I was driving around town with my kiddo and a couple of her friends when all of a sudden I realized they were speaking a foreign language. I asked about the vocabulary, but they just cackled and kept talking among themselves. So I took drastic measures. I googled “Gen Alpha slang” … and up popped a multitude of fascinating articles. Just to keep you awake, alert, and culturally informed, today’s sermon begins with a pop quiz on the vocabulary of Generation Alpha! It’s a multiple choice. 1. “Rizz” is: a. arrogance; b. scum; c. charm. 2. “Skibidi” can mean “bad” “cool” or “dumb” depending on context. The origin of this word is an internet show that features: a. singing elephants; b. toilets with animated human heads; c. candy. 3. “Sigma” is: a. a dominant leader; b. a secret society; c. a blue-green color. 4. “Let bro cook” means: a. bro is going to make dinner; b. give bro room to work; c. bro is getting their just desserts. 5. A “sussy baka” is: a. a crazy party; b. a yummy pastry; c. a suspicious fool. 6. “Basic” refers to something that is: a. mediocre; b. amazing; c. surprising. 7. “Yeet” is: a. an expression of excitement; b. something to say when you are throwing a ball; c. a high pitched noise; d. all of the above. (See ¹ for answers)

The deeper question, in my mind, is what is there for me to learn and appreciate in my encounters with the culture of Generation Alpha? I could just dismiss their language as silliness, a ridiculous invention of middle schoolers who are spending too much time on the internet. And in so doing I might minimize the genuine differences between this generation and my own. Really I could end up missing out on the unique experiences, values and gifts of my own kid and her friends. Which might, in turn, lead her to feel invalidated, and disconnected from me. In general, a “minimizing” response is common when we encounter cultural difference. Those of us who are part of dominant cultures are more comfortable if we can hold on to a belief that everyone is the same underneath it all and that my experiences define what is “normal”. One the other hand, those who are outsiders may suppress their expressions of uniqueness for reasons of self-protection.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Luke reports that Jesus took the path following the border. Not just any border; the border between the Jewish territory of Galilee and their distant relatives in Samaria. In the First Nations Version, Samaria is dubbed “High Place” because it is located on a steep hill with a strategic view of the land around and many trade routes running through. Samaritans and Jews were once part of the same nation. The two groups split over scriptures, customs and the appropriate place of worship (the temple mount in Jerusalem or Samaria’s high place?). A special and specific kind of mutual dislike and mistrust developed between Samaritans and Jews over many generations.

The men who came across Jesus’s path in this village on the border had a skin disease (scholars agree that it wasn’t leprosy as we know it today). Their illness meant that they had to live in quarantine, away from other people. The holy men, or priests, were kind of like public health officials. They were responsible for verifying a healing and deciding if and when the person could return to society. The narrator of today’s story describes how healing happened to the men as they were on their way to be checked by the priests. So Jesus alone did not heal the them. Their own initiative and faith, their action in partnership with the divine, is a key ingredient in their healing as well.

While I believe gratitude is healing and life-giving, I don’t think this story is supposed to be a moralistic tale designed to shame us into writing our overdue thank you notes. The heart of this story is the surprising encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan man. What is surprising is their mutual willingness to take risks and show vulnerability. Jesus did as he had always had done. He traversed the borderlands. He honored the humanity of all and especially the outsider. He got close to those others wouldn’t touch. The Samaritan risked his own people’s animosity, showing his trust in this Jewish teacher, with an effusive public display of gratitude.“

Today’s bulletin cover depicts a stretch of the US-Mexico border at Nogales. This photo evokes the struggle gripping the soul of our country right now. The borderland, the space of encounter between one culture and another, is necessarily an uncomfortable place to inhabit, a place of risk. And yet, we have a choice. We can make our borderlands zones of fear, dehumanization and hatred. We can build walls with razor wire. We can subject those crossing the border to thirst, hunger and violent death. Or we can allow the borderlands to be spaces of genuine humility and generative encounter. These in-between spaces can facilitate creative and beautiful blending. They can be uniquely welcoming, since no one owns them.

As we seek to cultivate a community of belonging, rooted in Jesus’ way of love and justice, cultural humility is a key practice for us to embrace. A few years back many of us took the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory). I love how the authors of this tool describe the outcome they hope for as communities and individuals work with their inventory: “An inclusive environment is achieved when specific differences that exist are addressed from a mutual adaptation perspective […] Your success in achieving cross-cultural goals improves when you can recognize commonalities between yourself and others, more deeply understand differences, and use this insight to effectively shift your perspective and behavior. You can shift your own perspective to that of another culture to understand or evaluate situations from a different viewpoint. This allows you to perceive the world through different frameworks, while withholding bias.”²

Today’s story affirms that all ten men were healed of their disease. And yet, the Samaritan experienced a more profound sort of wellness. In his encounter with Jesus he found a transforming invitation to belong to a community that navigates genuine differences without turning them into hardened divisions. Together, this man and Jesus demonstrated the power of cultural humility and adaptation, the deeper wholeness we can find in spaces of mutual risk and vulnerability, and the unique gifts that come to us in the borderlands.

¹ 1. c 2. b 3. a 4. b 5. c 6. a 7. d
² Intercultural Development Inventory