Downwardly Mobile

Came across this article in the Asian-American Christians for Social Justice news group. Ron Ornsby writes about the struggles he has had being a middle-class white guy interacting with blue collar Chinese men. Some excerpts:
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My previous circle of Chinese contacts consisted largely of highly educated, appearance-conscious professionals. They were largely bilingual, using English more than Chinese to relate to me, and comfortable working with my Western time-task orientation. In sum, we had a great deal in common in education, work experience, and outlook.

But the middle-aged Chinese men standing before me on the street lived in an entirely different world. Most of these men held blue-collar jobs or worked as "day" laborers. Their plain-looking, outdated clothes, unkempt hair, and scruffy beards reflected their minimal concern for appearance. They were monolingual and largely mono-cultural. We had virtually nothing in common.
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The contrasting realities of Jesus pre-incarnate experience in heaven and his human experience on earth can be summarized this way:

Reality in Heaven Focus of worship Served by all Self-determination Transcendence No limitations Completely understood

Reality on Earth Focus of controversy Servant of all Total submission Immersed in world's needs All human limitations Often misunderstood

Personal evaluation
Such a list is an oversimplification of Jesus' emptying process, but it can be directly applied to my situation. These contrasting aspects closely parallel the issues and decisions I face, as I attempt to leave the comforts of my American middle-class lifestyle and enter the lifestyle of blue-collar Chinese in Hong Kong. The degree to which my contextualization efforts succeed will depend in part on how effectively I work through these issues.
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I realize that any progress I have made in crossing the class gap is solely due to the grace of God. The radical emptying of self Jesus modeled runs against the currents of society and the selfish desires of the heart. Thus, my taking on a blue-collar lifestyle is "supernatural." Study, reflection, and models can clear away mental fog, but only the Spirit of God can make us both willing and able.

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Ornsby then goes on to discuss how the above practically takes shape in his situation. He addressed the issues of status, controversy, servanthood, submission, immersion and misunderstanding. In many ways, I found his observations to be much like how the post-modernists mind set is influencing how people react to and often reject Christian faith.

UPDATE: A reader (I'm amazed, somebody actually read this blog?!) wrote in asking for clearification as to the connection to post-modernism.

I guess why I felt the article had a post-modern feel to it was two fold.

1. The sense that Christians live in one world and others live in a different one. In our post-modern times, it can also be said it is post-Christian in that there isn't necessarily even a common language to discuss religious faith. So in his (the author's) circumstances the barrier was a class based one... but the barrier is similiar to what people of the same class experience where one is Christian and the other not a Christian and influenced by post-modern approaches.

2. The supremacy of relationship building before truth telling... the author's points on status, controversy, servanthood, immersion and misunderstanding all have the sense of the post-modern stuff we talking about... really pretty much having to strip away the old clothes of the traditional church and build relationships... in particular I was moved by his discussion on controversy... of sitting there and letting people bash Christianity so he can win an audience rather than an arguement. Also the misunderstanding section resonated too in that the modern emphasis on time and task led to misunderstandings.

The only section that wasn't post-modern was the submission part where he used the engine train analogy of everyone following along one dynamic leader. Post-moderns can operate that way but I think they prefer not to and rather like the joint decision making and group participation.