Wednesday, November 19, 2003 something relativelty inane
AKMA and Mae are talking about The DaVinci Code with differing perspectives. My fiancee too thinks about this book. We disagree on some level, but what can you do. Good book? Yes. Fun book? Yes. True enough to skandalize the church and make us wonder if Christians have any measure of truth to claim? Um...no.
In other unrelated news, the usual google search brings you here today: navel. Yep. Type in "navel" and this blog appears on the very first page. How's that for killer advertising? I get a few of those every day.
Ennetation is continuing to have troubles. I am tempted every day to find another host or move to MT or something just to avoid this hassle, but then it works again and I just like the look of my blog and my comments. Sigh. This is idolatrous on some level I am sure. I have looked at blog-city. I have looked at Cliff's new host. I've just been here so very long now. Over 20,000 visits. Sigh. Is it time to let it all go and move to something else? You tell me.
Been reading Bonhoeffer's Ethics. Interesting. It is an incomplete work and you can tell. His thoughts circle around each other and never really land. It is good to know that I am in good company even if my thoughts circle in a wee biplane and his in a concorde. Circling thoughts...mmm...
Trish and I travel east on Monday. We are off to Virginia to see friends and family and meet with loads of wedding-related people. This is a worthy pain in the butt. My advice is still to get married where you live and not where people want you to get married. We are having a hellish time getting things nailed down. 800 miles makes planning difficult. In any case, I will not be able to blog or check email. Yay?
Off to study. If you feel the need to post a comment, please feel free to email me.
something cool
Laura, a friend of mine from North Shore, is applying to colleges. She's written a cool essay for St. Olaf. I asked her if I could post it. She said yes...silly. So, here we go. It is good to know that our public high schools are turning out this kind of student.
Many people think that putting people with different ethnicities in a room together creates a diverse community. However, true diversity must include honest, sincere conversation and earnest listening between two or more different groups of people. Those groups might differ in ethnicity, culture, views of life, or economic differences. In a genuinely diverse community there cannot be one dominant group that rules over the others and makes all the decisions. There must be a sharing of power within the group and a willingness of all parties to hear each other's voices and then incorporate all those voices into the group's decisions and actions. When there is honest collaboration between people of different perspectives the decisions become that of the group and not of one person or dominant opinion. This makes the result much more meaningful to everyone involved.
My home church, North Shore Baptist Church, I feel is a working example of true diversity. The church includes three language groups: English, Spanish, and Japanese. Within the English congregation there is a large Filipino fellowship, and people from many other countries as distant as Vietnam, Togo, Germany, and Columbia. North Shore also has people with a wide spectrum of theological and political views, and economic backgrounds. The church works very hard to incorporate all these perspectives in making decisions but this can be very difficult and sometimes chaotic.
About three times a year all three language groups worship together. It is through these worship services that I most directly experience the community of North Shore living out its true diversity. The scriptures are read in all three languages and the sermon is often given in Spanish and English. But the music is what reveals the true spectrum of colors of the members of the church. On a normal Sunday in the English congregation, the service is typical of Anglo protestant worship. However, when we all join to worship together, we sing hymns in English, Spanish, and Japanese, the Filipino fellowship often sings in Tagolog, the choir sometimes sings spirituals, and the praise band might sing a Taize piece or a praise song.
I am often not comfortable singing in Spanish or Japanese, and I'm not used to the upbeat style of the Latino music. But, because I am a part of this incredibly diverse community I do my best to keep up and appreciate other's music. I believe this is what others do for the music and worship styles that are not comfortable to them. While at a joint worship service, I am stretched to accept other's ways of expressing themselves through their worship styles. In this way, I am able to understand other cultures more completely and I am able to enter into their way of thinking, as they are able to enter into mine.
Diversity is not about everyone being comfortable and enjoying every moment of worship; it is messy, confusing, and hard because of the clash of cultures and traditions. There are often places in North Shores' services that are disjointed but that's not what's important. What is important is that everyone has a voice in the service, every culture is represented and every view is acknowledged.
A college community that has true diversity is very important to me. I want to be involved in honest conversations with people holding different worldviews from mine so that they can challenge me and I can challenge them. I believe that living in a homogeneous environment would not challenge me to define myself and continue to grow. Therefore, I feel I would benefit from an education at a school filled with people of all different cultures, worldviews and backgrounds.
