San Jose

I think back to what 15-year-old-me read. I have always read a lot, it goes way back. In those days, it was Kafka, Hesse, Ayn Rand, Camus, Faulkner, Steinbeck. It’s not as confused as it seems… I read just about anything. But things really change…. I haven’t read any from that list except Faulkner and Steinbeck. Back then it was Faulkner’s novels, now his short stories. And he wrote great film scripts… The Big Sleep maybe his best. Hemingway is hit or miss with me, but I really like the pieces he wrote for magazines and newspapers. Steinbeck… I still like it all, but will most likely never again tackle East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath. My dad got me some of his essays and non-fiction for my birthday, and it is very good. One thing Steinbeck said is that it is hard to see something for what it is; we default to comparing it to what we know, and then we don’t really see it.

Take San Jose, Costa Rica, for example. All I can think is it reminds me of a greener San Francisco, which tells you nothing at all. And I don’t have the time to really explore it so there is not much I can say that could not be said of a lot of cities in developing countries— it’s a place of dreams and hard work. The motto of Costa Roca is “long live work and peace.” A nation that thinks like that will make it.

I hope I can keep coming back here. It’s my kind of place. But then again, I pretty much like everywhere. I can see getting over to the coasts… Pacific and Carribbean. I really like the food. I find people expect it to be like the Tex Mex we know… a little spicy. But it is very low key. Rice, beans, chicken, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.

It’s humid. And when I say that, I mean more humid than Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Mountainous. Densely forested. Amazingly vibrant colors in the birds and flowers.

They have no army, and so have been able to put money into education and infrastructure. It is an amazing story. Here it is to the best of my knowledge. There were elections in 1948. The communists rigged it. I know, I know; no one can possible believe that commies, with all their socialism and brotherhood of man talk, would ever do such a thing. But they did and everyone knew it and so there was popular resistance that brought into power a doctor educated in Switzerland. He saw that Switzerland’s neutrality had brough great rewards socially. He also knew the sad history of military coups. So no army. It helps that the U.S. would likely wipe out anyone (hint: commies in Nicaragua) who tried to get smart.

“Aaron, it seems you really dislike communism.” I am glad you are catching what I am laying down.

Conference has gotten more into the nitty gritty of “consent calendars” and voting on how to vote. All necessary to good order. The worship is still top tier and spirit-filled. I will repeat what my bud Daniel Fulton said. Daniel is the Presiding Elder in West Virginia. He commented that with unity in worship and agreement on doctrine, he can live with whatever organization we come up with. That makes a lot of sense to me, because even where there is disagreement, we still have trust. May that continue.

The GMC emerged from an organization that, in its life-cycle, was at the end stage, where the leadership goal is institutional preservation. You choose deep change or slow death in that phase. Or people leave because they just can’t stomach the navel-gazing paralysis any longer.

But that does not mean the Global Methodist Church is guaranteed to succeed. But unity in worship and agreement on doctrine bodes well.

One last thing. In the 1970s, after some fits and starts of missionary activity, there were 600 Methodists. Now more than 20,000. The opportunities for church planting are great, as well as missionary expansion into the rest of Central America. It would be worth investing in.