LiveDifferent Challenge (21): Turn up the Heat

Today it’s supposed to reach 104 degrees, so of all days this is not the time to try to convince you that Oregon is a cold state.  But it is.  Relationally that is.  Now I love Oregon.  I bleed green, I love the trees, the rolling hills, the lack of sales tax, the fact that we have mountains and oceans just a few hours apart.  I love everything about Oregon, even the rain.  Our little stint in California only made me realize that much more that nothing save a voice from heaven could get me to leave my beloved Pacific Northwest. I love it here.

Since I’ve lived here my whole life, I’ve become pretty familiar with the climate–I know that summer doesn’t start until the 4th of July and isn’t over until the end of September. I know that it’s always sunny over Finals week of Winter term, then rains again all of April.  But it wasn’t until recently that I became more aware of the relational climate here.  One of my professors moved here from Texas (since that’s where DTS is, pretty much all professors move here from Texas), and remarked how it took almost a year of adjustment to get used to the cool unfriendliness of Oregonians. What?  I think of myself as a friendly person, so this caught me off guard.  Are we really unfriendly?  My travels have included London, Paris, and the California Bay Area, and Oregon is really friendly compared to those areas!

But then I took a trip and visited my brother and his family in Utah.  I’d heard their stories–they moved there and after their first visit to church they’d had 3-4 invites over to dinner at different couple’s houses.  They had neighbors bring treats over, offers to help them move in, and even had a neighbor bring over little girl hand-me-down clothes for their daughter.  I thought of our church in our previous town (which was wonderful, this isn’t again that church), and realized that we were there almost two years before we were ever invited over to dinner anywhere (and that was from the pastor himself!).   Then, we moved here, and Jeff and I were just marveling that we’ve been going here for almost 14 months and only once have we been invited over for dinner by someone from church, and that was from a high school friend after we’d had them over for dinner.  We’ve had tons of people over to our house, so it’s not as if we’re sitting around waiting for people to befriend us… it’s just made us think.

Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Uh, if nobody invites you over there’s probably something wrong with you!”  Perhaps you’re right.  We’ve made plenty of connections with people, but what I’m addressing here is the fact that perhaps there is a cooler relational culture in the NW.  But regardless of where you live, the fact of the matter is that the church must permeate the culture.  Must.  The church is not peripheral to the world, the world is peripheral to the church.  No matter what the culture is like in which we live, our job, as Christians, is to rise above any cultural weaknesses and be the hands and feet of Christ to those around us.

Thinking about this, I also read a post about the Hawaiian concept of ‘Ohana (it’s a really great post), and thought more about how Hawaiians seem to understand the concept of hospitality.  And we all know that the Southerners got it down.  But again, it seems to me that regardless of where we live, love, service, and hospitality should mark our lives as Christians.  This is to truly LiveDifferent.

So our challenge this week is to look around.  Do you see someone new? Invite them over for dinner. You don’t have a nice house for entertaining? Who cares? They won’t!  People are so blessed to be welcomed, no one is evaluating your house decor.  Hear about someone having a baby? Take them meals.  Someone moving?  Help them load boxes (you can help us!) :-).  Someone new move in down your street? Take them a welcome basket and let them know you’re happy they’re there.  It takes so little to really bless people.  I remember so clearly the little acts of love that have blessed me.  When our neighbor, Tony, brings us fresh fish from his Mexico trips.  When our friends from McMinnville brought us the hot meal after Dutch was born and we devoured it like wolves.  When a guy from Jeff’s work, whom he hardly knew, drove an hour to come help us move.  When I walk down the driveway and the neighbors wave and smile.

It might be hot right now, but I suggest that we turn up the relational heat a little and thaw out the coolness that can characterize our culture. In a country of independence, reach out and help those who need it, and receive from those who offer to help you. Invite, bless, give, help.  Choose to warm up your little sphere of influence for the glory of God.