Connecting Across Cultures
Today’s devotional
A family’s way of communicating may be unfamiliar to you. A student may use an example, expression, or perspective that does not fit the assumptions behind your lesson. These moments can expose the limits of what you know and invite a more generous, careful approach to understanding.
Galatians announces a shared belonging in Christ that crosses divisions people used to rank one another. James challenges favoritism within the gathered community. Together, these passages call us to examine whose presence we welcome easily and whose experience we treat as an exception to the usual way of doing things.
Respect begins with learning rather than assuming. Ask how a name is pronounced, how a family prefers to communicate, or what a student would like you to understand about an example. Let people choose what they share. No learner should have to represent an entire culture or explain private family experience for the benefit of the class.
Materials and routines deserve attention as well. Whose stories appear as ordinary human experience? Whose contributions are mentioned only on special occasions? A thoughtful addition can broaden understanding, especially when it is accurate, connected to the learning, and presented with the complexity that real lives deserve.
Ask God to show you one assumption that needs reconsideration. Receive the discomfort of learning without making another person responsible for reassuring you. Christ’s welcome can lead us toward relationships in which difference is met with respect and common dignity remains clear. Such connection grows through patient questions, responsible study, and the willingness to be corrected.
Adapted from Original devotion 30: Connecting Across Cultures in Nurturing Hearts & Minds by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice what these words reveal about God and the life before you.
Galatians 3:26-29 · WEBU
26For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
James 2:1-4 · WEBU
1My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.
2For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,
3and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”
4haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Pause and respond
For reflection
Which familiar assumption might be limiting my understanding of a learner or family?
A practice for today
Review one lesson example or communication routine. Seek an additional perspective, make one respectful adjustment, and invite feedback without asking a student to speak for an entire group.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, deepen my welcome for people whose experiences differ from mine. Expose assumptions that narrow my care. Give me humility to learn, respect for what others choose to share, and courage to correct unfair patterns, so our classroom reflects dignity and generous belonging. Amen.
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