Immersion and Radical Christianity

Today we drove down to Bloomington to the orientation for the IU Honors Program that Conor has been accepted into for this summer. He will be spending seven weeks in Ciudad Real, Spain. The woman who heads up the program is very impressive. She's tiny and commanding and thorough. It seems that he will be in very good hands.

During her opening session she talked about how hard it is for the young people to get immersed into using Spanish if they are calling back home or e-mailing in English, or talking with others in the group in English (they'll be living with host families for the entire time there). She talked about how confusing it is when you first get there and you don't understand some (or much) of what your host family is saying. She talked about how disheartening that can be. She turned to the young people (all 16 and 17 years old) who will be going and she said, "I hope you will have the strength and the courage to only communicate in Spanish in that first week."

Right then I was struck by her challenge to these young people. I thought of my friends who argue for "full immersion baptism" -- and I thought -- "they are only talking about the water." I can't remember ever attending a baptism where the presider pointed out what a challenge it is to recognize our baptism. I've never been at a baptism where the presider has challenged those baptized (either adults being baptized --or those standing up for their children being baptized) to the strength and courage that is required to live a Christian life in this world in these days.

I wondered when she said it whether it was anything like being immersed in a language that you couldn't quite get a grasp on (even though you knew a few words) and in a new culture (that looked a little like the one you had left behind, but at the same time seemed completely different). I think that there are a lot of similarities. I do think it takes strength and courage (often more than I happen to have on hand) to see the hope of holding on to the new perspective that we are called to as Christian people.

But I don't think it's just a one week challenge. It seems like a pretty daily one to me. Though, sometimes I see glimpses of how if you see just a little bit for awhile, sometimes it breaks open to reveal much more than you had ever thought possible.

I feel like that all the time around Broadway Church here in Indianapolis. I am being challenged each and every day to see the hope and possibility in the lives of those who are considered poor and needy. And then there is the hope that I'm called to see even in those who are my enemies (or those who simply annoy the heck out of me).

It's hard to keep pushing to recognize those who live in our low-income neighborhood as something other than being defined by income. Inner city churches continue to provide "help" to "needy" neighbors -- rather than realizing that it is a sin to ignore the beauty and abundance that pours out of the lives of those very ones they are trying to "help."

"But if we don't help them they'll starve" people say. To tell you the truth - that's not been my experience. In over 20 years of working in inner cities I've never seen anyone starve to death. Though every day I see people hungry to have their giftedness recognized and invested in...

Yes, it's hard work...yes, it's challenging. But isn't it worth it?

Radical Christianity isn't just about giving up things -- even though it is about that as well. The harder part it seems to me is that part of living every day seeing the world differently than I did before. Seeing the people who pass before my eyes as beloved children of God with something to offer for the building up of the community.

That's the immersion I want to see -- an baptism that challenges me to see a whole new world -- a world of hope and justice and peace and abundance -- but in the very places where people say it is least. I'm not talking about being Pollyanna. I'm talking about seeing the grace and joy that is in the places where we least expect it, but where we most need to see it (because then we know the roots from whence it comes).