Home
The Call to Discipleship: 'We Need Border-Crossers'
By Don Meyer
ROSEMONT, IL (February 4, 2004) - With the refrain of the previously sung hymn
"On Christ the Solid Rock" still lingering in the air, Tuesday evening's
Midwinter Conference speaker challenged a packed audience to begin anew
to experience and know the sustaining power of God and the "solid
ground" upon which our faith is anchored.
Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier excited hundreds of pastors of the
Evangelical Covenant Church with her animated and forceful delivery,
quickly engaging her listeners in the first few minutes by vividly
describing her difficult upbringing as a young Hispanic woman in a tough
neighborhood where the only evidence of God's natural creation was "the
grass growing in the cracks in the sidewalk."
She grew up in a conflicted neighborhood, punctuated with poor housing
and the absence of basic amenities most take for granted, like a
neighborhood grocery or bank. The area was so depressed, she noted,
"that even the Post Office moved out." Her personal life reflected much
of the depression and sorrow of her external environment – her mother
died at a young age due to a lack of adequate and available medical care.
That experience ultimately played a crucial role in shaping her life for
the future, however. "It was in the midst of sorrow that I began to know
the sustaining power of God," Conde-Frazier recalls. "This memory is
fixed deep within me." And it is that concept – the importance of one's
memory of God's sustaining power in our lives - that provided a
consistent theme throughout her message.
Drawing on the second chapter of Philippians as her scriptural basis,
Conde-Frazier noted that people of like mind and spirit were being
called to be Christ-like in their daily lives, reaching out to those
around them and demonstrating the kind of love that Jesus showed in his
interactions with people.
Being of like mind and spirit is quite different from being alike, she
quickly cautioned. "We too often suffer from a spirit of
territoriality," she observed. Too often we want to interact with others
according to our own set of beliefs, she suggested. People are
different, with differing ideas and viewpoints and coming from different
backgrounds and experiences. "And that is often what causes a great deal
of discomfort – leaving our own familiar territory to engage others who
are not like us," she noted.
"Christ went where it was uncomfortable," she pointed out in reviewing
numerous encounters Jesus had with biblical characters. "He took on the
hardships of life. He identified with minority groups." Jesus went to
where people were in their lives to engage them in their own
perspective. Conde-Frazier suggested modern-day Christians can do no
less, regardless of the discomfort involved in moving out of our comfort
zones to engage those different from us.
"We need border-crossers," she said, "reincarnating Christ in other
cultures." She identified one of the challenges to crossing over through
a pair of personal questions. "How do I displace myself when I am fixed
in the familiar – in other words, what I think is right in a given
situation? How can I let this spirit (Christ) that is within me really
operate when we are so different?"
She argued that conversion at its core means to be dislodged from our
familiar patterns of life. "This is what we are being called to do," she
said in reciting the Philippians passage once again. Recognizing the
difficulty in moving from our individual comfort zones, Conde-Frazier
offered four "spiritual practices" to help guide disciples in pursuit of
Christ-like thinking and living.
Hospitality - "This brings us into alignment with the values of
the Kingdom," she suggested. "We must do unto others . . . if Christ
were here today, I would like to think I would be the one pouring oil
over his feet," she observed in reciting the familiar story of the woman
who encountered Jesus. "But, he's not here physically today . . . I
can't pour oil over the feet of Jesus, but I can do it to others.
Hospitality requires us to open our hearts and share what we have. It is
related to human dignity and to our respect for other persons.
Hospitality involves respecting the image of God in another person and
ascribing equal value to the other individual. Hospitality begins a
journey to visibility for those rendered invisible by society – it
models the Kingdom of God."
Encounter - "This is a place of risk, involving different people
with a multiplicity of views. A danger is in how easily we can
misinterpret what each other is saying, and that leads to conflict.
Sharing each other's stories helps us understand differing viewpoints."
She related a visit she made with a friend to a Mosque on the Friday
following the now infamous "9/11" terrorist attacks. She said she
listened to the prayers that were offered and the individual stories
that were shared. She recalled spending countless hours in discussion
with her friend, eventually moving closer to her friend's world and
perspective and gaining increased understanding in the process. "I need
to be silent and listen – and move from my own framework of
understanding into that of the other person, so that I can see the world
from that person's unique perspective. We need to get to that place of
common human experience deep within, past our prejudices and opinions,
to a place where we can really hear the other person."
Compassion - "This works from a place of mutual shared weakness,"
she said. "It is different from pity. Pity keeps a distance and
considers another person as inferior. Compassion calls for ingenuity and
imagination and engagement with one's issues in the context of justice
and mercy. It is part of the journey of conversion – it takes us from
indifference to care. Indifference comes from a sense of powerlessness –
we throw up our hands in dismay and become indifferent. It's about being
moved – entering the pain of our neighbor. We are connected by a common
wound where our two worlds have encountered each other. It is about
acting out of the same love as Christ acted. It becomes 'enfleshed'
truth - not a doctrine or a belief – when we love as Christ loves."
Compassion goes even further, Conde-Frazier advised. "Want to see a
miracle? Then focus on passionate compassion. When you are passionate,
you can make the impossible become possible. Divine consciousness and
neighbor consciousness merge into a new borderland. It's where God and
humanity come together. Passion calls us to commitment, relationship and
community. It is part of what it means to be a disciple. Passion is the
courage to take risks for those things that give life meaning."
Shalom - "This is a broad concept of love and creation, where all
are one. It is a vision of connectedness, where all participate equally.
We need to internalize the stories of others." Harkening back to the
Philippians text, Conde-Frazier suggested that today's Christians
similarly "have been summoned to take on the spirit and mind of Christ –
and we can only do this if we love as Christ loves."
Conde-Frazier is assistant professor in religious education at the
Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. She previously
served as assistant professor in religious education and field education
at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts.
She holds an M.Div. degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and
a Ph.D. from Boston College. She was ordained by the American Baptist
Churches, USA, in 1982 and resides in Alta Loma, California.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
