Yesterday morning we found ourselves in yet another city and a different home, trying to find where the knives and forks are kept. Familiarizing ourselves with our new surroundings is awkward but it is nothing in comparison to the documentary program we later saw on the TV.
The PBS program was following the story of 2 Somalian families who had been driven by war to a refugee camp in Kenya and now through some charitable organizations were being offered asylum in the United States. They had classes whilst in Kenya about what to expect in their new homeland, they were shown how to cook food on a stove, how to call 911 if they needed the police and what the currency looked like. All pretty basic requirements to live in a new country but nothing could have prepared them for the reality.
They were leaving the desert conditions of Kenya and arriving in Newark New Jersey to snow and ice. The house they were taken to had a staircase this family had never walked down stairs before it was as if they were climbing down a cliff face. The food at the supermarket was unrecognizable to what they were used to eating but amazingly after about 15 months in the country the family (especially the children) had begun to adapt to most of the changes.
The most difficult aspect of the move for the family was not so much adapting to the practical differences but preserving their culture and values. When the majority of people are living a certain way it is easy to get assimilated into the culture without even trying. The parents particularly had concerns for their daughters relating to young men. Their culture required asking the parents for permission to see their daughters and to always have a chaperone when they were together. You can imagine something that was normal for girls in their homeland was seen as archaic in their new country here came a clash of cultures and unfortunately the most dominant culture usually wins.
This applies to our lives as Christians we are aliens and foreigners in this world. God’s kingdom culture is totally different to the world’s culture and values. It is a battle to hold on to and live out the Christian lifestyle, you can’t just go with the flow as the way the world is going is not the way of Christ. The godly path is narrow and few walk on it but the way of the world is broad and many follow it. The logic and commonsense of the world is totally different to the Spirit of God.
Are you an alien and foreigner or are you being assimilated into the dominant culture of the world?
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