PERSPECTIVE —
My Longing
by Milka Rindzinski
When I was a child, an elderly woman, all dressed up and wearing a hat, walked around our area to gather children for catechism. Whenever we caught sight of her we used to hide. But I was introduced to faith in Christ by her and by the missionary German priests that pastored the Catholic church in my Montevidean neighborhood. Afterwards, as is often the case with adolescent and young people, I took a break from church and only went back after I met Mennonite North American missionaries.
I was fortunate. I don't remember those Mennonite missionaries telling me that I had to renounce everything that was part of my Catholic Christian upbringing. They just helped me get in touch again with the Jesus Christ of my childhood as a more mature person.
The Bible was our textbook. When I realized that there were many things I couldn't discern by myself, Acts 2:38-41 stood out with meridian clarity for me. I accepted the invitation to be rebaptized, and the Holy Spirit helped clarify what before I could not see.
After some time, the missionaries handed me a brief biography of Menno Simons, written by Harold S. Bender, which included a summary of Menno's writings selected by John Horsch. It was after reading that small book that I realized I was a Christian who was also a Mennonite. It was at that moment that I identified with the 16th century Reformation, and began to understand in a different way several other elements of the biblical Christian faith. That was another stage of my pilgrimage to where I am today. And that was more than 40 years ago.
During the following years the Mennonite churches in Uruguay have held respectful conversations, activities, prayer meetings, and worship services with other Christians, including Catholics. Some of them have been well planned; others were more spontaneous. We have been able to unite around the common core of our faiths. These encounters have been fruitful both ways, because each one knew where he/she stood. We listened to each other as we shared our visions, and we were open to learn from each other. Of course there were some exceptions.
But many a time my longing has been, oh, that I could find a church that enfolded the best from each denomination! What I mean is that there is richness for us to uncover when we are open to it. Really, the 16th century Reformation of the church was not the last and final one. We all need to experience and are experiencing reform permanently. We could call that growth.
We live in a discriminating and prejudiced world, even within the Anabaptist-Mennonite world. We cannot uphold that attitude. Once when I was visiting Paraguay a German Mennonite girl told in"You are not a Mennonite. Your name is not a Mennonite name." A friend that was with me responded: "What do you mean? She was a Mennonite even before you were born!" Today I could add: There are faithful Christians also outside the Anabaptist-Mennonite churches.
— Milka Rindzinski, Montevideo, Uruguay, is MWC General Editor and Regional Editor for Central and South America
MWC photo/Merle Good.
