For the reader: I have been intensely preoccupied and I doubt I will get a blog in every day during orientation. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers.
Today was rough for me. But before I get to that, let me tell you about how the day started. We briefly discussed the intern’s choice to give into people who are psychologically and emotionally demoralizing. This could take form in someone who is weary from working at a site, someone who has given up, or someone who overvalues control. These situations aren’t guaranteed to happen, but it was helpful to have an idea of what to do in a bad situation. We have been asked to form a foundation of scripture, defining moments in our lives, and goals for ourselves as Christians, in order to overcome such challenges.
The rest of the day was dedicated to our ministry with the children of BCD. I can’t tell you what BCD stands for, but essentially it’s a community development program for at risk adolescents. You can try to prepare for something you’ve never experienced, but you’ll never be fully prepared. Walking into a room that resembled a not-so-nice cafeteria, we met the adolescents of BCD and things were quiet and slightly awkward for a small amount of time. Four other interns and myself were responsible for planning activities with a small group of teenagers. The night before, we formed an activity schedule and it sounded AMAZING, but only 30% of our activities were a hit; it’s a step-by-step process, we’re not going to get everything right the first time. Even though the first day wasn’t a complete success, I took joy in knowing that I have grown in inter-race relations through this experience and I will continue to do so. This skill is important because as a body of Christ, we’re pretty segregated. If there is any hope to achieve our full potential as Christians, the new subtle-racism has to be confronted and multi-racial communities must be sought out.
On a sociological note, we were informed by a lecturer that the GI bill which boosted many veterans from WWII with prosperity through access to resources, was only given to a handful of African American soldiers. I haven’t checked the validity of this, but if true, it would provide a highly plausible reason for why you don’t see too many rich African Americans. I guess why I am mentioning this is that we have to consider why injustice exists, what events started it. A lot of people think that giving resources to people of economic & social disadvantage is socialism, but I think that the rich are just scared of a competition. There may be other reasons for racial economic disparity, but I have a hunch that my previous rationale has quite a bit of truth to it. A few more classes in politics and history probably wouldn’t hurt.
My favorite part of the day was dinner, because my colleagues and I shared in several deep conversations. The topics included but were not limited to ecclesial authority, homosexuality, sin, pre-marital sex, and other conversations which are often held captive in the recesses of our mind out of fear. I’m not like many of my contemporaries; I value the church’s statements on homosexuality over my own weak rationalizations for why homosexuality is permissible for membership and ordination. Many people don’t agree with this because our culture demands equality for homosexuality, but as a Christian I hold precedence for the body of Christ and its wisdom, over cultural expectation. That is not to say however that church and culture shouldn’t be in dialogue, Tillich pretty much covers that in his correlation method. The reason why our conversations were great was because we healthily expressed our frustrations while also respecting others wisdom and input… God how I wish that happened more often.
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