As you may already know, I love looking for the pieces of culture that reflect parts of God more clearly than our culture does! And here in the Middle East, I've seen a shard in their culture!
Arabs love people! They seriously just enjoy spending time with one another! To a level that seems odd to Americans. In the US we have schedules and things end at a certain time. We are busy, and have other things to do, so business meetings usually focus on just that: business and hardly anything else. I know I can get annoyed in meetings when we are socializing instead of working.
But then I met all of these wonderful people! And it reminds me that we are created for community. God made us to be in fellowship with one another, not just to accomplish a goal or make money, but to do life together. And they really have that down here! From the hospitality to the food to the clinic, their attention and desire for people is easy to see.
It was funny the first couple of days, near the end of the day I would leave the dentistry room to get something or dump something out and there would be so many people in the main area! And I kept thinking, oh no. We still have all of these people to go through. There is no way we are going to get to everyone. (Work first, right?) but then someone explained to me that almost all of them had already been seen, they were just hanging out and spending time together (some didn't even come to be seen by a doctor, they just came to support their friends and family!)
I don't know about you, but even though I'm "medical," I still don't like spending time at a hospital or doctors office or clinic, let alone with my friends. I would definitely leave as quickly as possible! But here, the idea of domestic friendship activities is strong. You go shopping for groceries with your friends. You hang out with people at the doctor's office. You go with each other to get your oil changed, or invite one another over while you cook and clean.
Everything is done in community here because people are the focus. Fellowship is the thing that is worthwhile.
This is absolutely how God created us to be. The only thing in the garden of Eden which was not good was that man was alone. So God fixed it: He gave man a helper. And then He told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
Even God's triune nature points to His desire for us to not do life alone. He never does anything alone (except when He became fully man and took on the sin of the world so that we could be with Him, but even there we see that being alone was the worst part of Jesus' time. Being separated from His creator.)
These people (our national partners and the translators) also just love so well. You can tell that they care deeply for every body and soul that walks through their doors, and the people who walk through also feel that love and care.
I think that it is very interesting that the Arabs are so drawn to community and yet lack a relationship with their creator. In Islam, you do not talk to Allah directly, and you do not have a relationship with him. Perhaps this is why they are so desperate for community? They feel that hole and try to fill it with the only things that they have available to them. In their case, this God-shaped emptiness for community is filled by people, but it never quite satisfies.
As Christians, we have a better chance of seeing the whole picture. Our translators lived the balance out well. Instead of looking towards community to fill our emptiness and loneliness, our strong communities should reflect and point us towards our Creator. When we are spending time with each other in the presence of God, I think we are a bit closer to what a perfected world would look like.
I hope I learn to slow down and spend time with people with the fervor and commitment that my Arabic friends have for each other and for God.
3am and still fellowshipping with my Palestinian sisters!!
Comments