Engaging your city

I heard a profound sermon the other day which is what has prompted this post. The truth that he shared was a simple but significant one and especially pertinent to people living in foreign lands. He spoke about the 3 ways people choose to engage the city -
Firstly for the benefit of OURSELVES : people live in a certain place out of a desire to gain personal benefits from the city - whether it be knowledge, money or connections we go only to further ourselves.
Many people come to China with the expectation that it will get them somewhere. It's the stop gap to greater things an they use the resources the city provides to get them to where they want to go.
Second for the benefit of OUR OWN PEOPLE: we live in a city to be and engage with our own people (sometimes in a foreign place). We like to do things with those people, socialise the way we always have, do the things we've always done, raise our kids the way we do as a community. I see a lot of these people in the ex-pat communities I serve at work. They come to China but never actually live in China. They keep to themselves and their British/South African communities and live like they would back home. Some have never used the public transport system and couldn't converse in Chinese if their lives depended on it.
And finally people engage a city for the benefit of the PEOPLE OF THE LAND: This is when they go with the expectation to serve and adapt and get involved in the local community. We know heroes who do this in foreign lands - Bronwyn and Noiy in Thailand and Brian and Marilyn in Turkey. They are the ones who have been able to gain the most from the culture, learnt from it and make a difference in it.

Jesus is our ultimate example of how to engage a foreign place. As the son of God whose place is in heaven, he took on the appearance of man and dwelt here with us: eating, socialising and adapting to a foreign culture. This picture both encourages and convicts me because on the one hand we have tried to do just that - embrace the difference in Asian culture and live as others do here in Beijing. We have not stuck to our Western Markets and lived in Western compounds (not that our budget would allow it either!) We have looked at every new "experience" as an opportunity to learn more about the people and learn to love the parts of their culture that are most precious to them. I am grateful for the fact that my husband forced me to use the public transport, eat the local food and watch local TV; for I now know how important it was as a step towards making the most of this adventure.
But on the other hand I am also challenged; because there are days I still whine about the food, miss the luxury of conversing in English and struggle to understand the Chinese way of doing things. I know it's God's plan that we embrace this culture daily in order to make the most of this experience; I am however also grateful for my home and the ability to shut CHINA out if I want to :)