"When my father left in the morning to work on the fences, or on one of the three bores that watered the sheep and cattle, my mother heard no human voice save the two children. There was no contact with another human being, and the silence was so profound it pressed upon the eardrums. My father being a westerner, born into that profound peace and silence, felt the need for it like an addiction to a powerful drug. Here, pressed into the earth by the weight of that enormous sky, there was real peace. We children grew up to know it and seek it as our father before us. For my mother, however, the emptiness was disorienting, and the loneliness and silence a daily torment of existential dread."
The Road from Coorain
The Book "The Road From Coorain" is an autobiography describing a young girl's experience of life on an isolated sheep farm in a distant outpost of Australia. The girl's father is a native of this isolated land, while her mother grew up in the city, but moved to this outpost to begin a family. The book describes the cultural differences that existed between the father and mother as to their life on this sheep farm, and the difficulties they experienced in their relationship as a result of cultural differences.
The beauty of this book is that it describes the difficulties we all experience, particularly in regards to those we love, when these cultural differences exist. In order for a union to exist in such relationships, much compromise and understanding are necessary.
The story of Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis is also alive with cultural differences. We first hear of Abraham having a child, Ishmael, with a slave woman. In today's culture, this would be unacceptable even if that marriage could not produce children. But also in this story, other differences developed that could have put a strain on the relationship between Abraham and Sarah.
After Isaac is born, Sarah doesn't want anything to do with Ishmael or Ishmael's mother, the slave girl. Abraham is left with a difficult choice. After much prayer, he decides, with God's help, to dismiss his son Ishmael and the mother in order to preserve the relationship with Sarah.
The question that arises from this story is how do we handle the cultural differences, or differences in views, that often arise from our life's experiences? How do we handle those cultural differences that are ever present among those we encounter in our community of faith?
The answer can only be found in our knowing what God would prefer in those circumstances as they arise. Does God want us to work towards being like-minded in every way with others, or does God encourage us to try to find unity in diversity? Does God encourage us to discover and move towards love and acceptance of those who do not share our cultural understanding or view?
On a recent Deacon's retreat, our retreat director (an Archbishop) said that the most difficult situations he has to handle are the disputes that arise among the members of his own congregation. These differences relate mainly to church rules and practices. He said that what unites us is our common belief in Christ and our common mission to build God's Kingdom. This must be the primary motivating force in the decisions we make. And the building of God's Kingdom has little to do with uniformity in our cultures and views. It has to do with our unity in mission.
The decisions we have to make around these very difficult issues are not easy. But for the sake of unity and fulfilling God's plan, Abraham had to let go of Ishmael. For the sake of unity and fulfilling God's plan, there are many things we have to let go of as well.
In our celebration of our Nation's holiday, Canada Day, our church ordo contains the following quote as to how to practice unity: "Christians, realizing that they do not have a lasting home here, should pray and work for justice and peace in Canada and throughout the world so that all God's people may share in the goods of the earth. God's Kingdom will come only when all people, despite their particular culture or view, are ready to let Christ's teachings guide and rule their lives and action".
I believe what this is saying is that we must not allow our differences in cultures and views to distract us from our primary task of fulfilling Christ's mission of building God's Kingdom among us.
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