses and sins if they are bothering you.There is so little understanding of the true nature of sin, confession, God and righteousness. I guess that's why we are here, to try to help bring understanding of what Jesus' sacrifice really means and how he offers to freely rescue us from a vain way of life to living abundantly.
Who am I?
- gordon elliott
- Monrovia, Liberia
- I live in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa with my wife and youngest son. We are recently arrived in Liberia where we are serving as missionaries with Evangelical Church Missions working under the Liberia Evangelical Mission. For most of the last thirty years we have served under ECM in Bolivia, South America. We are the happy parents of four children and the proud grandparents of two grandchildren.
No comments:
Post a Comment