Divine Diversity

The wind sent clouds scudding across the sun and tousled branches as it nudged parishioners into the church one March morning. But after the service a good number went out to the parking lot for a car blessing. Rodney and Subrina had a new vehicle and, in their Trinidadian tradition, we prayed over it, thanking God and asking for blessing on the vehicle and all those who rode in it. After all, the Spirit, like the wind, was with us, waiting to fill and bless.

While we prayed, I thought of my 15 – year – old Chevy Celebrity. I wondered how long I could drive it before being seriously let down. Soon we gathered around it, asking God to keep me safe and show me clearly when I should let it go. Sure enough, several weeks later, my car refused to start. Nothing worked. But just before I called for help, I gave it one more try. It started and I drove home without any further problems, thanking God for the signal we had requested.

My favourite tradition in our multi – cultural church is that of prayer meetings. These are actually services with singing, scripture reading, prayer, opportunities for people to speak and a short message from the minister. These meetings are requested because they express the deeply – felt prayers of peoples’ hearts. They may take place 40 days after a death or on the annual anniversary of a death but are also used to celebrate a special birthday, anniversary or other happy event. Usually a prayer meeting is held in someone’s house although it may also be in the church sanctuary.

One family has a prayer meeting of thanksgiving every second June. Rows of chairs fill the space between the back of their bungalow and a large maple tree where squirrels play tag. The sound of traffic two streets over is like the white noise of ocean waves. I play keyboard from the deck, the minister sits at a table on the grass in front of the first row of chairs. Just before we start, a neighbour rushes in with apologies; she had unexpected company. Everyone smiles and nods. Then worship begins.

During the meal afterwards several ladies and one teenage man pull chairs up to the minister’s table.

Doris explains to me that the beans we are eating are called pigeon peas. She cooks them to make a light curry or chicken stew or with rice for pelau. On top she might use pimento, a pepper with a hot smell that does not taste hot. She says people back home often grow pigeon peas in their gardens. Last fall when she was there she bought a bag of them from a neighbour.

“But it was expensive,” she says. “Fifteen dollars, and by the time I shelled them I just had a small bowl.”

“Most people now buy them in cans,” adds Amrita, from across the table.

“That’s right,” someone else says. “But do you remember when they used to grow so much of them at the place where the road divided …”

Soft accents become more pronounced as others chime in, remembering people, places and experiences. I sit silently, feeling as if I’m on vacation, listening in on life in another place.

How does it happen that these worlds, theirs and mine, come together, meld, form something that is both and neither? A new work in Christ.

Immigrants who have a background in the Christian church of their homelands have a common bond with Christians here and usually search out church affiliation that provides some continuity with their previous experience. For example, Malvern, Toronto, has a Presbyterian minister’s son from the Philippines and several families from Trinidad and Guyana who came to faith through Presbyterian churches established by missionaries there. Many of them were educated in schools that were a product of this missionary movement and some taught in these schools before immigrating to Canada.

The common bond of Presbyterianism may bring diverse people together but it does not ensure a homogeneous group. For example, Canadian children are encouraged to socialize and explore as part of the learning process. Children from other cultures, where classes are larger and educational materials are less plentiful, may be used to highly structured classes which include rote learning.

Basic concepts, such as sense of time, can vary as well. Promptness is a sign of respect, responsibility and proper order for many Presbyterians of Anglo – Saxon descent. Other cultures may place more importance on the enjoyment of an event and the integration of it with other values such as socializing and maintaining a relaxed “take things as they come” approach to life. Also, waiting for a bus and walking in all kinds of weather are quite different from driving to church in one’s own car. The issue of arriving for church at a given time has potential for being either a point of conflict or a chance to see a situation through the eyes of another: an irritant or an opportunity for grace.

Time can be a challenge in terms of personality as well as culture. For some, the Sunday morning service is an hour a week where the liturgy, sermon length and time of the final hymn are predictable. And this predictability matters. If the service carries on an extra five, 10 or, heaven forbid, 15 minutes, someone needs to be spoken to in order to correct the situation. If music strays into gospel, jazz, contemporary or world music, an observation, or perhaps a complaint, needs to be registered.

However, for others, Sunday morning is a time to come together to worship the Lord, regardless of how long it takes. If they are blessed by extra music or a longer message from God’s word, so be it; they
go home later, content with the extra blessing.

Other differences matter less. With practice and a measure of God’s grace, cashmere sweater sets and pearls can enjoy the bling of rhinestones on chiffon and colourful African prints on both men and women. The haggis and turnip of Robbie Burns night may be replaced by the cook – up rice, noodles and curried goat of Carnival where children parade in costumes and do the limbo. Later, Carnival may evolve into an international dinner.

The hardest part of making diversity work has to do with the sharing of power. A truly diverse church will be led and served by a session whose composition accurately represents that of the congregation. Jesus began this tradition when he called fishermen and tax collectors. It continues today by his Spirit whenever his people obey scriptural injunctions: “I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think” (Romans 12:3); “Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16); “… with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2 – 3).

In the final analysis, the interest and challenge of ethnic and cultural factors, or lack of them, matter less than our bond with the Christ who is all and in all (Colossians 3:11).