Curitiba Pilgrimage 7 (11/22 -- Eucharist at Paróquia São Lucas and on to Paróquia São Lucas Cascavel)

Saõ Lucas Parish, Londrina: Revda. Magda and Cesar are at the right.

I have stayed reasonably caught up with my writing, but as places change and new experiences continue to wash over us, it is difficult to go back and recall clearly the events of the day before.  On our only Sunday (domingo), our first event was Eucharist at São Lucas with all of our clergy participating in the service.  Having carried her alb and stole through 9-10,000 miles of travel, Nancy finally had a chance to use them.  After getting in very late the night before and doing some writing, we slept until about 8:30 and then had to grab breakfast and deal with checking out of the hotel.  At 9:30 we got a call, telling us they were ready.  Nancy thought this meant she was needed at São Lucas to prepare for the service, and she flew out the door with alb in hand.  After spotting an item that she forgot, I flew out the door and down the street after her.  Coming back into the lobby, I stopped at the desk to ask about a late check-out.   They pointed me to a woman sitting across from the reception desk whom I recognized as one of the parishioners.  It dawned on me that she was there, had probably been there, waiting to pick up our things and drive us to the church.  So I went back to our room, finished packing, and got everything loaded into her car while she paid for our room.

At the church I met a couple of more parishioners that had not been present the night before and sat with one of them in the congregation.  A decision had been made that we would give short presentations about our ministries during the service; I asked Amber to call on me last since I might have nothing to add to the others.  At this service, Nancy proclaimed the gospel (the reading from John for Christ the King Sunday) in Portuguese.  It was then time for our presentations, with Cesar translating, which would be today’s sermon.  Amber and Melissa showed the labyrinth and explained its use as an instrument for meditative prayer.  They noted that this model had been signed by members of our diocese – the first time this was mentioned at an earlier showing, I think someone said that there were a few signatures, but in fact there appear to be a couple of hundred signatures (most other than mine are legible) that encircle the Scottish blessing on the back.  Melissa also spoke of her work on the Commission on Ministry, with emphasis on the ministry of all lay people.  Deborah, who has come to be known as the person from the place near the beach (Pacifica), mentioned her bereavement counseling, Kate her work at the School for Deacons and at her Spanish-speaking congregation in Richmond, and Nancy her street (always a show-stopper) and campus ministries.  I was called upon last as planned, and I tried to say a couple of sentences in Portuguese.  Coming after these five remarkable women, I thought I should point out that I’m a man.  I then spoke of the church building at my own St. Peter’s parish that had been damaged in an earthquake and then torn down so we could build housing for disabled adults and a new worship space in its place.

The service continued with the prayers of the people, each section being led by a different member of the congregation from wherever they stood.  After that we shared the peace -- this is a church where everyone greets everyone else – and were joined by a few children.  In Sunday school, three of the children, Amanda, Marcos, and Felipe, had done drawings to commemorate our visit, and they presented each one of us with one of these drawings.  At the conclusion of the service, Kate led everyone in a shortened version of “Amazing Grace,” her voice even richer than the night before and brought tears to my eyes in this joyous setting as everyone joined in the “Praise God” final verse.

Following the service, there were many pictures on the front steps of church – Takeshi was determined to capture every moment of this visit on film jpegs, and, of course, we and many others had cameras as well.  We then went over to the parish hall for lunch, where there was a greater variety of items than the night before, including a plate of sushi.  It appeared to be a very well-organized pot luck (or as we call it at St. Peter’s “bring and share”), and Nancy and I decided to contribute a bag of pistachios we had brought from California.  Takeshi set up a computer with wi-fi on a side table, which allowed some of our group to check e-mail and see that my dispatches were indeed being posted on the Diocal home page (thanks Anne).  Nancy showed some pages from the San Francisco State Campus Ministry (recently renamed “Ec House”) to interested parishioners from São Lucas.  Unfortunately, the San Francisco Night Ministry did not have any pictures depicting Open Cathedral on its site, and we could only find one or two on our camera.  So Nancy went instead to one of the other common cathedral sites to give people an idea of what it looks like.

After posing for several more pictures, we got into the van for another long ride to Cascavel on the western side of the state of Paraná.  It became overcast and then rained, sometimes heavily, for a good part of the drive, and there were ongoing negotiations over the appropriate level of air conditioning.  Catching up on sleep took precedence over conversation on this ride.

We arrived at Paróquia São Lucas on what I believe is the western side of Cascavel as it was turning dark.  The church building, or temple as they call them here, is a large rectangular brick building that is still unfinished.  We were warmly welcomed as we came in the door, and I fell into conversation with an engaging man Jussieur, who knew quite a bit of English.  A beautiful young girl Jordana found and wrapped herself around Nancy.  Jussieur, his wife Janete, and Jordana turned out to be the family with whom we would be staying for the next three nights.  Soon everyone moved to chairs at the other end of the building, to what appeared to be the worship area, where we were led in prayer by Revdo. Marialvo, the pastor of São Lucas.  We then returned again to tables near the entryway for snacks and more conversation.

We were taken home by Jussieur, Janete, and Jordana, who were anxious to serve us more food and drink and get to know us better.  Jussieur (which he said is a French name that sounded nice to his mother) is from Pernambuco and has learned some English from his travels and work in sales and trade.  Janete does not speak English, but she heard that I had studied Spanish and uses that when I am not understanding the Portuguese.  Jordana, who is 15, is studying English in school, and her parents were very interested in the possibility of her doing a year of school in the U.S.; when we got to a computer, Nancy showed them websites for various exchange programs.  Jordana is also an incredibly talented artist – a couple of her large paintings were hanging in the home, and they struck me as the sort that would be shown and sold for large sums in galleries. (This was also true of Veronica in our first host family in Curitiba.)  I brought out a small booklet with pictures of our new granddaughter, and Janete and Jussieur brought out several of their photo albums.  We finally retired late, needing to be up early to get to São Lucas by 8 a.m.  As in Curitiba, our hosts had generously set us up in their master bedroom while they slept on the couch and a mattress on the floor.