I saw Avatar this past weekend. The movie painted clearly the pictures of some heavily ingrained belief systems within American culture; belief systems few Americans would claim they follow, but in reality, many fall into their trap. The belief of “I want”- or Greed. The belief of “I deserve to have what I want”- Entitlement. The belief of “If this person is an inconvenience to me or will keep me from being happy, I can dispose of them from my life.”- Lack of value for Human life (seen in abortion and divorce ALL around us). And lastly, the belief of: “Cultures that are unWesternized are savage and uneducated. We need to save them with reeducation”- Ignorance.
Watching the Americans in their ingrained ignorance exercise their power over the beautiful Na’vi people by destroying things sacred to them, with little understanding or desire to understand who they are, brought tears to my eyes and filled my heart with grief and shame. Now, I recognize this was only a movie, but in reality, how many times in the past have we exercised this same ignorance?!
In six days I leave for the World Race. This, as you know, is a mission trip where I will be traveling to 11 different countries over the course of this coming new year. In the movie, the Na’vi have a phrase which means, “I see you”. Not merely, “I see you standing in front of me,” but “I see you- I see into you.” During the last 8 months God has been preparing me for this journey. God has laid on my heart just exactly what this journey is going to be: a time to see Him and a time to see others. This will be a journey of taking my eyes off myself to look Him full in the face. This will be a journey of learning- learning to love and appreciate other cultures, their people, their customs, their traditions, their differences and uniqueness; learning how Christ can transcend culture and change hearts without changing people culturally. Unwesternized does not mean savage or uneducated- it means different, not worse, just different. I will learn how to worship God in ways I have never experienced. I will receive a further revelation of the mystery that is the diverse and creative mind of our God.
My church prayed for me and Hope yesterday. They sent us off with hugs and tears, joy and thanksgiving. One lady hugged me and as she did she whispered in my ear, “Look them in the eyes. Look everyone in the eyes and see them! Don’t ever forget that Christ will be seen when you look into their eyes.” . . . I got chills.
I SEE YOU.
It is my prayer that after having seen one another, the Holy Spirit would liken their hearts to say, “Namaste” which means, “I honor the Holy One who lives within you.” That God would use me to shine the image of Christ through word and deed so much so, that those who do not know him might fall in love with our beautiful Savior, Jesus. So that ultimately HE is the one who is seen by the lost and dying world that he loved so much, he came to save.
