I was invited by my longtime friend and pastor Marc Murchison to come to AK again, this time to lead worship and also bring my blues to the ECC Alaska Conference's annual meeting.
Western AK and indeed Shaktoolik is truly wild and beautiful. The village is right on the Bering Sea with a river on the other side of it's one long street in-between. The Alaskan Native population has hunted, fished there for several thousand years and eventually some settled in what is now the town.
As there is no hotel we were hosted in local homes and the kindness, hospitality and grace from all was sweet!
I enjoyed lots of coffee (of course) and also moose, caribou and tonight various other local dishes such as salmon and herring -all of this is low-carb (essential for me) and sooooo good!
As early as I discovered encyclopedias I devoured knowledge seeking to understand the vast, extreme cultures and subcultures of nations, tribes and sub-tribes around the world. I'd spend hours in our amazing high school library and later at home doing so. God set me up to be a missionary long before I knew Jesus in a deep, personal way.
One morning at breakfast in conversation with a local elder of the people I learned more about the wide differences in language in the region, dialects and pronunciation of words -lots of differences and unique while sometimes common links and understandings between the several local tribes depending on their heritage, geography and etc.. Of course it's the same throughout the world.
I mentioned to another bro how even relatively small countries often have quite different languages and certainly dialects while towns and small settlements are often not all that distant but perhaps separated by things like mountains, valleys, waters such as a larger bay, etc..
There are so many reasons where and why understandings, agreements and disagreements happen. Again, all this is common and world-wide so should not be surprising.
Perhaps you come from a city of half a million or as relatively small as five or six thousand people, perhaps even 600. If someone who lives many miles away learns that's where your from and asks "Ahh, from there 'eh? -do you know fill-in-the-name-of-the-person-or family?" So you end up laughing because there are just too many people for you to know someone simply because you're from the same place.
The opposite is also true. Shaktoolik sits on a sand spit between ocean and river, population something like 180 folks and "everyone knows everyone".
I've lived in very rural and huge city settings in my time and can tell you it can be super cool, a helpful blessing and also a major pain either way. Again, the same goes for us all doesn't it?
True brother-sister-friend relations can be the sweetest, most comforting thing or when various hurt feelings, judgments and divides happen life can hit one as truly unbearable.
This is the way of the world, and often church.
Where to establish boundaries, to stay linked even for survival (as per where I was in AK) and navigating the changes in weather be it fair or storming? It's all part of our journey!
My own experience continues to be about learning to flow with the changes, seeking to see others through God's eyes according to His Word best as I understand it. Of course there are times we do not understand what He said (or perhaps meant by it). The "ears of our heart" haven't yet been trained enough to link -or we don't want to sacrifice in order to get there. It's the very same between humans, and it takes work that some would rather bypass.
As I was asked to bring a music form unfamiliar to many of the people, I had done my homework realizing that as always, some would think "This guy is strange and his music even more strange!" And of course from their perspective they'd be correct :)
In conversation with an elder, he said "You know some, even long-time followers of Jesus among our people think anything different is of the devil, no good, has no value and they reject it and the people who try to introduce it. I tell them to listen to Who and what the songs are pointing to.
He then kindly told me he'd never in his long life heard what he called "jazz" :) music done in a church before. My few blues songs, also playing slide and harmonica was so different and new to him and others... and then he said "I heard your heart pointing to Jesus" with a smile. Quite encouraging.
He then spoke of truth and the importance of integrity. It was an encouraging conversation indeed.
I don't know if his native language is English but he also fully understood how culture can rob, kill and destroy but also feed, supply, and bless.
Missionaries have done plenty of both in Alaska and the world over. It's important for those willing to move beyond their chosen culture -including language and music-, to remember that.
As a follower of Jesus, I come to give, not merely take. I have zero interest in getting what I can out of people and moving on. What has the Lord -sent- me for, and how might I best love them in whatever form of service whether via music or something else? This is my continuing quest.
Things worth considering for us all?
As always, thanks for stopping by! -Glenn
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