a I finished my classes at the seminary on Thursday afternoon and left Merida on Friday, taking the bus to Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun on the Mexican Riviera. From there I took a ferry across to Cozumel, the largest island in Mexico. I first visited Cozumel with my parents in 1961 and have returned many times since then. It is one of my favorite places on earth, and each time I arrive I feel like I have come back home.
However, in those many years since my first visit Cozumel has been transformed by the power of the tourist industry and the television. The main (only) village on the island used to be a place where the plaza was the center of community and family life, where people would gather to listen to music, walk around and meet friends. It is now surrounded by t-shirt shops, bars and restaurants that cater to the hoards of people who are disgorged from huge cruise liners that stop for the day so people can
say they have visited Mexico. Signs hawking t-shirts 6 for $20 or beer for $1 are everywhere, along with shops selling diamonds and diamond-substitutes, tequila and native handcrafts. I know that for many people cruise travel is a very positive experience, and I am not trying to be critical of it, and I also know that the tourist industry has made this part of the world a place of full employment (albeit mostly low-paying jobs). But it has changed the face and the culture of the island.
After arriving on Friday I spent all day Saturday in Cancun, a one hour bus ride north of the ferry dock at Playa del Carmen. There I had lunch with Rafael Sanchez, who was involved at Calvin several years ago, and who now lives in Cancun and is married to Valya, who is Ukrainian but was at Calvin for two years. Small world when Mexico and Ukraine meet in Shoreline! Rafael is a graduate of the music school at the seminary in Merida, and now teaches music plus is starting a church in his home. After a long lunch, catching up on many things, I spent several hours with the people of his church talking to them about leadership and church growth. The church is small but has enthusiasm and is seeking God’s guidance in its founding and moving out.Sunday I was invited by the current pastor, a former student of mine, to preach at the main Presbyterian church in Cozumel. The church is alive and full of the Spirit, and it was a joy to share with them on Palm Sunday. The main service was in the evening and I had been asked to share out of Philippians 2:1-11. As I studied this passage I recognized the emphasis of Paul was not on the exaltation of Christ but on his humiliation—as an example of the humility which is to be at the heart of any healthy relationships—in the family, community or church.
While here in Mexico, partly by teaching 1 Corinthians and partly by reflecting on the various situations I have seen in the churches, I have been reminded of the call of Christ to move beyond the most common motives for fallen human interaction, pride and power, to Christ’s motives—love expressed in actions of caring rooted in a deep sense of humility. As Paul says it in Philippians 2:3 and 4, Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Simple, yet so difficult!Oh, of course I had to make a circle tour around the island on my bicycle, and did that yesterday as well. The west side of the island is a string of large resort hotels with beautiful beaches, while the east is wild, windswept (the next land to the east is probably N. Africa) and beautiful, while the land between the coasts is desert. The circle tour was only about 40 miles, but very interesting, and always very hot and windy…
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