Pastoral Care in the Amazonia Biome
Rev. Raquel Wieland
Method: How we live and do pastoral care/counseling in the Amazon Synod – Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) (Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil). What’s our essence (fragrance, smell)? “...Christ loved us and gave his life for us, as an offering of sweet perfume...” Ephesians 5.2b
Love and care are what we see and feel in the verse that begins our reflection.
Today, we are invited to reflect from Jesus Christ, this pleasant perfume, how we have lived and carried out pastoral care and counseling in the context of the Amazon. In order to understand this method, a brief contextualization is necessary.
Context of the Amazon: In the Amazon, we have 28.1 million inhabitants, which represents 13% of the Brazilian population. A population made up of indigenous people (867,919), riverside residents, and migrants from other states in Brazil.[1]
Context of the Synod: The Amazon Synod, based in Cacoal/Rondônia, is part of the group of 18 synods of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IGREJA EVANGÉLICA DE CONFISSÃO LUTERANA NO BRASIL – IECLB). The creation of the Synod took place in its first synodal assembly held on May 15, 1998 (one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight). However, there has been a Lutheran presence in the Amazon biome since the 1960s. Today, 9 parishes and 5 communities with parish functions are part of the Amazon Synod, for a total of 71 communities and 34 preaching points, distributed in the states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Acre, Amazonas and Roraima. There are 17 pastors working at the Amazon Synod. We are 6709 (six thousand seven hundred nine) members, according to IECLB statistics, base year 2022.
In the context of the Amazon Synod, we have a great diversity of realities: parishes in urban contexts and the vast majority in rural contexts. In general, we are in a context where we travel long distances to reach communities and members. Many ministerial residences are located far from most communities, which, in some situations of pastoral support, ends up making it difficult to be immediately present to provide care, welcome and advice. We also have parishes that are located at shorter distances and that are already able to organize on-call moments for pastoral conversations, moments of pastoral counseling and are able to be present more immediately in situations that require monitoring, counseling and pastoral care.
In the context of parishes that have long distances – a reality in which I live in the parish where I work – members rarely go to the pastor's house or office. Because of these distances, between one activity and another, we sleep in members' homes, we spend more time in their homes than in our own home. Being in the members' homes allows us to enter their lives, in private family moments, where there are experiences exchanges, deeper conversations, care and pastoral counseling take place.
It is important to highlight that, in conversation with the ministerial team of the Amazon Synod, we observed that violence against women and alcoholism are situations that we need to face in pastoral care and counseling. It is a challenge for pastors to accompany people who suffer violence and struggle with alcoholism. Pastors also need to strengthen themselves and have discernment and wisdom to take care of life.
Context of the parish: Growing in Love Parish (Paróquia Crescendo no Amor): The parish where I work has 7 communities and 4 preaching points, a total distance of approximately 775 km for a round of celebrations. Long distances are something present in our daily lives, so activities at the moment have focused on visits, Bible studies, and celebrations of rituals. Because of this determining factor, I spend most of my time at the members’ homes - I sleep in their houses; I eat meals with them; I am with them on a daily basis, in their daily tasks, in their field work. Therefore, much pastoral care and counseling takes place precisely in informal conversations while doing daily tasks. Most of the time, there is also pastoral care and counseling in Bible studies, which take place in people’s homes, on familiar territory, making it possible to also have greater comfort in expressing what they feel.
In this sense, I share a particular experience - while in a Bible study, we studied the topic “What is your essence?”, a question accompanied by the verse “...Christ loved us and gave his life for us, as an offering of pleasant perfume... .” Ephesians 5:2b
Caminho da Fé Community (Path of Faith Community): The community in question is a small community, with 22 members, most of the people are from the same family, who live from working on the farm, they are people who came from other states 20, 30, 40 years ago, in search of better living conditions.
The Caminho da Fé community is experiencing the pain of longing, the pain of mourning. Nine months ago, there was the tragic death of a very active member of the community, leaving his wife, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, other family members, and friends in mourning.
As usual, we had a Bible study in this community and the meeting in question took place at the home of the son and daughter-in-law, where the widow also lives. The entire community was present: father-in-law, mother-in-law, nephews, cousins, including neighbors and friends from the community.
We started the meeting by reflecting on the question: “What is your essence?”, we talked about smells we like, smells we don’t like, what is a good smell, what is a bad smell and we talk about the aromas we leave wherever we go, what is the aroma of an evangelical-Lutheran person, what is our essence as people of Lutheran confession. I also asked the people there if they had ever smelled a person in the air, but when looking around, it was not possible to find that person. At that moment, the community immediately remembered the deceased member. The tears were inevitable...
So, here we see that the person was a good person, had a good essence. And we can talk about it. How to be the essence of good cheer, the essence of life and love in pastoral counseling? Being present, even with distances (digital pastoral care), being accessible, exercising empathy, visiting and listening carefully, helping people so that they find and seek resolutions in existential conflicts and with people, praying with people.
Dynamic after presentation: Suggest that people can smell the essences from Brazil, say what comes to mind, have a moment of prayer with each one of them, and anoint with the essence itself. (Talk about smells, flavors, sounds, things that are in people's daily lives)
[1]https://amazonia2030.org.br/fatos-da-amazonia-2021/#:~:text=A%20popula%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20est%C3%A1%20estimada%20em,5%2C6%20habitantes%20por%20km%C2%B2. Acessado em 21/09/2023
