Attributing Dignity
As we prepare to go to Japan, I find myself thinking about all the ways the Japanese people are different from me. They have a different appearance, different customs, different ways of thinking, etc. If I didn’t make it a point to understand, would be very easy for me to think negatively of all those differences. Colby and I have been reading various books to help us acclimate to another culture and they stress having a proper view of the differences between cultures. If you don’t try to understand and have some form of respect for the aspects of a new culture that are different from yours, it’s easy to form negative opinions about them. When this happens, effective ministry cannot take place since those you are trying to minister to will see that, in you, their culture evokes condescension and loathing. Colby and I have talked many times about how each culture reflects a piece of God because all people (and through that each culture) is in the image of God. This is not to say that everything about a culture is good and should be upheld, but it is to say that we shouldn’t write off the differences as bad or weird simply because they are different.
I believe the same goes for individual people. Each person, in a sense, has their own culture that they carry around with them. Even if the person has the same race, gender, religion, and background as you, there can still be significant differences. I have observed this, when new people come into my department at work. Their personal culture changes the overall atmosphere and culture of the department and even spreads to the entire store. In learning how to work with people, those of my own American ethnicity and someday the Japanese, it has been impressed upon me that to truly minister to others, you must make an effort to understand them. You must seek to understand the workings of their mind, what makes them tick, and all of the ways they are different from me. This is a powerful way of attributing dignity to them. It means taking a purposeful moment to say to myself, “They are different from me in various ways, but they have been created in God’s image, and because of that I must accept them for who they are.”
This can be difficult when the differences between me and a person, or my culture and another culture are very pronounced and go against my grain. Nonetheless, I choose to remember God’s image stamped upon them. I choose to understand them. I choose to attribute dignity. I wish I could say I have this down and that I am ready for the Japanese. I have a lot more choosing I need to do, with all the various people in my life and one day with the Japanese. However, with God’s help, I choose to keep trying.
Attributing dignity…