The Call to Discipleship: 'We Need Border-Crossers'

ROSEMONT, IL (February 4, 2004) - With the refrain of the previously sung hymn "On Christ the Solid Rock" still lingering in the air, Tuesday evening's Midwinter Conference speaker challenged a packed audience to begin anew to experience and know the sustaining power of God and the "solid ground" upon which our faith is anchored.

Dr. Elizabeth Conde-Frazier excited hundreds of pastors of the Evangelical Covenant Church with her animated and forceful delivery, quickly engaging her listeners in the first few minutes by vividly describing her difficult upbringing as a young Hispanic woman in a tough neighborhood where the only evidence of God's natural creation was "the grass growing in the cracks in the sidewalk."

She grew up in a conflicted neighborhood, punctuated with poor housing and the absence of basic amenities most take for granted, like a neighborhood grocery or bank. The area was so depressed, she noted, "that even the Post Office moved out." Her personal life reflected much of the depression and sorrow of her external environment – her mother died at a young age due to a lack of adequate and available medical care.

That experience ultimately played a crucial role in shaping her life for the future, however. "It was in the midst of sorrow that I began to know the sustaining power of God," Conde-Frazier recalls. "This memory is fixed deep within me." And it is that concept – the importance of one's memory of God's sustaining power in our lives - that provided a consistent theme throughout her message.

Drawing on the second chapter of Philippians as her scriptural basis, Conde-Frazier noted that people of like mind and spirit were being called to be Christ-like in their daily lives, reaching out to those around them and demonstrating the kind of love that Jesus showed in his interactions with people.

Being of like mind and spirit is quite different from being alike, she quickly cautioned. "We too often suffer from a spirit of territoriality," she observed. Too often we want to interact with others according to our own set of beliefs, she suggested. People are different, with differing ideas and viewpoints and coming from different backgrounds and experiences. "And that is often what causes a great deal of discomfort – leaving our own familiar territory to engage others who are not like us," she noted.

"Christ went where it was uncomfortable," she pointed out in reviewing numerous encounters Jesus had with biblical characters. "He took on the hardships of life. He identified with minority groups." Jesus went to where people were in their lives to engage them in their own perspective. Conde-Frazier suggested modern-day Christians can do no less, regardless of the discomfort involved in moving out of our comfort zones to engage those different from us.

"We need border-crossers," she said, "reincarnating Christ in other cultures." She identified one of the challenges to crossing over through a pair of personal questions. "How do I displace myself when I am fixed in the familiar – in other words, what I think is right in a given situation? How can I let this spirit (Christ) that is within me really operate when we are so different?"

She argued that conversion at its core means to be dislodged from our familiar patterns of life. "This is what we are being called to do," she said in reciting the Philippians passage once again. Recognizing the difficulty in moving from our individual comfort zones, Conde-Frazier offered four "spiritual practices" to help guide disciples in pursuit of Christ-like thinking and living.

Hospitality - "This brings us into alignment with the values of the Kingdom," she suggested. "We must do unto others . . . if Christ were here today, I would like to think I would be the one pouring oil over his feet," she observed in reciting the familiar story of the woman who encountered Jesus. "But, he's not here physically today . . . I can't pour oil over the feet of Jesus, but I can do it to others. Hospitality requires us to open our hearts and share what we have. It is related to human dignity and to our respect for other persons. Hospitality involves respecting the image of God in another person and ascribing equal value to the other individual. Hospitality begins a journey to visibility for those rendered invisible by society – it models the Kingdom of God."

Encounter - "This is a place of risk, involving different people with a multiplicity of views. A danger is in how easily we can misinterpret what each other is saying, and that leads to conflict. Sharing each other's stories helps us understand differing viewpoints." She related a visit she made with a friend to a Mosque on the Friday following the now infamous "9/11" terrorist attacks. She said she listened to the prayers that were offered and the individual stories that were shared. She recalled spending countless hours in discussion with her friend, eventually moving closer to her friend's world and perspective and gaining increased understanding in the process. "I need to be silent and listen – and move from my own framework of understanding into that of the other person, so that I can see the world from that person's unique perspective. We need to get to that place of common human experience deep within, past our prejudices and opinions, to a place where we can really hear the other person."

Compassion - "This works from a place of mutual shared weakness," she said. "It is different from pity. Pity keeps a distance and considers another person as inferior. Compassion calls for ingenuity and imagination and engagement with one's issues in the context of justice and mercy. It is part of the journey of conversion – it takes us from indifference to care. Indifference comes from a sense of powerlessness – we throw up our hands in dismay and become indifferent. It's about being moved – entering the pain of our neighbor. We are connected by a common wound where our two worlds have encountered each other. It is about acting out of the same love as Christ acted. It becomes 'enfleshed' truth - not a doctrine or a belief – when we love as Christ loves."

Compassion goes even further, Conde-Frazier advised. "Want to see a miracle? Then focus on passionate compassion. When you are passionate, you can make the impossible become possible. Divine consciousness and neighbor consciousness merge into a new borderland. It's where God and humanity come together. Passion calls us to commitment, relationship and community. It is part of what it means to be a disciple. Passion is the courage to take risks for those things that give life meaning."

Shalom - "This is a broad concept of love and creation, where all are one. It is a vision of connectedness, where all participate equally. We need to internalize the stories of others." Harkening back to the Philippians text, Conde-Frazier suggested that today's Christians similarly "have been summoned to take on the spirit and mind of Christ – and we can only do this if we love as Christ loves."

Conde-Frazier is assistant professor in religious education at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. She previously served as assistant professor in religious education and field education at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She holds an M.Div. degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Boston College. She was ordained by the American Baptist Churches, USA, in 1982 and resides in Alta Loma, California.

Printable version of this page.