Mutual understanding and, where does the water go?

This seminar groups church representatives from 7 different countries. With those of us traveling here from France, there are 11 different countries represented. This means there are significant cultural differences and different ways of “being Christian” in widely varying contexts. Yet the group is here to see how they can work together. Their main concerns and potential areas of cooperation are in: theological training, women’s and youth programs, interreligious dialogue, advocating for peace, the migration question, and the fight against HIV-AIDS. Of course, the “how-to” of communication underlies all of these subjects.

Discussion in such a varied group is interesting. Each of us obviously understands life based on our culture and its perspective. I was amused to listen to a Frenchman who came from Reunion Island and hear his approach on some issues that was so franco-French! Really now, how much of our way of interpreting the Bible, our way of doing church, and our way of deciding what are important values is based on what our culture has taught us rather than what the Scriptures really mean? Meetings like this, where people of very different backgrounds try to come to decisions, are very valuable. They strip away those cultural tendencies by making each on look at issues through others’ eyes. When listening to the depth and seriousness of Christian commitment in other places in the world, the superficiality of much of Western (and American) “Christianity” shows up glaringly, even those weaknesses of our own circles. Maybe it is time we ask our Christian brothers and sisters from elsewhere how they see us and what they think we could or should do differently. Do you think it would be possible to ask them to counsel us in the choices we have to make? Could their outlook on how Christian belief relates to life help us to see our role in witness and service more honestly and more clearly? Could they help us perceive Christian values we are maybe missing? It seems to me that that kind of outside perspective from genuine believers from “elsewhere” is invaluable. It surely has helped me over the years in refining my thinking.

Tuesday evening there was a tremendous rain that fell for an hour between 5 and 6 pm. It was so strong that we could hardly hear each other around the table. Rainstorms here are not like the ones I know. First of all, there is not a whisper of wind. There is no thunder and lightning (I did hear it thunder once, with a quick storm that came through at noon on Friday). The air is perfectly still and the rain falls straight down. In such a rain, you’d think no one would go outside. To my great surprise, a choir group of 25 young people came into our meeting room during this downpour – many of them carrying lawn chairs and three girls with babies tied onto their backs. A worship service was planned for 6 pm and the choir was to sing. The rest of us thought no one would show up in such a downpour, but there they all were!

Question of the day: where does all the water go? The downpours are impressive and an equally impressive quantity of water must fall. Where does it go? There is still water sitting in potholes and depressions in the courtyard and on the dirt road (the potholes lead to some creative driving!). But the rest is gone. The door of our meeting room is on the level of the courtyard, with no step. In spite of all the heavy rain, none came into the meeting room. So, it must drain away quickly. This afternoon the sky was clear and sunny for a couple of hours, so during our break I walked outside the center a short distance. In spite of steady rain all morning, the middle of the dirt road running past the gate had dried off quite well. Across the road is a garden with furrows between the rows. The furrows held no water. The soil must really act like a sponge to absorb so much water so often.

By the way, the choir was fabulous. I’ve rarely heard such strong, well-harmonized voices. They sang several-part harmonization and appeared to thoroughly enjoy what they were doing. I was impressed. I took a couple of short video clips with my camera, but the sound doesn’t do them justice.