http://consumingjesus.org/2008/06/11/redeeming-race/ Beyond Race and Class Issues In a Consumer Church Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:38:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 http://consumingjesus.org/2008/06/11/redeeming-race/#comment-120 FLIP-ino, too Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:09:52 +0000 http://consumingjesus.org/2008/06/11/redeeming-race/#comment-120 Having that feeling of not wanting to be an outsider is a unique Filipino characteristic of community. This is expressed in such cultural practices as "bayanihan". If you can only understand the richness of your cultural heritage in the context of Christology and historical theology of Israel, you will find that the very things you despise about the culture of your race and heritage could be use of God to put to shame the consumer orientation and highly individualistic nature of American society, let alone the American Christian church. It is nowhere near as warm, as communal and participatory and as culturally diverse (the Philippines is a mixture of so many tribes, 108 languages and dialects and at least 4 foreign cultures assimmiliated into one). No wonder Christian churches grow so fast and so deeply in R.P. By the way, FLIP was used racially to describe both Philippine islanders and West Indies / Caribbean people as Funny Looking Island People, or FLIPs. Having that feeling of not wanting to be an outsider is a unique Filipino characteristic of community. This is expressed in such cultural practices as “bayanihan”. If you can only understand the richness of your cultural heritage in the context of Christology and historical theology of Israel, you will find that the very things you despise about the culture of your race and heritage could be use of God to put to shame the consumer orientation and highly individualistic nature of American society, let alone the American Christian church.
It is nowhere near as warm, as communal and participatory and as culturally diverse (the Philippines is a mixture of so many tribes, 108 languages and dialects and at least 4 foreign cultures assimmiliated into one). No wonder Christian churches grow so fast and so deeply in R.P.
By the way, FLIP was used racially to describe both Philippine islanders and West Indies / Caribbean people as Funny Looking Island People, or FLIPs.

]]> http://consumingjesus.org/2008/06/11/redeeming-race/#comment-117 Rachel O'Brien Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:15:30 +0000 http://consumingjesus.org/2008/06/11/redeeming-race/#comment-117 "Consciously and subconsciously, I think of people as either outsiders or insiders. And I have continued to behave and live (even within the walls of the church) so as to be an insider or at least feel like one. Being an outsider or feeling like an outsider feels like death to me." I love the fact that you understand the in and out sort of mentality we create. I know that having "found" a group to be a part of I often catch myself placing these barriers around myself, to insulate who I am connceted to and who I am not. I appreciate your honesty about this struggle as Christians, wanting to feel inside and yet knowing that this division kills us. We are deadened from real feeling, the feeling of others, otherness, and our unique place amidst the mess and the beauty. “Consciously and subconsciously, I think of people as either outsiders or insiders. And I have continued to behave and live (even within the walls of the church) so as to be an insider or at least feel like one. Being an outsider or feeling like an outsider feels like death to me.” I love the fact that you understand the in and out sort of mentality we create. I know that having “found” a group to be a part of I often catch myself placing these barriers around myself, to insulate who I am connceted to and who I am not. I appreciate your honesty about this struggle as Christians, wanting to feel inside and yet knowing that this division kills us. We are deadened from real feeling, the feeling of others, otherness, and our unique place amidst the mess and the beauty.

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