I am spending a week in Austin at the Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest for the third annual Spanish Language and Hispanic Ministry Intensive. I want to capture some reflections along the way - I hope to engage this on a daily basis throughout the week.
I have no intention of these reflections being completely fleshed out. I want to articulate the ideas as they arrive. Hopefully this is a Bartimaeus Effect type experience - having my life opened up to new possibilities through an encounter with Jesus. I believe that it will be.
As some background, I have experience attempting to learn Spanish - about 7 years trying to learn Spanish between high school and college. This language is not new to me. I grew up in Texas. I picked up some Texan/Spanish slang and culture throughout the course of me life. I did not come into this experience cold on the language/culture front.
My initial thoughts - I came to this program with the intention of jump-starting and remembering what Spanish I know is buried in my brain. I want to learn more about the diverse and beautiful Hispanic culture. I am doing this out of a desire to deepen the reach of my ability to minister to all of God’s children. I come to this program with the hope of one day helping a faith community expand their reach in a community.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Today we worked through a number of the basics when it comes to learning Spanish.
The alphabet (I still remembered most of the song that my Spanish teacher taught me in 7th grade!). Pronunciation. Diphthongs. Words that don't follow the rules. Syntax. Some vocabulary - but specific to a church setting. Overall - basics to learning any language.
These things did not catch me off guard.
We used the language in liturgical settings. We prayed in Spanish. We learned to sing the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish. We read a portion of Acts chapter 2 in Spanish.
These things did not catch me off guard either.
What caught me off guard was the process. The mindset of the learning environment. And the corresponding feelings and thoughts that popped up in my experience of this day.
First off - and again, these are pretty raw reflections - the learning environment was very sterile. It was clean and safe. We used the word "kindergarten" to express the method and mindset of the room and learning process. The professor was wonderful, supportive, and genuine. All of the things you want in a teacher leading you into uncomfortable space. I want to be clear that none of these aspects of my day are negative.
These things used to not catch my attention. But today I began to realize a different aspect of learning a language and a culture.
My reasons for this experience come from a place of privilege. I want to learn another language to gain the ability to potentially help someone who is not like me. I get the opportunity to learn this language in a safe space. I will get the opportunity this week to experience and learn about another culture from the comfort of a classroom. I have paid money for this opportunity. I have the time and resources at my disposal to engage in this opportunity.
Because of my privilege - I will not go through this intensive with the fear of deportation. I do not have to try and navigate a different language or a dominant culture out of fear or embarrassment or shame. I do not have to worry about needing this new language to fill out government documents if presented with the opportunity. I do not have to engage a new language or culture with the fear of being harassed or mistreated or physically harmed by the dominant group. My income or well-being is not based on how well I can use the new language or navigate the new culture.
These thoughts struck me early on in the morning. I wrestled with them throughout the day. I am still contemplating them this evening.
My privilege as a heterosexual, white, educated, male, directly effects my experience of learning a new language and culture. I get to do it by choice.
As a follower of Jesus Christ - as one whose life has been dramatically changed by the love of God, the work of the cross, and the call of Jesus - I have the choice to engage the world as an advocate for those who do not have my privilege. I have been set free from the process of saving myself so that I can engage life in the effort to work for the needs of others. Part of this advocacy is learning a new language and culture.
On to Tuesday.
La Paz de Cristo,
Travis
Tuesday's Reflection - "Learning Accents and God's Rhythm"
I have been blessed to be part of a conversation that engages privilege. I am not sure that some would see this as a blessing. I struggle with engaging this topic because it is truly a hard look in the mirror for me - a person of privilege. But it is a blessing for me because it has caused me to engage the world in a different way - a way that I trust is in line with what Jesus has called us to do with his invitation, “Follow me.” A life that engages the world as God engages the world - through love and mercy. It's a journey to be sure.
This week Dr. David Creech continued this conversation by writing a response to his initial 5 minute blog post.
This most recent post can be found here - Privilege Revisited.
He responded in two ways; Using power and privilege in the small acts of life, and the sense of powerlessness that can overcome those confronted with their privilege, namely the act of giving up power.
I want to address the second.
I too struggle with a sense of powerlessness. When confronted by systems (racism, homophobia, sexism, immigration) that seem too big to name and engage, I tend to shrug my shoulders and give away my power as a privileged person to name the injustice that I see. But this does not match up with the call to be a disciple that I hear from Jesus in the Gospels.
Enter the Beatitudes, the first movement of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount.” We are beginning a sermon series on this teaching moment from the Gospel of Matthew at the church I serve. I am preaching this weekend on these famous statements from Jesus. With the conversation of privilege rattling around in my mind, two of them jumped off the page at me in a entirely new way.
Here is something foundational. I understand the Beatitudes as a vision of how God encounters the world, not as a list of moral maxims or a set of rules by which to live. The Beatitudes, this series of blessings, is a glimpse of how God encounters the world through the kingdom of heaven. Jesus shows us what God sees, who God blesses, how God engages the world. God has already blessed these people - how will the community respond? I am thankful for Hauerwas and Willimon and their book Resident Aliens; A provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know something is wrong. This book brought this new understanding to light.
With this understanding in place, I saw two of these “blessings” anew.
Matthew 5:5 - “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
I have always had a misguided understanding of the work meek. It registered in my vocabulary with an overtone of cowardice and fear - a bad understanding of “turn the other cheek” (we’ll get to that in a few weeks).
In seminary I learned that this word had a different nuance, that it pointed to a state of being that was gentle and humble. This week I came across this definition from Matthew Skinner; “Meek: those who are gentle and unobtrusive, who refuse to use power over others as a tool to make things happen.” I was struck by this. With the concept of privilege in my mind I began to understand meekness with a great sense of power - but power un-abused. A meek person understands their power, but does not use it to further systems of injustice and oppression, but to work against them.
For a privileged person, I think we can push it a little further. It’s not that privileged people are to “refuse use their power as a tool to make things happen” - I think this may only further a sense of powerlessness. I think that meekness points to a way of life that uses power and privilege in a way that is a critique of the system of power and privilege. I, as a privileged person, can understand meekness to be a state of being that recognizes its privilege, learns the effects of that privilege, and becomes a critical voice of that privilege, on behalf of those who are oppressed. Meekness is direct action to undo privilege, by the privileged, on behalf of the oppressed. It’s a way of life that encounters and engages the world based on God’s kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:7 - “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
Mercy has also been interpreted anew. Skinner writes; “The merciful: people who willingly surrender their privileges or otherwise go out of their way to improve others’ well-being.”
Mercy understands power and privilege. Mercy can seen the difference between the haves and the have-nots. Mercy knows of inequality. And mercy is a state of being that critiques and combats these systems of injustice.
I also want to push Mr. Skinner’s definition a little. I understand mercy as a willingness to use privilege to go out of one’s way to improve the well being of another. Again, this is to combat the sense of powerlessness. The state of being that is mercy is an active force. It understands privilege. Mercy is a way of life by which the one with privilege names and engages that privilege in a critical manner, in an effort to end injustice and oppression. Surrendering privilege does not help in this instance. The privilege needs to be named, critiqued, and used as an avenue of renewal - always on behalf of the other.
Perhaps there is a nuance of surrender here that I am missing. This is after all a work in progress. A journey. A way of life.
God has blessed both the meek and the merciful. They are not powerless. They are blessed, already and forever, to be workers in the kingdom of heaven. When the meek and merciful are confronted with their privilege and power they know they are called to action, to work against the injustice and oppression brought on by fallen systems of power and privilege. They are blessed to be a blessing. And to live out God's radical vision for community that is the kingdom of heaven.
I want to keep the conversation moving. How do these definitions help the conversation? What are your thoughts? Do you encounter the tension of privilege and powerlessness? What do you do when you see it?
Blessings on the journey. Now it’s back to sermon writing.
Peace,
Travis
The last two weeks I have reflected on the powers and principalities in the sermons I have preached. First it was in the shadow of Herod and the slaughter of innocents. This past week it was in the light of Epiphany. Power language can be found throughout the New Testament and is an integral topic for the life of the church and the followers of Jesus.
This post is in response of an earlier post of Dr. David Creech in which he reflected on privilege. The “5 Minute Post” - a title I borrow out of respect - can be read here:
Dr. David Creech - 5 Mintue Post: Wrestling with Privilege
I too struggle with privilege. I am a white, straight, educated (two degrees), Protestant (Lutheran, ELCA), male, pastor. I live in the most powerful nation in the world. I hold power, that I still do not fully understand, in my role as a pastor. I have a great advantage over others and I cannot say, without significant qualifications, that I can claim responsibility for any of them.
The last few years of my life and my time in seminary have greatly altered my world view. A few years ago I could not have articulated my privilege. I had no clue. I have no concept of my privilege or the power that I had in my context. The last two years of my education have contained a significant amount of time in the study of power language in the Bible. In my initial response to Dr. Creech I tried to equate power and privilege. I am not sure that they are exact equivalents, but there is some cross over.
For instance. To his question of how I respond to privilege I perceive a great deal of overlap.
Here is how I respond.
Privilege, just like power, has to be named, unmasked, and engaged. I take this triad from the late Walter Wink who wrote a brilliant trilogy on the powers and principalities that needs to be required reading in seminaries effective immediately. Here is the third book;
Wink: Engaging the Powers
The triad works like this:
1) Privilege, like power, needs to be named. This literally means calling a thing what it is. For example - racism,
sexism, or any of the other -isms that get thrown around and dismissed.
Once it is named (acknowledged) it is no longer shrouded in mystery or hidden - both tend to leave things ignored.
2) Once named, privilege needs to be unmasked. What are the underlying factors? What creates the privilege? What are the moving pieces/contributing factors that build and maintain privilege. It’s a web and it’s complex.
3) Once unmasked, privilege needs to be engaged. This part of the process can be simple or complicated, and it requires action. Not earth moving action, but small steps. Simply calling out language (racist, sexist) in conversation (something I fail to do over and over again) is a way to engage privilege and power.
Regardless of the system of power or privilege, this is one means of taking that power or privilege on and working to change it.
What about you? Do you think this works?
