Stan and Kim in Cuba

(blog by Stan) Traditionally, today (December 31) is a big day for Cuban cuisine. The fin de año family meal generally consists of roast pork, yucca with mojo, arroz congri, and a tomato/cucumber salad (nothing like having fresh tomatoes in December!). Wash it down with generous rounds of Bucanero or Cristal, depending on your taste. Top it off with a flan and a tasita of strong, sweet café, and you're ready to raise a toast to the new year (with a shot of Havana Club Añejo Especial, sin hielo).   Like most of the world, the traditions are not quite what they used to be this year in Cuba. It has been a time of growing food insecurity, with long lines and empty shelves defining the daily búsqueda for the proteina. The meal options have narrowed more and more, as common ingredients in the Cuban kitchen became more and more scarce. For the last couple of months we were in Cuba, lots of folks were worrying about us, that we were losing weight, looking too thin. I heard it from a friend

  Kim and I are blessed and honored to "belong" to several different churches in Cuba, such as the First Baptist of Matanzas and the Rivers of Living Waters Baptist in the rural village of Piedrecitas. Another congregation in our family of faith is the Metropolitan Community Church, also in Matanzas. This is a church dedicated to being open and affirming to people of differing sexual orientations and gender identities. The pastors, Elaine and Yivi, almost always invite us to help serve communion. And they regularly ask us to preach. Here is the sermon I preached last Friday for the fourth week of Advent (the church has its worship services on Friday nights, giving its members who also belong to other congregations the freedom to attend the other worship service on Sundays).   Texts: Isaiah 40:3-5 ; Luke 1: 46-53 Anyone who knows me at all knows that my life revolves around music; I love a good song. Today's text is one of the great songs of scripture, so instead of preach