Southside Pride

At the beginning of May, the church at 17th Avenue South and East 38th Street, El Milagro/The Miracle, installed its senior pastor, Antonio Machado. The blend of cultures throughout the day represented the amazing experiment that began when St.Luke’s Lutheran Church (at 17th and 38th) and Todos Los Santos, a Spanish-speaking congregation led by Machado, joined forces this past year. To call the event anything less than a heavenly celebration would not do it justice. There was music of every kind including the Nordkap Male Chorus in an afternoon concert and, during the morning service, “The Holy City” sung beautifully by 90-year-old Les Mikelson and a gorgeously expressive cello solo by Lars Krogstad Ortiz, all in stylistic contrast to the lively Latin beat of the praise songs. Louis Alemayehu of Ancestor Energy was on hand to chant a poem. Machado gave a spontaneous blessing, not listed in the bilingual printed program, to new parents and a new baby named Joshua.

As always, there were scripture readings in two languages. If, like me, you know Spanish but it’s not your native tongue, reading familiar texts in Spanish makes them seem like something you’ve never heard before and presents new subtleties, new understandings. For me, it’s a lot more riveting to hear the Bible in Spanish than in English just because it seems new.

A highlight of the morning service was the presentation of a portrait of Machado created by Jack Norman, El Milagro/The Miracle’s artist-in-residence, who started going to St. Luke’s about 60 years ago. Norman said Machado didn’t really “sit” in the typical way that people sit for portraits. He talked a lot and jumped up to take care of things. The sitting went on about three or four weeks longer than planned.
Personally, I believe an artist can capture the inner person much better when the sitter is active than when they sit still as a stone, even though it requires much more skill on the part of the artist. Norman was a professional illustrator his whole life and has plenty of technique. His interpretive ability shines in the oil portrait which shows a more contemplative, older side of Machado that one doesn’t see in his public face as leader, pastor — and showman.

Machado has the ability to energize and mobilize people to believe that anything is possible. What they believe is possible becomes true and Machado gives God the credit. His vision, formed significantly at Luther Seminary, is apparent at El Milagro/The Miracle. Bliss, delight, gladness, good fortune, felicity, happiness, joy, and paradise have taken over. Its an ongoing party. Martin Luther would probably be really happy with El Milagro/The Miracle. For one thing, the word Lutheran doesn’t enter into its official name —an emphasis on denominationalism was counter to Luther’s thought. He would also love its message of grace (preached in English with simultaneous translation into Spanish both times I’ve attended), a massively heavy thought in the gravity-free happiness of its new-found multicultural conviviality.

Energy Levels in Different Cultures

Machado gets up in church on Sunday mornings and shouts to the rooftops that he’s so glad it’s Sunday, his favorite day of the week. It’s the day to get together with the dear people in the congregation to praise God and sing, dance and eat together.

It’s an energy level that is familiar to me. When I came back from Spain where I had lived for 12 years I met a guy at somebody’s house in Minneapolis who was very animated in a way that seemed really normal to me, actually more normal than the flat, fallen, subanimated affect of most of the other people. I was enjoying our conversation a lot when he suddenly apologized for being so hyper: “Sorry, I haven’t taken my meds yet.” What? I think the level of energy considered to be normal varies from culture to culture.

So anyway, the orginal St. Luke’s, which was a small congregation made up mostly of elderly people of Norwegian ancestry, is delighted with the consolidation. The new music, the new food and all the families with children definitely bring new life, new energy, to the church. My friend Vernon who attended the installation service with me said, “If you’re allergic to children, you shouldn’t go to this church.” I personally liked it that there were wiggling children in church and a fair amount of commotion during communion. And when the congregation was asked if they would commit to supporting the pastor, the shout that went up was deafening. Wow.

Mission and Philosophy of El Milagro/The Miracle

Machado was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York City so he is naturally bilingual. He has worked in church building for 20 years and started Todos los Santos in 1992. A small group of Hispanic people met at All Saints Episcopal Church at Longfellow and 31st for a year until a nucleus was formed. Then they took the name All Saints, translated it into Spanish, and moved to Salem Lutheran Church at 28th and Lyndale where they stayed until their recent move. Although Salem was a “wonderful host,” Todos los Santos always wanted a permanent place where they could meet on Sunday mornings, not Sunday afternoons. Then interim pastor at St. Luke’s, James Gullickson, who has now moved down the street to Lebanon Lutheran Church, networked with Machado and the idea for a consolidation began to grow. After some long meetings, the decision was made, a new name was agreed upon and details were hammered out. In August of 2001 the new church was formed. The new leadership includes intern/vicar Paul Snider, a student at Luther Seminary, Lyall Schwarzkopf, president of the congregation, and Maria Vega, vice president.

While leadership is very important, the leadership of a congregation is only half the story. Machado tries to keep the focus off of himself. He says, “The ministry has to go beyond the leadership, the ministry has to come from the people.”

Who are the people in the church? One of them is Talia Ortiz, a classical violinist from Mexico who will graduate from Luther Seminary with a Master’s of Divinity degree in June. Ortiz said that the two main jobs of the new church are to figure out what its specific mission will be and to get to know each other. There will be a lot to learn — how to be one church, combining the strong traditions of Norwegian Americans and Latinos from 26 Spanish-speaking countries, while maintaining identities. She likened it to a new marriage. She also commented that, while the church does intentional outreach in the neighborhood, the congregation comes from all over the Twin Cities and people find out about it by word of mouth. Everybody invites their friends.

Action

With Sunday morning as the high point of the week —worship in English at 9 a.m., in Spanish at 11 a.m., coffee and fellowship in between and lunch afterwards to which everyone is invited — the church is on its way to becoming the “public” place Machado envisions. He wants it to be anything but a private club. “If we don’t welcome strangers, churches will become museums.”

Myrna Christensen, who has been the church secretary for the past 12 years, has noticed that new people are attending all the time and they’re not necessarily Spanish speaking. Visiting unfamiliar churches is often like going to somebody’s family reunion and you can feel quite uncomfortable. But at El Milagro/The Miracle, there are enough new people all the time that you can kind of blend in. You don’t have to stand out as “The Visitor.” At the same time, someone will discreetly welcome you.

During the week, Christensen loves the constant activity that had been so notably absent, especially during the last five years before the consolidation.. Now there’s “excitement and new friends, the phone rings and people go in and out.” She is “sold on the idea.”

On three Saturday mornings a month there is a Spanish class. Christensen attends regularly. Her enthusiasm is evident and she has started answering the phone in both languages. She said she still doesn’t know what to say after “buenos dias” and “buenas tardes,” but is confident that she will.

On four afternoons a week, a mentoring program has been in place for the past year. An enrolled group of about 15 kids (at this point, El Milagro/The Miracle doesn’t have enough people to offer mentorship and companionship to more children) come Mondays to Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. The children learn the language they need, computer skills and arts.

Other activity includes a three-day garage sale held at the end of May and the upcoming vacation Bible school with the big neighborhood party planned for August. The church bulletin indicates the church’s connection to the larger community —people are invited to a meeting of the Minnesota Alliance for Federal Immigration Reform at the Resource Center of the Americas; a date will be set when a bank teller can come to the church and explain details of banking; and a team is needed to represent the church at ISAIAH, the coalition of congregations for social justice.