A woman named Sunitha Mortha, who works for Global Missions, gave a great presentation on accompaniment, the main tenet of the Young Adults in Global Mission program. Accompaniment is defined by the ELCA as "walking together in solidarity that practices interdepedence and mutuality." It is about being present with others. It is about letting ourselves receive and offering to share. Knowing that we don't have all the answers, through accompaniment we can be open to the questions. Our culture is just one of "many ways to do life." We can let many different ways of doing life coexist. One of the other YAGM said accompaniment is like its musical definition, another voice that gives support and power to the singer. Someone who accompanies listens first, follows the voice of the singer, and adds music that supports what is happening.
Sunitha's presentation focused mainly on accompaniment in Cross Cultural settings. She began by saying, "Namaste," and explained this means, "When my soul meets your soul, I see God in you." "There are so many ways to do life!" Sunitha said, and "There are so many ways to practice love!" She said, "where we come from affects how we serve." While we meet people with different cultures or experiences, we naturally draw lines and boundaries between one another because we are distinct. Yet, the boundary we have to be careful not to draw is one that says "God is on my side and not yours" because this is always oppressive. God is plenty big to embrace all of our experiences, and to draw us into relationship with each other.
Sunitha described culture as being like a pair of imaginary glasses we wear and can never take off! These glasses can help us see, but they also blur our perspective. We can sometimes forget that everyone has their own glasses and therefore a different and just as valid perspective as our own.
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