A Meeting of Cultures at the Table

"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners"- Pharisee #5

A little known fact about my parish is that it has a Korean community that meets on Sundays at 6 p.m. As a pureblood Korean, one would assume that I have gone to say hello, help out with catechesis, or even poach a free Korean meal or three. You would be wrong. Why? There's a multitude of reasons, I suppose, including the fact that I am the worst in my family at speaking Korean. It would kinda be like asking Barack Obama to speak Swahili...wait probably not that bad. I can at least get by in restaurants and some social situations and talking with my mom.

But yesterday was the Confirmation celebration of the Korean community and my pastor invited me to attend as his special guest. I figured that now in my 2nd year at IHM; I would be more settled and ready to take this on-so I accepted. I went to the liturgy and it was a pleasant reminder of my childhood-a fusion of our Bishop's english, a valiant attempt at speaking English, and Korean. After the liturgy, the Bishop invited me to sit at the head table with the leaders in the community and a couple of the priests. I am sure everyone was wondering, "Who the heck is this joker? Why does this schmo get to sit with the Bishop?" For once in my life, I get to be a mysterious figure-yes!

One of the funniest moments of the night had to be one priest grabbing a whole wasabi (a Japanese hot spicy mustard) ball and putting it in his mouth. You're only supposed to eat a dab of it. We thought that we had to take him to the emergency room. Ironically enough, one of the Korean leaders did the exact same thing a minute later. The white priest felt much better.

The great thing about the meal was introducing our Bishop to the wonders of Korean delicacies and dishes. He was genuinely interested in trying the different things unlike my pastor who was nervous in everything pretty much. He asked me to explain different things about the foods and Korean culture. Just as Jesus met with a different culture (tax collectors and sinners) and ate with them, our dinner was a meeting of different cultures and customs yet the same creed. The Bishop then asked me, "So what are you planning on doing in DE after this year?" He was adamant about wanting the four of us to stay in DE and he wanted to make sure that we were in constant conversation with the diocese about it. Apparently we were an "investment".

At the end of the night, I turned to one of the leaders and thanked him for their hospitality. I gathered up some courage and said, "My Korean sucks, but if you need any help with classes or ministry; I would be happy to help." I don't know if anything will come from this meal, but I look forward to seeing what happens.