Learning from My Middle Eastern Brother
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take part in a metro-wide gathering of 'simple churches' from Queens, New Jersey, the Bronx, Westchester, and Staten Island. Most of these small faith communities are less than a year old. We gathered together respresenting numerous ethnicities and interacted together in Spanish & English.
During our time of table fellowship (lunch), I took part in a conversation with a Lebanese brother. Being an older man, he remembers life in his Middle Eastern village. Because up until very recently much of Middle Eastern & African cultures have retained many of the same cultural perspectives as the Bible, I saw this as a great learning opportunity.
Our brother taught us about the hospitality customs found in the Middle Eastern villages of his boyhood, and I immediately began to reflect on Luke 10. He informed us that if a man entered a village in Lebanon, the people of the village would practically be competing with each other for the opportunity to host the man in their home. They would fix him a great feast -- at least as much as they could afford -- and take care of his needs to the best of their ability. I thought back over Jesus instructing his apprentices to find a person of peace and to stay there eating and drinking whatever was put before them. In this culture of hospitality the most aggressively hospitable person might be the one called a person of peace. Reflecting on this, I asked myself what kind of people to I need to be seeking after here in the Bronx, and I felt affirmed (due to an unusual hospitality for NYC) that I am definitely working with a person of peace on Saturday nights in the South Bronx.
He also continued to inform us that a host in a village would not ask what their guest's mission or purpose was until after 3 days had passed. If this Middle Eastern custom was true in Jesus' time, the disciples would have been simply eating & drinking, receiving hospitality, and getting to know their host for three days (approx. 36 daytime hours spent together) before sharing their message about the Kingdom of God, and this discussion would have taken place when the host was prepared to receive the message. And it was on the host's turf rather than the teacher's (the truest definition of missional).
For some reason (probably my impersonal cultural mindset) led me to think of preaching on a street corner when I first read Luke 10 and similar passages several years ago. But Jesus' plan for planting churches was to send the disciples out in a cultural context that called them to build relationships first, to receive before giving, and to proclaim the message in a very relational way. Consider the sermons in Acts, it seems to me that every single one of them was preceeded by a miracle, an arrest, a riot, or one-on-one proclamation in the market place. Each event prepared the audience for the message.
When I understand the cultural context of the Bible, it really does help me make a more responsible application to my life and ministry. I think that is why I love having friends (at least those old enough to remember life prior to Western influence) from Africa and the Middle East. I learn so much from them about the cultural world of the Bible. For example, you don't have to convince an African of the reality of spiritual warfare or an Arab the importance of hospitality. You know, EVEN Americans can be saved, but we do have a lot to learn.
Continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers. May we de-throne all other kingdoms in our lives and invite Jesus' reign of peace and justice and salvation to flow like mighty river through the city.
During our time of table fellowship (lunch), I took part in a conversation with a Lebanese brother. Being an older man, he remembers life in his Middle Eastern village. Because up until very recently much of Middle Eastern & African cultures have retained many of the same cultural perspectives as the Bible, I saw this as a great learning opportunity.
Our brother taught us about the hospitality customs found in the Middle Eastern villages of his boyhood, and I immediately began to reflect on Luke 10. He informed us that if a man entered a village in Lebanon, the people of the village would practically be competing with each other for the opportunity to host the man in their home. They would fix him a great feast -- at least as much as they could afford -- and take care of his needs to the best of their ability. I thought back over Jesus instructing his apprentices to find a person of peace and to stay there eating and drinking whatever was put before them. In this culture of hospitality the most aggressively hospitable person might be the one called a person of peace. Reflecting on this, I asked myself what kind of people to I need to be seeking after here in the Bronx, and I felt affirmed (due to an unusual hospitality for NYC) that I am definitely working with a person of peace on Saturday nights in the South Bronx.
He also continued to inform us that a host in a village would not ask what their guest's mission or purpose was until after 3 days had passed. If this Middle Eastern custom was true in Jesus' time, the disciples would have been simply eating & drinking, receiving hospitality, and getting to know their host for three days (approx. 36 daytime hours spent together) before sharing their message about the Kingdom of God, and this discussion would have taken place when the host was prepared to receive the message. And it was on the host's turf rather than the teacher's (the truest definition of missional).
For some reason (probably my impersonal cultural mindset) led me to think of preaching on a street corner when I first read Luke 10 and similar passages several years ago. But Jesus' plan for planting churches was to send the disciples out in a cultural context that called them to build relationships first, to receive before giving, and to proclaim the message in a very relational way. Consider the sermons in Acts, it seems to me that every single one of them was preceeded by a miracle, an arrest, a riot, or one-on-one proclamation in the market place. Each event prepared the audience for the message.
When I understand the cultural context of the Bible, it really does help me make a more responsible application to my life and ministry. I think that is why I love having friends (at least those old enough to remember life prior to Western influence) from Africa and the Middle East. I learn so much from them about the cultural world of the Bible. For example, you don't have to convince an African of the reality of spiritual warfare or an Arab the importance of hospitality. You know, EVEN Americans can be saved, but we do have a lot to learn.
Continue to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers. May we de-throne all other kingdoms in our lives and invite Jesus' reign of peace and justice and salvation to flow like mighty river through the city.
posted by Jared | 9:15 AM
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