PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

September 24, 2023

MELTING POT

The Summer 2023 issues of American Indian, a publication of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, has an article, Waking a Language from Its Slumber, by Kasike Jorge Baracutay Estevez.  For the past 30 years Estevez has been working to reconstruct the Taino language.  This was language spoken by the people that Christopher Columbus encountered when he arrived in the New World in 1492.  Words such as tobacco, canoe, hurricane, guava, barbecue, hammock, chief, and maiz (corn) can trace their origin to this language.

As I was reading Estevez’s article, I was reminded of just how many of the words we use can trace their origins to another language.  It would be an interesting exercise to take a passage and trace the origin of all the words used in it.  Our everyday expressions come from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures.  The American language is a testimony to the extent that this country is truly a melting pot of people from many different countries and nationalities.

Saturday, September 9, Ed Rodriguez gave the program for the Plymouth United Methodist Men’s breakfast.  Ed spoke about the Latino community in Marshall County and the work of La Voz Unida, a non-profit organization based in Plymouth, Indiana, that was formed by youth and adults from several nationalities.  Some ladies from La Voz Unida provided the breakfast which featured dishes from a variety of countries.   The forty of us who gathered on the September 9^th represented a melting pot of the American population.  It was good just to gather around tables for a meal and learn about each other’s culture.

In his letter to the Romans Paul exhorts his readers to “live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16a)” and “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18.”  The Roman Empire in the first century C.E. was made up of a variety of cultures, nationalities, and ethnic groups.  Jewish Synagogues and pagan temples were quite common.  In this diverse world Paul would seem to be suggesting that Christians should not keep aloof.  They should engage their neighbors and seek to live in harmony with them.

The breakfast on the 9^th was a modern-day illustration of what it means to live in harmony with one’s neighbors in a diverse world.  It gave those of us from First United Methodist Church the opportunity to learn of the issues, concerns, and interests of our Latino neighbors.  Several of the visitors signed up to go with the church when they volunteer to help pack meals for Cultivate Food Rescue.  Other possibilities to keep the dialogue going are being discussed.

Even though I live in a small town in the heartland of the United States, every day I have the possibility of meeting someone who comes from a very different background.  Marshall County Indiana is impacted by influences and input from all over the world.  We are a melting pot that brings harmony to this plethora of ingredients.  And the result is something wondrous to behold.  Paul’s words of encouragement are being fulfilled in my midst.

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)