Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A long way from home


Almost French traces the emotional journey of Sarah Turnbull as she moves from Sydney's leafy North Shore to Paris, chasing her dream to participate in the glamorous Parisian lifestyle. She finds, however, that there is more to being French than she initially thought. Despite living with a French man, Turnbull frequently finds herself out of her depth in language and custom. The book portrays with awkward honesty her experience of living as an outsider in a fiercely guarded culture.

Having spent a little time in Paris myself with locals, one particular moment resounded with my experience. Despite her determination to associate only with the French, Turnbull accepts an invitation to an ex-pat dinner party, and it is there that she finds her first true friend in France: an English ex-pat pursuing a fledgling career in journalism, like Turnbull herself. There is a bitter-sweet irony to their friendship, each wanting to live like the French, yet finding themselves unable to connect on a deep level with the French way of life. True belonging is found with those similar to themselves. And so both women remain tantalisingly almost French.
As Christians, we walk a similar path, whether we recognise it or not. We too are far from home, living in a foreign culture which mocks our simple values and moral prudishness. We are strangers in the world (1 Pet 1:1)...

The problem is, much of the time we don't remember our heavenly citizenship. We were brought up here, we live and breathe Western culture. ydney culture. Shire culture. We don't always feel like strangers when the media trashes the Christian faith. We don't feel out of place when our colleagues talk about their drunken weekend. We are not shocked and offended when the footy boys talk about their sexual exploits. It just seems normal.

If we recognised our heavenly citizenship more, church would be like the ex-pat dinner party. It will be the only place where we can find true community, deep relationship and cultural understanding. It will feel like home, and the world outside will start to feel like a rude shock by comparison.