For many of us who have studied another language, it was with that discipline that we came to better understand how our own language "works". Prior to the introduction of another ‘version’, we rarely ever thought about verb conjugations and sentence structure as we spoke in our native tongue. By getting to know another language, we come to know our own language much better. In the very same way, getting to know our neighbors will also better allow us to know ourselves.

In a similar light, I am reminded of Horace Miner’s 1956 anthropological study of the Nacirema tribe. In an article entitled "Body Ritual among the Nacirema" the anthropologist seeks to demonstrate that "attitudes about the body" have a pervasive influence on many institutions in Nacirema society, not unlike values or patterns such as "machismo" in Spanish-influenced cultures and "face" in Japanese culture:

"The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in such a body, man’s only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.

While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these mysteries… The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall.. In this chest are kept many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These prepartions are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then

write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm…"

"Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves."

What silly people and what a strange healthcare system they have! I only understood the Nacirema when I learned their patriarch, Notgnihsaw also chopped down a cherry tree... Comprende?

Our congregation is on the ‘cutting edge’ of a new future as we strive to transform our congregational membership to more accurately reflect the community in which we serve. It means we will be learning to appreciate the differences between all of our respective cultures. I anticipate this experience will be profoundly liberating for us as we learn anew to accept differences. I hold that it is essential to our understanding of the Christian experience itself.

The Church has always been understood as a community whose members are fundamentally different from one another. The apostle Paul describes the church using the image of the human body composed of parts as different as hands, feet, and eyes (I Corinthians 12:12-26). In so doing, Paul argues for the necessity of such differences. The hand is not a foot, and we would be in trouble if it were. Moreover, this body metaphor connects our differences to Christ. If we take seriously the one we claim as Lord, we must expect and embrace differences. It is necessary for members to be different in order for the church to be the body of Christ in and for the world… The goal has never been to homogenize the people of God but to move to a greater mutual understanding and appreciation of our differences… To embrace the theological depth of human diversity can free us to rejoice in those differences whose unity is found in being joined together in Christ. [Nieman, James and Thomas G. Rogers. Preaching to Every Pew: Cross-Cultural Strategies. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. p. 142 ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

FALLEN FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR WAYNE