Saturday, January 19
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Honduras
Villagers prepare for baptism.
When I arrived in Honduras three and a half years ago, Pastor Juan Rodas, then president of the presbytery, took me to visit a church way up in the mountains. When we arrived in El Sute, they showed me the old tree for which the pueblito was named. Today there’s a new tree, or rather a bush, that represents a future—the coffee plant, with its green leaves and valuable red berries.
But as important as the coffee plant may be to them, it’s the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ that raises their hands in prayer to the God who loves them enough to find them, even so deep in the mountains as they are.
Pastor Juan had been invited to officiate at the three marriages that evening. Men and women came many miles on foot and horseback to share the commitments being made that night. Marriage is not the normal course of life for the residents of the Comayagua Mountains. The gospel was truly bringing change into their lives.
The following morning we all hiked up the mountain and down to the stream. We sang and clapped, as person after person was buried in the flowing waters and raised to new life in Christ Jesus.
The old Sute tree may be dying, but there is new life in these mountains. Today the church is growing. Land has been donated for a church in El Horno, the next town over. In the other direction, another young man is gathering a community and teaching the faith to eager listeners.
—Mark Wright, PC(USA) mission co-worker, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) People in Mission
Presbyterian Church of Honduras: Ashley and Rev. J. Mark Wright, congregational development and partnership facilitators •
Heifer Project International: Gloria Wheeler, delegations and mission education, Timothy Wheeler, community development
Partners/Ministries
Presbyterian Church of Honduras: Rev. Antonio Zavala, moderator
Presbytery Partnerships: Providence Presbytery, with Heifer Project International; Presbytery of Carlisle and Presbytery of Tampa Bay, with the Presbyterian Church of Honduras
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Shawn Berry, Presbyterian Foundation
Barbara Betts, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Let us pray
God of love and hope, we thank you for Jesus Christ and the hope that is in him. Give us your Spirit that we may know Christ and make him known, giving thanks to you in all things. Amen.
Daily Lectionary
Morning Psalms 104; 149
First Reading Isaiah (42:18-25) 43:1-13
Second Reading Ephesians 3:14-21
Gospel Reading Mark 2:23-3:6
Evening Psalms 138; 98
