Bending our lives towards others

Last night was one of those amazing nights of learning.  We were huddled in Trevor and Chrissie’s house in Cosmo City.  We were a group of strangers learning from each other what it would mean to live as Jesus people.  Together we explored the ‘OUR’ of the Lord’s Prayer.  Who was our, OUR and who could it be in the newer South Africa?
We first explored the ethnicities of the people in the room – the biological "OUR":

We were white, black and colored.

In the room were: (these are the self description used by those present)

Sotho
Tswana
Boer
White African
Xhosa
English White
Baster (Colored / Sotho)
Venda
Pedi
Malawian
Shangaan
White African American
Afrikaner
American
And
Jamaican
PEOPLE.
The languages represented were Afrikaans, Tswana, Sotho, English, Xhosa, Ndebele, Portuguese, Sepedi, Zulu and Pedi.

When we explored the our in pre-apartheid South Africa people talked about their our being constituted by mainly themselves (individualism) or their ethnic group and biological family.  For some it included only their race.  For others it only included people of the Christian religion. 
We then wondered out what it would mean to be an “OUR” in a post-apartheid South Africa.  One of the phrases that staid with me was when someone said that the “OUR” should include those who are different and that “we should bend our lifestyles towards each other”.  We also realized that if the “OUR” is gathered under the loving care of a Father – then we are all brothers and sisters.  This family metaphor is challenging.

One of our brothers who described himself as a VENSHA (Venda/Shangaan) proposed that if we were to go forward towards becoming a new “OUR” then we should DROP THE ACT.  We explored this and here are some of the points that came forward:

-    Stop playing the victim – and realize that sometime you have been the victim.
-    Own the fact that some have been the beneficiaries of oppression.
-    Ask questions when you don’t understand.
-    Don’t pretend / Be real.
-    Go forward by looking back.
-    Tell each other first person stories of growing up in South Africa.
-    Eat together.
-    Pray together.

Our whole group committed to praying together this week and in a few weeks we will all go to the Apartheid Museum and eat a meal together as we process towards becoming a new “OUR”.  More than ever I’m convinced that the Lord’s prayer is one of the most revolutionary prayers we can pray.