April 2006
Costa Rica
I can recall spending most of the Easter mornings in my life looking for colored eggs, hunting to find my chocolate-bunny-filled pink basket, and going to my Grandma�s church, filled with lilies for the Easter service. In the afternoon we�d go to my aunt�s house for a nice feast before heading back home. We�d always hope for nice weather on Easter, but you could never expect it. I used to wish we could hunt for Easter eggs outside, but the threat of the eggs being covered in a gentle dusting of newly fallen snow prevented that wish from coming true. In past Easters I didn�t worry too much (or rather at all!) about getting sunburned; the closest I came to protecting myself from the sun was a pastel-colored Easter bonnet that I wore as a child that was often almost blowing away in the blustery winds of many Easter mornings. This year was a bit different.
Easter morning 2006 found me stringing colorful coffee filter and clothespin butterflies around the main meeting lodge at the Centro Manu shelter and retreat center. I was helping Pastor Stephanie Quick (ELCA mission personnel) prepare for the very first worship service for the Barrio San Martin community in Guapiles. The Costa Rican Lutheran Church has been present in Barrio San Martin for awhile, through natural medicine, massage, and organic farming courses they offer in the area, but now, to fulfill the request of the people of Barrio San Martin, the Costa Rican Lutheran Church will also offer worship services. In honor of this special event, they decided to hold their first worship service at the nearby Centro Manu, instead of the school or old tin shed in which they hold their other activities.
It was a wonderful service. Pastor Marcos, head of the Development of Faith Communities area of the Costa Rican Lutheran Church, was present not only in honor of this first service, but also to install Stephanie and other ILCO staff, Nehemias, as the pastors of this congregation. The beautiful and lively service, filled with guitars and drums, instead of the organ and trumpet that I am used to on Easter, was followed by a short talent show by local community members and then a delicious traditional meal. To make the day even more festive, everyone put on their bathing suits and went for a refreshing swim in Centro Manu�s pool. And this is how, in celebration of a new Costa Rican Lutheran Church congregation, I had my first sunscreen-required Easter.