It is difficult living in a foreign land when you want to communicate something important. There were times in India when I wanted to engage in conversation but could not because I only spoke English. Often, my frustration would be lived out in ever insistant actions that made me look like I was playing charades on a sugar rush. I would get frustrated at my own lack of language skills. I would even start to get mad at those who did not know my language. But mostly, I would remain quiet. I would find ways to exist that did not cause me to interact with others. I would allow the lack of common language to become a wall of isolation keeping me apart from the culture around me.
We are living this same experience today as the church becomes more isolated from society.
It seems as if the church and culture no longer speak the same language. Perceptions and past hurts build barriers isolating one from the other. Each makes assumptions about the other that squelch any desire to engage at a deep level. Failures on both sides to genuinely connect drain energy when we begin to try again. In many ways, we have been isolated from each other for so long it is easy to accept living apart as the norm.
This comes at a cost. When we no longer connect with each other the church becomes neurotically focused on the trivial and the community loses the gifts of the Body of Christ offering true grace, mercy and joy to the world. So how do we break through our seperation?
In India, I was motivated to try again when I became too lonely. I realized I needed the moments when there was connection. I discovered that it really was true there is more we share in common than the differences keeping us apart.
As we launch into a new program year, we are recieving clarity about the direction of our ministry in the days ahead. A significant part of our calling is focused on taking this exciting ministry out into the community. We cannot wait or expect the world to come to us. We must go to the world and enter into honest relationship. In doing this we will discover a lot of truth about ourselves, our faith and the amazing way God can make a way where none previously existed. It will begin when we as individuals reach out to others seeking genuine friendship. When we break through the barriers and really listen and care for others, we will find our address will have changed. We will no longer be in a foreign land, we shall be in the Kingdom of God.
