Acompáñanos

“Acompáñame a la pulpa,” a neighbor child in San José, Costa Rica often said to my daughter when she needed to walk to the store to buy bread or an egg. Throughout Latin America the verb “acompañar” (to accompany) has a much broader use and meaning than we have given it in English and over many years I have been impressed by the power of the simple acts of requesting and giving companionship. “Acompañamiento” (accompanying) – a word used constantly in daily life as well as professional and church settings – is a concept rooted in a strong cultural belief in need for companionship through any situation – whether a simple task that’s enlivened by a friend’s company or through the much bigger joys and sorrows of life.

After my decision to volunteer as an “accompanier” with the Colombian Presbyterian Church I began to notice hymn texts we sing at College Mennonite that describe the Spanish verb acompañar.

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trave’lers on the road. We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear. I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear. Hymnal 307

….Sons and daughters of the Lord, serving one another, a new covenant of peace binds us all together. Hymnal 407

When a Presbyterian church member, a law student who documented human rights abuses, was jailed four years ago there were difficulties to learn the charges or effect his release. The Colombian Church called the Moderator of Presbyterian Church USA. ¡Acompáñanos!

Milton Mejía, and his US counterpart, Rick Ufford-Chase, developed a project in which U.S. volunteers accompany Presbyterian churches in and around the major port city of Barranquilla in the Northern region of the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

At times an international witness may provide a modicum of influence or safety in a life threatening situation. However accompaniment’s true purpose is to remind us all that we are members one of another, and the Colombian church faces hard circumstances. Paramilitary violence and killings in the region produce large-scale displacement of people and entire communities, and alarming risks for leaders who speak out.

During this ecumenical journey I'll describe how people of faith are constructing peace in a country where the government is banking on military solutions.