Where are you from?

Studying abroad this is a question that I hear often and answer without thinking much about it.  I am from Canada.... and that is usually followed with, where about in Canada? I name the next largest category I can think of that won't get them entirely lost (such as Ontario) and if they are familiar with the region the process continues until it gets to the point that the other is adequately lost, which tends to be fairly early on.

We have a desire to place people and things in context to what we know. We understand things better when we see the connections that exist between people and places. There is a particular sense of excitement when you meet someone who knows your home turf and possibly has run into to some of the same people.

In the west we like to define ourselves by place. 'Where are you from?' is the question. In the East it is different it is not where are you from, but "Who are you from?" 'Who are you related to?' 'What is the family name?' because it  seems that in a culture that doesn't focus as much on the individual, but more on the community that it says more who you are related to then where you are from.

I feel that this concept isn't completely foreign. Growing up in a community that was strongly influenced by the Dutch there is a little 'game' called Dutch Bingo. Basically trying to figure out who is related to who and how so, and often figuring out a way that most people are related. (even if it is 5 times removed and through marriage twice)

The extent of this family based identity rather that of location based can be easily discovered using the well known tool of Google maps. West Jerusalem and the New City area is mostly made up of more westernized people. If you zoom in on the streets, you will see a tangled assortment of many different streets each with its own name. If you cross the dotted line into the West Bank and zoom in on the streets there, you will see a tangled assortment of streets mostly without any name at all.  Why - because in that culture families live together, your are defined by a family and leaving a family would be social suicide. There are parts of world were houses are built so that another floor may be added on top so that when the son marries, they may just add on another room (John 14:2)

However we tend to define who we are, whether it is a geographical location or genealogical place, it provides connections and belonging. The more I think about it, the more I realize that we are more than just an individual.

In the Bible it makes sense that they were a people who favored genealogical addresses. There are lots of them. And much like a scenario where if you were to ask someone where they are from, and they would answer 'Mars',  we tend to skip right over the 'addresses' of the people in the Bible. They tell us who the are based on the people that descend from, and we see that as just another genealogy.

So when Jesus starts talking about mothers and brothers, when Paul elaborates on being adopted as sons, and John uses the concept children of God, it isn't just fancy imagery and nice or effective metaphors. It is declaring that the lost have been found, that the exiles have a home, that the orphans have a family and that it is a place where we belong.

Cultures... west and east and places inbetween

Our second semester started two weeks ago and we have jumped in and are already busy with papers and reading and studying Hebrew.

I am excited for the classes I get to take. This semester history and archaeology (both looking at the second temple period), Parable of Jesus, Hebrew 2, and Cultural backgrounds.
I'm finding cultural backgrounds to be a very interesting class so far. Seeing the different cultures at play in this area is fascinating. Today we were talking about surface culture and deep culture. Surface culture being the things that culture have and do visible to everyone. We see the cloth that people groups wear and the food that is available and eaten. And then there is deep culture. This is the underlying values and currents that run beneath a culture. This is the culture that doesn't change as easily.

Coming back from my break where I spent some time in another part of the Arab world, it stands out now how western Israel really has become.  There are still values that seem to come from deep, but it seems the modern culture is shifting the way that it does things. There are shopping malls and materialistic trends. The impact of immigration and tourism means that there are a lot of people from different backgrounds and to some degree there is a great tolerance and adaptations to that.

It is easy to recognize that there is a difference between east and west and label them as such, but I think that there is more to cultures that just east and west. There is a lot of in between. Places where the east meets the west, (or maybe meet something completely different) and the change slightly.

I find whenever I start looking at other cultures it is almost impossible not to think of the cultures and I grew up in and around. I don't think it is possible not to, we all have a way of viewing the world and that is what makes up a large part of our culture. Even from region to region there seems to be a shift in values and culture within the people who live there.

Jesus lived in a place where 'the east' met 'the west'. God placed his people along a route that carried people from all over the world and in it his covenant with Abraham his told them that through him all peoples would be blessed.  There is something beautiful about the place where cultures meet and the fact that God seems to use them.

Understanding and navigating cultures is something I am not near close to having accomplished. Taking modern Hebrew this semester is showing me how much a language reflects a culture.  Someone asked how to say particular phrase politely, only to receive the answer that there wasn't a particular way to say it, but just to say it.

I'm excited to see all that this class will explore and how it all works together, but in the meantime, I probably should get back to studying  :)