THE GOLDEN RULE RULES?

by Cheri Roland

The longer we are here, the more this feels like the norm.   Why, we’re almost natives.  But then something will happen that points out just how naïve we are.  

Each semester, Doug and I put together the field education workbooks used by the seminarians to record their reactions and insights as they volunteer in the community.  We choose a theme, and pick scripture passages which are cornerstones of the Christian faith.   My favourite part of this gig is reading the seminarians’ reflections.  It is such a privilege peek into their world as they face new people and situations.

Writing the reflections is not intuitive for our students.  They were never encouraged to journal in school and many who are called to the ministry have never read the Bible.  (Not too unlike the US…) But they have had pastors scream scripture passages at them.  Part of our mission is to empower seminarians to live with scripture, to seek understanding with new eyes and minds.  What does this passage mean for my life?   

This semester the theme is “transforming challenges into opportunities”.    Our current assignment featured Luke 6:31, the Golden Rule, where Jesus says we are to treat others the way we would want them to treat us.   One of the assigned questions was, “What part of this passage is most difficult for me to put into action?”  The majority of responses went something like, “Making the other person do what I want him to”.  My initial reaction was, “EISH, how could they get it backwards?”    Then it hit me - my cultural blinders are back on again!    Obviously something has made them interpret this from the other side.

As I was wondering what could do a 180 on the Golden Rule, Jenny, one of our English teachers, shared with me what she had just learned from her Zulu languagestudents during a class discussion.  In many of the traditional black cultures, like Asian cultures, a new wife becomes property of the husband’s family.   Usually this set us a competition between in-laws, a struggle that has played out for generations.

Here’s the example the students gave to Jenny:  After dinner the husband decides to help his wife by washing the dishes.  Mother-in-law immediately pounces on daughter-in-law.  “You laid a spell on him! What did you put in his food? “  (Since mother did not rear him to wash dishes, it must be witchcraft.)   Jenny asked if this animosity was present in Christian homes; her students assured her, “Oh, yes, even high up Christians, like bishops.”   Of course a toxic home atmosphere poisons all within the family, and colors the understanding of scripture.

Survival of the fittest was the order of the day before Jesus came with His revolutionary message.  It still is seen in the traditional belief that there is a finite cloud of resources available to any given group, and each member is entitled to an equal share.  When the group sees someone that has become more successful than others, it means he has used more than his rightful share of resources, thereby stealing from everyone else.  He must be punished and the evidence of his success, removed.  Because of this belief, people are actually driven out of their communities, contributing to unemployment, homelessness and poverty.   The destruction rent by this tradition effectively reduces the tribe, village, or community to the lowest common denominator.

For centuries it has been said that the measure of civilization/society is how they treat their weakest members.   We’ve told you about the seminary’s partner agencies who serve as refuges for the children who have been thrown away here.   Their disabilities are viewed as evidence of displeased ancestors.  Parents go to great expense to “fix” them, often resorting to witch doctors that use unspeakable “muti” to appease these ancestors.  Every semester our reflection questions ask the students assigned to these orphanages to discuss the causes and prevention of such abuse.  But they will rarely address these issues that cry out for justice.

Two weeks ago I went to White Cross Disabled Hope Centre with the group.  We were happily greeted by several of the more mobile kids who led us outside to play.  There is always a mattress on the ground with scattered lumps of little people under blankets who have been rendered quadriplegic; they lie all day at the caregivers’ feet as the others sit or hop around them.  Siphiwe, just a little guy, was lying on his side, his eyelids fluttering over a vacant stare.  His upper body was developed but his waist and lower body were pitifully atrophied.   Although he is the size of a toddler, I was shocked to learn he is ten years old.  He had just returned from a home visit over the weekend.   Stewart, founder of this agency, lifted Siphiwe’s shirt to show me a traditional ancestors’ green cord that had been tied around his waist.  I asked why it wasn’t removed.  Our own seminarians quickly assured me, “You can’t take it off!  That is to ensure the ancestors give good prayers.”  I shuddered.  This is deeply imbedded stuff.  In ancestor worship, Jesus is still just one of the boys.

No wonder seminarians have a hard time with the Golden Rule.  No wonder the mission of SMMS is “Forming transforming leaders for church and nation.”  As our late president Ross used to say, the very future of this continent is at stake.