Wholeness and Peace in My Vocation
Seattle Presbytery
A Letter from Sarah Henken, serving in Colombia
July 2017
Sometimes it’s the simplest thing that awakens me to joy. I hadn’t imagined myself playing tag and jumping rope when I got up that morning, but there I was, surrounded by children and adults enjoying some raucous play time. I was accompanying a delegation from the Seattle Presbytery on a visit to Semillero de Paz Shalom (Shalom Peace Seedbed), a project for neighborhood children run by Third Presbyterian Church of Barranquilla. I think I can speak for all of us grown-ups: that play time was a gift!
It was one of the moments of life where grace bubbles up all around and seems to echo the affirming refrain of Genesis 1: “God saw how good it was” (CEB). Moments like that glisten in my memory, a counterpoint to the more challenging parts of ministry here in Colombia, and the new energy and enthusiasm of the delegation helped make this one possible. I’m grateful that my friends from Seattle were able to be part of that, and also that they bore witness to the shadow side of life in this wonderland of a country.