I am currently in graduate school and I am in a class that is tearing down any cultural bias that I might have in order to be able to better counsel people of all cultural backgrounds. This past Sunday I attended a worship service at a local Hispanic church. The worship was very different
than I have ever experienced. A one word description of the service would be
“beautiful.” Even though I did not understand any of the service I could feel
the presents of the Holy Spirit in very real way. I also took Communion with my fellow Christians. Communion was a very moving experience
because I could see the brokenness and longing for the presents of God to be
with these people. There were five people that were baptized the day before and
they received their letter of membership to the church. I will never forget the
older women that received her letter and she broke down. She was so grateful to
be part of the family of God. As I sat there I realized why it was so important
to her, that church is the only place where is not the minority and she is full
accepted for who she is, which is a beautiful creation of God. These people
truly have to rely on God for strength in a foreign place.
I also could see what a hard life this woman has had. She has calloused hands from the many hours of hard work to get where she is. She has fought every day of her life to make sure her family has better.
I think this whole experience
impacted me emotionally in a big way. I really can not stop talking, thinking,
and praying for the amazing people in that church! God was really opened my
eyes to this amazing culture that is truly “right in my back yard.” A lot of my
preconceived notions of this culture have been completely torn down and I have
found a new respect for these HARD working people. Being the minority is very
very intimating. While sitting in the pew being surrounded by a language that I
did not know was intimating and scary. My mother always taught me to put myself
in someone else’s shoes and I truly did that on both occasions, but the worship
service had the biggest effect on my. I also figured out through this
experience that my church is spoiled compared to what they worship in. There
church consists of a metal shell of a building with no electricity, no
bathrooms, and no running water. What if the churches we attended only had Porta Potties? God has rocked my world
while doing this project and I love it. I have gotten my passion back for
ministry that had been put out by the "spoiled" American church.
I have learned so much through this experience and I can not
thank my profession enough for giving this assignment. I first learned that
Hispanics are not here to “steal” our jobs, like us they just want better for
their families and they are willing to do what it takes to do it. Second that
they serve the same willing and able God that I serve just in a different
language. Thirdly, as a society we need to embrace this culture and love on
them and minister to them.
I want to challenge everyone to reach out to a culture that you have negative preconceived notions towards. I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, seriously be uncomfortable and you will be amazed what God shows you. I think the biggest problem in the American church is that we do not challenge each other to be uncomfortable!!!!
