Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
In the animated fictitious movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” the tiny Island of Swallow Falls’ entire culture and economy is based on sardines. The son of the local bait shop Flint Lockwood a wanna be inventor wanting to give the community more of a variety of food, so he designs a machine that uses water to make whatever food that is desired. Through a series of mishaps, the machine is launched into the sky and it begins to rain cheeseburgers. As the movie progresses the entire towns culture is changed, and their appetites get out of control. The more food the community programs into the machine the crazier things get. The size of the food gets larger and the more dangerous things become. Amidst the danger a father and son finally begin to understand one another, and a community grows and changes.
When I read The Culture Map by Erin Myers it didn’t take long for the questions to start popping in my head. As I started to look at the rich diversity and challenges that come with each culture, I couldn’t help but start plugging ideas into the process. Theological, coaching along with self-examining questions came to the fore front. As I began to digest the complexities of different cultures my thought process got bigger and broader. The more I fed it the more questions I discovered. Some may be of value to pursue where others may have little or no relevance whatsoever. In reality it is more of an adventure of trying to connect the dots than anything else.
When looking at Genesis 1 we are told that mankind is made in the image of God and humanity is commanded to be “fruitful and multiply”, to “fill the earth and subdue it”. Humanity is given the command to rule and reign. Many would call this narrative, as well as, the narrative of the “Tower of Babel” a cultural mandate. How does each culture in all its diversity represent the image of God? Was this type of diversity what God had in mind all along when he created humanity and what park of it is tainted by sin? How does Meyers book shed light on my theological understanding of a cultural mandate? Should it? How does the book affect my understand of Theology and Culture? How does it affect my views on the Theology of Vacation? Would I have written the practical portions of my master’s thesis on Eco-Theology differently if I would have looked at things through a broader cultural lens?
When I look at the local churches and the complexities and challenges that each of the denominations face, along with the many issues that divide us I can’t help but wonder if we truly understand what it means to be the body of Christ. Could Meyer’s book help Christians unite and communicate their differences in a deeper way? How could the same denomination but from vastly different cultures gain a deeper understand of one another by first understanding the many differences and perceptions that exist? How much of our doctrinal disagreements are cultural? How has my understanding of theology been affected by my culture? Is the United States the only culture that makes superheroes out of mega church pastors?
As a certified coach I use many types of assessments to enable my clients to gain understanding on how God wired them for business and ministry. As Meyers began to unfold the differences between highly context versus low context along with the differences in leadership, persuasion, decision making, as well as, a few others I began to wonder how the different personalities effected each culture. As the author broke things into 4 quadrants I instantly started trying to over lay the 4 personality quadrants with it. Could it be that personality profiles aren’t as universal as we think they are? Would someone with the same DiSC profile in an Asian culture be similar as someone from the Netherlands? How much does our culture affect our personality type? What about leadership assessments or strength finder assessments? Since word usage and meaning is often different among different personality types how are these differences compared to word usage and meaning in different cultures?
Alan Powell in his book What Do They Hear Bridging the Gap Between Pulpit and Pew tells about an experiment he did with seminary students from 3 different countries, the United States, Russian and Tanzania. With each group of students, he had them read and discuss the story of the prodigal son, then give their understanding of the story. The US students came to the conclusion the prodigal son ended up tending pigs because he had squandered his money. The students from Russia concluded that the prodigal son ended up tending pigs because of the famine that took place. Finally, the seminary students from Tanzania concluded that the reason the prodigal son ended up tending pigs was because there was no community help given to him. One culture focused on the individual choices that were made, another focused on the lack of preparation and the bad luck of a famine, while the other focused on community. We understand the bible wasn’t written to us, but it was written for us. We know each author had a specific cultural community in mind when they wrote. Do we spend enough time when we prepare our sermons or our class lectures to consider how our audience is going to hear what we say?
As a coach, one of that things I am constantly reminding my clients is that messy is good. When things get messy learning begins. Learning never happens in our comfort zones. In order for us to learn we need to move beyond our comfort zone into the learning zone, the area where messy begins. In a multi-cultural settings thing will get messy. Hidden dangers lurk within. Questions will arise and problems can take on a life of their own. But when digging for gold one has to move a lot of dirt.
About the Author
Greg Reich
Entrepreneur, Visiting Adjunct Professor, Arm Chair Theologian, Leadership/Life Coach, husband, father and grandfather. Jesus follower, part time preacher! Handy man, wood carver, carpenter and master of none. Outdoor enthusiast, fly fisherman, hunter and all around gun nut.9 responses to “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”
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Greg, I’m glad you brought up assessments such as the DiSC. The NGO that I volunteer with in Hong Kong does a lot with DiSC assessments in their approach to coaching university students and I’ve found it helpful in working through different situations of conflicts I’ve faced more recently (I’m an SC on the scale).
My friend who founded the NGO has mentioned in the past that he’s found DiSC helpful in showing what a culture values. For example, Hong Kong still values a hierarchical system of respect (even if it is a unique blend of Eastern/Western influences), so if you look at many of the pastors at international churches many of the “successful” pastors have a D/DI/DC type personality. He’s mentioned that many of those pastors are able to thrive because of the command of respect the position carries, but at the same time there have been many cases where that has been abused.
I wonder if it reveals more about what people feel they need to be. Maybe the core self is the same, but how it’s actually expressed is different? Would be keen to talk more about this in the next week!
Dylan I would love to chat. Personally I use the Path Element Profile in my business. I like it better than the DiSC mainly due to the fact it is easier to understand and much easy to communicate around. The key issue I focus on is training people to speak in other people elemental language and stepping out of your primary bent into your secondary when working with opposite elements.
“fruitful and multiply”, to “fill the earth and subdue it”.
Trying to look at these phrases by a lense of love the synonyms are vast. Ones that I do not believe belong would be to manage without love at its core motivation.
Thanks Greg
I agree. I spend a took time in my thesis to explain this entire portion of Genesis and what it means to be made in the image of God. We often look at rule and dominion as the right to do whatever it takes but this is far from the meaning of the Hebrew mindset.
Greg, it’s a good week of posts with references to “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “The Lord of the Rings” from Dylan. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Luke 15, so I appreciate that insight. Do other culturally-unique interpretations of other passages come to mind, too?
Loved the Prodigal Son reference and think you’re spot on as we think about the different ways we hear and process. We US Americans sometimes think we’ve got the market cornered on interpretation, but our experience and understanding is as limited by our context as anyone else’s. Personally, I think our lives are enriched when we learn to see the world through another’s eyes.
Greg,
Great questions.
“In reality it is more of an adventure of trying to connect the dots than anything else.” I think that’s the underlying essence of what Meyer is trying to do — connect the dots so that others might not make the same mistakes she made.
You bring up an interesting thought about personality assessments and culture. I still think that an introverted Asian shares similarities with an introverted Dutch. My experience has been that culture expands our personality, not the other way around. In other words, DNA is DNA. We are born with the personality traits that we have given the mix of genes handed down. If I’m an INTJ (which I am) and Dutch, I will still present as an INTJ, but as I journey through my life the culture I am exposed to will shape how I respond in situations. Your thoughts?
Unfortunately, where the mishaps and confusion come in are when two cultures are mixed to create a biracial (such as myself) of two opposing cultures. It doesn’t take away that I am still an INTJ but the rest of the eight categories that Meyer presented — I am all over the place. Sometimes I land on the German side and sometimes I land on the Asian side and sometimes I land on the US side because I’ve lived in the US longer then I haven’t.
All of this is fascinating! Am I understanding your post or did I miss the mark?
Thanks Greg! Your questions earlier on in your post intrigued and stunned me to stop; to be honest I took them in slowly to consider them. I don’t know how to answer them so much as I can relate to the questioning. I’m left wondering how Theology between cultures plays out as well. Is there a middle ground on which we can find commonality between cultures in our expressions of faith? Is the Kingdom of Heaven culture considered simply another expression of the West or can we truly ascribe to the idea (and, live the life out) that we are aliens here and citizens of another country? There has been an extraordinary divide between people from the beginning, Paul’s method for ministry in revealing Jesus Christ was to become as ‘the other’. I can see respect being built through this approach toward people of other lifestyles, countries and cultures with this attitude. There’s a ‘bringing-together’ purpose to the Gospel!
Great stuff here, Greg.
An exercise that we did this weekend with my global colleagues was to explore the story of the good Samaritan from the three different perspectives: from the seat of power (white, US-American perspective, from within the shadow of power (Mexican perspective), and from under the boot of power (Palestinian perspective). It was fascinating to listen in as each highlighted completely different pieces of the text and, based on their relationships with power, came to separate, dare I say, conflicting, understandings of the what the story is about. One story. Three cultural interpretations. Three unique emphases and invitations. I think you’re on to something with regard to culture and theology and, I’m beginning to reason that the further a person is from power, the more compelling and cross shape their theology is.