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East Balcony
Photography
This exhibition and its questions come to me at a very ŕ
propos time: I am becoming more aware and more open for the
first time to the entity that is Africa, and I think it is
largely due to the ‘global village.’ I now have a sponsored
child in Zambia. I teach at a school which is largely Asian,
but which also has a strong African (particularly Ethiopian)
presence. I’m not going to pretend I’m off to do a mission
myself (we all serve differently) and frankly I’m not going to
apologize for being white. However, I do feel that God is
speaking to me in terms of showing me how close we are as a
human family.
This was reinforced by a recent trip to New York City. I kept
getting a (perhaps post-9/11) sense that there is a quiet
harmony growing on this side of the pond, too. How long ago
would a black gentleman at Grand Central Terminal have been a
Red Cap and not a commuting businessman? What is holding the
attention of the diverse group of young people? Why did the
name Grace on the side of a building in downtown Manhattan hit
me like a ton of bricks?
I found it very interesting to worship at an Episcopal church
in the Upper West Side—it was more mixed than my Anglican
congregation—and it really did feel like a whole.
Until now, I have had a fairly synecdochic worldview. I am
seeing differently. |
