urban-suburban lesson 1

I am a white female who, apart from attending church in a downtown Waterloo location while growing up, has lived an upper-middle class suburban lifestyle. As God has been leading me into the urban environment over the past years, I am learning some lessons that I should probably share with others in case they are lessons for you as well. Maybe you’ll have some of your own to share.

Lesson #1

My white, American, suburban context and lens affects the way I think about everything.

One of the CCDA core values is “listening to the community”. I thought I was “getting” that, but there came a moment a few years ago that was a big AHA moment for me. I was in a van heading to a ccda conference, and I sat and listened for over an hour to two young black men talk about what it is like to be black males, the obstacles that black males face, how the past has influenced the present, and how finding their identity in Christ has been so key in their lives. As I listened, some deeper layers in me began to be impacted in ways that had never before happened. Maybe it was because of the depth of their honesty and sharing, but something profound moved in me that day. I realized for the first time how much I had been trying to “listen” but had been running everything through my own lens and context. How much had I been “listening” but not really seeking understanding?

The United States is changing in demographics. I recently read an article in a newspaper that talked about how minorities are increasingly going to make up the majority of our population. I have to be keenly aware of my own worldview...a worldview that is deeply engrained and involves privilege and dominance.... and I have to increasingly pray that God changes my worldview to His worldview.

p.s. Soong-Chan Rah's plenary talk at the ccda conference later that week drove this lesson home for me. You can listen to it at: http://www.urbansermons.org/f/audio/soong-chan-rah-alexie-torres-fleming-saturday-7pm-evening-plenary-ccda-conference-2008-audio. You just have to fast forward several minutes into the audio to the place where he speaks.