The same thing has, I'm sure, happened to you: you live your whole life without seeing or hearing a certain word or phrase or expression, and then you see or hear it two or three times within a relatively short period.

The first time I saw this particular phrase was a few years back at a synod assembly. I attended a small group session led by a pastor who had just returned from Nicaragua and El Salvador. He was showing some of his slides to help us understand the political and economic situation in those troubled lands.

About midway through his presentation, one of the slides showed what I took at first to be an outdoor chapel or worship area. There were pews and kneelers, and up front, an altar. Grass and weeds, about a foot high, were growing in the aisle and under and around the pews …