Why Cinco de Mayo?

By Neil Earle

Every year the Hispanic population of the United States, especially the Mexican-American contingent – 60% of the 13% Latino – celebrates the Fifth of May, Cinco de Mayo.

It’s especially big out in the suburbs of Los Angeles where the Glendora congregation of Grace Communion International (GCI) – formerly Worldwide Church of God – is based and has been since 1972.

The Glorious Fifth

For the last 17 years the church here has been celebrating the 5th of May with decorations, special food, sermons and the smashing of the piñata for the kids.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla in 1862 when a Mexican army defeated a much larger French army moving in on Mexico City. The French? Yes. Napoleon III was trying to expand the vast French empire on the excuse of collecting debts. Remember, the U.S. was tied down with an immense civil war at that time.

The victory stirred Mexican nationalism and ranks right up there with Mexican Independence Day on September 15.

Our church observes it because…well, let’s have Arthur Villanova tell you.

Arthur’s Story

Arthur began attending Glendora congregation in 1975 with his parents and siblings when he was 13. He served as president and treasurer and of our local youth chapter. He played basketball, attended church summer camps and graduated from Workman High School in 1980 and Ambassador College Pasadena in 1988.

Arthur and his wife Koji were married in July 2001 right there at the beautifully sited Friends Church where we meet every Saturday. Andrew (Andy) joined the family in May 2004. Arthur is a very responsible Credentials Analyst for the Human Resources Department of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) one of the nation’s biggest.

In 2010 he joined LAUSD Toastmaster’s and has held almost every office. This has opened up several leadership opportunities for him and his family.

You can detect Arthur’s sincerity in a memo he sent inviting his co-workers to our Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Subject: Hispanic Heritage Celebration (Glendora)

Hello all. I want to share my opportunity to speak at my church with you. I am getting back on the speaking rotation and I have my first opportunity this Saturday May 3rd. My church, Glendora New Covenant Fellowship, which meets in Glendora on Saturdays at 10:30 am, has an annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration. There is a potluck and piñata (for the kids) after services May 3rd. The theme is Unity in Diversity.

I’m giving the first split-sermon (20 minutes), followed by long-time Elder Roger Lippross from England giving the second. It’s a time to reflect on how the church sets the example in multicultural relations, but it is also a very festive occasion. We rent our hall from a Quaker Church, hence why we meet on Saturdays because they use it on Sundays (otherwise we would meet on Sunday). It is a very beautiful setting. The hall has a huge glass wall behind the stage and you can view the Glendora Foothills from the audience. This past Saturday, because of the rain the night before, the view was breath-taking.

I know most of you can’t make it (Saturdays are so busy), but I wanted to extend the invitation anyway (it is our churches version of a special event). However, just to let you know, both my wife and son will be there, and Steve has all ready committed to coming, so I am very excited. I promise not to “preach” but rather to share a message of hope and inclusiveness (but my faith is an integral part of the message).

Steve’s Story

Arthur’s workplace is a teeming hive of diversity as some of our photos show. One of Arthurs’ workmates is an Englishman named Steve Bagnall who hoped to attend the service but wrote us this note on his life. You can see from his past experiences that Steve knows the value of racial reconciliation and movements towards harmony:

From: Bagnall, Steven
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2014 3:03 PM
To: Villanova, Arthur
Subject: RE: Hispanic Heritage Celebration (Glendora)

Became a Royal Engineer at the age of 16… had been recruited by the British Army at 14 (Army Cadet) where I was taught to fly a 2 seat Glider @RAF Sea land and flew Solo.

It was during my tours of Duty in Belfast (Irish Troubles) where I encountered Racial Hatred not by skin colour but by religion. The Catholics hated the Protestants and visa versa. With The IRA was hell bent on killing me and I hell bent on killing them as a British soldier.

That’s when I knew I had to get out of England to broaden my horizons and travel and meet people not stereotype them.

I have lived and stayed in such places as Sweden, Germany, France Belgium, Switzerland, Cyprus, Persian Gulf, stayed with a family in the Jungles of Thai Land and Cambodia and took part in a Thai wedding with 12 Monks.

I have learnt that people are normally afraid to step out of their comfort levels and stay with their own and go with the flow and stereotype others because it is easier.

Diversity allows you to walk in cultures not of your own.

Arthur Channels St. Paul

Thanks, Steve. You have raised some great points. And your friend Arthur nailed the problem AND the antidote as he spoke on the challenges and opportunities facing the churches in this matter of racial peace. Just that very day Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times led the front page with his “Racism? Yes, it’s still out there.” Most readers might be surprised at the amount of abuse he encountered growing up as a third generation Hispanic. “And if I had a dollar for every time someone told me to go back to Mexico, I’d be able to make sizeable down payment on the Los Angeles Clippers.”

Arthur alluded to the topical Clippers scandal at the beginning of his message before swinging into the solution Paul outlined in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13. “We tend to focus on our own circumstances or ethnicity but all parts of the body are essential,” he stated, referring to St. Paul’s analogy of the church as “the body of Christ,” one body but many members.

Arthur kept drilling away on one factor: The point is not to have these days to exalt one race above another but to learn to appreciate each other. We hope to combat with education and awareness of other’s cultures the tensions that bedevil our mixed-race society. So we do Cinco de Mayo and also Black History Month when it comes around.

He sketched the answer from Paul’s superb love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 reminding us that “love suffers long.” We sometimes have to do that, have to suffer with each other because sometimes the differences are vast indeed and can be a constant source of everyday friction. But love is kind as well as long-suffering and it is the key to getting through the divisions that still halt all parts of the human family from reaching their fullest potential.

So, for our seventeenth Hispanic Heritage Day we once again kept before us the issue and some of the wise Biblical answers. The audience agreed and gave our speakers a warm round of applause.