I wonder if how much things shift when we add another dimension on to the experience you’ve gained by being displaced in an African American context. Or if your common ground was being a woman and that’s why you’ve been able to see your “location” more clearly. I don’t know, just throwing some thoughts around.

Almost everything in North American society celebrates, acknowledges and even expects great accomplishments from white men in virtually every form…education, sports, theology, business, leadership, communication, killing the bad guys…the list goes on. In a society like this it is easy to miss how embedded white identity is into a person’s very existence.

We don’t have to acknowledge Western-European American culture because we just live it every day…The theologians we listen to, the music our worship leaders draw from, the business practices and ethos that dominate our economy, the way our education system is set up, the history we learn, hair and beauty products – even the standard for beauty itself…again the list goes on.

It is very difficult for the majority society (the group that established those social, business, spiritual, athletic, and educational norms) to realize that they themselves have a strong sense of cultural identity and affirmation. It is like we (I am Caucasian American) are fish in water – it is the most comfortable place to be. We naturally thrive. For those who are not from the dominant culture it is more like being a dog in the water…sure you can swim and survive but you can’t run, you can’t chase, you can’t live in the way that is most easy for you to live…you are acutely aware of your identity as a dog.

I am a Western-European American whose Christianity is extremely influenced by my Western-European roots. I only started to become aware of this reality as a result of two on-going profound experiences.

First, I live and serve in a mostly African-American community. As my life has become woven together with the community I live in – with extensive networks of African-American friends, neighbors, etc, I can’t help but become aware of the way cultural identity shapes their lives (even as Christians) and it has made me even more aware of how cultural identity and norms shape my own life.

Second, although somewhat different – as I have had the experience of being a female leader in a mostly male “world” of Christian leaders, I have become personally and profoundly aware of my female-ness. Yes, I am a woman who is a Christian with a Christian identity, but I also have a Christian woman “group identity” that brings with it certain repercussions and a keen level of awareness that I am a female-Christian.

In particular as it relates to Jeremy Lin – I love to see women leaders succeed and be outstanding. It inspires me. It encourages me. It reflects to me on the possibilities for my life as I serve my king. It spurs me on and it says women are valuable (yes! it would be great to be able to believe that purely from the Bible but when the masses of men around me – even Christian men – tell me differently by their actions and sometimes words, it connects with the image of God in me and reminds me of the truth I cognitively know in my head). On the other hand, when women don’t succeed, when they struggle, when they are seen as shallow, emotionally immature, lacking in knowledge or wisdom, poor leaders or communicators, etc it is almost impossible not to feel (to some degree or another) that this reflects back on me…that all the men around me who don’t really believe I can do it are just confirmed in their suspicions.

It would be easy for a white man to read this and give me strong, succinct, theological reasons why my thinking and theology is faulty – but then they would have to walk a few mile in the shoes of another to understand that they too have a cultural identity.

That training focused on the fact that we were going into another’s culture, so instead of using a truly American point of view about going and teaching/helping etc, it focused upon us going as servants and learners. We were taught that listening earned us the right to speak later on, and helped avoid the inevitable conflict and miscommunication that would happen when people from one culture went into another.

How odd it is that those tenets and philosophies are so often forgotten (or never learned at all) when dealing with people here in the USA. We take it for granted that we’re all one country, and assume through our behaviours and attitudes that we all have similar backgrounds and points of view. Obviously that isn’t the case.

Reconciliation cannot happen when there isn’t mutuality in the relationship. Reconciliation doesn’t happen unless your issues and my issues become our issues. We cannot serve each other unless we understand what is both necessary and right. That can only happen when we listen.

I thank you for putting such concepts so succinctly in a forum where we can wrestle with them and be transformed by the truth in them.