Category: Uncategorized

I co-produced this documentary for Baylor Chapel a few years ago. https://vimeo.com/118193318

Here’s a summary by the film producer, Pilar Timpane:

Lamento con Alas (“Lament with Wings”) is a short documentary about good Samaritans Lavoyger Durham and Lori Baker who attempt to make a difference during the immigration surge in the summer of 2014. Durham breaks stereotypes as a Texan rancher who sets up water stations that keep immigrants alive even as they illegally cross his land. And Baker, an associate professor of anthropology at Baylor University, exhumes deceased immigrants from unmarked graves and works to return the dead to their families in Latin America. She founded the Reuniting Families Project to establish a system for DNA analysis and identification of these deceased migrants. Durham and Baker both work to bring dignity to migrants who cross our border in dangerous conditions.

Now, several ears later, the crisis at the border continues. This summer, immigration has surged again, with nearly 400,000 immigrants apprehended through August 2016. These numbers include families and unaccompanied children, most of whom are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and are trafficked through Mexico on their way to the US border. And as the rhetoric of the political season has demonstrated, Americans are deeply divided over how to handle Latin American and Middle Eastern immigrants—some cry that we should build a wall whereas others hope for clearer paths to citizenship.

God is our refuge and strength; A very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

O Lord, as you lifted once a paralyzed man from his bed, we ask you to come and visit us, and raise our bodies and spirits.

Hear, our prayer O Lord.

Grant to us the gift of your Holy Spirit, that our bodies and souls may be protected from infirmity.

Lord, Have mercy.

And we pray for those who are now suffering from Covid and other illness: we beseech you, O Lord, to visit them, encourage them, and heal them according to your great lovingkindness.

Lord, Have mercy.

As you once listened to the cry of the Canaanite woman, we beseech you to hear our voice, for our friends and family hit hard by this disease in our community, nation, and world.

Lord, Have mercy.

And we pray Lord for the medical personnel who care for the sick.

Be their Rock of Ages. Bless them, O Lord! (pause and pray by name for any doctor, nurse, or medical staff you may know)

Please bless all clergy, scientists, researchers, public health officials, counselors, teachers, and many others who are at the forefront of the care of our communities.

Be their strength and wisdom!

 And for all of us, Lord, guide us so that this may be a time of reflection and good will to work to eradicate the diseases that threaten our bodies, and the hate that threatens our souls.

Lord, Have mercy.

O God our help in ages past, the God who heals us and comforts us: incline your ear to us, and grant, in your mercy, the prayers of your people.

Amen.

This is a note I wrote to a young adult friend who has expressed interest in becoming a pastor. His/her name is not Tim…

Dear Tim,

I was so heartened to hear of your testimony for the things God is doing in your life- and the miraculous ways in which God has assisted you and your family. I am also grateful that you shared with me your desire to become a minister of the Gospel. You asked me to recommend a reading list, and I will share some basic readings at the end of this note.

Before I do, I want to repeat a few things I said during our conversation the other day: yes, it is a good thing to aspire to the pastorate. And I would add that you may be a fulltime pastor, or one who makes a living doing something else. This is imperfectly called bi-vocational ministry. In any case, I wanted to stress three things we need pastors urgently to model and preach:

1. Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ: how he was prophesied in the Old Testament; how He is present when we pray the Psalms; how he lived, loved and still loves people; and also preach his death, resurrection and his second coming. And how the stories in the Bible shape our life and our death.
2. Care for poor. It is unbecoming for a minister to neglect the least of these. You and I, and our congregations, should be at the forefront of helping the hungry and the needy, and connecting with people in our community who do this transparently and well.
3. Visit the sick and the afflicted – and pray with them. This is an essential part of being a Christian – and as a minister you will be at the forefront of modeling this for other those you are called to shepherd. It is the urgency of the age: we don’t need more executives with a pulpit! We need pastors who go to hospitals and who are willing to engage in the old and timeless pastoral visit.

As for the books, here we go:

1. On the Incarnation of Christ by St. Athanasios – It will teach you about the Trinity, about ancient sound doctrine, and about solid preaching and missions.

• The Confessions by St. Augustine – it will teach you how to pray.

• The Pastoral Rule by St. Gregory the Great – It will teach about the balance of being a teacher, pastor and administrator. And it will demonstrate to you how the ancient teachers of the Church understood about personalities and the work of pastoral counseling.

This is not a comprehensive list. But it is a good start.

Stay in touch.

In Christ,

Carlos