As an avid devourer of all things historical I have always loved learning about other cultures, both past and present. I am fascinated by all the different ways that humans find to express themselves and to celebrate their unique environments and backgrounds. Whenever I read about any particular culture being destroyed due to invasion or shifts in power, I always feel a sense of loss; an important part of human experience is lost in such a transition, often never to be remembered. On the other hand, watching a culture change as its environment and story develops is exciting; nothing is lost, only built upon.
Humans have an unfortunate tendency, however, to confuse culture with humanity, turning differences into the banners of annihilating armies. This tendency has prevented humanity from working together since the Tower of Babel, when the confusion of language intended to humble mankind instead was developed into an excuse for hate by the resentful and rebellious.
Through all the changes and wars, the thread of God’s culture can be found. Interestingly enough, this culture never seemed to be defined by fashion, music style, architectural design, economic constructs, or any other temporary arrangement. Abraham first wore the tasseled robes and intricately styled beards of the Chaldeans, then embraced the cushioned, portable tapestry of the nomad life. Joseph, as governor of Egypt, lived in the opulent stone palaces of the Nile, shaved his head, and decked himself with brilliant metal and jewels. Moses, born into the grueling and choiceless life of a slave, grew up in a culture of wealth , information, and power. He ultimately exchanged that for the homespun and weary roaming of a desert shepherd.
David spent a huge portion of his life wandering from cave to cave or fighting for hire, finding peace only in the songs he wrote. Esther wore the finery of a Persian queen and spent her life in a world of women. Daniel embraced the trappings of a culture that valued classical learning and rose as high as anyone could within it. Paul, though born into the Jewish elite and steeped in a social structure so rigid that no one could follow it accurately, excelled at adapting to any culture he encountered. He made tents with laborers, argued philosophy and theology with Greeks, taught in schools filled with intellectual elite, and spoke the language of the Roman ruling class.
In all of these cultures the faithful were acknowledged by God as securely His. Melchizedec, the priest-king of a Canaanite nation, was used to describe Christ because of his own unwavering faith. All of these cultures were mere physical constructs, born of shared experiences. The faithful didn’t exist outside of the cultures around them, they merely participated in a different kind of culture in addition.
God culture is also born of shared experience, but not physical experience. It is born of awareness of spiritual identity, of a purpose that transcends the mundane or even dramatic concerns of the physical universe. God culture does not conflate any specific culture with humanity; to God, our differences are what make us all beautifully human. Our creativity and capacity for identity are a direct inheritance from our Father, the One Who Is and Creator of all things. Those who participate in God culture cannot fathom using human differences as excuses to control or eradicate portions of humanity. God culture reaches with delight into the human experience, whatever it may look like, and demonstrates God within it. God culture embraces all human cultures, blending them into one shared experience, one superceding and absorbing identity as God people.
The Word Worker 