|
From WCN issue # 24 |
| Dear Reader, Becoming familiar with the foreign is increasingly a necessary activity and skill to pursue in our ever-shrinking global world. While we may always instinctively seek the comfort of family and familiar contexts, the world today is mixing and mingling at an unprecedented rate, and the foreign is not only moving in next door, but we sense it as threatening our way of life. No, I am not merely referring to dangerous (terrorism) threats, but also to the challenges and potential change that any clash of values, and ways of life unavoidably leads to. The most common response–on both sides of such encounters–is to hold on to the familiar more tightly. Although understandable, that stance is deficient for two reasons: on the one hand, it hardens lines, and produces defensiveness rather than the seeking of greater understanding (which would actually become invaluable should defense truly be needed later on). Secondly, it sadly robs us of the joy and strength that comes from being flexible, from the sense of discovery, the adventure of embracing difference, the privilege of winning new friends, and, most important, learning about ourselves as we look through other (foreign) people’s eyes. As foreigners, citizens not of this world, Christians have added reason to welcome and become familiar with the foreign–a task no longer merely for missionaries. Let’s grapple with this fact: those we feel threatened by, may themselves feel threatened by our way of life. The Editor |
| NewsHome | WCN Bookstore | YWAM Home | 30 Days Muslim Prayer |