The Costa Rican Lutheran Church has the honor of receiving Mission Trips, sisters and brothers who give us a possibility to share how the Lord is guiding us to build a holistic mission of Word, Sacrament and Service, a mission that we; as a Lutherans and Christians, have been called.
In Acts 2:46 to 47 we read:
“Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved”
In every Mission Trip both parts; the visitors and the host are holding together to share fellowship, praying and recognizing the Christian way of life, based in love. This sentence describes God as love, as someone who gives the self completely to us: “The Father gives us all creation, Christ all his work and the Holy Spirit all his gifts”.
These Mission Trips involve Christians in a common response to the gift of God’s grace, percolating hearths, minds and opening new insights to what God is calling to do for the sake of the world.
Two examples of this outreach venture were performed by congregations from Holy Trinity (North Carolina), Faith Lutheran (Minnesota), who came to Costa Rica and spent a time sharing moments for the good of both those who take the journey and those who receive them.
There is a whole experience, that includes not only liturgical services, but a larger perspective in which team members connect their life of faith with social justice.
The example shown by these delegations and many others that have visited ILCO should encourage and inspire us to continue responding together to situations of discrimination and exclusion. The identification that this group showed to the community is worthy of admiration, leaving the feeling of how a community of love should be.
These encounters allows us to see how we are interconnected in one body, where sin and grace, fracture and healing, discouragement and hope are essential for a Christian life, which is challenged to view its own activities in relation to God’s activities.