Words that are usually not the ones that a person wants to hear. It makes me wonder, is it really possible to avoid taking things personal? Especially, when nine times out of ten, the statement attached to the disclaimer is usually something about you or that affects you. I have heard those words in discussions related to the working out of life in a neighborhood in transition. Things are not like they used to be. In my eyes it is an exciting difference filled with bright colors and fun new adventures. Yet, I realize that it is different for me, I chose the neighborhood because I liked the growing diversity and because I have become a part of that transition. For another, the changing community might symbolize a change of life, or the entrance to the stage of life where it feels like the world is changing around them. Some may have grown up with certain opinions or ideas that make it difficult to be welcoming of such great changes. For others it might be a matter of security, of no longer being able to count on things being how they always were and for whatever reason, change is, at this moment in their lives, overwhelming and causing them to feel out of control.
Whatever your reaction may be, those of us who are living in places that are growing in diversity and ethnicity it is a challenge. How do we value the roots of this community while also allowing it to grow and flourish in a new way? How do we challenge life long values that do not account for folks who did not group up with the same custom or dress or speech? How can we accept those whose opinions differ from our own? How do we answer these questions as a community of faith?
As I look at my own journey, I realized my first few steps towards answering these questions internally came when I allowed things to get personal when I met brothers and sisters in Christ while on a mission trip in
