Cindy set down her glass of liquor on the bar and said, "How can I help? Do you take donations?" I struck up a conversation with Cindy at the bar of the hotel where the Passion staff were staying. I had just mentioned a few of our core focuses, including eradicating extreme poverty and caring for the street kids of Mexico City.
I soon learned that Cindy didn't care that much for religion, but she does love her kids, and her heart hurts for the underprivileged children of Mexico. She insisted on helping us in some way, and that sentiment continued, even as we talked about Christ.
Language seems like such a simple distinction between cultures, but the gap created by it is a big one. (This seems off topic, but hang with me.) I've learned this time and again while living in Mexico. Another great lesson came at the Passion event this past weekend. Although every song had its equivalent meaning spelled out in Spanish (below the English lyrics), you could see and feel a marked difference when Chris Tomlin would sing a few lines in Spanish. You could sense their hearts engage.
Cindy exhibited this same response. We weren't speaking different languages linguistically, but we came from different cultures. Beyond the fact that she's Canadian, we each had our own culture of spiritual background. I could've talked about our commitment to helping people have a relationship with Jesus all night long. That would've fallen on deaf ears. But the minute I mentioned my passion to bless the children of the city, she started to sing with me. And you have to love her very first comment: "How can I help?"
Wouldn't you like to hear that more from nonbelievers in your community? If we want them to listen to what matters most to us, namely Christ, we better learn how to sing in their language first.
0 comments:
Post a Comment