Notes from Salt and Light, March 11-12, Seattle

On Being Salt and Light in a Broken World
FWCC Salt and Light gathering with Mauriel and Aminda Arevalo,
March 11-12, North Seattle Friends Church and University Friends Meeting
Seattle WA
Notes by (RantWoman)

Aminda and Mauriel Arevalo are pastors in a Quaker church in a suburb of San Salvador called Soyapongo. They have been working there for over 25 years since being inspired by a visit from a Quaker pastor.

Friday evening opened with Biblical reflections. Mauriel spoke of their work as an intimate relationship with the Light, a direct manifestation of the love of God. Citing not only the passage from Matthew 5:13-16 but also I Corinthians 13, Mauriel speaks of God’s love as something which does not discriminate, which applies to people of every station. He speaks of comprehensive salvation of human beings, in this life as well as the next.

Aminda brought a different gift. She taught everyone to sing “Jesus Loves Me,” in Spanish and then a message with a very different tone. Soyapongo is one of the most crime-ridden areas around San Salvador. Mauriel mentioned Saturday at lunch that in their district alone, there are 100,000 young people involved to some degree with gang life, the “maras.” The street gangs have a practice of trying to collect “tax: or protection money. The Arevalos’ church has a school connected with it and Aminda is the headmistress. One day a man arrived and Aminda thought he just planned to enroll his children in school. She took him to her office. He pulled the door shut hard and demanded the “tax.” Aminda says she looked him in the eye, told him that he is not a bad person but that he was doing bad things and that she refused to collaborate with his violence. He listed all her children’s movements and what buses they ride and threatened to kill them. Aminda stood her ground and told him she refused to pay a penny of his “tax.” He left, telling her he would return, but he never did. Now the Arevalos discourage all the Quaker churches from paying this “tax” Because it just increases the violence. To say the least, North American Friends do not necessarily face such vivid opportunities to live the Peace Testimony.


Saturday’s session at University Friends’ Meeting opened after coffee and registration with a short introduction to the history of FWCC. Outgoing Section of the Americas secretary Margaret Fraser spoke of the origins of FWCC and of the importance of the word Consultation for the organization’s founders and their efforts to rebuild ties across different strands of Quakerism. Margaret also spoke of the once-a-generation World Gatherings, the next of which is in Kenya in April 2012. Finally Margaret said that the Salt and Light process grew out of inspiration as Finance Committee sought Light about cost-effective ways for representatives of different Friends traditions to share their experiences with each other.

Saturday’s theme song, which Friends sang several times throughout the day was sung to the tune of “London Bridge is falling down,” all about what a joy it would be if everyone worked together doing God’s work.

Mauriel’s morning message again began with the passage from Matthew with reflections on salt in terms of purity, preservation, and flavor.
Mauriel spoke of the whiteness of salt, of a call to live a clean honest life even in the face of corruption all around and to reflect the love of God in all one’s dealings. Aminda spoke of the role of salt in food preservation, as described below and of the power of being a example, of walking into meetings where people changed how they spoke to each other because of her presence.
Aminda tells stories of the time of the civil war / death squads. In the 80’s extrajudicial killings were a common way of dealing with many daily circumstances. Once Aminda’s brother accidentally ran over a 3-year-old nephew. Aminda’s father was in great despair and fear of his life about what to tell the authorities when they arrived to investigate. Aminda advised him to tell the truth and the truth set him free.

One of Aminda’s salt-themed stories related to the farm where she grew up. From time to time her father would slaughter a sheep. The cut surface of the meat would be covered with a layer of salt and this way it would keep for several days as the family ate some each day. Aminda reminded Friends also of God’s exhortations in Exodus not to bring offerings to the temple without salt.

The final aspect of salt mentioned was flavor, the aspect of having Christ present in one’s life. A salt-themed image related to the practice in Palestine of baking bread in open-air stone ovens. A layer of salt would be spread across the stones as a way of reflecting and evenly distributing the heat as well as enhancing the flavor of the bread baked this way. The passage in Matthew refers to salt losing its flavor and being thrown out to be trod upon after long use in such an oven. Aminda and Mauriel said a person who loses focus on Christ might experience a lack of purpose in life, a loss of “flavor.” The image of salt helping reflect the Light more evenly also spoke to this writer.

Mauriel spoke of how their church provides mutual aid for some members facing difficulties. He also spoke of all the children in their midst and asked, almost rhetorically, why he has not seen nearly as many children at any of the Meetings and churches he has visited in the US.

Friends also broke into small groups to share about what they are doing to be salt and light in their communities. Themes which stood out to this writer included the simple work of arranging chairs and space for worship, the practice at one church of giving everyone a key to the building so that it felt more like everyone’s church, a refuge and resource for all. Friends also spoke of not necessarily being called to DO in response to some initiatives but still being called to lend support in discernment. Other Friends spoke of one Meeting’s ongoing walk as a community both with an admitted sex offender and with survivors of abuse.

Miscellaneous thoughts:
I happened to read Ashley Wilcox’ blog post about eldering and attending to movements of the Spirit during events on the fly shortly after the end of the gathering.
http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2011/02/eldering.html

I found myself upholding Friends travelling among us, seeing different groups of people, hearing the local variants of how we are Salt and Light in our communities and different interpreters at every stop even if they reuse the same basic outline. Aminda and Mauriel also share some deeply personal moments: even if there are no officially designated elders. I hope they feel upheld spiritually amid all the transitions that kind of travel schedule brings.

An additional multi-Meeting Bible Study brought additional rich reflections:
The Bible study reread the theme passage from Matthew as well as a short passage bravely sight translated from Douglas Gwyn’s Apocalypse of the Word.
One Friend spoke of attending a World Gathering in Kenya in the 1980’s. He remarked about how people from rich countries seemed very glum about the state of the world while Friends from poor countries seemed alive and full of hope.
Another Friend observed that the Light cannot get under the furniture; she challenged us to move our furniture and see where Light needs to shine. Other Friends also reflected on needing the Light upon the darkness of our souls.

A question arose about when there is too much salt, when people in the US battle hypertension. One Friend had thought of buying low-salt popcorn for the finger food potluck and of extra radiation, light from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant emergencies in Japan.