Respite

There's a little news item tucked away in Christianity Today about a mini-controversy regarding an African-American (Christian) professor's request to worship at a church not affiliated with the denomination of the college where she teaches. The basis for this is cultural rather than doctrinal. But it's not so much the newsworthiness of the piece but what said professor wrote in her request that struck me:

"I need a place of worship that is already consistent with my culture and able to grapple with issues of race in ways which make it a respite, a re-charging and growing place for me, as opposed to another location where I must 'work' and where I am 'other'."

I know exactly what she means. Because that's how I often feel too.