More questions for your Pillars reading. Thanks for continuing to read along and enjoy!
Chapter 28 Community and Communion
Do you attend a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual worship service? It is hard. I think that is partly why many of us don’t. But that hard is a good thing. Have you heard the idea of worship practices? I think it takes practice to be able to worship together across differences. We have to lay down our own preferences and desires and appreciate that this is not about us feeling good but about God. Go figure. What are some things you have learned about worship in complicated spaces?
Chapter 29 Tawhid and Shirk
I struggled with this chapter, to be honest. I’m wrestling with concepts that are so massive, so foundational, and so hard to understand, that it was difficult to make sense of anything. Yet I also knew I couldn’t ignore these topics. How do you understand God’s oneness? The Trinity?
Have you ever thought about the way we can dumb down holy things to make them palatable? It isn’t just for kids but for adults as well.
Chapter 30 Lent and Locusts
When I wrote about locusts and how I felt about Djibouti, it helped clarify some of my emotions. It hasn’t been easy. There have been so many times when I wanted to just leave. Sometimes that was because of something that happened cross culturally or I felt exhausted from language struggles, sometimes it was simply an excuse to want to walk out of a mess I’d made all on my own. How do you reckon with the things you’ve “lost” or given up in some way? What makes it worthwhile? Have you felt God restore what locusts have eaten?
Chapter 31 Chosen
Loved. Chosen. These are the truest things about humans. We are loved. What experiences make you believe this at your core? Do you believe it?
What else struck you in these chapters?
Pillars Book Club #12
Your reflections on worshipping across cultures and languages reminds me of the slogan of a foster care agency we work with: "Things that matter are hard." I also appreciate what you said: "We have to lay down our own preferences and desires and appreciate that this is not about us feeling good but about God." It's amazing how easy it is to lose sight of that, even when it's about worshipping God at church! Thanks for the reminder.
In response to both your questions about what some things are that I've learned about worship in complicated spaces, and also what experiences make me believe at my core that humans are loved and chosen, I have been struck over and over - especially in cross-cultural and intercultural settings - by how much love, kindness, grace, generosity, patience and care is frequently shown to people who are very different from each other in many respects, and who often don't know each other very well or even at all in some cases.