Dust in the Wind: The Ever-Changing Dance

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound,

but you do not know where it comes from

or where it goes.” (John 3:8)

Have you ever watched the wind blow sand at the beach? The beach is not static, but dynamic, in constant motion. It can form intricate little ripples in the sand and move great dunes. Then the waves and tides work to erase the wind’s Etch-a-sketch and seasonally either add more sand or take it away in stormy bites. What does this coastal observation have to do with gentrification (urban renewal) or its opposite ghettofication (urban decay)? Neighborhoods are always in a state of renewal or decay…just ask a real estate agent. There is a lifecycle to a neighborhood. As much as we complain about it, people are always on the move as are the larger ethnic or socio-economic groups they may be a part. We are very much a part of the great dance, dust in the winds, or change.

As we have begun to awaken to the tragedy of gentrification in some of our trendier urban areas perhaps we should put such population movements in historical perspective.

Surf Stacking,
photo by Greg Dueker

In Britain, the native tribes were defeated by the Romans in 55 bc and then saw their lands progressively occupied and their leaders Romanized for about 400 years. Once Rome came under pressure in other areas and withdrew from Britain, other peoples invaded displacing their predecessors with a vengeance. Wave after overwhelming wave, one gentrification following another. Native Britons forced west into what is now Wales, by successive invasions of the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes along with regular raids by the Vikings of Denmark and Norway. Later the now mingled Anglo-Saxons were conquered by the Normans in 1066. The Norman kings tried to unify the nation by controlling Wales in the West and Scotland in the North, and Ireland as well. Interestingly, in addition to many foreigners immigrating Great Britain, some recent demographic articles suggest that today there are Irish, Scottish, and Welsh people migrating into the traditionally English areas instead of away from them. This reverse migration is not unique to England.

When I studied historical theology in seminary, one book I read (The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History) contained maps depicting the ethnic/national migrations in Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean basin (ad 500-1500) at about a 40 year refresh-rate. If you flip the pages quickly you can see the people groups in constant motion…like the sand on the beach. Fascinating...some kingdoms/people come and go in a blink of the eye, while others move across the landscape like a bulldozer (e.g., the Turks).

 

So why did the much maligned European immigrants come to this country by the millions? Most were fleeing wars and economic hardships in their homelands.  The constant wars ravaged the land and lack of room to expand may have contributed to their desire to immigrate. Trivia question: What country of origin represents the largest group of immigrants to the USA? You might be surprised. They predominately moved north and west and settled vast stretches of new country. See the interesting map below,

 

The first commandment God gave was to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28; 9:1).

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

This command was repeated by Noah to his sons after the flood. Not too many generations later, the citizens of Babel had other ideas. They decided that they wouldn’t move anymore and would instead dig in their heels, put down roots, and build a city thus making a name for themselves. Thus began the trans-historical, economic/political/religious opposition to the kingdom of God in the world.

So am I arguing for gentrification on the basis that it is normal, or even biblical? No I am not. I am not advocating for gentrification any more than I would cheer its opposite, ghettofication. I certainly don’t want to be party to imposing my power upon another population for my own gain. However, shift happens…as much as existing communities hate it. Keeping with the sand metaphor, gentrification can at times seem more like the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Sudden heavy-handed shifts in demographics can either bury the existing community under the weight of new arrivals (think our current crisis on the Southern Border) or scatter that community to the wind (think N & NE Portland).

 

The question facing us is how to respond. Will we embrace shift and adapt to the new ministry opportunities that the wind has delivered to our doorstep (or to whose doorstep we are delivered)? Will we flee to new lands (California or Bust!) to begin again? Or like some die-hard Dust-Bowlers will we simply live in the basement of what remains and slowly watch our family die of dust pneumonia?

 

I hope we can choose the first option together and see the beauty of what God is doing in our midst!



Photo by Zach Dischner