"Fund-raising is a very rich and beautiful activity. ItTwo days of CRM support-raising workshop start tomorrow! Getting excited. =)
is a confident, joyful, and hope-filled expression of
ministry. In ministering to each other, each from the
riches that he or she possesses, we work together for
the full coming of God’s Kingdom." -Henri Nouwen
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
What I learned at CCDA
A little over a week ago, I went to the Christian Community Development Association's (www.ccda.org) annual conference in Chicago with 3,000 other wonderful people. I attended a handful of workshops. I faithfully made it to most plenary sessions and all of the Bible studies. There were PowerPoint presentations and handouts, books and pamphlets galore. All of that was secondary, though.
What struck me as most significant, from the first night onward, was the common theme of friendship. When John Perkins (CCDA's wonderful, wise, endearing founder) spoke about the significance of this association, he talked about his friends. He spoke of the people who had come together to share their joys and burdens. They formed CCDA, apparently, because they needed one another.
That purpose continues to drive the ethos of the organization. A number of speakers and panelists strongly asserted that the greatest outcomes from such conferences were relationships-- not just your standard business networks, but finding friends who know what your life is like. It's true: there's something unique about being at a gathering where you can figure a lot of other people might shake hands with people who live and beg on the streets everyday (for example). Or, they might know how to put up a fight on any number of neighborhood issues, from speed bumps to crime. And, they've probably got some ideas about intersecting theology with lifestyle choices, hospitality, real estate, buying habits, and any number of other things. So no, it's not your standard conference crowd.
Having said all that, though, I'm still not a mass-market befriend-er. I didn't even come home from CCDA with a new business card collection. I might have added one or two facebook friends. However, the preaching of friendship and the evidence of its impact in these leaders' lives did provoke fresh gratitude in me. I remembered when I was in college, just entering conversations about racial reconciliation, social justice and community development (largely introduced by reading John Perkins' Justice for All, appropriately enough), and I remember older mentor-folk asking repeatedly, Where are your 'safe' places? Who are your friends? (Meaning: make sure you have them!) Remembering that, I started to see afresh the depth of friendships carrying and sustaining me. I felt an overwhelming gratitude for who [you] my friends are-- this miracle and gift God has given me.
Even if I didn't need CCDA to be my friend-factory, I needed it to highlight this beautiful thing God's been doing in my life. I learned to see with renewed thankfulness. I also picked up a couple of spiffy brochures.
What struck me as most significant, from the first night onward, was the common theme of friendship. When John Perkins (CCDA's wonderful, wise, endearing founder) spoke about the significance of this association, he talked about his friends. He spoke of the people who had come together to share their joys and burdens. They formed CCDA, apparently, because they needed one another.
That purpose continues to drive the ethos of the organization. A number of speakers and panelists strongly asserted that the greatest outcomes from such conferences were relationships-- not just your standard business networks, but finding friends who know what your life is like. It's true: there's something unique about being at a gathering where you can figure a lot of other people might shake hands with people who live and beg on the streets everyday (for example). Or, they might know how to put up a fight on any number of neighborhood issues, from speed bumps to crime. And, they've probably got some ideas about intersecting theology with lifestyle choices, hospitality, real estate, buying habits, and any number of other things. So no, it's not your standard conference crowd.
Having said all that, though, I'm still not a mass-market befriend-er. I didn't even come home from CCDA with a new business card collection. I might have added one or two facebook friends. However, the preaching of friendship and the evidence of its impact in these leaders' lives did provoke fresh gratitude in me. I remembered when I was in college, just entering conversations about racial reconciliation, social justice and community development (largely introduced by reading John Perkins' Justice for All, appropriately enough), and I remember older mentor-folk asking repeatedly, Where are your 'safe' places? Who are your friends? (Meaning: make sure you have them!) Remembering that, I started to see afresh the depth of friendships carrying and sustaining me. I felt an overwhelming gratitude for who [you] my friends are-- this miracle and gift God has given me.
Even if I didn't need CCDA to be my friend-factory, I needed it to highlight this beautiful thing God's been doing in my life. I learned to see with renewed thankfulness. I also picked up a couple of spiffy brochures.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Word Power
This is a bit of a throwback/ nod/ reflection on my time in Asia this summer. Some of you will remember my excitement about being in a place where I had zero fluency in their primary language. Until this trip, all my travels outside the U.S. had been to places that either spoke English or Spanish-- both languages in which I have functional ability. As I looked forward to the time in Malaysia, Cambodia and Hong Kong, I told a number of people that I wanted to see what it was like to be language-less.
Several friends did look at me a little funny. Some of them tilted their head and nodded or shrugged. Sure, it's an adventure to go somewhere new, try different things, break away from the standard codes of life that surround us. But yes, being mute is an unusual goal.
I’m not sure this makes the objective less weird, but I think the prospect of escaping English for me was less about getting away from familiar (as with WalMart or Starbucks) and more about testing my sources of satisfaction and control. Part of what gives me such joy in Latin America is the forced dependence on God that comes when I don’t know what else to do but pray and let others help me. Another thing that makes me really happy is speaking Spanish. So as a horribly under-controlled experiment—would the thrill of helplessness (go ahead, laugh away...) be amplified without language skills? Granted, it’s a drastically different setting to spend a week as a tourist, versus a month as a helper/ worker/ visitor/ friend in a slum. But I think I really just love people, wherever they are, whatever language they speak. I get pumped about the conversations that come with actual fluency, but even without that, I can taste (yum!) and see and smell life with folks.
As it turned out, lots of people spoke English in the regions we visited. It was never a problem. Actually, it was more of an adventure to get a dress hemmed by a Vietnamese seamstress here in City Heights this week than it was to hire a taxi to cross Phnom Penh. Ah, the impact of colonialism and the tourist dollar. I suppose the quest for the brink of linguistic desperation hasn't taken hold of tourist market share. Surely we're missing out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)