For those of us who watch track and field events, we sometimes witness runners who, instead of jumping over the hurdle, hit the hurdle with their foot. Hitting the hurdle slows them down, causes them to lose their rhythm, and often results in their not being able to win the race.
Music and language, as we learned from Sister Joann this past Sunday, are potential hurdles that face us as we try to share the gospel of Jesus Christ across cultures. I had a conversation some years ago with a colleague of mine. As we discussed some Christian music that had been translated from English into Spanish by a non-Spanish speaker, he shared the following: "Nobody says their sentences like that. It's so obvious that whoever wrote this is not from our experience. Why didn't he just ask one of us to translate it?" My colleague was so turned off by the poor translation that he didn't hear the beauty of the message in the song.
I personally experienced this at a service I attended several weeks ago. As the musician played the first note of the introduction for the United States of America's National Anthem, I instantly knew that either she had not done her research, or she did not care. Sadly, after more than four decades of playing music in this country, she did not play this country's anthem in its official key (yes, B flat major is the official key signature). She unwittingly crashed into the nationalism hurdle by playing in such a way that the Americans in the audience, instead of seeking a dialogue with her, were completely turned off by her apparent disrespect. She never got a chance to communicate Christ- not because of her lifestyle choices or her appearance, but because of a critical lack of understanding in the realm of ethnomusicology.
Lord, help us to avoid hitting the hurdles of cross-cultural ministry, even if it means we leave the track for the sake of additional training. Help us so that we don't inadvertently act in a way that closes the door of opportunity for sharing the gospel.
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