cultures@sanjose.ca

the other day i took janie over to the ‘big chuck e. cheese’
off of tully road.
it was big- but i was more impressed by the neighborhood.
there was a lot of stores and building that were strictly asian.
these buildings had huge stone lions in front,
giant bronze bowls,
and most of the signs were in an asian language.

i had no idea that all of this was in san jose.

it reminded me of a time that some friends from modesto
were putting on a concert on the east side.
they had a rapper that lived in modesto but had spent
much of his life in san jose.
i went up to him and said “i’m from san jose!”
he said something to the effect of
“i know all of san jose- where do you live?”
and i said
“do you know where almaden lake is?”
and he didn’t!
i said “do you know where the almaden neighborhood is?”
and he didn’t!

weird.

another time i took the unis on the east side for hesed.
again- many of the signs were in a language
that we couldn’t read.
one student asked
“are we still in san jose?”
and the address we were going to said that we were.

it’s a huge place-
10 largest city in america?
and its so diverse!

i read this book last summer called
‘the world is flat’
and it said that the entire world is moving to san jose-
and instead of giving up their culture-
they’re bringing it with them!
and now these immigrants can move into town
and eat the same foods that they ate in their home country,
watch the same shows on satellite,
speak the same language and shop at the same kind of stores.
they are all here.

i was thinking about this
about how san jose is so big and so diverse
but there is a lot that we all have in common-
no matter what our race or religion or language:
· we all have kids and we all love them
· we all want our kids to know the culture/ language/ foods/ beliefs that we came from
· we all love to eat the foods from our home culture
· we are all paying too much for housing and gas
· we are all trying to make it financially-
· and we are all spiritual-we all worship in houses of worship-
and we all enjoy that freedom.
on that note, we are all probably feeling
that our religion isn’t doing so well in a postmodern culture.

in another book that i read recently ‘cultures@siliconvalley’
it says that silicon valley is just the first of many ‘silicon places’
around the world.
it says that we are the prototype for the future of the world-
that one day, places all over the world
will bring the peoples and the cultures of the world
together to create technology.
one day cities all over the world will have “china-towns,”
and “japan-towns,” and littlie indias” in them.

this has a lot of implications for the gospel-
back in the day, jesus told his disciples that they would be
his “witnesses in jerusalem, and in all judea and samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”

back then, they had to go to those places to be a witness-
for us in san jose,
those places have come here!
and those pilgrims will also go back as well-
and the influence that we make for the gospel,
here in san jose, among the nations,
could reverberate all across the world.
and maybe we could export the gospel to the world
from san jose
in the same way we exported baywatch
and google.
(well- not in the SAME way, but you know what i mean.)

some americans are annoyed by the nations.
they say “learn english!”
or “stop taking the jobs (that i never would!)”
but i think that God thinks its cool.
maybe silicon valley isn’t just a prototype
for future silicon places,
but for heaven itself.
the apostle john says that when he saw heaven,
he saw
“a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language,
standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”

maybe we should get used to the idea of hearing
people speak in other languages
and smelling their foods
and watching their culture,
and having them as neighbors-
because its not going to stop anytime soon-
according to the bible, it won’t stop ever!

so go make some friends
of another culture and another language-
we’re going to be neighbors for a long time to come!