I have a son who loves facts and he loves telling me all that he knows... facts about everything you could think of.... One thing he has told me in the past is about how certain mannerisms that say one thing in America would say something completely different in another country.... A thumbs up for instance in the United States would only be something positive... a good job.. or a sign of approval ... However in another culture it is a most horrific insult and curse....
What would happen if being in another culture I take that which I know and I am comfortable with and I know to be good and IS completely good where I come from and go somewhere different where that very thing is rude and offensive?
Now since I have been saved I have been brought up within a non-traditional and charismatic environment.... There are a long list of things that from my cultural experience are not just positive but they are life giving and real for me... I love worship.. I love body ministry... I love to see God move in healing... word of knowledge... I love the revelatory aspect of the Kingdom of God.... I love raising my hands to worship.. I believe in dreams and visions and visitations.... I believe that God speaks .. and the list could go on and on.....
In every culture there are elements that appreciated...
elements that are tolerated...
elements that are prohibited...
elements that are demonized...... ...
I personally would not want to sit on a stage... I personally don't believe in long offerings... I personally want freedom to sit ...stand.. kneel... dance... raise hands or not raise hands... during worship... I personally believe that the body is called to minister and the human propensity to lift up one or a few as the special anointed person of the hour is nothing more than idolatry... I believe that Jesus walked in and among the people he loved and taught and cared for and healed and that leadership doesn't come with "perks" it comes with service and a servant heart.....
However my dislikes and my preferences don't get to state what sin is or isn't..... what is right or what isn't... it is my culture... it is my song.. it is my expression.... and it would be wrong of me to call a preference of one thing holy and right and to call another thing sinful or wrong....
If I look at words off of a screen is it any different than looking at a hymnal.. If I come in jeans or a dress.. If I enjoy a choir or band... if I'm in a cathedral or a gymnasium.... if I read responsively or shout out .... if I hear a word of prophetic utterance or the prophetic utterance of the Word....
Preferences and culture have separated and divided.... and yet there are essentials across the board that bring unity....
I have been in cultures where all that I was was received and affirmed... I have been in cultures where all I was was appreciated and welcomed ... I have been in cultures where that which I was stood in direct contrast to the cultural belief and yet the fruit of my life caused for wonderment and growth... I have seen cultures full of that which I would welcome and appreciate walk in places I'm not comfortable with ... and I have hungered for acceptance and longed for love within cultures that saw me as an oddity and didn't quite know what to do with me and so showed me the door....
There are issues of immaturity... there are issues of sin... there are issues of difference and preference ... But the biggest issue of all is what are we going to do with the most ancient ... most foundational calling of our faith.... what are we going to do with the command to love?
Love beyond preference
Love beyond immaturity
Love beyond fault
Love beyond failure
Love beyond culture
Love beyond creed
We gather in our small little cultural groups and segregate and remain comfortable and unchanged... I have gathered into small little cultural groups and segregated and remained comfortable and unchanged... We stay within our denomination or our non denomination and we live there because that is what we have known and that is where we are known....
I have ventured away from those places into the unknown .. Away from those places of being known... away from my songs.. my preferences... my place.... into places where I don't know their liturgy or their shout ... into places away from my cultural preferences... into places where I am stretched and changed... Where I learn a new song and yet live within my old songs and find a beautiful choir of the both of them..... where I learn to stand on my own feet within that which I truly believe and yet acquire upon my person new ways blending with that which I am... I am learning to hold onto that which I was and that which I am and that which I am becoming and journey into the unknown and discover more and be richer for it......
I love the way liturgy and shout blend... I love learning how to follow God and release cultural preference .. It has grown me... I love opening my eyes to see the vastness and beauty of the Kingdom... it is an awe inspiring thing
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