Welcome to Minnesota!

Have you ever had the opportunity to wait at the airport and welcome a refugee family to the U.S.? I had witnessed other people doing this while travelling on various flights, but I was actually part of one of those groups last night! A whole crew of Centennial folks were ready at 6:45 pm to welcome the refugee family from Thailand we were sponsoring. But they didn't arrive until almost 10:00 pm, so the group size diminished a bit. It was absolutely amazing to see family members that are already living in the U.S. run up and hug their loved ones. We had signs and balloons and on two weeks notice, the church had a furnished apartment ready for them, so they went directly to their new home to collapse and rest in new beds from their long journey. There was a bag of toys ready at the airport for the two young boys. The oldest caught on to a pocket sized video player right away, while the youngest was mesmerized by a teddy bear puppet. I thought it would take a long to get all of their luggage, but there were just two small bags for the four of them. I can't imagine having to pick two bags worth of things to take with me if I were to permanently pick up and move to another country.
God bless them for their courage and may they find peace in the midst of the chaos of being in a new place...
-mel

The Beloved Community, Part 2

Please note: There was difficulty with the blogger website, and I was not able to post throughout the afternoon. Sorry for the late posting, I'm just hoping that it will post now!

Is Sunday morning at 11am the most segregated hour of the week in America? This is something that I struggle with, because I would love to experience the Beloved Community that Paul speaks of - with his vision of a new creation where our particularities are embraced within the larger community - where people of varying racial and cultural identities could come together each week and worship with one another. (reference from Tseng and Yoo article)

But then I read Lorentzen's article, and can understand why ethnic minorities often prefer ethnic churches, where they won't experience discrimination and where they can maintain their ethnic identity.

There seem to be few places that have figured out how to live out the vision of the beloved community. I wonder about the ways in which we can live our faith out at Centennial - honoring the gifts that immigrants can bring to our church. What would this look like? Do we welcome anyone, as long as they are willing to go along with worship the way we have always done it? How much flexibility is there to celebrate the many ways of worshipping and praying across cultures and from around the world?

It sometimes seems in the Midwest that our lives don't often intersect with people who look or act differently than ourselves. I was reminded of this when I visited a friend out in San Francisco - everywhere we went, we were surrounded by people speaking diffferent languages, eating different foods, with ethnic churches on every other street. it was almost hard to believe that all of these people were living in the same squished space and in relative harmony (my friend would probably describe it as a tenuous harmony).

I have found one place in St. Paul that reminds me of the diversity I experienced out in San Francisco. Como Zoo. I live just four blocks from the zoo, and it is free, so I often go for walks around the zoo. Because it is free, it is open and available to anyone - legal or undocumented immigrant, poor family or affluent family - anyone who wants to go and watchthe monkeys and polar bears can come. And as I walk around by myself and listen to the sounds around me - I notice the different languages, the people who come with 5 kids packed into their minivan, the people who are there on first dates, the people who walk alone. I experience the Beloved Community every time I walk at the zoo. May that experience grow and expand to include many other places in our towns and in our churches. At the zoo, our common experience is the joy of seeing the animals. At the church, our common experience is the joy experienced in Christ, of knowing the love of God
-melanie