Friday, July 29, 2011

Welcoming the Stranger

This time last year my family had enjoyed a 5 week holiday traveling through China and Korea. We had been home for three days before I flew out for a three week study tour in America. One of the great things about being overseas for so long meant I really missed winter last year but I feel I'm making up for it this year LOL!

China was a great experience for us to remember what it's like to be in a country where we didn't know the language and had limited understanding of the culture and traditions. We learnt a lot about China in a week, things like how to tell which lion statue was male and which was female, how to cross the street without getting run over, (As one of my children prayed the mantra.."I don't want to die, I don't want to die...)how to use our hands to sign numbers the way they do in China, as well as the sign for toilet, and we found out how to say "I don't want it". We saw many famous sights and enjoyed being tourists.

Korea is almost like going home for us as we've visited several times. Although we are tourists we have a sense of familiarity, we know where things are, we can speak some Korean and we know what we're eating. We have friends there and it's great to catch up on each others lives. There are still times where we notice the differences in cultures and there are some occasional awkward moments but overall we feel comfortable.

America was where I experienced some culture shock. Maybe being another English speaking country I had expectations on the county and people that I didn't have for non English speaking countries. Why couldn't they understand me when I ordered a hotdog and coke? Why would they say my accent is "cute"? They eat scones and white gravy which is odd but they have it for breakfast!! The place I expected to be most comfortable ended up being the place that took me most out of my comfort zone.

I think of people who come into our churches and how we respond to them. Do we expect them to have some understanding of church when they walk through our doors? Do we expect them to understand our language? Do we expect them to do what we do? Do we expect them to know our culture and traditions?

I met a man this week who walked into the church who had just come to look around. He wasn't Christian but had visited a church before, although it looked different to this church. He was looking for friendship as he was new to Australia and wondered how he could meet people. He had stepped out of his comfort zone in search for friends. He was willing to walk into a building different from his own traditions and he was willing to make the first step. I'm hoping I came across well and that he saw me as someone who could be a friend. I'm hoping I said the right thing and didn't offend in any way. I'm hoping I showed hospitality. I'm hoping I will see him again soon.

What struck me afterwards was often when I meet someone from another country I try to be sensitive to their struggles with English and their attempts to understand Australian culture and 'isms. However, when I meet someone from another English speaking country or someone who identifies as Australian I tend to assume they have some prior knowledge of what church is. We can't do this anymore! There are many people in our community who have never been in a church and have never heard the gospel. We can't assume that the church is speaking a common language to our community. If we make assumptions like this then we may be alienating people in our community. When I was in America I may have looked similar and it may seem on the surface our cultures are similar but we are actually very different. People in the church may look similar to their local community but the cultures may be very different.

- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember people have their own culture and traditions whether they come from across the sea or across the road
- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember to explain what we're doing even if English (or whatever the language is of your country)is their first language
- When we welcome the stranger we should expect to step out of our comfort zone further than the person who has just walked through our doors
- When we welcome the stranger we have to remember how to be a friend

What would you add to this list?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

When in doubt spell it out

I went to an Anglican service today which, having grown up in an Anglican church, was a little bit of a trip down memory lane. However, it has been awhile since I've been to an Anglican service and I quickly noticed some of the wording had been changed since my last visit. (Don't want to think how many years ago that might have been.) I also noticed some of the sung liturgical responses were a bit more upbeat than the responses I sang as a child. A nice touch but again it reminded me it's been awhile.

I think it's a good idea to get out to other services whether a different denomination or the same denomination as your own because it's good to be reminded what it's like to be the new person. Once we are used to how a service is planned we can forget what are the things that need to be explained or what may seem foreign to a visitor. We can very quickly get in our own comfort zone and stay there.

Today we were invited to celebrate Holy Communion during the service. My experience with the Anglican church is to take a wafer and then share the cup which the Priest holds. (This may inform you of when I last visited an Anglican church) I've never enjoyed the cup sharing tradition but figured "when in Rome...." Now, it may be at this point that I should have watched what other people were doing but I had discussed it with the friend next to me (also a visitor on the day) and we had agreed it was a cup sharing Eucharist. It wasn't until after my friend and I had taken Holy communion that we noticed that some of the people were dipping their wafer into the cup!! (Something which had crossed my mind as a sensible idea but hadn't thought to put into action.) It was at this point I thought it would have been good for the Priest to explain the options before us, especially when it was a service where many visitors were expected.

I just use this example as it was my experience but I know it could happen in my own church where we may take for granted that people know what to do. It was a good reminder to me that even though I may feel like I repeat myself it's actually very helpful for people who are visiting to know what to expect, especially when it is a ritual of the church or if you ask people to the front of the church. We shouldn't lead a service expecting that everyone there will know what to do.

It gives me food for thought as I prepare my next communion service.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Living Life as an Alien

Do you ever feel like you don't belong here? Are there times where you say something and people look at you as though you've grown another head!? Do you ever listen to a lecturer or Pastor and everyone else is nodding or look like they understand what's being said and you have no clue what they are on about? Do you ever feel like an alien in your own house?

Living as an alien was the theme of the night service I preached at last night. The idea came mainly from 1 Peter 2:11-12 "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (NIV 1984 version)

Of course the word alien conjures up all sorts of images and it makes me think of movies and TV series that have shaped my understanding of aliens ;-)When I asked my youngest daughter to draw a picture of an alien she had a green blob with tentacle type feet, several eyes and a couple of antennas. It apparently left a trail of green slime behind it when it moved. I think anyone looking at it would have recognised it as an alien. However, as the people of God we are also aliens, and I would think that any one of us could confidently say we aren't green and two eyes would be the most you would find on our faces. As aliens it is not so much what we look like but how we live that sets us apart. We don't conform to the world and accept what the world accepts. We know that we are just moving through this world before going to our real home with God. As visitors we don't have to say yes to everything that is offered to us. Infact it is because of God's grace that we can say no. Titus 2:11-14 says "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (NIV 1984)We may get some odd looks or some strange comments when we say no but it's something we need to be able to do.

The one thing I have noticed from Scifi movies and TV shows is the need to report back or journal the experiences. E.T. wanted to "Phone home", In the series Mork and Mindy, at the end Mork would say "Mork calling Orson, come in Orson" or Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek - The Next Generation would journal his experiences by marking it with a star-date... In 1977 NASA sent out a type of time capsule that had recorded many things about earth, the people, animals, plants, science,greetings in many different languages and even different eras of music. Not only would it tell intelligent alien life forms about earth but it would also be a legacy for the people of earth. As aliens, what would we want to tell future generations about us? What have we already put out into space which tells people who we are? If we were to collect our facebook statuses or tweets would that give people a true reflection of Christian life? If we recorded our conversations with our friends or spouses and put them in a time capsule would that tell people about our faith? What would you want to put in a time capsule to explain what it was like to live as an alien on earth?