"Uncommon Language"

The following comes from a daily reading that I receive by email called "Slice of Infinity" from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; the author of this particular message is Jill Carattini. I'm including it on my blog because it has everything to do with the stranger/host mentality concept addressed in The Gift of the Stranger and the sensitivity necessary for a foriegn language learner attempting to share a message of salvation with someone who is "other" to them. It speaks of Christ as a stranger to this world...
(I have only included portions of the original writing.)

An interesting display of language and culture befell my husband and me
while standing in line at an ice cream shop. The owner of the shop is a
friendly man whose primary language is Hindi; through heavily accented
words, he took our order in English. The one preparing the desserts was a
new employee, in the process of being trained, who spoke neither Hindi nor
English, but only Spanish. Relaying our order along with the steps it
would take to make it, the owner spoke in careful, fragmented Spanish, at
one point stopping to ask his wife something in Hindi and clarifying
something with us in English. "Te hables Espanol?" my husband immediately
asked, impressed at the sight of such a blend of languages. "Not really,"
the owner replied. "But the teacher is no good unless he speaks the
language of the student."

I have often wondered what went through the minds of the disciples as
Jesus spoke of mustard seeds, wine skins, and thieves in the night. In
the three years they spent together as rabbi and pupils, I am sure the
question often crossed their minds: "What is this language he is
speaking?" More than once, the Gospels impart the disciples
conferred with each other like a group of befuddled students—"What is he
saying?" Eventually, someone decided they had to ask the teacher himself.
As Jesus finished telling a crowd of people a story about seeds and soil,
the disciples took him aside and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in
parables?" (Matthew 13:10).

I suspect his answer did not offer the clarity they were looking to
receive. Jesus responded, "I speak to them in parables because 'though
seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.'
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but
never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.' For
this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their
ears, and they have closed their eyes… But blessed are your eyes because
they see, and your ears because they hear" (Matthew 13:13-16).......

The words God has chosen to speak we may not fully understand at first
hearing, but that He is a God who holds value and purpose in language
should compel us to listen again. Christ's parables leave us asking not
only, "What is he saying in this parable about the real world" but more
invasively they leave us inquiring, "What is the real world?"
However this question is asked, with ears hardly hearing, with eyes opened
or closed, in Hindi or English or Spanish, there is an answer.

the invisible children

I spent a portion of my evening watching a film called The Invisible Children. It was made by four guys who traveled to Sudan to document what's going on with the civil war that has been going on for nearly twenty years. The title for the film comes from the focus on the kids who are abducted and made to become "child soldiers" by the rebel groups who are trying to overthrow the government; they sleep piled up by the thousands together in the city where they can be somewhat safe from kidnapping and then they commute everyday back to outskirts of the city where their families live. It breaks my heart to be reminded that there are wars going on in underdeveloped countries and genocide occuring yet it seems that the vision of the countries with the resources to do something about it, the problem becomes "invisible." I don't know how well I'm going to sleep tonight...

www.invisiblechildren.com

God, reformed theology, and the problem of evil...

I've been having rather interesting dialogue recently on the way a Calvinistic viewpoint connects God to the problem of evil. Check out Romans 3:3-7. Then check out some writings from Piper I found on www.mongerism.com...

God "works all things after the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11).This "all things" includes the fall of sparrows (Matthew 10:29), the rolling of dice (Proverbs 16:33), the slaughter of his people (Psalm 44:11), the decisions of kings (Proverbs 21:1), the failing of sight (Exodus 4:11), the sickness of children (2 Samuel 12:15), the loss and gain of money (1 Samuel 2:7), the suffering of saints (1 Peter 4:19), the completion of travel plans (James 4:15), the persecution of Christians (Hebrews 12:4-7), the repentance of souls (2 Timothy 2:25), the gift of faith (Philippians 1:29), the pursuit of holiness (Philippians 3:12-13), the growth of believers (Hebrews 6:3), the giving of life and the taking in death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of his Son (Acts 4:27-28).

From the smallest thing to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure - God governs them all for his wise and just and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos asks, in time of disaster, "If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?" (Amos 3:6). After losing all ten of his children in the collapse of his son's house, Job says, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). After being covered with boils he says, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10).

Oh, yes, Satan is real and active and involved in this world of woe! In fact Job 2:7 says, "Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Satan struck him. But Job did not get comfort from looking at secondary causes. He got comfort from looking at the ultimate cause. "Shall we not accept adversity from God?" And the author of the book agrees with Job when he says that Job's brothers and sisters "consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him" (Job 42:11). Then James underlines God's purposeful goodness in Job's misery: "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful" (James 5:11). Job himself concludes in prayer: "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2). Yes, Satan is real, and he is terrible - and he is on a leash. - John Piper

discontentment...

Snow changes everything... you walk outside and all of a sudden everything is peaceful and beautiful... the world around you is hushed and the silence is the most beautiful part about it all... it brings a new perspective and I love it. Encountering beauty always changes something inside me in an inexplicable way.

Discontentment... in my lack of knowledge of the theology that I claim to believe... in my teaching abilities... in my Christian witness and my concern for the lost... in my adherance to the quote I so often mock -> "Preach the gospel and when necessary use words"... in my selfishness in my attitude towards others... in my general apathy towards prayer and time spent with my Savior. Recently I've been seeing my own depravity and utter selfish motives at the heart of everything I do and it is ugly. I'm so incapable of good on my own and a fresh reality check is painful and humbling ... it places me with a 'fresh discontentment' that I so deeply need in order to live in full reliance of God's workings within me.

Student teaching is one of the first things I've ever done for which I feel equipped and capable... and adequate. It's always been a struggle of mine. Question... where God places you, does He always equip? I've heard phrases like, "where He calls, He provides" and "God will give you the gifts for what he asks you to do." I mean, in a very general sense I believe He does; maybe it's just not always in the ways we think it will be. For example, Moses wasn't gifted with the ability to speak, so God had Aaron to be his "mouth." I want to explore these thoughts more because I think the implications are huge for how we view calling. I am about to read a book on "faith & calling" from the head of the theology department at Lee, so I'm willing to bet I will be writing more on this subject...

"It is not what man does that determines whether his
work is sacred or secular, but why he does it." -A.W. Tozer

Reflections on The Gift of the Stranger by David Smith and Barbara Carvill

Before reading The Gift of the Stranger I had not truly considered the concept of the other; I had never been presented with the perspective of the host and the stranger. While I believed that whatever a Christian feels called to is his or her personal ministry, whether it be “sacred” or “secular” as some would differentiate, a new perspective of faith and calling has entered my thoughts due to my working through the writings of David Smith and Barbara Carvill in The Gift of the Stranger. Prior to reading, my thoughts on how a Christian should teach language might have been as far-fetched as the quoted “Is there a Christian way to boil water?” My enlightened viewpoint is one of a new lense by which to view scripture, examine my personal view toward the stranger, and critically think through teaching methodology in a traditional second language learner’s atmosphere.

I enjoy both the boldness and yet thoughtfulness seen in the perspectives of Smith and Carvill. From a historical viewpoint the most basic reason for learning a foreign language is found in language education’s connection with world missions. The authors boldly say “though secularists may frown at the very thought, we find nothing odd or inappropriate in seeking to communicate to others a truth that has set us free.” Yet they are also very quick to assert that the missionary endeavor, labeled by Smith and Carvill as the ‘persuader’ aim, must guard against arrogance and undergo a “humble process of learning.” To embrace the stranger is to follow in the footsteps of Paul as he addresses the Corinthian church and says "I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." I desire to continue to reflect on how the truths of the God of compassion who commands that we care for the stranger (Exodus 22:21) may become intertwined in my lifestyle and become the very essence of how I relate to others, how I view political issues, where I choose to live, and how I spend my free time.

During my reading of the text I have begun student teaching in a second level Spanish class at Bradley Central High School. Students’ comments such as “Why can’t they just be normal and speak English?” have not only made me sigh, but also made me think critically about how to implement a love of the stranger. Furthermore, how does one instill a desire and love for a language when most students begin learning at an age level where all of their biases and opinions have already been formed and many are simply concerned with passing a test? Many questions that arose from my readings are still lingering, unanswered queries off in space: how does one teach the average language learner to not only view the stranger with new lenses but also to learn to be a good host? Is it possible to teach this notion? I began to implement some of the concepts highlighted in Chapter eight on Faith and Method due to my inner dialogue with the authors and a personal connection with the problems of the foreign language classroom. Smith speaks of the conviction he felt when a student asked him how to say a certain phrase in German and he asked them to stick to the vocabulary that pertains to the exercise which they were completing. I was able to understand Smith’s dilemma and put into practice the thoughts that emerged from my reading of this illustration. My students were currently studying extracurricular activities and several activities offered at our high school were not listed in the text’s vocabulary. Rather than asking the students to ‘stick to the vocabulary,’ I decided to let them choose about five more words that pertained to their activities to add to the vocabulary and then we erased a few of the words which described activities that the students were not involved in. This is just a small example of the implementation of new thought processes in my personal methodology of language teaching.

I now feel that I can not only critically think on a deeper level about my personal field of study and perhaps my future profession but also offer an informed opinion on the foreign language classroom, second language learners, and what it means to be a stranger and a host. As quoted in The Gift of the Stranger, author Henri Nouwen wrote “If there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality.” I don’t believe that before my reading of Smith and Carvill’s work that I would have been able to relate to Nouwen’s statement; however, I now understand the implications of the term hospitality and long to communicate them in love with a fresh perspective to others.

embracing the stranger...

We are strangers in this world. Jesus came to us as a stranger. This concept of the stranger, the foreigner, the alien, the sojourner... it's all over scripture but through reading my text for class as well as some other circumstances these words have become more apparent to me.

"When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:33-34

Do we remember that loving our neighbor also means to love the stranger? What does scripture mean for our views on immigration? An estimated 6.3 million illegal immigrants from Mexico live in the U.S. with an average of 485,ooo more arriving every year.... interesting article in the February 6th issue of Time Magazine. Some states are in support of legislation which promote benefits and civil rights for migrant workers while other states are cracking down on tighter policies against illegal immigrants. Is there a Christian response, a Scriptural view on this issue?

Echoing a sermon on Exodus 22: 21 - 27 that my pastor at Concord Baptist Church taught about a month ago, why is God concerned that we defend the sojourner, the widows & orphans, and the poor? Because God says "I am compassionate." Is the law of the Old Testament still applicable to us today? Cursed is he who distorts justice... We live under grace now; yet the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. He is still a God of compassion. His character does not change. As his children, we are called to exeplify his character. Maybe we can all ask God to help us see those around us who are in need in a way that we have never seen them before. Perhaps there is a language barrier, but we may ask him to help us to hear them in a way we have never heard the 'stranger' before. And in doing so, may we not only hear but actually listen. May we not only speak, but learn to communicate.