It’s the blessing and the struggle of any cross-cultural worker. The idea of ‘home’ seems elusive to our thoughts. Where is home? We know where our passport tells us we are from, but we feel at times caught between worlds. We know how to ‘fit in’ in more than one culture, all the while sensing a certain aloofness or detachment at times to each one.
There are several common responses to living between worlds. One response is to enjoy the blessings of a second culture, while pointing out regularly how our first culture is somewhat better. Phrases like: “I just don’t understand the … [fill in the people of another culture]” or “We just wouldn’t do that in our culture”. A second response is to seek to become a member of the second culture; to adopt all the ways of that culture without any questioning. A third response is to ‘float’; to not fully adopt the new culture, nor hold tenaciously to one’s passport culture.
One response is not better than another. Living between cultures, living between worlds is just downright hard. Nevertheless, God calls us to ‘excel still more’ (1 Thessalonians 4) in our walk with him; to learn how to navigate this life to which He has called us.
We affirm the fact that we are aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 1) and that God has reserved a ‘home’ for us elsewhere. Yet, how do we live here and now?
That question often comes to mind when someone here asks me the proverbial question: “You’re not from here, so where is your home originally?” It’s a reminder that I do live between worlds. Yet, how do we live here and now?
A couple of suggestions for us to consider:
- Learn to reason as one does in your adopted culture and appreciate that new perspective.
- Ask the question: what does the Bible call me to do in this instance (rather than just my passport culture)?
- Think on Christ who ‘lived between worlds’ and now lives in us, to show us how to live between worlds, and to give us the courage, grace and capacity to do so.
Filed under: Contextualization, Crossing cultures, Lifelong learning |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
Helpful suggestions. Thanks for those. I definitely find myself in need of those three things specifically : courage, grace, and capacity – especially in the midst of living in an other culture. Jesus being my Home, knowing my citizenship is in Heaven, allowing His Spirit to guide me .. Transforms these needs into ways He is personally present in my life. And even channels of His life and love to others. Oh the wonderous ways of God!
It is hard living between worlds, but we need the courage God gives, the grace He supplies, and we need to grow in our capacity to navigate the cultures we live between.