cbpcommunity-blog

[cbpcommunity-blog]

“Hi Mina, my name is Harriet. I love Jesus and I am a Christian. History tells us that the man we both love, Jesus, is the same person. To me, as a Christian, He is the Son of God. To you, he is a Prophet.”

This was my Comment to a post on LinkedIn Group some time ago. The facilitator’s post asked the question that day, ‘why do you love Jesus and what does He mean to you?’ (paraphrase).

Social Media enabled me to ‘talk’ with someone half-way around the world.  In an instant I was able to meet someone new and share with them that I love Jesus too.  I like this.

You and I can talk, share ideas/collaborate with each other, and be an Agent of Change – not only in social media, but also in-person, as a part of a local collaborative community.

My comment was intended for a young woman, living in Iran, who had just posted a comment to the facilitator’s post. I was eating lunch at my desk that day, reading through articles and comments posted by my LinkedIn connections.

She posted a comment that said, “Hi, my name is Mina. I love Jesus too, and I am Muslim.” (Mina is not her real name.)

I caught my breath, then quickly wrote and posted my above ‘introduction’ to her. I wanted to get to know her – how brave she is, I thought, to post her comment in a public forum, especially an open public Christian forum.  I think about her some times. I wonder where she lives, what her home looks like, what her family life is like, what is her typical day. What does she love about this man, Jesus? How wonderful it would be to share together our personal stories of Jesus. I was fascinated with this young woman and wanted to get to know her.

Daily, we have these same opportunities within our own Communities.  We cross paths with someone from a different culture. Someone who knows Jesus, and loves Him too - perhaps in a different way than you do.

They also write songs, author books, make films and dance to music about Jesus, just like I do.

I didn’t have the opportunity to 'talk' with Mina again.  I was disappointed. Everyday, I see someone in Los Angeles that reminds me of my brief encounter with Mina, and it makes me want to get to know each one of them and ask them the questions I wanted to ask Mina, but didn't have the chance to do so.

My fascination with this isn’t something new, I must admit. My interest in what other people and places are like began with one of my Father’s business colleagues, an insurance underwriter. My Dad was President of an Insurance Company, whose lines of business were Commercial Fire, Property and Casualty coverage (second career was Owner of a Commercial Real Estate business and President of the Charlotte Board of Realtors). This particular colleague was a world traveler that frequented our dinner table with wonderful stories of where he had been and what he had seen. Dad would call Mom about 4:00 in the afternoon and ask her to set an extra place at the dinner table for his friend.  And, he always sat next to me, which made the evening very special.

I would help Mom set the table, arrange the flowers, and prepare the dinner. I knew he must be special because we used the embroidered linen table cloth and napkins that took an hour to iron, along with the good china, sterling flatware that I polished until it gleamed, and crystal I washed so that it sparkled. The dinner always included a Rum Chess Pie for desert – it was the traveling underwriter’s favorite. Mom saved an extra piece for him in the kitchen, as he invariably would say, ‘your chess pie is so good that I am afraid I’m going to scrape the flowers off of your china trying to get that last bite.’ That was Mom’s cue to offer him the second piece of pie she had saved, which he always accepted with a smile.

From an early age, I intently listened, trying to imagine, as he recounted colorful exciting stories of the adventures he had, far away places he visited and people he had met on his latest voyage. He started a stamp collection for me, and with each visit he brought me new stamps from his most recent adventure to add to the collection. Some had pictures of elephants, people with strange faces and hats, buildings that were bright and bold in color – and each stamp came with its own story.

So, my interest in other people and places around the world was a natural curiosity, encouraged by my family and their friends to learn about the world that I hadn’t yet seen.  Today I no longer have to imagine — you and I can share our worlds personally, with each other, through local collaborative communities.

Growing up in the Southeastern part of the United States our family attended a protestant church in the community. The church was supportive of world missions and from an early age I learned about missionaries who shared the story of Jesus, and His love, to people everywhere. One of the families in our church, and friends of my parents, was the Grady Wilson family. Grady Wilson was a member of the Billy Graham Crusade team and worked with Rev. Graham throughout his career, until his death. Mrs. Wilson was a childhood friend of Ruth Graham, their parents were both missionaries in China. In sixth grade I was assigned a project on China for Social Studies class.

Mom and I stopped by the Wilson’s house, where Mrs. Wilson gathered together some of her keepsakes from China for me to borrow and display with my project. I loved listening to the stories she shared about the history of the pieces she had chosen for me to use as part of my project. Stories about what her life was like, what the Chinese people were like. I also wore one of her traditional Chinese costumes on the day that I delivered my project to the class. Thanks to Mrs. Wilson I definitely had the most authentic project –

Today I would expand my report  – by becoming personally acquainted with a Chinese family. Learn about their culture, religion, food and education as a part of my presentation. I don't need to travel to China and live in the culture in order to learn about it.  Here in Los Angeles, I can go to China Town, or my neighbors, for the same experience that Mrs. Wilson had as a girl.

Just like seeing a photograph, listening to music, viewing a painting, reading a translated piece of literature and watching a dance performance - anyone – anywhere – speaking any language can enjoy an artistic work – and find that it creates in you a new energy that makes you want to get up and shout, dance and sing! It makes you smile and gives you an urge to share that happiness and burst of energy with someone else!

Today we build relationships through local community activities in ethnic urban areas, Foodie groups, cultural performing arts groups, Chorales, Instrumental groups, Meet Ups, and collaborating to develop new works of art in the Choir Boy Productions community in Los Angeles.

In the short time that I have been in Los Angeles I have been privileged to hear; Los Angeles Balalaika Orchestra, Los Angeles County Professionals Indian Hindi dancing and the Towne Singers, all in memorable performances.  And, I can't wait to experience more of the treasures that are here.

Choir Boy Productions' faith-based collaborative community enables us to establish, and share, multi-cultural relationships, based on Jesus, with everyone in our community, letting everyone see the generous qualities of our relationships. CBP also enables us to collaborate in these new relationships to develop new faith-based works of art – and continue to build on these relationships to develop networks.

I love Jesus — just like so many of you do. He is my Savior, the Son of God – I am a Christian. So, when I blog about the Jesus that I love, it is from a Christian’s perspective.

I am excited that now I have an opportunity to collaborate with you to share Jesus, and who He is to you, through the faith-based media of Choir Boy Productions, all in our local community.

I invite you to contact me with your stories about the Jesus that you love and what He means to you. I want to hear your story of how Jesus touches your heart and influences your life. Tell me about your unforgettable Jesus experiences.  Choir Boy Productions may video you telling us your story and post it on the website.

Then let’s get your stories into the local Choir Boy Productions collaborative community and make music, art, books, dance and films.  Let's celebrate the joy of knowing Jesus.

As you know, history tells us that the Jesus we all love is the same man. Christianity, Judaism, Hindi and Muslim are religions that all recognize Jesus as a man held in high esteem, and with great reverence.  I will focus more on this topic in future blogs.

I hope that you will share with me your stories about the Jesus that you love.  I look forward to reading each one of them.

Through Choir Boy Productions these stories can be shared on our website, or in the community, through; video, music, dance, painting, books, poetry, film, seminars and theater.

Until next time…

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