Yet, if we take the time to observe and savor the "new" culture, it does not have to take long to find beautiful and tasteful aspects within it. Take for example, one of the beauties of Thai culture is the emphasis on relationships (and relationship-building). Unlike the West, where everyone is quick to say hello and just as quick to dissolve a relationship, in Thailand people are not always quick to say hello yet relationships that are built over time usually last a lifetime. In addition, most people are relationship-oriented rather than task-oriented (of course, not always true for everyone but a fair generalization). What do I mean?
Well, the other day as I was rushing to my first Thai language session for the day at school, I needed to pass the kitchen on my way up to the study carrels. Because of homeschooling the boys in the morning, I usually get about 15 minutes (30 minutes if it is a good day!) to look over the lesson for the session. So, time is precious! Well, here is where I need to take a moment to explain about the kitchen table. The kitchen table at the school is not just a place to eat, it is a place to talk, and in essence, share lives as well. As I was passing the table, a dear fellow Asian missionary stopped me to ask how my winter break off from school was and how our trip up to Chiang Mai was. And so I decided to talk with her and ask her in turn how her winter break was as well. Now, I could have justified that a simple greeting would suffice and that I should just go up to my study desk to prepare and review, but then I would have missed out on sharing lives and building relationships. The Thai teachers can be the same way as well. Sometimes before the lesson, rather than jumping right into it, they will want to just "talk" for a little while as well.
This got me thinking about how I treat God. The other day, I gently reprimanded my 5 year old son when I asked him to pray before our children's devotion and bible lesson for homeschooling. Why? Because he started out his prayer by saying, "God, please help me... and help me..., etc..." And I said to him, "Caleb, that's not how you greet someone or talk to someone in person as the first thing you say! God is a person, too! I'm sure he wants to hear from you, "Hello! Good morning, God!"
That really got me thinking about how I approach God myself. I can be so task-oriented and so into going through the motions that I forget that God is a person and wants to build a relationship with me. The Lord has really been deconstructing the way I view and approach many Christian elements in my life ever since coming to the field. I realized how much I have made God into a "western" God. I really have to question whether I do things out of habit or whether I am really enjoying God. Now, don't get me wrong! Habits can be good and they can be bad. I am not saying that we should forsake good habits, but what I am saying is that habits in general can make us forget why we are doing the things that we do in the first place (by the way, early morning prayer still feels early even half way around the world!).
When my children suffers in the field (and I have always been taught that God is sovereign), how then do I pray? Perhaps then my prayer should not so much be, "God, please remove all suffering in my life, but rather, God please help me to know you more so that my eyes are not fixed on the 'wind and the waves' of this world but on the 'author and perfecter of [my] faith.'"
When Sunday corporate worship service is 99% incomprehensible to me because it is in a foreign style and language, how then do I worship? Perhaps I have been too dependent on the elements of the worship service I was used to before. Or even worse, perhaps I have been enjoying the elements of the worship service I was used to before above God himself. When everything is stripped down or stripped away, do I still have God at the center of worship and can I still lift my hands up in praise to the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise?
These are tough questions to answer honestly. Yet I am at a point where if I am not honest with myself, with others, and with God, then I won't survive very long. I look forward to the day when God will redeem every culture and every person he has called. But for now, I thank God for the "beauties" that I can extract (and put into practice) from the culture I am in and I thank God that the Holy Spirit is sanctifying me through and through (1 Thess 5:23-24).
