'GOD WITH US AND BEYOND US' by Ian M Fraser

SAN MIGUELITO, PANAMA, EARLY 1970S

One night, when a planned engagement fell through, I wandered among the homes of the community. There I met a man I had previously talked to while he was washing down a car. Nine months before, Bill had been a hopeless drunk. Now he lived by doing odd jobs. I asked if there was anything happening which would be interesting for me to go to in the area. He said he was a lay Pastor and was just about to conduct a liturgy of the Word, and that I was very welcome to come along.

The bare house in which the people gathered was really one small room with two partitions breaking it up. For a good part of the service, two of the children of the household were crying intermittently; occasionally one would get up to pull back the curtain of one of the partitions and gaze at us. Outside the dogs barked and howled, competing with a transistor radio. On the kitchen table was a Cross with a lighted candle on either side. Over his open-necked shirt Bill placed a stole and was ready to start. About ten neighbours, most in their early twenties or thirties, pressed in, some bringing their own chairs or stools with them. I shared a tatty couch with an older man.

There was an introductory section in which people sang and gave responses. Then the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, used throughout the parish that week, was taken for study. Practically everyone participated in building up an understanding of the passage. At one point Bill was pushing them too strongly in emphasising God's presence in the midst of life. They would not have this. 'We know God is in the thick of things where we are,' they said. 'We believe that. But that is not all. God is also beyond us, and the we do not know how God can be with us and beyond us. But that's just the way it is.'

After about 40 minutes of Bible study, those who took part were asked to offer prayers and all but two responded. Another song was sung, there were one or two more responses, and the service ended.

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