Life Lessons from Immigrants
Yesterday I was lunching with two former staff members/good friends in Walnut Creek, California. We went to a small Persian restaurant because Frank (Dr. Burroughs) lived most of his life in Iran and knows most of the Persian people in town. Tim Halls (soon to be Doctor Halls) has traveled with me through some of the most remote and interesting places in our beautiful world.
I always feel more cultured and even a little smarter when I’m with these friends. Between us we had fluency in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic and English (that was my contribution). We sensed the wait person did not understand us very much so every effort was made to use different languages hoping to resonate with her. When nothing seemed to work, we finally asked what language she spoke, French. Of course. I saved the day, “Merci”, I responded. Whew that was a close one.
Soon we were talking about Tim’s doctoral research and its cultural implications for ministry. There are connections of experience between Latino immigrants and Muslim immigrant communities. Evidently bonds of relationship are forming and children are growing up together in ways that may forever change the social fabric of our land.
I was interested to learn that both groups find it natural and appropriate to talk of God and faith in their everyday lives. This is not always a comfortable phenomenon for Anglo-Americans. I remember being taught that we were not to talk about money, politics or religion in polite company. Of course I still think that is true for money and politics.
However because of this communication inhibition, it is difficult for us white guys to even broach the subject of faith, or to inquire about a person’s view or experience of God in their lives.
I got to thinking that the rise of Hispanic and Muslim populations in our country may lead those of us in the mainstream churches to finally let go of our resistance and begin to share authentically about our relationship with Christ and God’s fingerprints all over our lives. Maybe we can grow to the point that discussions of faith are natural, meaningful and welcomed as they are for our Hispanic and Muslim neighbors.
Thank you Frank and Tim for your gifts of friendship and wisdom.
