Peacemakers celebrate and demonstrate
diversity
Power sharing, "mutual invitation" help
bridge cultural "rivers of divide"
by John Filiatreau, Presbyterian News Service
[posted here 7-31-01]
ESTES PARK, CO - 27-July-2001 - Diversity was the
focus of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program seminar held here July
21-25, and the nearly 200 participants turned out to be an unusually
diverse lot, especially for a group mostly from the Presbyterian Church
(USA), a denomination still 94 percent white.
Diversity from the top down: The main preacher was an African-American
woman pastor of a new-church development in Vallejo, CA. The main
"trainer" was a Chinese-American Episcopal
minister/writer/composer/photographer/playwright/ multiculturalism
consultant born in Hong Kong and raised all over North America. The
music leader, who played the piano like Barry White, does business in
Chicago as Love & Love, Inc. The on-site cross-cultural specialist
("available to talk with those who have particular questions and
concerns related to bridging cultural differences") was a "1.5
generation Korean-American clergywoman" working on a Doctor of
Ministry degree at the Catholic Theological Union.
The day started with Shibashi, Japanese for "18 breathing
exercises," a regimen of "gentle movements" (mercifully
gentle, in the "thin air" of the Rocky Mountains) intended to
"clear your mind, rejuvenate your body, increase your resistance to
disease and (help you) gain new strength and vitality." It
continued with Diyin Bizaad, Navajo for "word of God," meaning
Bible study; Yae Bae, Korean for "worship"; Fon See, Chinese
for "reflection"; and plenary sessions devoted to Aprendiendo
el Proceso, Spanish for "learning the process" - which turned
out to be more important than you'd expect. Prayers were heard in
Choctaw and Greek. Appropriately, one of the Bible passages chosen for
discussion was the Tower of Babel story from the Book of Genesis, in
which God is said to have "confused the language of the
people."
The event's theme was "Venturing into Differences: An
Intergenerational Journey Across Cultural Divisions." It was held
on the picturesque campus of the YMCA of the Rockies, which the
peacemakers shared with camping families, church youth groups, Scout
troops and teams of cheerleaders honing their gymnastics and pom-pom
routines.
The seminar preacher, the Rev. Carmen Mason-Browne of Vallejo, CA,
challenged her listeners to summon courage to cross "the rivers of
divide" and to accept the risk of going imaginatively "to a
place strange as could be" - someone else's reality.
"Don't be afraid to go," she said. "Let God take us on
this journey."
And sure enough, just like it says in the Book, the lion lay down with
the lamb. Side-by-side, astride the snow-capped Continental Divide. It
happened about the third day of the seminar: Despite their differences
and misgivings, participants came to understand each other better and to
appreciate the richness their diversity made possible. What at first
seemed threatening turned out to be liberating. The result was something
like real intimacy.
The Rev. Eric H.F. Law, the seminar trainer, mixing carnivorous
metaphors, referred to what he called "the wolf-and-lamb
scenario": In intercultural encounters, the party with more power
and more aggression, typically white, male and Western, dominates, while
the weaker party, typically composed of women and people of color, falls
silent.
"One group dominates - automatically," he said. "It's
nobody's fault. It happens every time."
Law, a former campus minister at the University of Southern California,
decided two decades ago to devote his multifaceted ministry to
developing ways of creating "truly inclusive multicultural
communities." With the publication in 1993 of the first of his four
books - The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for
Leadership in a Multicultural Community - Law became a national
authority on making diversity work. He has consulted extensively with
the United Methodist, Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, among
others.
The refreshing thing about this exercise in diversity was that it
included training in specific skills and techniques - "tricks"
of el Proceso, courtesy of Rev. Law - that help make diversity a group
asset.
The seminar turned out to be not just another discussion of the
importance of making peace, but an exercise in the actual making of
peace. The participants, divided into small groups for Bible study and
reflection, bridged their "rivers of divide," spoke from their
hearts, and finally came to genuinely care about each other. The process
was surprisingly emotional. Nobody seemed to have anticipated such a
possibility until it happened, like magic.
It happened because of a few "tricks" Law had up his sleeve.
For example, he introduced the practice of "mutual
invitation." In this process, each member of a group is invited to
speak (briefly), then to choose the next member to take a turn. The
group leader or chairperson goes first, to get things started. Anyone
invited to speak may "pass" and simply invite the next person
to continue the discussion. This process continues until everyone has
been invited to speak. Nobody speaks a second time until everyone has
had a chance. It is amazing how this process keeps group members of
differing backgrounds and levels of assertiveness on equal footing.
Law also had the would-be peacemakers agree at the outset to observe
what he calls "Respectful Communication Guidelines":
R: Take Responsibility for what you say and feel without blaming others
E: Use Empathic listening
S: Be Sensitive to difference in communication styles
P: Ponder what you hear before you speak
E: Examine your own assumptions and perceptions
C: Keep Confidentiality
T: Trust ambiguity, because we are not here to debate who is right or
wrong
Another key part of Law's message was his theory that people's
characters are like icebergs: What you see at first is only a small part
of a larger, denser, more mysterious (and seemingly more dangerous)
reality.
"People are more than what you see on the surface," he said.
"Even if you're married to them, even if you gave birth to them,
there's more to them than you can know. ... What you can see, hear and
touch is just a small part of what a person is. ... That's why we can
commit violence to another person (despite) having good
intentions."
Before we can relate successfully with other people, Law said, each of
us has to do enough "iceberg work" to understand the parts of
ourselves that don't always show clearly: the values, beliefs, patterns
and family and cultural myths that largely shape our characters.
"Iceberg work involves becoming like a child again," he said.
"You need to look at the world differently." He commented that
it is particularly hard for people who belong to dominant groups to see
their own icebergs: "Your iceberg looks like society's iceberg. So
you say, 'My iceberg is normal.'"
In one of her sermons, Mason-Browne also spoke about these
"icebergs," which she defined as "what we see on the
outside that we can't get below, like class and race and gender."
The Bible passage she was preaching on was the story about Jesus'
encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. She explained that,
because the Jews considered Samaritans "a mongrel race," it
was "outrageous" for Jesus even to speak to the woman.
"Jesus has a way of crossing boundaries," Mason-Browne pointed
out. "Jesus loved messing with folks' minds."
"She was not the same woman after that day she met Jesus at the
well," the preacher said of the Samaritan woman. "Once an
outcast, she was gifted back her full humanity. She was a complete
child, not a step-child, not a half-breed. ..."
Mason-Browne said the Presbyterian Church (USA) does not always value
diversity as it should, or "gift" some of its members with
full humanity.
She went on, to a chorus of Amens: "Let's get real, let's get
honest: We are not what we want to be. ... This denomination is 94 to 95
percent white. ... We are a church ... full of gray hair and lines and
wrinkles. I'm not going to sugar-coat it: We are Anglo, affluent, highly
educated, religiously smug, decently compulsively over-ordered folks.
...
"It's time to wake up, it's time to drink from this spring of water
welling up like eternal life."
Mason-Browne mentioned that her hometown, Vallejo, CA, is "64
percent people of color," and no population group there has a
majority. Instead, all groups are minority groups.
"We are the new America," she said. "Diversity is
changing."
Law taught his listeners to sing to-the-point music of
his own composition:
A new heart I'll give to you, A new spirit I will put within you. And
I'll take out of your flesh the heart of stone And give you a heart of
flesh. …
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And the
love of God And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with us all, Be
with us all evermore.
He explained the "power analysis" dynamic:
Those with power must learn to be quiet and listen; those without power
must learn to speak up.
"The question is, how to help the powerful give up power," he
said. "The cross is not the end; we have to endure, to be faithful,
to believe in the resurrection. We must believe we will be empowered one
day."
For example, in exchange for the power and privilege of preaching on
Sunday, he said, a pastor ought to "listen the rest of the
week":
"When you give power away, it always comes back to you
transformed," he said. "… When you have power, what does the
Gospel challenge you to do with it?"
The Gospel of Mark, chapter 10: "And Jesus looking on him, loved
him, and said to him: 'One thing is wanting unto thee: Go, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven; and come and follow me.'"
Ultimately, Law said, after a long learning process, one discovers that
"differences are positive" and makes a commitment to
"cultural pluralism." People involved in contentious
discussion/debate must agree to provide for each other a "grace
margin," a non-judgmental space for "authentic revelation,
compassionate listening and the reciprocal exchange of power. .... a
gracious place where power is done differently and God is celebrated in
all his diversity," a place where people refrain from "using
theology to exclude people."
During one evening service, people who came forward for prayer were
anointed - by children, who reached up to cross the foreheads of
kneeling adults with sacred oil, saying, "Peace of Christ."
This was held up as an example of empowerment of a group that is seldom
given a role to play in liturgy.
The seminar also featured a discussion of a study of domestic violence
by the National Presbyterian Mariners; a briefing on violence in the
Middle East by Catherine Gordon of the Presbyterian Washington office; a
briefing on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children by
Bob Smylie of the Presbyterian UN office; an introduction to the
Presbyterian Coffee Project, which helps growers in Latin America, Asia
and Africa collect a fair profit and supports "ecologically
sustainable farming practices"; a presentation on Colombia and the
effects of U.S. anti-drug involvement there; and creative
"community center" workshops in activities including music,
quilting, artistry with paper and hair styling in various cultures.
The Estes Park seminar was preceded by a similar meeting earlier this
year at the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, NC, that also was
attended by nearly 200 people. The programs were similar enough that,
when recording equipment at Estes Park failed, participants were invited
to buy tapes of the Montreat presentations, which were described as
essentially the same.
A portion of the seminar offering of $1,543.51 will go to First
Presbyterian Church of Sandpont, ID, which plans to establish a
"Kids' Club" program to focus on overcoming barriers of racism
and hatred; and Imani Fellowship New Church Development, Mason-Browne's
church, which in cooperation with the Vallejo school system sponsors a
children's art ministry called "Hope Unfolds," an after-school
program that offers a "racially, ethnically and culturally diverse
learning environment" for homeless children.
