Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World

The stated purpose of this, my third, year’s Education for Ministry (EfM) “is to build knowledge and skills for living authentically as a committed Christian in a world where multiple cultures live in close proximity.” Indeed, our common textbook is subtitled, “Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World,” and opens with this collect For the Diversity of Races and Cultures from The Book of Common Prayer:

O God, who created all peoples in your image, we thank you for the wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of fellowship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

One of my EfM classmates shared this discovery with the class this week: a website full of recordings of various Christian prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, in “different (sometimes very exotic) languages.” You can hear these prayers by clicking here.

I love the way there is a rhythm to the Lord’s Prayer that might make it possible for me to recognize and follow along even when I don’t understand the words. In fact, I remember just this occurring the first time I went into a church while in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. It was my first week there, and I didn’t really understand Spanish well at all, but my host family took me to an evening service at their Catholic Church. I didn’t understand most of what was going on, but I remember recognizing the Lord’s Prayer-the Padre Nuestro-when it was prayed. I suddenly felt a little less lonely. I suddenly began to realize that we are all bound together in this “wonderful diversity of races and cultures in this world,” or as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said it:

In God’s family there are no outsiders. All are insiders. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, Jew and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli, Roman Catholic and Protestant, Serb and Albanian, Hutu and Tutsi, Muslim and Christian, Buddhist and Hindu, Pakistani and Indian-all belong.

Peace

Building Bridges

Two weeks ago I talked about how we are all ministers or priests, as evidenced in the Episcopal Catechism. It is also worth noting that, in our Baptismal Covenant, we affirm that we will “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” and “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself’,” all of which sounds like the work of a minister to me.

To assist us in that endeavor, the Episcopal Church has created a course of study called Education for Ministry (EfM). Like many others, I always thought that name was a little misleading. I am in EfM, but I am not planning on becoming an ordained minister. Our EfM book this year acknowledges as much:

“It is frequently suggested that Education for Ministry should change its name because the term “ministry” has too clerical a connotation today in the United States. Some mistake the program for a course in preparation for ordained ministry.”

I now understand EfM’s goal–and name–differently. We all have a ministry.

As we wrap up this year, our final unit is titled “Vocation: Hearing and Responding to God’s Call.” This unit began by looking at “Mission, Vocation, and Gifts” using the metaphor of a bridge:

The idea of the metaphor is that we use our gifts and passions, which are grounded in the love of God, to discern our vocation that connects us to the world. That vocation requires commitment, but that commitment is held up through community, which is comprised of individuals, groups, institutions (such as the church), prayer, spiritual practices, and other supports which depend on the person. As the book says, “To understand that vocation and ministry have a dimension of gladness is a revelation to most parishioners. Gifts discernment is about celebrating and enjoying each person’s true vocation.” In other words, our individual vocations may, in fact be supporting others’ vocations. We are not expected to go it alone, nor should it be painful. Our vocation rises, after all, from our “giftedness, which is the source of our deep pleasure, and our passionate connection to the world’s deep hunger.”

I have seen that this is true in my own church in Woodstock, St. Gregory’s. One of our members, an artist, and other gifted artists in the church minister to us in our art shows and many other ways; another member, a landscaper, and our Garden Committee have turned our backyard into a ministry to the community and those with special needs. These are beautiful examples of these persons’ gifts and passions creating a bridge–a vocation–to the world.

What are your gifts and passions? How can you use them in your vocation?