Focal Verse(s): See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ~ 1 John 3:1 (ESV)
One of the areas in which forensic death investigations I’d like to see drastically improved is in how we interact with different cultures and their diverse customs and rituals in regards to mourning and dealing with the dead.
In my thirty plus years on the job, I’ve seen law enforcement and other medical examiner personnel handle people of western cultures very well, but when it came to people of cultures very different from our own (the East, Caribbean, African, etc), they tend to flounder. I’ve seen cops and death investigators quaking at the knees as they enter a home to be greeted by the stone-like sentinels of Orisha guardians that protect a home’s threshold so prominent among Santeria practitioners. I’ve seen hardened, muscle-bound detectives turn white as a sheet when it is pronounced by some shaman or Santero that a death curse has been placed upon them. I’ve seen the nervous chuckles and foot shuffles when they discover what is colloquially, but erroneously called voodoo dolls on a death investigation. And I’ve seen crime scene technicians scratching their heads over lines of salt poured over the threshold of a door or a hand-woven straw broom hanging on the door itself.
As a forensic death investigator, this lack of knowledge of other cultures (known technically as ‘Cultural Illiteracy’) has always been a source of embarrassment for me and is what prompted me to make death rituals of other people groups my particular speciality in the field. I’ve spent the better part of the last five to ten years trying to educate others regarding these cultures so that 1) we’re able to serve these specific communities better without irrational fear and with respect, and 2) we’re able to do our jobs far more effectively when faced with customs far outside our comfort zone.
Truth is, culture is a weird thing. Every person on earth is part of at least one culture. Most are part of multiple cultures. For instance, I’m American. But I’m also Southern American. Appalachian American with our own set of customs, folklore, and mythos. I’m also part of author culture, death investigator culture, and pastor/Christian culture too. And chances are, you’re part of a myriad of cultures as well, although you might never have thought about it consciously.
Asked to define your own culture(s), you might struggle to verbalize what it is despite possibly being part of it your entire life. You might struggle to even provide one or two minor characteristics of it or why you belong to it. Why? Because we rarely ever think about it consciously. We’re just part of it. It’s like the air we breathe. It’s there. We know it’s there. But as long as it is there, there’s no need to ponder its properties.
So, imagine suddenly being thrust into a culture completely foreign to you. Imagine stumbling into a room full of bizarre relics, idols, talismans and charms, and behavioral quirks so far outside your own that it’s like stepping onto a different planet. Instantly, everything becomes suspect. Becomes sinister. Alien.
In today’s three verses (particularly verse one), John gets excited about a very specific culture…a very exclusive culture…and exactly what it means for us.
Yowzers!
First, as a show of excitement and awe over what he’s about to say, he tells the churches, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us…” Other ways of looking at this introduction might be the fancy King James, “Behold…!” Or “Can you believe this…?!” Or “Yowzers, this is so awesome!” Point is, John is super excited about what he’s about to say.
He then goes on to remind us that God’s love is so great that He literally adopted us into His family! Despite our peasant and filthy pedigrees, He brought us into His home and made us His Children! For those who come to know Christ, we’ve become princes and princesses in that family! How awesome is that? I can certainly understand John’s excitement!
Far Off Country
The brilliant Bible scholar John Stott put it this way in his book ‘The Letters of John’ (page 122): “The Father’s love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that [the Apostle John] wonders from what country it may come.”
That love that accepts us completely, not for who we are or what we’ve done, but for who God is, is a love so bizarre that it bears no analog or comparison anywhere else in creation. It’s a completely different thing altogether. Of a different culture entirely.
And because that ‘country’ or culture is so foreign to the rest of creation, the more we settle into our inheritance in Christ, the more bizarre our own customs will seem to the rest of the world. They hated Christ because His love didn’t fit humanistic standards of love. They’re going to hate us too because with our adoption, we begin to take on the exact same genetic traits as Christ. Or customs and behavior becomes diametrically opposed to conventional behavior.
In essence, we are foreigners in a foreign land. We’re not longer Southern or from the East or from the West. Ours is a Heaven culture. A princely culture. A culture filled with divine perfect love which makes human love appear to be little more than a facsimile of a facsimile of the real thing. And the world is going to despise us for showing the flaws in the way they “do life” from a world’s perspective.
So, rejoice in that! Rejoice in being different. Strive to stand out. Strive to be different. Love hard, while loving that you are hated for your culture. And then, turn around and love those who hate you…which will only make them hate you more.
Seriously, how amazing is God’s love for us that He would adopt us into His family simply because He desired to do so? Now that’s something worthy to be praised!
Father God, thank you for your love. Thank you for our adoption into your family. Help us, Lord, to continue to adopt your own culture in our own lives and to embrace the animosity that will bring down upon us. Keep us strong in this hostile, foreign world and let the light of your love shine through us every day. Amen.
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