Hope and Perseverance, Rabinal, Guatemala, July 27

The rooster made his presence known at about 4:30 a.m., with a classic wake-up call. I looked over at the other cot, and Marilyn had the coverlet pulled over her head, toes peeking out from the end of the blanket. Within a half hour, the Guatemalan village of Rabinal started to wake up.

I had a difficult time sleeping on this trip, waking sporadically throughout the night with unfinished thoughts from the day’s visits and experiences. My unconscious mind was working in my sleep, drawing connections between what we were witnessing in Guatemala and the events of my own life: reflections of tenderness, beauty, betrayal, solidarity, and violence. New realizations or a rush of emotion would jar me awake.

Miguel, Linda, and Lucia were also awake and dressed outside my door. We made our way through the emerging morning to Rabinal’s town square. Facing the plaza was an enormous cathedral. I went in and sat down in a back pew. This was immediately grounding: the low tables of burning candles, offered in the memory of lost loved ones, the chanting and singing of the priest and attendants at the front, the draped shell-pink and white banners spanning the aisles, and the most wonderful resinous aroma of burning myrrh contained in the hand-held braziers of visitors to the service.

The previous day, we visited the Association for Justice and Reconciliation in Rabinal, and were attended by its leader, Juan Manuel Jeronimo, and his young son Hector. “We never lost fear but we never lost courage to continue in our fight against injustices," said Juan Manuel. "Nothing can be achieved overnight, but anything that has a beginning can have an end. That is the patience that we are having.”

Sitting in the cathedral, I considered the role of communities and rituals of faith in providing the hope and perseverance necessary to be a liberation leader. It awes me to consider the potential power of the UU moral voice, action, and leadership of our UUSC members.