The cultural aspect of our intensive started today.
We began with Texas and its history - specifically looking at the Alamo as a focal point. I was born and raised in Texas and thought I had a pretty decent understanding of its history. I have always respected the pride of Texas. The work ethic. The grandiose attitude. The myth and legend that Texas hold dear.
This understanding has faded in recent years. The leaders of the state have left a bad taste in my mouth. I began to discover that the history I thought I knew so well was rather one sided and often inaccurate.
I still love Texas, but I no longer see it through rose tinted glasses.
The first lecture today was titled “Remember the Alamo - with an Accent.” The professor emphasized how we learn and remember history, and how it is often told with an “accent.” For me, I grew up with the “white” accent of Texas history. The side that remembered the call to “Remember the Alamo” as a victory chant. Today was about peaking behind the myth promoted by the “white” accent and let the “Hispanic” accent tell the story it remembers.
The details of history, and who tells the, are important, but there are too many to recount here. The thoughts I was left with are far more important to this discussion.
I have been doing some work with mythology over the last few months. Currently I hold the conclusion that we deal a great deal more with myth that we think - particularly when it comes to history and how it is remembered. Today’s discussion affirmed my conclusion.
Though I had already begun to de-mythologize Texas history on my own, it was amazing how many things were called into question through hearing the story of Texas with a “Hispanic” accent. The debate between correct and false historical accounts has a place - but perhaps we should not always listen to just one side.
The victor often attempts to tell the story as an absolute. Victory leads to privilege, and in my experience, privilege leads to mythologizing the past. Fact gets left behind for a far more imaginative version of history - always told by the winner.
The losing side also mythologizes the past, but it is a story that is not given much power or place in our collective story.
Texas is a land of transition. It is a “frontera” - a borderland. It is a place where fact and myth intermingle. Doing ministry in a “frontera” requires patience, and checking one’s ego and preconceived notions at the door. We could get lost in a fight over who is right and who is wrong - but people are always the first casualties in these skirmishes.
In the "frontera," listening to stories is important.
From a privileged point-of-view - listening to how others tell the stories we have worn out with our own voices and memories is an important aspect of learning how others encounter the world. There is always another perspective, and it’s worth listening to - and not correcting. Perhaps its by listening to each others stories with openness and patience and different groups of others - the us’s and them’s - become brothers and sisters, a new community.
Learning to listen to the different “accents” in our midst is a necessary aspect of doing ministry and building relationships. In doing this we build a mutual future for all groups. We make a way forward for all instead of a few. We can learn to tell stories together, honoring each side, so we can write the future in partnership.
Fittingly, we also began to learn Salsa dancing today. This was not only a great break from the class room, but also a way to learn how to move to a rhythm in unison. Though each person moved a little differently, we were all driven by the same rhythm and same goal.
So it is with God. God set the rhythm of our life together from the very beginning. Our life in God, renew and shaped by Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is set to the rhythm of God’s heart. The goal of our relationship with God and with one another is to learn how to move to that rhythm. And though we may each move a little differently, we all have the same goal.
In learning the stories I know, and hearing them told again with a new "accent," I have encountered a diversity that has been blessed by God. The past, and present, are scattered with blood and tears and tragedy - these need to be acknowledged so that healing can begin.
But there is also great hope. It is in building relationships that we encounter this hope. God is in our relationships. And God gives us hope through the promise of abundant life for all - already made through Christ.
La Paz de Cristo,
Travis
Wednesday's Reflection - "Another Way of Knowing"
No comments:
Post a Comment