Lucas Toledo - first blog

Hello! I am here to write and report a little about how it was my first week as an intern at the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society. This experience has been incredible and every day I have grown and learned new things. 

  

I arrived in Washington DC on Saturday, June 2nd. I was the first of the interns to arrive here. I came straight from Brazil on a long and tiring trip, but I came very excited to learn more about social justice, human rights, engagement in the fight for better conditions for communities in general and care for the environment. GBCS is one of the most respected religious institutions in the field of social justice and human rights in the USA. Certainly, the experiences that I would have would be incredible and would give me the possibility to grow even more in my knowledge on such subjects. 

  

On Saturday I just rested from the trip and of course I enjoyed the free time in the evening to enjoy a little DC! The GBCS headquarters has a prime location. It sits on the same street as the US Supreme Court and just minutes from the Capitol, home of the US Congress. Both my place of work and the apartment I will be staying in these two months are in the same building, the United Methodist Building. 

  

On Sunday I also rested and waited for the arrival of the other interns. At evening time, we had our first meeting as a group. Most interns arrived on Sunday because they already lived in the United States. Our dinner consisted of pizza and a lot of talk about who we are, what we do, where we live, what we study and what we expect from our 2 months in the capital of the most powerful country in the world. This time was extremely useful for getting to know each other and building a relationship based on mutual respect, conversation and shared dreams. 

On Monday we had our first day of work. It was a full day of orientation on the program, schedule of activities, the rules necessary for the smooth running of everything, and so on. The cool part of the day was in the afternoon when we had our personal presentation time. Each person introduced himself using a drawing made by ourselves. As the person introduced himself the others wrote their best impressions about the other person's presentation in a small sheet. After the presentation we could still verbalize what we found interesting in each one's speech. It was a great time to express our admiration for each one's life story! 

On Tuesday we had a second day of orientation. In the morning we continued the conversation about the program and shortly after we had our first seminar. With the presence of Dr. Emma Escobar, we heard about social justice as a spiritual discipline. It was extremely interesting to understand that the concept of social justice is broader than the concept of mercy. While the latter concept deals only with the consequences of problems, trying to minimize the pain of the most suffering, the concept of justice carries with it a clamor and vocation to treat the heart of the matter, that is, to go straight to the cause of pain. The struggle for social justice is to understand the dynamics of oppression that exist in systems that privilege some to the detriment of others. Justice is the pursuit of equity and equality, the negative response to privileges, and the breaking of systems that have in themselves a DNA of irresponsible oppression. While the concept of mercy causes people to visit prisoners and assist them in their most latent difficulties, the concept of justice causes us to stand up against social injustices that make marginalized young people have no opportunities and thus resort to crime and violence. While mercy acts by delivering food to the poorest, justice seeks to combat the roots of inequality. Justice is about depth in fighting against the privileges of some classes! Understanding this concept was fundamental to being able to take a firmer and more thoughtful action in what really deserves attention. 

On Wednesday I had my first day at my place of work. I was assigned to work at Creation Justice Ministries, an institution that brings together 38 denominations here in the USA and it is in connection with the National Council of Churches. Creation Justice seeks to combat deforestation, neglect of the land, indifference to water, endangered species and everything related to nature and the environment. We understand that the work of Christ on the cross brought reconciliation not only on a personal level but also social and environmental level. We understand that the reconciliation of Christ brings the need to engage in the care of our planet. My first three days in my workplace were basically to understand how the work is developed, what is the background of each of my colleagues and what would be my area of work. 

In summary, my first week was incredibly wonderful and gave me several unique experiences that I will not forget! 

Lucas Toledo
Creation Justice Ministries Intern