This is Christmas time, in case you hadn’t realised, and given the heat here I easily could forget. It’s really difficult in some ways to feel Christmassy when you’re sweating and especially when you hear of all the snow back home. Though a friend of mine reminded me the other day that Jesus was actually born in a climate somewhat similar to the desert I am presently living in. It strikes home how little much of the hype about Christmas actually has to do with the reality of Christ’s birth. Anyway during this time we remember Christ and specifically his birth. But as I think of this I remember something I was confronted with last week in Arequipa which has been on my mind ever since. I mentioned previously visiting the ‘Santa Catalina’ (St Catherine of Siena) monastery. It is famous for apparently being the only monastery in the world to be a citadel, essentially a city within the city of Arequipa, with a number of streets named after Spanish cities. 
It even had its own cemetry which is no longer used, behind the doors in the distance in this picture. 
There still exist a small number of nuns in a little section of the citadel, but the rest has been opened up as a tourist attraction. They live behind these doors.
It is a beautiful place to visit, with old Spanish architecture built mostly out of a white volcanic rock. 
Anyway what struck me was one statue in particular, out of the many in different locations around the monastery. It was an statue of Christ crafted a in the 16th or 17th century; I can’t remember the exact date the guide said it was made.
What did strike me were some of the details she shared about it. She explained that the hair on its head is real human hair, that the teeth in its mouth are real teeth-the milk teeth of one or many children, and the finger nails are real human nails taken from the cadavers of deceased people. I was intrigued by the black finger tips which are not the result of the finger nails, but were painted that way to represent the flesh dying as Christ died. The guide also pointed out that if I stooped down and looked in the mouth I would be able to see a small mirror placed in the roof of the mouth to give the appearance of saliva and increase the life-likeness of the statue.
I have seen many statues and icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary and various saints, but I have to admit that this one really repulsed me on a number of counts.
I have seen many statues and icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary and various saints, but I have to admit that this one really repulsed me on a number of counts.
First the use of human body parts to increase the realistic appearance of the statue (though this is not unique to this statue). Secondly the fascination with Jesus’ death and not a balanced view of his life including: his birth, ministry and resurrection- reminding me of the importance of celebrating the true reason for Christmas. Thirdly the efforts and lengths to which some people have gone, and still go to, to create statues which end up essentially as idols; creations of man which do not represent the truth about God. I realise there is a difference between idols of other gods and the supposed statues of Christ, yet these still fail to present a truely balanced representation of Jesus.
It made me think how men seem to have had an urge, since the earliest civilisations, to create images of their gods, or to be their gods, and how this urge historically infiltrated the church and resulted in the many representations of Christ and other Christian personages which get paraded though streets and up mountains in various parts of the world. I’ve heard many people say that in every major heresy, throughout the history of the church, there is always an element of truth. And I have to admit that there is an element of truth behind even this effigy; Christ did die and I would not wish to deny that, for if I did I would no longer be a Christian. But how do we get from a Biblical truth to a manmade creation, admittedly of great effort and expense, which people bowed before and has now become a item on display for tourists. I don’t know if I feel more sad, annoyed or repulsed... or perhaps a mixture of them all.
It is beyond the scope of this blog to say much more about whether statues and icons of Christ are in fact idols or legitimate representations of instances of His incarnation. I think it’s evident that I believe that in one way or another they have become more than what they were intended to be, and therefore would not favour them. I realise however, there are those who would disagree. So therefore let me propose what I consider to be a more suitable, and crucially Biblically mandated, alternative.
In the gospel of Luke chapter 22 Jesus has been celebrating the Last Supper and note that in verse 19 He commands the disciples, and therefore us His followers, to “do this in remembrance of me” (also 1 Corinthians 11:25). I have often wondered why Christ chose to be remembered in this manner. Obviously we can remember Him in any given moment in any given place, but in terms of ritual and worship why did he instruct us to remember him in this manner? Well there are many reasons but the following are a few which relate to this discussion. Firstly He chose to be remembered symbolically and not pictorially- in the sense of a picture or physical image of Him which a statue essentially is. Why? I think it’s because it allows us to get a balanced representation. When something is represented as a picture, like a statue, the physical appearance dominates our mind and our understanding. And in many cases this is good, as they say a picture says a thousand words. But in this case it says a thousand words the most of which are those the sculptor wants to say and have portrayed.
When something is portrayed symbolically the symbols themselves no longer dominate our minds (in the same way that a picture does) but rather the meaning we ascribe to the symbol. And what meaning do we ascribe to the symbol? Well we know that the Lord’s Supper should never be separated from the sharing or preaching of the Bible or the Word of God, therefore it is what the Bible says that gives meaning to the symbols. In one sense what the Bible as a whole teaches about Christ can be symbolised, but specifically what Jesus himself declared the bread and the wine to represent: His body and His blood. In other words by joining the sharing of the Word of God we allow God to speak symbolically through the elements what He would have us understand; and in celebrating the Lord’s Supper we do not remember solely his death but his life and crucially his resurrection. In a picture we see only one point in time, but when we remember symbolically we can simultaneously remember various points in time and achieve the balanced view or understanding I believe we were intended to have.
If I have lost you already I apologise, but in short what I am trying to say is that we do not need to make statues, pictures and icons to remember our Lord. They may have some limited use, for example in Bible picture books for children or nativity scenes. But when we come to a highly elaborate statue with human hair, teeth and finger nails we undoubtedly do more harm than good. Rather than this, we should seek to remember Christ in his own appointed way: through the Bible, our hearts and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
This Christmas I hope we will all remember the whole truth about the life of Christ and especially that he no longer hangs dying on a cross, but lives interceding for us as our all sufficient Saviour.
Merry Christmas,
Alistair.
This is the pastor Freddie and his wife Epi struggling to silence the children before bringing the epilogue.
At the end the young people handed out the chocolate and Paneton, and later the presents.
After a church lunch we headed back to Tacna in time to say goodbyes to the Roycroft’s and attend the Luz de Vida church anniversary at which John was also preaching. 
In the photo are the majority of those who attended. Some sadly chose to skip the last night.
I managed to take her picture (in the centre with the stripy jumper) with some of the friends I came with to the concert.
Over lunch we worked out that the work in Tarata has existed for 66 years. The Pastor was saved at 18 and is now 84 years old. The Pastor and his wife are thankful to God for His faithfulness over all these years and also for the support of both missionaries and visitors from Ireland who have come as far as Tarata to be an encouragement and get involved, when possible, in the work there. They shared numerous stories of how God had blessed them over the years, too many to share here.
She is a lady who attended the church in Tarata even when the road was not as accessible as it is now. According to Pastor Orestes, unlike many others, although she was illiterate she had a good grasp of basic doctrine and shared the gospel message clearly with many in her town. Many who have been on past Baptist Mission teams that have visited Tarata have probably also gone the extra mile and had the privilege of visiting this lady. 
She suffers from arthritis which causes her a lot of discomfort and pain, especially her in elbows she said.
We were intrigued by a few things we saw in particular so I returned that afternoon to see if I could get a few photos. By the time I returned it was a little cloudy but there were plenty of people about, children playing on the grass and people lying about chatting eating ice-cream. In the middle of this the fortune tellers continued to attend their clientele.
As I watched for a few moments I noted that his routine at the beginning of dealing the cards is to place them on the crucifix and in a sense have the crucifix ‘kiss’ the deck before he begins to deal. 
The next fortune teller also was keen that I should photograph him in the middle of attending a client. Note again a smaller crucifix strategically placed on the cards.
I was able to get into a conversation with this gentleman who was one of the last fortune tellers I passed. He insisted I wait until a client came before I took his picture. 
A few got away before I could round them up for this photo. Pastor Basilio is standing to the right of the picture. It was a good opportunity to speak a little more with some of the young people who I have only shaken hands with so far on Sunday night services. 
Some ingredients needed amended as you can’t get quite the same items here but they all turned out very well. Thankfully, for the sake of my midline, I was able to share them with others around the seminary. 
He feels God is calling him to be a ‘children’s pastor’ and a place has opened up for him to volunteer with a mission working with children in Bolivia. He leaves tomorrow (Thursday 19th) on his own. Pray he would know Gods guidance and comfort as he follows God’s call and settles into this new stage of his walk with the Lord. I asked him if he would like me to tell believers in Ireland about him and he was very enthusiastic that you would pray for him. 
The kids even got to meet Goliath. His sword was quite impressive and I reckon he could just about have reached the front row if they had got out of line.
This is Paul of Tarsus
This is the entire cast posing for a group photo after the presentation.
I was eventually coaxed into trying on Goliath's outfit. I reckon the his sword would be a bit too big for spreading butter.
It was almost the kind of place I used to see in the cowboy films I watched with my Dad. On Monday morning I decided that if I was going to visit the central cemetery here in Tacna, there was no better time to go. I had heard and read a bit about the elaborate celebrations that Mexicans have on these dates and wondered perhaps if the Peruvians would have equally elaborate celebrations. Well they didn’t in one way but at the same time I wasn’t disappointed. I thought I would share this with you as it adds another insight into the Peruvian culture. Even having been brought up here, I am still trying to take opportunities to better acquaint myself with aspects of the culture and lifestyle that one takes for granted as a child. 
In fact they were so closely laid out that it is impossible not to step so close to the crosses that undoubtedly you must be stepping on the coffin. In the end this is where everyone else was walking, and I’m sure the occupants of these plots weren’t that perturbed. This being the aforementioned special dates, there was a buzz about the cemetery with lots of people coming to relatives’ graves and ‘nichos’ to clean them, some were even painting them and placing flowers. It gave the place a very bright and colourful appearance, not at all sombre. 
I noticed that the blocks of ‘nichos’ were called ‘cuartel’ which translates as barracks, as in army barracks. I wondered whether this was, or is, at all a theological statement, but have not as yet ascertained an answer. If I do I will let you know. You can just about make out the word painted on the side of this block along with its number and letter. 
Some blocks of ‘nichos’ were heavily guarded like this one with metal gates. As I observed these fortifications I wondered if I were to ask someone around what they understood by the term ‘Eternal Security’ whether this is what they would point to.
Whilst talking about ‘nichos’ it was interesting to wander around what is obviously the rich area of the cemetery where the family mausoleums are located. Each is unique in its design, much like all buildings here. Many visitors remark when travelling around a city how each house is different to the next (some can be similar but always unique is some detail) as each is individually designed and built by the owners. I noticed this extended to the mausoleums.
This is one being built. I just hope no-one’s in a hurry to get in, because I didn’t see a workman in sight.
From what I have read about the Mexican celebrations food, drink and other items are left on the graves. This for the most part I did not see here. Mostly just plenty of flowers and occasional glasses or bottles of beer; though I am assured that it does occur just obviously not on Monday. In the mausoleums I did however see items left beside the tombs. This is probably because it was possible to lock it behind a door. These included the large ornate breads and again beer.
In one instance I even saw some Axe deodorant (Peruvian equivalent of Lynx).
