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Culture Making has been one of the best books I’ve read in the past year. It takes a look at cultural goods in society, theology in terms of culture and makes the assertion that the best way, and in some ways the only way, to change culture is to create more, better culture. In the video below, Andy Crouch, the author, responds to the question “How can we devote time/energy/resources to creating art and culture, when there are so many who, because of poverty, are stripped of  the power to be culture makers?”

Check it out.

via: Culture Making and Poverty (Best Question #2) | Culture Making.

Best Question 2 – Culture Making and Poverty from Culture Making on Vimeo.

via Next Gener.Asian Church.

Anyone who is involved in cross-cultural ministry should watch this video.

I wrote this poem about 5 years ago in a creative writing class. It feels as true now as it did then.

Bastard Child
By Richard L. Daley

People call me a bastard child

Of several countries.
And they look down at me
Because I am not a true native
Of Here,
There,
Or that Other Place.
And I become a specimen,
In a zoo,
With an accent.

My language, they say, is a bastard child,
Of many tongues.
And all this music that flow past my lips
It’s nothing
But the corruption
Of better languages.
‘Cause decent people don’t understand what mi have fi say
And if they do,
They ignore my shouting in the streets

My culture is named a bastard child
Of places far away with its
Indian foods served to the beat of
African rhythms played at a banquet in a
Traditional Christian church,
And all the women wear hats
To cover their
Multihued,
Multiracial,
Hair.

And that leaves me,
The bastard child
With the locks of indentured servants
Mingled with the curls of stolen slaves
With the massa’s skin tone in my palms
And on my soles.
The sing-song voice of a Trini
Speaking the spread out, brawling words
Of a Yardie.

I am the bastard child,
Unclaimed.
Because I can’t be classified
Because the chains have not yet been made,
Nor the iron bars forged
Nor the concrete walls built
To contain my spirit
And to keep my Bastard soul
Earthbound.

In many circles that I travel in, and people that I read, patriotism is a dirty word. I’ve had it implied, and outright said to me that patriotism has no place in a Christian’s life. I tend to believe differently. Actually, I believe that Christians are called to a Godly patriotism.

God made your country (beautiful)

And God said, “let us make humans in our own image”, and God did. And humanity multiplied, and each human was made in God’s imaged and exhibited God’s fingerprints. And these humans formed groups joined by language, by geography. These groups formed cultures that are made up of people exhibiting in some way the fingerprints of God, and as such their cultures exhibited God’s handiwork as well.

Your country, and your culture has been created by God. There are parts of your culture that has been corrupted by sin. I believe that a major part of having a truly Godly view of the world and those who are different than ourselves is to reconcile with our own identity. We need to acknowledge the ways in which we are beautiful because we are God’s creation, and the ways in which our country/culture are beautiful because of the fingerprints of God.

Your nationality is part of your God-given identity

While it is true that your main identity is in Christ, your nationality and your culture is not an incidental part of who you are. We will sometimes make a big deal about finding out how God has gifted us and how we can use it in the Kingdom. There are spiritual gift inventories, StrengthsFinder stuff, Meyer’s Briggs tests, and several other ways that we seek to reconcile with how God has made us, and how best to use the gifts as a part of God’s work and to not fall into the particular pitfalls that our gift sets and personalities tend toward. When figuring out our “calling” we look at our experience, how God has chosen to use us, and in what ways has God prepared us for the tasks ahead. I would like to propose that we begin to look at our nationality in the same way.

Like it or not, each of our nationalities has had a profound effect on how we have grown, and what we have become. The history of our ancestors prepare us for the things we will face today. Each of our nationalities puts us in positions where we are particularly equipped to deal with certain things. To choose to ignore the ways that God has gifted/blessed us through our nationalities would be irresponsible. In the same way, to ignore the ways that our nationalities have made us more susceptible to certain faults/sins would be equally as responsible. We should be aware of both.

God has called you to the Kingdom, and has placed you in your country.

We also need to have a Godly view of the sins of our culture, and as part of this Godly view is realizing that we have been placed into this culture and community purposefully. The bible makes it clear that we cannot love God whom we cannot see and not love our neighbors who we do see. Similarly, how can we claim to love our world neighbors whom we don’t see, and yet not exhibit any love for the country which we do. The love that I’m talking about is not the love that leads to idolatry, but the kind of love that one exhibits towards one’s neighbor. It’s the kind of love that the “good Samaritan” had for the Jew he found on the street, it’s the kind of love that Jesus has for us.

The call to Patriotism

The call to patriotism therefore, is not a call to obedience to one’s country or the leaders thereof. It should not be considered as negating the call to love other countries, nor should it be considered a call to your country above all others. It’s a call to acknowledge that your nationality is a part of your God-given identity. It is also a call to love, and to seek the Kingdom for your country. It is a call that begins and ends with God, and travels through the many ways that God has created and manifested His will and His love in us. This is the kind of patriotism that God calls us to.