We know the church is called to be in the world but not of the world- but what does that mean, practically, for us? Does it mean we don’t interact, that we are here only while we must be- but we will separate ourselves from the rest of society, much as the Amish have, in order to preserve the purity of our way of life and keep ourselves from temptation? Or do we follow along the lines of an impassioned naturalist and a certain wild-haired genius, believing that every decision we make every single day has an impact- and so not only can we not separate ourselves, to attempt to do so would condone that which we're avoiding?
It's a question we wrestled with as a group, and we will each continue to wrestle with for the rest of our lives- how and when and why would we get involved with things that will make us angry, make us sad, and make us sick?
Assuming there is a reason that we SHOULD be involved in issues of justice, it's important for us to take a look at what we have to bring to the equation. Each of us has a background that we've been born into, one that forms how we understand the world. We don't get to choose that background any more than we get to choose our parents or our hair color. It's our socioeconomic background, our race, our gender, our culture. Luckily for us, though, we aren't stuck with only that background any more than we are stuck with our original hair color. We can name it, unpack its nuances, and decide to explore the same process in others- combining our knowledge into a more rounded, integrated perspective of what it means to be human.
So where do we start? We start by asking ourselves some questions, to get a grasp of the limits and norms we've inherited:
- What are the books we read growing up? Who was the hero/heroine? Who was the villain? What did they do? What were the books about? How was selfishness, individuality, or loyalty viewed? How were different races portrayed? Were there different races? What about gender roles? Were certain locations featured more than others?
- What about the movies? Along with books and other stories, we often start to internalize the ideas presented in media as normal, right, and desired.
- How do our families “hang out?” Do they watch movies or play games? Do we go to parties or spend time alone? Do our families value museums, zoos, non-compulsory education? Again, these normalize what "people" do and how they behave.
- Who do our families hang out with? Do you spend time primarily with people who have similar backgrounds and interests? Do you have family friends of different economic status, abilities, races, sexualities? The people in your life either challenge or reinforce how you understand the world- which can be either good OR bad!
- What do you expect from your life? Will it be generally positive? Can you achieve the American Dream? Our experiences give us a glimpse into what's possible- are you constantly enveloped in the message that you can be anything? Do you hear that you won't amount to a hill of beans? Is life full of possibilities or disappointments?
- What do you think about when you hear the words:
- Poor
- White
- Immigrant
- Asian
- African
- Mexican
- Wealthy
To help us understand our preconceived notions
(which, by the way, we have to have in some form or another in order to make sense of the world-
though it's important to remember that that's no excuse to not seek out
a greater depth to those expectations), we looked through some
pictures:
We then watched a video and talked about where we thought the video would go at the beginning and where it ended up, our impressions of the video's "snapshots" and even our reactions to small things, like the main character's purchases. It's important to pay attention to the little surprises and expectations, as they give us insight into what our prejudices and preconceived notions are; they don't always match up with what we know consciously!
And finally, why is it so important to pay attention? So we don't end up like this guy.
On a more serious note, the things to ask yourself while watching the comedy video: Would I ask those personal questions of someone who looked like me? Why/why not? Would you expect a person of color to ask those questions of you? Why do you think she got so annoyed with his questions? Do you think she had heard them before?
And that was our day! Stay tuned for how our final video links to next week's topic!
5 Minutes of God Time: Heart Like You by Love and the Outcome
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