The Aroma of our Grandmother's Kitchen

Still at Sequoya. Yesterday while I was napping, I missed what sounds to have been another great lecture by Dr. Gonzales. One image that he used, when describing the difficulty that traditional Anglo churches have in accepting/welcoming Hispanic persons as a part of their communities of faith, was this: Remember the aromas of your grandmother's kitchen? For me, it would be the aroma of Christmas candy, divinity, and the like; my children's grandmother's kitchen had the aroma of all sorts of good things: apple pie, barbequed beef brisket, homemade Parker House rolls, and on and on. What would it be like if invading all of those wonderful aromas was a sudden invasion of jalopena peppers and sopapillas frying? Wouldn't that be a little disruptive to what I considered to be the "home" aromas? This is what it can feel like to Anglo churches when Hispanic/Latino persons become part of their worshiping communities. How do we get to the place where even those aromas that seem more like odd odors to us become part of that memory bank of ours that senses "home"? Reminds me of the emergent conversation in connection with where many of our mainline churches are. The "aroma" of the baby boomer big box church was 70s bubblegum contemporary pop praise choruses (really nothing wrong with that, especially the ones with a bosanova beat!); and the slighting of the litugical seasons (too "traditional"). The "aromas" of the emerging churches are many: renditions of "All Creatures of Our God and King" with acoustical guitar, flute and violin in the same service with a 2006 musical setting of "Jesus Savior Pilot Me"; to icons projected on screens; to, as I saw recently, a young, hip musician telling us his own interpretation of what it means to be in "ordinary time." In this tempetuous sea of change in which we find ourselves, would that we all could open our homes and hearts a little wider to the wafting spell of love, respect and willingness to experience the gospel message anew that the Holy Spirit wants to work on us.