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Images from Korea Folk Village

Who is the missionary?

I'm reading "Making Room" by Christine Pohl. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to remember again what Christian hospitality actually is. I'm so much more aware of creating space for people. I'm aware for how others create space for me. I'm more aware of how God creates space for us! God both receives us as the host and allows us to receive him as the guest.

This week I've been thinking about the exchange which occurs or doesn't occur between the host and guest. Also, I'm reminded that power is both life giving and life destroying. Power between giver and receiver is dangerous if abused or lived out in ignorance.

Christine writes, " Giving the appearance of generosity, they reinforce existing patters of status and wealth and avoid questions about distribution of power and resources. They make others, especially poor people, passive recipients in their own families, churches or communities. Recipients of such "hospitality" thus become guests in their own house." Later she writes, "There is a complex dance between recognizing our own need, ministering to those in need, and recognizing their ministry to us. The helper must also be able to receive -- especially from those who look as if they have little to offer. Gracious hosts are open to gifts of others and allow themselves to accept and enjoy their expression of generosity." p. 119

I've thought about what Christine Pohl talks about for a while now in terms of missions. First world countries often have done a poor job of living out the "dance" to which Christine mentions. We often "give the appearance of generosity" and we create "passive recipients". Do we ever "go" with awareness of our own need? Do we go with intention of being both guest and host? Receiver and Giver?


I wonder what our short term missions programs would look like if the receiving end (like Mexico or the Philippines) saw themselves as the primary ministers and not the receivers of benevolence? Often when we go to another country to "serve" we go to do something for "those" people. We hope to make a difference in the lives of "those people" by doing something tangible for them: building a home, teaching the Bible, giving clean water, painting, roofing, teaching English (had to add that one), etc. Most people know that even while we go there to "do" something for "those" people, they often "do" something for us. Yet, do they also prepare to minister to those they receive? Do they prepare also to be the missionary?

I know that on the "sending" end we do some preparation. We prepare financial resources, travel documents, schedules, ministry, building materials, Lang. Skills, etc. We might do a little team building. We hope to give a good impression. We often are prepared to go and be open to what God has for us.

Yet, what kind of preparation happens for the ministry on the receiving end? Do those who receive mission teams also see themselves as a mission team? They might not be traveling to a different place but they definitely have a mission of their own. It happens all the time. The receiving end ministers to the giving end. The receivers become the givers and the givers become the receivers. Yet I wonder if those who receive see themselves as ministers to the strangers they are welcoming? Do they value what they are doing by receiving the short term mission team? I really wonder when it comes to "missions", "who is the missionary, anyway?" Technically it is the one who has left their home country, city or suburb to work for and with another people group (either other by race or economics). Yet, if this whole "host-guest" thing is so interchangeable, and it should be if it is lived out after the character of God, then, aren't both the receiver and the giver somehow both missionaries each other.

I wonder how this exchange of gifts, this valuing of each other as simultaneously host and guest could empower our brothers and sisters in places to receive teams of strangers in their mist. It also must empower us to live more authentically after the God who lives and works in us.

Korean Folk Village Day

Saturday October 21st and friend and I took our first trip to the Korean Folk Village outside of Suwon, South Korea. The Folk Village reminded me of a place in Northern California called "Old Shasta". There were building structures that clearly no longer exist but remain as a testament to an earlier time. We watched performances and people and had a fun snapping gobs of pictures with our digital cameras.

In one day we went to one folk village, we took three different style trains, we were in four cities, we were in four different train stations, we took 5 taxis, we shopped in 3 different major supermarets (including my favorite Costco), we ate in two restaurants and we walked for hours. It was a fun and exhausting day.

Korean Folk Village Images

Korean Folk Village Images

Korean Folk Village

Korean Folk Village Images

Spirit of God at Work!

Today I had one of those rare moments of "ah-ha". It was a moment of "awe" and a moment of sheer gratefulness. That God would work in the life of someone else because of me.

This week is mid-terms here at KNU. Students are stressed. Teachers are busy giving and grading tests. I met one on one with my students this morning to solicit proper English responses to questions we've studied in class. After one of my students finished she asked, "Can I talk to you?" "Of course", I said. She said she had been in English Chapel. She explained that whenever I have preached she has "felt something". Ha, that would have been enough for me to "make my day" but she had more. She said last semester I preached a sermon on being "thirsty". She asked if I remembered her. She reminded me that we had prayed together. I had no idea she was the one! I remember that encounter very well. She was shy and she didn't know what she wanted to pray for. At that time I asked her, "Are you thirsty?" "Yes", she said. Today she explained that she didn't want to seek prayer that day because first, she didn't know what her thirst was about and second, because her English wasn't very good. I remember that day we prayed that God would quench her thirst. She explained that after that chapel she decided she wanted to find out how to quench her thirst. She decided to see if she could find that in church. "I found God", she said. I asked her, "Are you a Christian now?" She said, "Yes, I am." I guess that means she found the One who will quench her thirst!

What an awesome gift. I've been preaching in our English chapels for a few years. This past year has provided me with more opportunities for preaching than ever in my life. I've been feeling within myself that this call is God's call. Before I wondered. Lately God has been showing me that the "sense" I have have within me about my call to preach is not just a "sense" within me but God's Spirit compelling me to preach. Yet, today he showed me that his Spirit is doing more than working in me! Much more! His Spirit is working on others too. I'm humbled! Wow. What a wonderful gift to know how the Spirit of God has touched a life. God Spirit is changing lives and he allows me to be a part of that work. No words can describe that great honor! Praise God for his goodness! Praise God for a life saved! Praise God for a new creation!

U-Nor-I and Reflections from a Retreat Center

This is a traditional Korean game. I think it is mostly based on luck. We threw up the wood sticks and how they landed told us how many moves I team go to make on a game board. The ladies really got into it. They are so comptetitive with each other! It was great. It was fun to hear them speaking in Korean when they got mad at each other or voiced their competitive feelings. I didn't understand the words but I understood the tone!




Christine Pohl in her book, "Making Room" writes, “At the personal level, hospitality communicates to guests and strangers that they are valued; respect and recognition are expressed in giving someone our full attention.” “…it is very unusual when someone gives focused attention to a needy stranger outside of a paid relationship. Giving a stranger full attention communicates that he or she is interesting and worthwhile; we pay attention to the people we value.”

Reflections on reading and an experience:

I wanted to stay at the retreat house to work on editing a paper. I needed a quiet place where I didn’t know anyone and there was no internet. Besides bringing my computer and book stuff with minimal clothes I put hardly any thought into the week. I didn’t think about appropriate clothing and I didn’t think about bringing western style snacks just in case I didn’t like the Korean food. I guess this week had great opportunity for disaster. Yet it was quiet the contrary.When I first met the sisters I felt mortified. Talk about feeling like I had little dignity. I arrived in “short” gray shorts, a white athletic style tank top and running shoes. You know my usual. The sisters were covered from head to toe. They wore gray dresses down to their ankles, stockings, long sleeves and of course the hat that covers almost all their hair—back and front—and thankfully leaves their faces unveiled. I was definitely underdressed. When we went to the mass the next morning I felt a little ashamed. I was the last to arrive to the van full of sisters waiting only for me, I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and we were going to a parish church. I didn’t have anything else to wear and I didn’t even know this was what we were doing. When we entered the service all the women had on white head coverings similar to a wedding veil. (they were not nuns) Of course I was the only without a head dressing and the only one dressed so casual. If only I would have brought a pair of pants! I was thinking I’d be lounging around and working on my computer and not about being proper culturally for worship times.The ladies never shunned me for my clothing. They were always kind and never let on that I was some kind of let down. Their kindness removed my shame and gave me a sense of dignity. They just let me be me. And they even convinced me to stay with them for the holiday. Friday was Korean Thanksgiving and it is on par with American Thanksgiving with regard to its familial importance. Not only did they give me dignity but they one up-ed it by making room for me on the most important day of the year, shorts and all.My experience in Korea as an English teacher is quiet different. Almost all my relationships with Korean people are based on what I can give to them; the English language. Even my Korean friends often start out because I speak English and they hope that by spending time with me they will also learn English. Of course in time they become more interested in me than in what I can offer them but it still is about English at first. So I’m an English object. I feel the weight of this on a daily basis. I miss relationships based on mutual wanting to get to know each other not because of how the other will benefit by me but because of valuing the other.My words really can not do justice to how these ladies made me feel this week. It was time full of “awe” and full of “oh my gosh” and full of “this feels so different”. I’m not used to feeling so valued for nothing else but “I’m me”. I’m not used to having people curious about me for anything else but my language. It wasn’t about English at all. In fact they so wanted to teach me. They taught me a lot of Korean. They taught me how to make yogurt from scratch. They taught me a new Korean game. They taught me about Kimchi. They taught me, obviously, about hospitality and welcoming the stranger.These ladies embody hospitality. I know what is meant by the quote Pohl uses from Calvin, “the Lord shows (her) to be one to whom he has deigned to give the beauty of his image.” These ladies didn’t value me as an English teacher; they valued me because I was one sent by Jesus to participate in their life for a short time. No question, I met Jesus this week in four Benedictine sisters. In meeting Jesus through them, let me tell you, “I want to follow more closely.” I think if I were to meet Jesus in person, face to face, for real, I’d also not have the proper words to describe my experience. This week I got a good taste of what that day will feel like.

Paddle Boats

Since my team won one of the rounds at U-Nor-I we got to go on the paddle boats while the others watched us. There is always a consequence when you lose a game in Korea!

Some of my favorite people in Korea!

During the Korean thanksgiving holiday, the first week of October, I stayed at a Benedictine Retreat Center. I was given such care , dignity and value through the way the sisters live out real Christian hospitality. These ladies have given their lives over to serving God through hospitality. What a witness they are to me. They practice the scripture that says, "When you welcome a stranger (foreigner) you welcome me."




A quote from Christine Pohl's "Making Room". P. 74-5
“In many settings the line between the shared meal and the Eucharist is blurred; the two flow into each other much as was the case in the early church. The sacramental aspects of meals become clearest in these settings, but even separate from the Eucharist, one often sense a divine mystery in dining together at a table of welcome."

Since I've started reading "Making Room" I’ve become more aware of the importance of shared meals. I think home cooked meals carry special value too. This week my time with the ladies was centered around the meal time. Also, our worship together was centered around meal times. Before every meal we met in the chapel to pray. Their prayers were chanted and they sang beautifully. Even thought I didn’t understand the words it was clear God was present. After prayer they finished meal preparation. We’d stand at the table and they would sing a prayer together for the meal. They would finish by crossing themselves and I never knew whether I should or not. ; ) Also at the end of the meal, when everyone had finished, they prayed a prayer of thanks for the fellowship and food.The time I spent together with the sisters was almost always at meal times because the rest of the day I was working on the paper, sleeping, reading or running. I realized how valued I was to them at meal times. During the week they cooked food specifically because they knew I liked it. They made fresh bread every morning because they knew Americans don't eat rice and kimchi for breakfast. They served me first. The meal they made on Thanksgiving Day was a dish they knew to be my favorite Korean dish. Imagine that, making a foreigners favorite dish on your Thanksgiving holiday! Wow. During meal times we laughed and joked as much as we could with the language barriers. It is easier than one might think to joke with people without the use of verbal language. I was fortunate that one of the women spoke English well enough to do some translating. Most of the time, however, I was immersed in Korean. I know enough Korean and can read body language well enough to know generally what they were talking about. It was so obvious that these women were pleasant, friendly, kind, fun, and curious about me. I realized that their openness to me changed me. There are certain foods that I despise in Korea. Mostly they are seafood related. One such item is the full fish with tail, skin, head, eyes and teeth all in tack. Donabel, you know this fish very well. In my first week in Korea more than two years ago I had a bad experience with fish. Ever since then I’ve refused to even try some seafood dishes. However, when it was placed in front of me and the sisters had cooked it, I knew I couldn’t refuse. I couldn’t refuse their gracious kindness. They had opened themselves and their lives for me and mysteriously that created a space in me to risk opening myself to them. I thought if only they could teach me how to eat the fish with chopsticks, then I would at least try it. I watched one of the sisters eating and followed her. I tasted it and found it to be delicious. The sisters even commented on my skill with chopsticks. I was free to risk because they risked having me. So I guess that IS what happens when hospitality is shared. Making room is contagious. When room is made for me then I make room for the other. I'm sure it doesn't happen all the time but at least I've experienced how it should work. There is no question that our meal times were sacramental in the sense that I experienced the divine mystery. (And I’m not just talking about the mystery of the conversation…all in Korean!)

Julene with Sister Anna Marie

Sister Anna Marie is a kindred spirit and thankfully, her English is great. Although, she doesn't believe that is true. I'm grateful for her leadership and her hospitality. She loves the Lord and has a whole lot of fun!


Christine Pohl writes in "Making Room", “in the economy of God, the host was both obliged and blessed in giving hospitality.”

Right before I was dropped off at the train station after a week with the sisters, I thanked the Sister Anna Marie who drove me. I told her that this week was by far the best week I have experienced in all of my time in Korea. I thanked her for welcoming me and valuing my presence with them. She said I was welcome and then proceeded to thank me. What? Why thank me? You are the one who did all the welcoming. You are the one who worked so hard to make sure I was cared for and valued. You created the space for me to be productive with my work. You then even invited me to take part in your most important holiday of the year. (Foreingers are not often invited to share in Korean Thanksgiving) She said it was wonderful having me and that she and the others really appreciated my staying with them. Her comments mean that I had somehow gifted them. Wow. She said I was bright! Ha, I think she was referring to my being intuitive and understanding more than language.There was mutuality through their welcoming and making room for me. I had thought there was but it was nice to hear it voiced (in English) so that I knew for sure what intuitively I felt. The host was blessed this week probably just as much as the guest. I was very aware this week that I might be Jesus to them because of how they welcomed in the stranger—the foreigner. And it the last minutes with them I found out that in some ways that was exactly how it was, they experienced the presence of Christ somehow through me. Who would have thought.....

Korean Thanksgiving Holiday "Korean Hairstyle"