We all stood on the beach, and watched the sun rise. It was a beautiful sky, not many things around to obstruct our view, so we could see what felt like almost the whole sky. Not a single cloud anywhere to be seen. Just... Amazing. It was all so simple, and that was the beauty in it. We started worshipping as the sun continued to rise, and it was great. After that, the man who lead us in worship brought out two rolls of paper. One of them was an old map of the College of William and Mary, and the other was a copy of the charter.
Apparently these two items had been passed down for a number of generations, and were used by people to intercede for our campus. They were old, wrinkly, and stained with tears. What was fascinating, looking at the charter, was the original intent for our school.
"Forasmuch as our well-beloved and faithful subjects, con- stituting the General Assembly of our Colony of Virginia, have had it in their minds, and have proposed to themselves, to the end that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of ministers of the gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in good letters and manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated amongst the Western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God; to make, found and establish a certain place of universal study, or perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences..."
The original intent of our school... was to be... a seminary? Wow, talk about AWESOME! I thought about some of the important political figures of America who attended William and Mary. They were probably still feeling the influence of the original intent for our school, and possibly made our country into the nation that it is today. Basically, you can thank our school for how awesome America is. Harvard can have the petty 'oldest school in America' award. However, while we're on the topic, William and Mary does have the oldest charter...
Anyways, it was really cool to read this, and to dream about something that was once a reality. It makes me really excited for the years to come. During that time, we shared our dreams for the campus. Freedom, open worship, elimination of depression, and others were among things that came up. One thing that is close to my heart, that came up for me, was a revolution in identity. People find their identity in so many things, but true fulfillment is waiting for those who will find themselves in Christ. Wow, that sounded really profound. Must be from God.
But yeah, it's so hard to watch people chase things, searching for fulfillment. It's sort of like the carrot on a stick kind of analogy. Except, it's not even a real carrot, it's just a picture of one. Knowing that I was that person for a number of years doesn't make it easier for me to watch them.
After all of this, my then-aquaintence-now-friend who drove me earlier in the day asked me if I wanted to go to her church. Not knowing what to expect (again), I said sure! I didn't really have a church at the time, so I just went with it. After getting breakfast (which my friend graciously bought me) a bunch of us went to Jamestown Christian Fellowship.
We got there around 10:30, and it only took a few moments to realize that I was in a Pentecostal church. I am by no means knocking Pentecostal churches. As long as a church bases its doctrine on Scripture (in context and whatnot), then I have no issue with it. I think I might identify a little closer to Pentecostal denominations than others. Anyways (I say that a lot, I need a new transitional word/phrase, or maybe that can become my trademark phrase hmmmmmm), Pentecostal churches stick out due to their... Openness? I'm not too good (or is it well?) with words, but I guess I could describe the atmosphere as a greater openness to different ways of worshipping, and more boldness. Of course, not every Pentecostal church is like this (some feel obligated to express themselves in extreme ways, so it isn't perfect), but this church felt genuine, and as far as I could tell the church was solid doctrine-wise.
There was singing, dancing, teaching, and praying for hours. We (the College of William and Mary students) were prayed over multiple times, and were greatly encouraged (or at least I was). When it was all said and done, we began to leave at 2:00! Three and a half hours of church! Long time, but was really good. As we were leaving, we were offered an opportunity to have lunch at 'Reuben's house'... not knowing who Reuben was. In the spirit of saying yes throughout the day, I said yes, yet again, not knowing where I was going.
We got there, and it was such a welcoming atmosphere. As soon as we walked in, Reuben welcomed each one of us, and stepped away from the food he was cooking to learn our names. In other words, I felt immediately at home. They could not have planned for us, as they didn't really know that we were coming. But there was no look of surprise, nor concern, but only happiness to see us. We ate food, and talked, and it all seemed so natural. It was a lot of fun, and such a good time. I don't really know the story behind the family, nor much about Reuben or his wife. I pray that I can get to know the family better as time goes on.
This made me think of something else. Over the past couple of weeks, I've struggled with my identity as an Korean-American. As a Korean heavily influenced by American culture, I don't fit in with native Koreans. Even among Korean Americans I don't really fit in. I honestly feel like I'm a white person trapped in a Korean body. Because I am Korean, I feel somewhat out of place in a lot of different contexts. Just out of nowhere, I'll notice that I'm the only non-white person around, and I feel like I'm an island. I'm not saying that people discriminate against me or anything, but it's all in my head. However, among really close friends, I may think about the fact that I'm the only non-white person in the circle of friends, but it never bothers me. Looking at the time in Reuben's home, their hospitality really broke down any kind of 'racial barriers' if you want to call it that. I know that even if I were the only Asian person in America, I would not feel out of place in their home.
After re-reading that paragraph, I realize that this might seem suuuuuper racist. It's not that races are any better than any other, but it's very clear that people from different backgrounds are different. It's the way God created us. However, I think that the culture of America heavily emphasizes stereotypes, and- I hesitate to say judging, but I can't think of a better word- judging others based on skin color. When I was in middle school, I was so tired of being the 'smart Asian kid' who fit the stereotype (I corrected my math teacher once in 6th grade, and that's how I gained my reputation), and got academically burned out. I soon no longer fit the stereotype, and yet people continued to marvel over the fact that people were getting higher grades than me in math. I was consistently getting 80s in the class, but people refused to believe that I didn't fit the mold. I guess what I'm getting at is this. People of different skin color get treated differently, not based on the content of their character. I think this leads to people coming together who are going through similar struggles. These groups tend to have a certain culture, and I find that I don't fit into most of them.
I still feel like I'm dancing along the oh-so-fine line between racism, and my thoughts that I cannot adequately put into words. This was a super long post (as usual, so then, is it long, or just normal length?) and I totally did not expect going down that rabbit hole at the end. Thanks for reading, and I guess I'll see you soon!
Pray for William and Mary!
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