lifestyle

More than a decade ago Dr. Carlos Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and one of the leaders of the Society of Friends of the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama (SAMAAP, by its Spanish initials, had an idea for a new activity, an ecumenical Easter sunrise service on the museum grounds. There were folks with other priorities or various objections, but Dr. Smith fought for his proposal and ultimately it was adopted.

This year Dr. Smith was too ill to attend the service on its 10th anniversary, which was held in his honor as well as that of the one who is usually honored on Easter Sunday, Jesus Christ.

Bishop Ruthibell Livingston, one of SAMAAP's founding members, gave the invocation and said a few words about Dr. Smiths' role in the organization.

As usual, there were two sermons, one in English by Pastor Marta Betty and the other in Spanish by Pastor Alejandro Douglas.

Pastor Betty spoke of the book of Isaiah and how it predicted the mission of Jesus Christ. "Jesus was bruised for our iniquities," she said, so that the world might have "peace that surpasses all understanding."

Douglas spoke of the people coming on the Sunday after the crucifixion to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been placed, to find that the stone blocking the entrance had been moved and that the body was missing. Whereupon a well dressed man asked, "Why do you look among the dead for he who is among the living?"

Three were the reasons proffered, Douglas noted. First, there were Jewish rites to be performed. But "now, it's not important to carry out that ritual" --- because the time of pharisaic ritual, customs and traditions was over. Second, "logic said that we had to look there." But now, "you're dealing with faith," not logic or reason. Third, "because there was a word that we forgot." But Douglas warned, "Don't believe in the words of the hustlers, of the sorcerers, of the politicians." It's the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not the words of the false prophets, that guides people along the right path.

Professor Melva Lowe de Goodin, head of the English department at the University of Panama and a past president of SAMAAP, spoke a few words about the museum and its history and some of the ties that bind the community. The building that houses the Afro-Antillean Museum was the original Christian Mission Church, founded in 1914 by Barbadian immigrants who came to build the canal, and Pastor Douglas is descended from founding members of that church. The Christian Mission Church of Panama is now located in Rio Abajo, the capital's most identifiably West Indian neighborhood.