Living In The 3rd Culture: "Be Still"

With only 26 days to go in this hurricane season, and it looks like we have been spared for this round! In fact it has been an unusually quiet season . . . and you won’t find any of us Floridians complaining about that! Yet it was just a year ago that the northeast was hit by hurricane Sandy. While watching recent news coverage on Sandy’s first anniversary I was struck by the power of the storm and the extent of the damage she inflicted. There are still neighborhoods trying to recover! I can’t imagine how residents felt as the storm hammered their communities around them, many as they sat trapped in their homes! Can you imagine that feeling? There was little they could do but wait, hope and pray. They had absolutely no control of that hurricane or the destruction it would cause.

Most of you are probably feeling a level of loss of control in your lives. It may come from a financial problems, broken relationships, illness, loss of job…. Is there anything that you can do? Yes, there is! "Be still!"

How is it that we can "be still" when life seems out of control? We can be still because there is never a micro-second in time that our heavenly Father is not totally in control of every aspect of our lives. We can "be still" because though it may seem that our lives are out of control, they are never out of His control.

Yet to most of us theologian types, who cognitively understand the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, don't debater whether He is in control, but rather struggle with the fact that we are not in control. We love to be in control! We want life to go the way that we want it. Thus when the storms of life come our way, we get upset because we lose control and we get upset at God because He let it happen. As a result we are not only stressed out over the loss of control, but we are mad at God too! There is definitely no stillness at that point!

Thus when the hurricanes of life hit and life goes out of control, take the time to confess your own personal control problem and then rest in the fact that you are a child of the Sovereign God who works all circumstances for your good! Does it feel like your life is sliding out of control? Take a few minutes, grab your Bible and meditate on Romans 8 and Psalm 34. Then spend some time in worship by singing the great old hymn "Be Still My Soul."

Be still my soul: the Lord is on they side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still my soul: thy best, thy heavenly friend

Through thorny ways lead to a joyful end.

Be still my soul: thy God doth undertake.

To guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still my soul: the waves and wind still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still my soul: the hour is hasting on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, loves purest joys restored.

Be still my soul: when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet again!

Third Culture Defined

The term “Third Culture” has been used in various ways. One “Third Culture” group “consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectuals in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”Another common use of “Third Culture” in fact describes my personal experience. The term was first coined by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem, professor emeritus of sociology and education at Michigan State University. She used the term to describe children growing up outside their citizenship countries because of a parent’s work abroad. A “TCK or Third Culture Kid has since been defined as, “someone who as a child has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture" Though I am a TCK, it is my desire to use the term in referring to the people who make up the true Christian Church (Theologically defined as the “Invisible Church”). In other words, the Church is a Third Culture. Scripture teaches us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law and the punishment of Hell, and through faith in Him we become citizens of His Kingdom, receiving not only the full benefits of citizenship in His Kingdom, but indeed the right to become sons and daughters of God. The moment, we step into this Kingdome we experience a new and different culture. We are no longer in the kingdom of darkness, but now live in the kingdom of light and that changes everything! At the same time we never went anywhere physically as we continue to work, live, and play with the same people as before, we see the world differently, we no longer truly fit – we are “in the world, but not of it” -- we have a new culture. For most of us this life changing experience occurs within our birth culture and our Christian experience is saturated by those influences. For those who grew up in non-Hispanic White North America, Christianity is uniquely different than those who grew up in an African American context. Our birth culture effects how we live out our faith in the Kingdom of Christ. Yet the Kingdom of Christ requires one more cultural shift and that is away from birth culture and into a culture made up of people of every ethnic and cultural group that has ever existed on the face of the earth. This Kingdom is no more North American than it is Tanzanian or Tibetan. It is a unique or shall we say a “Third Culture” that integrates elements of all cultures into one new and better one, where there is no Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:26-298). In fact Revelation 7:9-10 gives us a description what this will look like one day:“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." A Third Culture Perspective is one that understands and appreciates that God gathers people from every ethnic and cultural group and brings them into the new culture of His Son Jesus Christ. It is a perspective where birth cultures are appreciated and respected as coming from God, but none are superior. It seeks to have a deeper understanding of the Gospel, pays attention to culture, our own as well as others, and then attempts to bring them together. It is a perspective that “seeks first His Kingdom and His Righteousness” and lovingly and passionately enjoys and glorifies God in all we do. It is a perspective that welcomes immigrants….

"Be Still"

No comments: