My Inter-Cultural World
How does a “60-something” Caucasian woman become assimilated in an inter-cultural corps? After giving this some thought, I have come up with three important realizations.
My parents allowed for me to have inter-cultural experiences as a child. My best friend in Kindergarten was a black girl, and we often fellowshipped as a family with Hispanic people in a migrant ministry. These experiences as a child were crucial to giving me an openness to people who looked and spoke differently than I.
I have shared laughter and fun experiences with women from my corps, even though we do not speak the same language. Attending the Territorial Women’s Conference last fall with women from the Cold Spring Corps provided opportunities to fellowship and deepen relationships. Shared laughter and shared humanity helps to build bridges across cultures.
Worship in a multi-cultural setting is transformative. As I have participated in a bi-lingual songster brigade and in bi-lingual worship at Cold Spring, the differences between languages and cultures melt away. What remains is our joy in the Lord.
When we expose our children to inter-cultural experiences, build bridges by sharing our humanity and worship the Lord together in multi-lingual settings, our ability to embrace our inter-cultural world is magnified.