Martes

As the week went on, our nights got later and the mornings got progressively earlier. Tuesday was the beginning of a three day run of non-stop worship events. After breakfast, we loaded up and headed over to the school.

My topic for the day was, “Arming for the Revolution.” At one point, I looked up and saw Bishop Palomo seated high on the steps near the rafters. I thought, “What am I doing? Am I really in Central America preaching to a group of Latin kids to join a revolution? This is either going to be very good or I’m going to be in a small cell well south of the border.”

Our reception Tuesday was definitely warmer. A couple of things helped. First, the kids knew what was going on – Monday had been a mystery and now they had had a chance to process some. Second, I had the band fling themselves out amongst the students during the message. They were spread around the room with the task of praying over their area while I preached. Third, we had two services – one for the lower grades and one for the upper. The smaller numbers made things slightly more manageable. Nevertheless, we still weren’t sure which way they were going to break.

I spoke to the kids about preparation for God’s revolution – one not of flesh and blood, but for eternity itself. I encouraged them to take up the belt of Truth that is the Son of God, Jesus Christ. I reminded them that without a belt your pants are likely to fall off – a most embarrassing situation (though I was careful not to use the Spanish false-cognitive embarrassado – which means pregnant). God sends the Truth so that we are neither ashamed or embarrassed on the final day, rather we can stand in the confidence of our salvation.

Two services and some hang out time with the kids later we were back at our home resting and preparing for our evening service. I was surprised by God’s provision when my interpreter for the week walked into the house. It was Luis Palomo – the Bishop’s son and my classmate from Asbury Seminary! He was down visiting his father and working on a new ministry venture to financially boost the long term goals of the Costa Rican Methodist Church. Luis is a gifted preacher in his own right and I gave him permission to preach whatever sermon he wanted – regardless of what I was talking about! He assured me that he would say and do whatever I said and did. His words, “You jump, I jump.” That night, I put him to the test.

Tuesday night worship was held for the churches of San Jose. The Bishop had invited his people to come in for this special event – and come they did. I spoke that night about, “Living up to your name.” I started by telling them about my first experience with a certain Costa Rican cookie named, “Yippy.” I shared that in English, “Yippy!” is an expression of surprising joy. This is exactly what a Yippy is too. A wonderfully flavorful bar of joyous goodness. As I repeatedly shouted, “Yippy!” in my best falsetto voice, Luis followed right along. This phase became a word I heard throughout the rest of the trip. Young and old alike would speak the one word of English we shared – “Yippy!” It never failed to bring a smile to my face and theirs.

I exhorted the church to live into their name, Christian – to be the kind of church that causes others in their community to be surprised by joy. I shared the urgency of the work of the church to redeem their communities, their cities, their nations, and ultimately their world.

At the end of the sermon I took a cue from the Holy Spirit and deviated from our program. Though the Bishop was scheduled to have some words following my sermon (how to strike fear into the heart of a Methodist preacher: Tell him the Bishop will be addressing the group when you have finished). I begged the Bishop’s pardon and shared that I was feeling led to invite the people to pray over the room. I explained that we were engaged in a great spiritual work in this very space with 550 young people. I told them that in the morning I would be offering an invitation to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. I asked them to get up and pray over the seats and floor where the kids would be seated. I told them, I know you don’t know the name of the kid who will be sitting where you are, but God does. Pray for them.

After about 5 minutes of this prayer time, Bishop Palomo rose to take the mic. I thought that perhaps prayer time was over and it was time to go on with the program. Instead, he began to encourage the people. He declared freedom in the name of Jesus. He called down the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit. I’m not sure how else to say this to you, dear reader. He was invited and He came.

The prayers of the saints grew increasingly louder as intercession began in earnest. Bishop Palomo continued to speak blessings and words of power over the people and the place. Soon people were weeping and kneeling as they moved onto the spiritual battlefield and began to push back the darkness.

After some time – I don’t know if it was 10 minutes or an hour – the Bishop began calling for our team to come and kneel. As we did so, they people of the church prayed mighty blessings over us. The Bishop called for us to rise as he blessed and anointed us. With arms raised, I stood before this man of God as he spoke Spanish words of blessing over me – words whispered in my ear by my friend, Luis. At the end of the blessing, the Bishop blew into my face. I have never experienced this before and it was powerful. The wind of the Spirit, the ruah (breath) of God filled me. At once, both peace and power filled my limbs.

I won’t share the other members of our team’s experience as he blessed them – that is their story to tell. Needless to say, we were each equally blessed and humbled by the experience.
We left that night and went home to unwind. We talked very little about our experience during our team meeting that night. I think it was just too close and raw for words.

So, after a brief talk, we decided to play Catch Phrase (yep, there is an app for that!). By the end our sides were hurting from laughing so hard. Oh, did I mentioned we played where you had to give your clues in either an accent or sing them in an operatic voice? I highly recommend this form of play. It adds a whole new level of fun.