Traditional Goo 12/30/09

November of last year (08), I made one of the best decisions of my life. I decided to read the Bible in its entirety, as it is arranged in the Protestant Bible, from cover to cover. It took a long time, but just the other day I read Revelations 22 which is the last chapter. And now it's done.


One has to acquire a taste for the greatest pleasures in life. For the most part, those tastes don't come naturally. I sure didn't crave to spend some time in the Bible until I had given it enough chances to impress my soul. Kind of like atole.

Atole is a traditional corn or rice based drink of Mexico. Its origins can be traced to Aztec times, when the Aztecs were getting bored of corn maize and a creative one said, "Let's make a boiling hot corn drink!" The first time I drank atole was at a birthday party and I've never had a drink that has shocked me like this one. Steamy goo crawled from the cup into my mouth and latched on to my tongue and cheeks, resisting my throat muscles, leaving a layer of it's creamy substance coving everything inside me. I couldn't image how anybody could like this stuff. They tried to offer me other flavors like chocolate, or nut, or vanilla, or cinnamon rice. But I would have no more of that slime. Little did I know that several years later, after giving atole several more chances, I would consider it one of the most special drinks in the world. I love that traditional goo!


I'm convinced that very few people crave the Bible because they haven't worked at acquiring a taste for it. I've grown up in a devote Christian family and so I tried two or three times to read through the Bible, only to find that once I'd reach books like Leviticus, the stuff was too thick for me to swallow. But things were different this time around. I had acquired a taste for it and soon found myself craving more and more of God's Word. Those of you who are not familiar with the Bible should know that it is a VERY good read and proves to be some very special traditional goo (this coming from someone who studied writing and literature in college).


The Bible is the world's number one best seller almost every year and is the world's best selling book of all times. It sits on more book shelves and in more houses than any other book in the world. Yet, most of those Bibles collect dust and are treated more as collector's items. Mexico is a prime example. About 90% of Mexico's population call themselves Catholic and it wouldn't surprise me if practically all of them owned a Bible. But they consider tradition and church authorities to be superior to the Bible and therefore see little need to read it.


This past Sunday my dad preached and encouraged the church to seek out truth themselves by taking the initiative to read the Bible and research its reliability. It sparked a lively discussion at the end of the sermon. It seems that many Mexicans have a suppressed interest in the Bible and therefore my dad has found that people's interests are perked when they are informed that the Bible severely contradicts Roman Catholic doctrine. One very successful ministry that my dad has practiced for the past six years are Bible Overview small group studies (Un Vistaso de la Biblia). Lately he has been going to peoples homes and going through the Bible with individual families. During my stay here, I hope to join my dad when he goes to teach these studies and you can probably look forward to hearing a bit about them.


In conclusion, I just wanted to let you know that although I have finally read the Bible all the way through for the first time, my cravings for it have only begun. I've learned that I need to challenge myself with goals in order to keep craving. So before I read through the Bible again, I want to reread some of the artistic books of the Bible in Spanish. That'll keep me busy for a while. Goals are powerful engines that can take you to wonderful places and reading that Traditional Goo from cover to cover would make a great new year resolution that you would never regret *wink, wink*!


Oh the joys of those who delight in the law of He-Who-Exists!
Psalm 1


The law of God is true.
More precious than gold
even the finest gold.
Sweeter than honey
even the drippings of the honeycomb.
It is a warning to your servant,
a great reward for those who obey it.
Psalm 19

Obsessed with Death 12/27/09

The Americans did much better at conquering their natives than the conquistadors did. Everywhere you look in Mexico you can see traces of the Aztec heritage. The only reason the Mexican people are not completely white/Spanish blooded is because even the small pox couldn't help Cortes wipe the dense population of Aztecs off the face of the planet. The conquistadors ended up marrying the natives and out came a nation of mestizos.

The day after Christmas we went with a family from my parents' church to a park on the south side of the city where many Mexican artists try to sell their innovative stuff. As we strolled through the display of brilliant colors, I noticed that colorful skeletons and skulls were a very common object to find in ceramic molds, paintings, piñatas, and sugar candy. Here we were on the day after Christmas and Halloween decorations were more prominent than Christmas decorations! Mexico has always been known for its respect for death and is famous for its celebration of the Days of the Dead. But I wanted to hear it from a Mexican. So I turned to the mother of the family, Carla, and inquired, "Why the obsession with skeletons?"


Carla said that the Aztecs worshiped a god of the dead. His name was Mictlantecuhtli. Say that three times fast. In an attempt to make sense of death it has become a common symbol in modern culture. Death is both glorified and comical when portrayed in art. Mexicans try to view death as either a beautiful thing or something to laugh at. For example, we spotted some ceramic skeletons three feet tall of some popular characters from a Mexican TV show call "El Chavo del Ocho". Kico, one of my favorite characters has abnormally pudgy cheeks and, sure enough, his skull had huge cheek bones! I laughed.

I asked the father of the family, Alberto, the same question and he talked about the Mexican attempt to preserve the Aztec culture. The majority view their Aztec heritage fondly, pridefully and view their conquistador heritage with hints of bitterness. Most Mexicans would use the word "mestizo" to describe their mixed heritages which is the same word they use for "mutt". "However," Alberto said, "I'm not allowed to be bitter at the conquistadors because two of my great-grandfathers are from Spain." Perhaps this bitterness is rooted in the fact that the whiter-skinned/Spanish a Mexican is, the more wealthy he tends to be whereas the darker-skinned/Native he is, the more entrenched in poverty he tends to be.

Today I learned of a family in my parents' church who were former worshipers of Santa Muerte or Saint Death (the personification of death itself). Worship of Santa Muerte has only become widely known in the past century but has made a lasting impression on Mexican culture. Although Santa Muerte has been condemned by the Catholic church, Santa Muerte's rites are based off of Catholic liturgy and closely related to Catholic doctrine. I should mention that the children of this family expressed their gratitude that their family left the church of Santa Muerte and are now getting their lives back together.

How does one approach the reality of death? Everybody loses everything someday. There are certain truths that no one can escape and death is one of them. Does one laugh away the pain of loss, be bitter over the loss, worship it to try and get on it's good side, or fear the uncertainty of the other side? Part of the job of my parents is to challenge what people believe concerning death since the possible approaches to death are as diverse as skin tones.

More Intros 12/23/09

I've probably spent over an hour trying to decide how to start this post. Besides the fact that I can't believe I'm here, I've been overwhelmed with writing material and I'm trying to hack it down to a few manageable paragraphs that won't bore most of you--but who am I fooling? Hopefully I'll write some better posts as time goes on and I get more involved with everything. Let me know what interests you. In this post I'm going to try my best to introduce several elements that I think will be very prominent during my whole stay.

Once the plane dipped into the clouds, the stars faded from the sky and the dense galaxy of Mexico City lights appeared spread out below us. While American city lights reflect systematically square streets, Mexico City lights wind and twist randomly for miles and miles. For a moment my perspective was jerked out of the walls that always make our world seem small and accessible. No one really knows how many people live in Mexico City. Too many to count. Estimates have placed the Federal District at around 18 million. If you include the surrounding areas that Mexico City has swallowed up, it's somewhere between 25 and 30 million. Many consider it the biggest city in the world and it can be the one of the loneliest places on earth. How does one find purpose in a city that can't even account for 5 million of it's citizen's?

Noticable or not, my parents have given their lives to love on some chilangos. For the past five years, my family has ministered to a church that my dad planted and they met in my parent's house until last May. They began to rent a two acre recreational park every Sunday and I got to see it for the first time this past weekend. In a concrete jungle like the one we're in, I didn't expect this park to be everything that a church of 90 people needed. But it is! I know I said I wouldn't share too many details but dude, this place is chido (cool)! It's got a playground, a big room with a bar, a pool, a volleyball court, and an indoor futbol court! I can't wait to play some authentic futbol with the youth. And did I mention it's all on a steep hill? Well, it's all on a steep hill. Coming from the flat of the flatlands, I think the hill adds character. The park is called Cholita and it's a beautiful getaway from the concrete jungle.

In a way, I dropped into this church at the climactic event of the year. They had a Christmas musical drama on Sunday night and even though the temperature was in the 40's (very cold for Mexico City [I know, you're jealous]) they attracted about 100 visitors which is bigger than the church itself! People where standing outside the building and watching the drama through the windows! My mom wrote the script, my dad translated the music, my sister figured out the piano parts by ear and had a vocal solo, and the actors and children's choir gave their all that night. (You can look at more pics from the event at my mom's blog.) This church is smaller than what I'm used to, but I'm getting some spine chilling vibes from their joyful faces. Everyone seemed very close knit and glad to spend hours and hours together preparing for the big event. I mean, Mexico is generally a more hospitable country than the States, but this crew is doubly hospitable. You can look forward to hearing more about them and their stories. I'll try to explore why they are incredibly happy together.

Well, you are most likely aware that some big holidays are coming up and I wish you all a great one! However, yours won't be nearly as chido as mine because I've already witnessed seven doomed piñatas get bashed to a pulp! Alright fine, I guess Christmas isn't about bashing piñatas or even dodging the kid doing the bashing to snatch the candy.

Intro 12/16/09

Great changes often mark a writer with great writing. Today I cleaned out my junk drawer and organized my closet floor. So I guess I better start writing.

My junk needs to be sorted and organized because in two days I’m leaving. With college behind me and seminary ahead, I’ve been given the opportunity to go home for four months. My name is Nate Hornbrook and I am an American Chilango, which means I was born in America with American parents but grew up in Mexico City. Home for me is Mexico City, the biggest city in the world. I’ve been studying in the States for five and a half years which has been long enough for me to romanticize about the uniqueness of Mexico—overstuffed tacos dripping with salsa and limon, drunkenly happy acoustic guitars and trumpets in mariachi music, police men that pull you over so you can give them a Christmas present, concrete buildings as far as the eye can see, cramped streets with houses mashed together, kids of all ages kicking around a futbol, waves of copper-skinned people desperate to satisfy their spiritual needs. Just ask my friends from Purdue; I talk about the beauty I find in Mexico City all the time. I hope some of them will go down and see it for themselves some day.

It’s a magical place and the other day I realized just how unique my situation is. I mean how many people get to “return home” to Mexico and join their parents in their intense mission to spread the kingdom of God? If only I could share it with others. I know! I’ll write a blog! And so my hope for this blog is not to bore you with the minute details of my stay but instead to share what I learn during this Sabbatical.

I’m calling it a Sabbatical although I don’t plan on relaxing much. There is so much I want to accomplish during this transition period that I fear I might go crazy! My main goal in this time is to be my dad’s shadow, following him around and learning what I failed to learn while I was taking him for granted all my life. As I said, my Dad is on a divine mission in Mexico and other Latin American countries and you might be uncomfortable about that. If that is your case, then I would encourage you to continue to read and learn about what it is like to live in the midst of people who treasure the God of the Bible. My Dad has a passion for God that I need to understand better. I want to know why my father does what he does and thinks what he thinks. I know many people can’t normally relate to such a close relationship with their dad and so maybe you and I can look forward to sharing a bit of that here.

Of course, I have other goals such as to learn to love my mom and sisters more, chill with old friends, read and inquire about Mexican Catholicism, improve my Spanish, Hebrew, and Greek, listen to various spiritual leaders online, and be physically active. Goals are good. I’m taking advantage of this transitional period to begin a new year like never before and I want you in on it. So, with a heart spilling over with gratitude, I'm inviting you to please come back within these next four months (December-April) and share this adventure with me and leave comments. Who knows? Maybe this blog will end up being a beautiful exploration of God in the homecoming an American Chilango.