Masih Menjalani Panggilan (Still Following the Call)

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post called Menjalani Panggilan. It was one of the first reflections that I composed specifically related to following a call; what it means, as well as what it means to and for me.

My employment with PC(USA) ended almost a year ago, as did my "teaching" assignments...but I'm still here. Why? There are many reasons, but the main two are actually just one. 1) I am in love and am completely committed to this relationship, and 2) I am continuing to follow my call. (These are related because if it weren't for #1, there would be no #2 - I would have gone elsewhere LONG ago.) In short, 1 + 2 = Continued Service to Christ. And that is my call. To prayerfully follow Christ, as best I can, through continued service.

Part of traveling abroad, and all of living abroad, involves understanding the culture. It's easy to appreciate and honor what is beautiful, different and inspiring. This link from the Indonesian Embassy details many of them. It's also really easy to "pass judgement" on things that seem wrong, so we have to take a minute (or much, much longer) to reflect.

In Indonesia, there are surely the infamous sweat shops (don't think I've seen any yet), as well as unplanned, sporadic growth accompanied by untamed and swift flowing traffic.  There are age and gender restrictions for employment opportunities. The majority of middle class families rely on a multitude of paid "helpers"; nannies, maids, gardeners, drivers, etc. There are violent flare ups based on some kind of inter-group conflict, religious, ethnic or otherwise (these have happened a bit closer, but thankfully I've yet to witness violence, just the POTENTIAL for violence).  There are many situations here that could be "poster children" for a newly developing democracy, but the ones with which I've had the most experience are a bit different.

Approximately halfway between the capital city of Jakarta and the island of Bali is the city where I currently live. The experiences that I relate are based on my experiences here in this city unless otherwise stated. Yogyakarta is promoted as the center of Javanese culture and is a special region with unique political recognition.

There are status and power issues the revolve around ethnicity (real or perceived), education, gender based entitlement, and even Christianity. These issues swim about in a sea full of the salty water called "tradition" and "culture". These are handy terms to excuse a culture of violence.

What gives me any legitimacy to speak of a "culture of violence"? I'm a white American Southerner from a long line of Protestant Christians. The South dominates the region referred to as the Bible Belt and is also home to some of the most heinous atrocities against humanity that have occurred in the United States; namely slavery, but also the participatory violence against Native populations. That background allows me a more intimate awareness of how some people like to use "tradition" and "culture" to justify certain things, especially those which oppress and harm others.

That being said, I'm proud to be Southern. I'm proud of the way that many of us fight the evils of the past and continually seek out ways to embrace what is beautiful and good about our culture; strong family ties, faith traditions, hospitality and a sense of community. I'm proud of our authors such as William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, Flannery O'Connor, Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Wolfe, O. Henry, and more who wrote about the South in ways that shared our culture, good and bad, with "outsiders". I am also very proud of the people involved in the Civil Rights movement, black and white, who risked life and limb to fight social and legal mechanisms of oppression and hatred. I'm proud that Martin Luther King, Jr., an African American, Southern and Christian pastor is known the world over for his commitment to justice and peace. Helen Keller, also a tireless advocate for justice and social empowerment, was also Southern. Many of the strongest voices of the Christian Left, those who promote the Christian values of love, grace and redemption are Southern; how about Bishop Shelby Spong? Their efforts and those of others go hand in hand with an acknowledgment and concerted effort to discredit attempts to perpetuate cultural attributes that hurt others, namely racism, elitism, white privilege and exclusionary practices.

Many people here are quite proud of their culture and rightly so. There are many wonderful things. There is beauty, art, culture and history. There are stories of bravery, of love, of courage, and of justice. The work of Proemedia Ananta Toer, as well as the music of both Iwan Falls and Gombloh fill my heart with respect and admiration. Knowing a bit of history and seeing the temples that reflect a diverse and integrated past. Photos of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, always make me smile and even make me feel proud.

Even so, if there's one thing about being Southern that permeates my being, it is this. I realize the importance of treading lightly; this is not my place. This is not my territory. And the road that brought me here can also take me home. I am not here to pass judgment, but I am also not here to passively accept what I know serves as a tool of oppression, especially when it hurts the people I love.

In that spirit of respect and trepidation, the cultural realities I witness, as well as knee-jerk assumptions, judgments and conceptions of  what's "right" often make it hard to determine what's worth paying attention to and what is necessary to ignore. Early on I developed a rule of thumb that I rather like; if something hurts someone's soul, it's "wrong" so I can pay attention and even try to do something about it if possible. I haven't met anyone yet who is confined to a sweatshop. I've yet to meet anyone who complains about the age or gender restrictions on employment opportunities. I've also not yet involved myself in groups that either oppose others or are attacked by others based on religion or ethnicity. But I know many people who are hurting. And these hurts are all, in one way or another, related to issues of status and power.

Over the coming weeks and months, I'll continue to describe some of these issues. I'm still working through them and feel quite overwhelmed, honestly.  The social mechanisms specifically used to "keep people in their places" can marginalize and exclude people in order to maintain an order based on privilege, power and selective freedoms; this contradicts the quick, but false and misleading, retort that these things are used to promote "social harmony". Harmony based on fear is not harmony.

The hurt with which I'm most familiar and has already been touched on in various blog posts, results from any of the following:

• Childhood or teenage experiences that set the tone for the rest of one's life (molestation, pregnancy, marriage/divorce, alcohol/drug experimentation, death of a parent)
• Difference, in any way, real or perceived, from the majority of peers; fatter, lighter or much darker skin color, taller. Different kind of intelligence, different ethnicity or sexual orientation.
• Educational traditions, administrations and methods that stifle and discourage independent thought, creativity and innovation.
• Patriarchal oppression and objectification of both women AND men 
• Domestic abuse, emotional and physical
• Majority/minority relations
• What it means to be a Christian

I don't know yet the most effective ways of sharing these experiences and reflections. I'm not in a hurry and I will not disrespect, objectify or vilify any to the best of my abilities. It'll be a slow going process and I ask your prayers for me as I continue my service. My call that took me from a safe and comfortable life in a beautiful city, surrounded by wonderful and loving family and friends, into a mysterious land of beauty and contradictions. And love. 

My call to love without ceasing.