ANTHONY LAM / JULY 30TH, 2013
I MOVED…
I moved to the Inner Richmond four years ago as a missionary with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). The Richmond neighborhood has always been for me a sort of ‘home away from home’. My paternal grandparents, now survived by my grandmother, have lived here for as long as I can remember.
Reflecting on the neighborhood today evokes two notable memories. The first is being stuck in 19th Avenue traffic in the family’s Volvo station wagon. The second is the countless hours spent watching Star Wars and The Goonies on repeat whilst awaiting grandma’s home-cooked meal. Their wonderful, wall-mounted rotary telephone is worth mentioning too. Regular visits to the city did little to prepare me for my transition here as an adult.
SOMETHING I’VE LEARNED…
Something I’ve learned is to appreciate as with every urban space (though the Richmond’s urban-ness is relatively mild) the odd juxtaposition of culture and color. San francisco is so rich with eclectic beauty.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE RICHMOND…
What I love about the Richmond is the diversity of ethnicity, culture and affluence among the storefronts and their respective patrons. Some might say it has an identity crisis. The many Chinese groceries and fish markets run by proprietors who [seemingly] don’t speak a lick of English are a staple of the Inner Richmond. On the same or adjacent block, one finds a nightclub and lounge for the younger nightlife crowd, hipster boutiques specializing in overly-priced vintage paraphernalia, twill, canvas, denim and the venerable Green Apple Bookstore. A hole-in-the-wall take-out restaurant nests a stone’s throw away from a Michelin Bib Gourmand listed French establishment. Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish and Russian are spoken here as frequently as English. Affluent families live in the north towards the Presidio, while many ethnic families live on the south and west.
All in all, the Richmond is a grand and alluring mess that somehow works together in surprising harmony. For the open-minded, life here elicits a deeper appreciation and empathy for the people and traditions of the world. I love it.
MY VISION AND PRAYER FOR THE RICHMOND…
My vision and prayer for the Richmond is that the church at large would honor the diversity of the neighborhood as it advances the Gospel. My hope is that the church would be both sensitive and uncompromising in how it approaches the plurality of cultural worldviews as it points to the work of Christ. By sensitive, I primarily mean understanding that there are nuanced differences between Western and Eastern presentations of the Gospel narrative.
Finally, I pray that local churches with ministries in the Richmond would engage mission to their communities in spiritual unity. There are so many local congregations (many of them ethnic) serving the Richmond neighborhood that have roots here. It would be a tremendous blessing to mutually affirm their ministries, pray for them, receive their prayers, and come alongside them as the Lord wills.
