A question of attitudes - lessons from a Lebanese widow

A young Lebanese widow and her son was preparing for her last meal when she came across the strange man. The land had been gripped by a severe drought and famine. With no way to fend for herself and her son, the widow had rationed whatever food she had until all she had left was just a handful of flour and some oil. Hardly enough for even a small loaf of bread. Her starving body reduced to barely skin and bones, she scavenged for some sticks to fuel a fire so that she could bake the flour for a last meal before she and her son will just lie down and await the inevitability of a slow death by starvation.

Then she came across the crazy man. A strange old Israelite with an even stranger story. He had apparently been hiding out in the ravines by a brook. Fed by ravens, he had held out until the brook itself ran dry. Then he had come looking for her because his God had sent him to her.

To her? She could hardly believe his story. Even less so his demands of her. He wanted her to get him water to drink ... and a piece of bread. Did he not know about the drought and famine? Was he so unaware of the direness of her situation, that she was preparing for her very last meal, and that even that wasn't enough for a decent meal for her and her son?

She hardly believed his story. And although she believed his God exists, as a non-Israelite she didn't quite believe that He, an Israelite God, was her God.

But the crazy man told her not to worry, and that his God had sent him. He told her go ahead and make him a loaf of bread. And if she did so, her flour would not run out, neither her oil.

Trapped between disbelief and desperation, she took that leap of faith and welcomed him into her home. Despite the fact that she had barely enough to stave off hunger pangs for just a few hours before she would completely exhaust her food stores, she welcomed him to share that last morsel of food with her.

A step of faith. An act of grace. She could not have known that she was to be as much his salvation as he was to be hers. And through this, she has become immortalized in biblical history.

I got to thinking how often we are constrained by what we perceive as what we are not, or what we have not. We can't achieve this, or that, because we are not rich and powerful or highly educated. Yet our God is strong in our very weakness. The above account of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16) exemplifies the power of obedience and faith even when we believe we are struggling through drought and famine.

Because our God is strong and faithful.

May we remain faithful in our work, and our flour and oil never run out.

You are there......!

It's so blessed to be able to watch a child at prayer. Their innocence and earnestness as they approach the Father, just puts us to shame.

I watched these girls praying in Andaut. And what really moved me was apart from their piety, the suddenly realization of where we were. This wasn't in some fancy modern church in the city. Or a youth fellowship in some Christian school. But we were in the middle of the jungle, miles from anywhere remotely urbanized. Even with the GPS I would be hard put to point out our location on a map. A villager had remarked that he could not imagine that foreigners would come all the way into the jungle to help them. But yet there we were, watching, as these young girls clasped their hands and prayed as if there was no one else there other than they, and God.

And it struck me that even though the world may not know of the existence of this tiny village, our Heavenly Father certainly knew. He was already there in Andaut. And He certainly knew these girls by name.

The Psalmist wrote:

"You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

If our Heavenly Father is in Andaut, there is no reason why we should not also be.

Children's Day Singapore

The streets were pretty empty and devoid of the usual school traffic this morning because Singapore celebrates Children's Day. Cambodia celebrates the International Children's Day on 1st June instead.

It just gave to cause to think of the great disparity between Singapore and Cambodia, and just how fortunate our kids are compared to the children in Cambodia, who despite the progress made in recent years, continue to be impoverished, uneducated and vulnerable to all forms of social ills.

I wish more Singaporeans can feel empathize with the tragedy of it all and just give a little of what they have abundance of, just to make the children's lives in Cambodia just that bit more bearable and happy.

Khmer New Year - Chol Chnam Thmey

The Khmers celebrate their new year, Chol Chnam Thmey, according to the lunar calendar. Quite clearly, it is also linked with the Spring Equinox, and is scheduled every year about April 13th, (quite often timed to coincide with the weekend). The New Year is spread over 3 days, called Moha Songkran, Wanabat and Tanai Lieang Saka.

The ancient Khmer civilization, like many other cultures had a fixation on the rising of the sun. The Angkor Wat was also constructed with the various solar alignments in mind. It is thought that King Suryavarman (protected by the sun) II, the visionary king who started work on the Angkor Wat was crowned on the Spring Equinox. Apparently the sun rose over the central tower then.

Excerpted from Kaladarshan Arts
"At 6:35 a.m., the sun can be seen rising dead-center over the top of the central tower of the temple - about 500 m. away - when observed from the top of the first northern staircase of the western causeway. Three days later, the sun can be seen rising over the central tower for the second and last time, from the center of the western causeway at a point just a few meters south of the first observation position. We know that the Khmers celebrated their new year for three days. The new year began on the spring equinox, but the first day of the new year in an actual count did not begin until three days after the equinox. This three-day new year period is both reflected and corroborated in these two consecutive spring equinox alignments that occur just after entering Angkor Wat."

As I read these, I couldn't help wondering about the sunrise services that many churches organize in association with their celebration of Easter. A bit misplaced, I thought. True, we want to remember His resurrection. But honouring the rising of the sun smacks too much of a failure to disconnect our faith from past practices associated with sun worship. In any case, our faith is and should be more vitally linked with the work Jesus did on the cross for us. He is after all, our Passover Lamb, whose work was 'finished' on the cross. To me, the resurrection was a wonderful demonstration of His divinity and sovereignty over death and life, but does not and should not occupy any position of centrality in our redemptive faith.

Ephesians 1:4-14
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

The Easter story - Passovers, equinoxes and fertility

So tomorrow we enter into the week leading up to Easter. One of those events that get hard wired into the church calendar. They bill it as the Holy Week.

I am ambivalent. And will probably get into trouble for saying it.

Easter to me has always been another of those pagan festivals that the church tries to christianize. It has its origin in those Spring fertility festivals associated with Ishtar or maybe Eoaster (think of estrus , estrogen, easter eggs). Never made any sense to me.

Jesus never commanded us to observe the festival and there is absolutely no evidence the early church observed the festival. Jesus however commanded that we remember Him through our observances of the passover meal, the bread and the wine. This is the Holy Communion we try and observe as often as we can to remember Him. We don't need to have a festival to do it. We certainly don't need a 'Holy Week' to rehearse His last week before the crucifixion. Very Roman Catholic.

If anything we should celebrate the Jewish passover, because this was the actual occasion of the last supper.

Easter Sunday is empirically set as the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic "full moon") is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastic "Spring equinox"). Haha...didn't know that did you? Well neither did I.

What is the Spring equinox? Well, essentially,the equinox is the time of year when the sun is directly above the equator and nights and days are roughly equally long. Happens twice a year....in the middle of Spring and in the middle of Autumn. In Singapore, all this has very little significance, but in temperate agricultural societies, this is quite a big deal. Their agricultural years tended to begin at the Spring equinox. It is the day when they celebrated the new year, new sun, rebirth, renewals and fertility etc etc. In China this Spring equinox is called Chūnfēn 春分.

Passover on the other hand, being a Spring festival, begins on the night of a full moon after the Spring equinox (about March 20). Passover in 2009 will start on Thursday, the 9th of April and will continue for 7 days until Wednesday, the 15th of April.

In Exodus 12, Moses commanded that this was to be the beginning of months (new year), and what follows after this was the account of the setting apart of a lamb without blemish, and the 'passover' leading eventually to the liberation of the Israelites from the yoke of slavery in Egypt.

Jesus was our passover lamb. By His shed blood, the wrath of God 'passed over' us. We shouldn't be celebrating 'Easter'. Instead, if anything, we should be celebrating the Passover.

In the shadow of His wings

Here's a recent posting by Andrew Lam writing for NAM Round Table ...

Sometimes in the work we try and do in Cambodia we do get caught up with the physicality of the labour. And even if we do remember the spiritual dimensions, our scientific logic constrains us and it is easy to forget that we are actually dealing with 'principalities and power'. We are blessed that regardless of our deficiencies, God is faithful in His provisions, and above all we are always in the shadow of His wings. But this article is a grim reminder of how much we need to be mindful of this constant struggle with the spiritual forces still working in Cambodia.

An Old piece On Cambodia As Khmer Rouge Trial Goes On

by Andrew Lam

In the summer of 1992, while staying at a friend’s home outside the town of Siem Reap, Cambodia, I woke in the middle of the night and saw fire outside my window—or rather, to be more accurate, several balls of fire moving in a slow dance at a distance. For half a minute, I stood transfixed, watching those balls of light flutter and flirt with each other before they abruptly disappeared.

To this day I do not know what I saw, though I reasoned that they were torches carried by very fast runners. When I talked about the fire to soldiers, servants, housewives, and even politicians, however, many simply nodded their heads knowingly and said, “ghosts.”

“So many ghosts here, you know,” one woman remarked in a matter-of-fact way, “their souls have not gone to heaven. They are still very angry.”

It is risky for a journalist to talk about ghosts—it has taken me almost five years to tell this story—but I suspect ghosts and spirits and myths provide a crucial window to the Cambodian psyche. After all, modernity has little sway in a country where nine out of ten people live in the countryside, without electricity, where 7 out of ten are essentially illiterate, and where there is only one true urban center—the capital, Phnom Penh.

To explain the cause of their country’s suffering, most Cambodians are more likely to provide a ghost story or a legend than political analysis.

From notebooks I wrote while traveling the Cambodian countryside—An old woman named Srong said this about the Khmer Rouge. “The old monks used to say, ‘One day there will be a war where the demons come and blood will rise to the elephant’s stomach,’ and it came true.” Srong is blind. Her face is strangely serene as she explains she had witnessed the Khmer Rouge murdering her own children and then found she could no longer see. She spoke of the years under the Khmer Rouge as “Cambodia’s Punishment Time.”

A man named Hott Nguong explained the Khmer Rouge. “The Khmer Rouge soldiers are possessed by demons who came from hell. They have no souls. You can tell by looking in their eyes. If you are a human being how can you torture children to death?”
Bonn Srey, a woman who cannot read or write, explains Cambodia’s tragedy by saying the country is cursed. “A long time ago, the Cambodian king was powerful and cruel to neighboring countries and those people curse Cambodia. Now Cambodia is full of demons and ghosts.”

Intellectuals are not immune. Reasay Poch, a Cambodian American with a graduate degree in Asian Studies from Cornell was doing research at Tuol Sleng, the infamous Khmer Rouge prison where some 20,000 people were incarcerated, tortured, then systematically killed. Poch was working on the second floor of the building, reading and photocopying written confessions left behind by Khmer Rouge victims when he heard screaming and the sound of clanking metal. He rushed out to the balcony overlooking the torture chambers on the first floor, but saw nothing. “I had to tell myself even if there were ghosts, they wouldn’t harm me,” he said. “After all, I am here to help tell their stories.”

The past—both the mythic and the immediate—has such a strong grip on Cambodian life, I suspect, because it is also the present. While neighboring countries—Vietnam, Thailand, even backward Laos—are now progressing technologically and economically, Cambodia remains an agrarian society whose people continue to lead a life not so different from that of their ancestors.

One need not look far to see the symbol of the past in contemporary Cambodian politics. All warring factions during the early 1990s had the image of the ancient capital, Angkor Wat, imprinted on their flags. Paintings of these stone ruins hang on the walls of every government office, every restaurant and every classroom. They are a testament to an ancient empire that once stretched westward across Thailand to Burma and eastward to include much of the Mekong Delta and South Vietnam. “Bangkok” and “Saigon” are both Cambodian words.

It was an empire that at one time understood intimately the power of war and destruction. Cambodia was once a Hindu nation that worshipped Shiva, the Destroyer God. When he danced, it is said, he set in motion both the creative and destructive forces in the world.

Those who know the story say Shiva remains a potent and angry God. One Cambodian guide at Angkor Wat explained, “We failed to worship Shiva and he punished us by sending his Monkey Army in the form of the Khmer Rouge. Shiva promised to protect those who worshipped him and destroy all unbelievers. And we were punished because we failed to worship him.”

Shiva’s four faces with their eerie half smiles can be seen all over the stone ruins. Each represents a different aspect: Creation, Preservation, Incarnation, and Destruction. As I write, I can still see in my mind’s eyes those stone faces, smiling their mysterious smiles.

And I think of Kall Kann, the doe-eyed teenager who stared at the stone faces, trying to decipher the past: “The stone faces belong to a King, maybe a God, but it’s too long ago,” he said. ” I don’t remember the name. My father knows the name for sure but, you know, my father is dead.”

"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

Last Thursday I received some wonderful news. The Toh Kian Chui Foundation wrote to say that they will be sponsoring our school building project with a donation of S$10,000. I was jubilant to say the least. Praise the Lord!

We had already started on the school building in Phum Leav but have been operating on a deficit. I was mentally prepared for the reality of running into a bit of red, but the donation brought us just over the top, with a bit of excess that can be spent on exercise books and school swings for the children. God has really been wonderful, and faithful in providing for the project. Each cycle of fund raising brings forth just about the right amount, with a bit of excess as if to encourage us.

This last weekend's sermon had an interesting lesson for me. It was based on Luke 5's narrative on Simon Peter's call to discipleship. Jesus had called Simon to lower his nets, after a miserable failed night's fishing. Simon reluctantly obeyed, and was rewarded with a bounty he never expected.

But it was Simon's response that struck me. While the average individual would have celebrated the catch. Praised God for the blessings He had bestowed upon them. And certainly many of Simon's co-workers were already patting themselves on the back and perhaps leaping from the boats in jubilation. But not so Simon. This 'not-so-smart', bluff, temperamental fisherman saw a spiritual truth no one else did. When he should be celebrating like everyone else probably did, Simon could only see his degenerateness and Jesus holiness and divinity. "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Was all he could say.

What a moment! Such a revelation could only come from the workings of the Holy Spirit.

So the sermon had an unintended consequence of being a bit of a rebuke for me. So often when God blesses us, especially when we had been doubtful of His faithfulness to provide, we see only the bountiful catch. It is of course not wrong to celebrate...and certainly not wrong to give thanks for His goodness. Praise the Lord, we proclaim. But how many will actually respond like Simon? How many will like Simon, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal in that moment, our total and absolute degenerateness and depravity, and see in contrast, His holiness and divinity? How many will like Simon fall on their knees and confess in shame, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!".

May God forgive me for I have been a sinful man.

Ghosts of the Khmer Rouge

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge prison chief to address court

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal this week resumes the trial of the Khmer Rouge's former prison chief, who is expected to admit his role in the "Killing Fields" horrors three decades ago.

When proceedings began last month, lawyers for Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- said he would use the court to publicly ask forgiveness for his role in the 1975 to 1979 regime which killed up to two million people.

"It is an enormously important moment in the history of Cambodia," said tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis. "People have been waiting for a long time, and the process will unfold over the next couple of months."

Former maths teacher Duch, 66, is one of five Khmer Rouge leaders who have been detained by the court and judges on Monday will read his charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and pre-meditated murder.

The court plans to invite Duch to personally address allegations he oversaw the torture and extermination of more than 15,000 men, women and children when he headed Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21.

"It's unique that we will spend months hearing evidence and testing it at a trial for charges that he has admitted to," said Richard Rogers, head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal's defence office.

Duch, a born-again Christian, has consistently admitted personal responsibility at Tuol Sleng since he was arrested in 1999, although maintains he did not personally torture or murder prisoners.

Most welcome the idea that Duch will at least partially confess in the court, which is seen as the last hope to deal with Khmer Rouge crimes.

"A confession is a good thing for Duch to do. If Duch pleads guilty, I will be eased in my heart," said Vann Nath, who is one of the handful who survived Tuol Sleng because his skills as an artist were deemed useful for the regime.

"We will get a kind of justice -- not compensation -- but justice that can heal our mind when the court convicts Duch and he receives the punishment," Vann Nath added.

Duch faces a maximum term of life in prison by the tribunal, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

The defence appears to hope that testimony by Duch will earn him a reduced prison sentence.

"The question is: What is the appropriate punishment for a man who's confessed to terrible crimes, assisted the process of justice and asked for forgiveness?" Rogers said.

.....

Many here hope the tribunal will help Cambodians understand how the Khmer Rouge came to kill its own people.

"We -- the victims -- need to understand (Duch's) brutality and how he treated and executed the prisoners like animals," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which collects evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities.

(Extracted from Channelnews Asia report)

See also:
Ex-Khmer Rouge still dominate regions of Cambodia
Difficult to forgive
The Dilemma of Duch

Difficult to forgive

Anyone who has visited the Tuol Sleng museum cannot help but be moved by the horror and the suffering that went on in that place. The deadened eyes from the old yellowed photos stare at you almost pleadingly...

It is difficult to forgive. It must be so difficult for those who have lost loved ones to the evilness of that brutal regime.

But the Gospel of Matthew reported that once Peter had asked Jesus about forgiveness:
'Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.' Matthew 18:21-22.

Seventy seven times? But then, I argue to myself...that's different, that's about forgiving your brother. There is something quite different when it comes to forgiving your enemy..someone who has raped your mother, wife or daughter...slaughtered your family. Surely it must be different?

Really?

At times like this, I hardly want to remember that Jesus came for such people. Sinners. Not the righteous. He came for those outside of the family. Those who would betray him. Those liars, cheats, robbers, rapists and murderers. To bring them into his family. Sinners like me.

But He did. Even when He was dying on the cross, He still had the Grace to forgive. This is our God. And this is what He expects of us.

The Apostle Paul was an obsessive persecutor of the early church, responsible for the imprisonment and deaths of many of the early Christians. Paul himself confessed to how he "persecuted without mercy, the church of God and tried my best to destroy it". And on the road, Jesus challenged him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

There was no reason for the early Christians to forgive Paul, even after he repented. They were certainly still suspicious and wary of his conversion. Yet they clearly found the Grace to forgive him. And he subsequently became the greatest of the Apostles.

Can we find the grace to forgive? We must.

Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, and who must have witnessed countless atrocities not unlike those at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, said, "Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you."

The Khmer Rouge has been destroyed, but the Cambodians remain imprisoned.

The dilemma of Duch

Today, the man who was in charge of the infamous Khmer Rouge S21 torture facility, Kaing Keach Eav, better known as 'The Duch' went on trial. The Khmer Rouge security apparatus killed as much as 500,000 Cambodians, while about 2 million perished during the 5 years the Khmer Rouge held power. Duch, the only Khmer Rouge leader ever to have confessed, is the first of 5 leaders to be tried for those atrocities.

It is without doubt a milestone event for Cambodians, many of whom remain bewildered by what had happened, and seek some form of closure to that very painful and horrific period of their lives. But Duch has not made things easy for the Cambodians nor the watching world. He has not denied his role in the atrocities. He has not only confessed to them but has asked for forgiveness from the relatives of his victims. The only Khmer Rouge leader to have done so. Apparently in 1995 (some 14 years ago), he had become a born-again Christian.

It would have been so much easier if he had remained evil, unrepentant and fought all the way to his conviction. So much easier to hate, and to exact retribution under those circumstances. But what do you do when your most hated enemy confesses his crimes and asks for forgiveness?

We have no means of determining the genuineness of his conversion. Only God knows what is in his heart. But his apparent outward peace, the dignified way by which he handles himself as he confronts his own crimes, and his public acceptance of any punishment due points to some truth in that conversion.

Exacting retribution is easy. Dispensing forgiveness not. Whether Duch truly repents is probably unimportant to most Cambodians. He deserves a guilty verdict for all that he has done, and was responsible for. And he should not be spared the full weight of the law. But this trial will not bring easy closure for the Cambodians. Healing will not follow swiftly. Even more so now than before, Cambodia needs God.

Those hidden places ...

This is one of the dug wells from which many Khmer homes draw the water from. Dug well water is not considered safe because it is frequently contaminated. But sadly, often this is all the villagers have. Most wells will need a concrete apron around it so that the drawer has a dry and relatively clean spot to stand when washing or drawing water. Many homes have a well, but cannot afford to construct the apron around the well.

Here, the NTU students from Project L.O.V.E. are constructing a well apron for a household well.

We all learned a fair bit from the Khmers about brick laying and preparing concrete. The foundation of the apron is a layer of rocks which are first laid in place and then laboriously pounded into the ground to level them. After that the apron is finished with cement. At first we all thought the method was to first mix the cement and then pour the cement mix over the rock base. But we learned that if we did that, the thick consistency of the cement mix will not flow into the gaps between the rocks. What the Khmers did was too scatter the dry cement mix over the rock base, and then to pour water over the dry mix. The water was then free to carry the cement into all the nooks and crannies between the rocks.

As I was thinking about it, I was reminded of how sometimes our worldly cares and concerns, our sins all conspire to prevent the Holy Spirit from accessing all the hidden areas of our lives. Our Christianity congeals as a hardened shell around us. Looks good but hollow inside.

What we need is a good dose of God's Holy Spirit...fresh, clear and unadulterated. Flow Spirit flow.

Living waters

We are all familiar with over romantic portrayals of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. The gospel of John tells us that Jesus was traveling from Judea through Samaria towards Galilee when he stopped at a well at a small town call Sychar. This was also the site of the famous 'Jacob's well'.

Knowing about the dug wells in Cambodia, one might think that that this particular well was filled with filthy contaminated water, unsafe for drinking. But not so. This well apparently tapped into an aquifer fed by an underground spring, and during Jesus' time produced good clear drinking water.

It was at this well when Jesus commented (John 4:13-15) to the Samaritan woman:

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

Later he remarked to the disciples when they worried about him being hungry, that "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."

Clearly Jesus was refering to a spiritual truth that was beyond the physical needs of drinking and eating. This is also a powerful reminder to us that whatever we do in Cambodia, it must go beyond just meeting the physical needs of the people. They need the water that will allow them not to thrist again, and the bread that will prevent them from being hungry again (John 6:35).

Year of the Ox- Matthew 11:28-30

The Cambodian ox cart

The ox isn't a particularly smart animal. Little more than a walking fermentation chamber that coverts grass into muscle, it invariably ends up in a pot of beef stew, or sentenced to a lifetime of hard labour. So I am really not so sure about the auspiciousness (or lack of!) of entering the Year of the Ox.

Jesus must have had an image in His mind somewhat like the one above when He told His followers to "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I must say I have always had problems with the interpretation of those verses.

The traditional view is that Jesus was refering to our menial and physical labour. I know it is very comforting to imagine coming home to Jesus at the end of the day, tired, weary, all stressed out, laying our physical and emotional burdens at His feet, and finding rest and solace there. There is certainly some truth to that but I am not so convinced that was what Jesus was actually refering to.

The 'burden of being a Christian' is never so easy, and Jesus has never promised us that it will be so. In fact He tells us quite bluntly, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Can such a yoke ever be easy?

So what was Jesus talking about?

Well...this was a time in Jesus' ministry where he was enduring almost on a daily basis, various challenges from Pharisees and traditionalists. Do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that,...it must be like this, not like that...etc etc... I believe when Jesus saw His antagonists, he saw this image of oxen lugging around this enormous burden behind them, ... this enormous burden of their 'religiousity'.

For Jesus, it was never meant to be like that. That's why He says..."Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. "

With Jesus, it was never about the 'religion' or the 'religiousity' of what we do. It was always about our life with Him. When He encourages us to 'take His yoke', He is not speaking just as the driver of the ox cart, but the fellow ox who labours at our side. Our partner at life and work. That's why He is able to say, "... my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

What comfort!

In this very turbulent Year of the Ox, may we find rest for our soul with Him. Have a very blessed and happy Lunar New Year!

Isaiah - not just about doing things right.

Sometimes I wonder if our work in Cambodia is too much oriented towards social works.

But last weekend's sermon in church on Isaiah 1 was something of an encouragement as well as a strong reminder of our need as Christians to go beyond just being a Sunday worshiper, or playing mind games with doctrinal / theological issues.

Isaiah ministered to Judah at a time when she was prosperous and outwardly religious. Not unlike Singaporean Christianity. But she came under some very seriously heavy condemnation by the flamboyantly vocal prophet. Did all the things right but missed out on doing the right things.

1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Aren't our churches mostly like that nowadays? We got all the things right, down to the technology for the sound system, musical instruments...even the settings for the air conditioning (errm...perhaps not quite!). Yes ...and the festival celebrations. All nicely slotted into the church calendar. The offering bag is never empty...and there is always extra for that church building fund, or extension that we always wanted.

Done all the things right. And yet.... have we done the right things?

Isaiah was somewhat of an enigmatic character. We don't really know too much about him. His intimate and intuitive understanding of geopolitical events, and his ability to move comfortably among the ruling elite suggest that he is somehow related to the aristocracy. Yet despite his social status, he identified totally with the common man, and saw right through the sham of Judah's religious life.

The solution Isaiah offered, was to :
Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Yep. Isaiah was right. We need to go beyond the ritualistic worship and sacrifices within the temple, which we tend to be so good at...and start having more of a social conscience...more love and compassion for the marginalized, oppressed and defenseless. The world is becoming an increasingly difficult place to live in. Singapore will have its share of difficulties with the economic recession, the IR coming on board, organ trading, euthanasia etc...and we will need all the love, conviction and resolve as a church to make sure that justice is served, and that the defenseless and oppressed are protected.

Our church priorities currently tend too much towards a centripetal distribution of resources...as if God's blessings are meant primarily for us to keep. We need to see ourselves more as centrifugal dispensers of God's blessings. I believe that's how it's supposed to work.

See previous postings on alms and tithing :

They eat dogs don't they, in Cambodia?

Sadly, Cambodians eat dogs. Although the practice is getting less common, it still occurs in rural Cambodia. In this village we visited, the children have a different relationship with dogs (...at least while they are still puppies!). The few puppies there were very much the centre of attention, and the children clearly loved them.

They were a surprisingly happy bunch of kids despite their poverty and looking at them play, I couldn't help wondering why our kids in Singapore don't play with as much abandon and freedom of spirit as these poor kids did. It was certainly food for thought. And perhaps we should be careful about trying to impose our more materialistic ideas about needs and happiness on them. Their zest and joy were quite infectious, and the puppies also became darlings of the NTU students (Project L.O.V.E.).

Clearly happiness and joy are able to cross language barriers, and do not need words to be shared.

Christmas and Cambodia

Well, it's that time of year again when the world descends into its annual orgy of silliness and material excesses.

The church attempted to 'Christian-ise' what had been essentially a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice (see last year's post : 'So why on earth do we celebrate Christmas???), but each year the festival bumps and grinds inexorably back towards its pagan roots. Jesus never taught us to celebrate his birthday, and it is almost certain he was not born on Christmas day. And there is no evidence whatsoever, that the early church celebrated Christmas. So I don't have the same kind of romantic notions and spiritual sensitiveness that many Christians have about Christmas. I certainly reject all the extraneous associations with wintery scenes, fireplaces, yule logs, turkey and ham (shades of our colonial past!)

If we are to remember, let us instead remember that the King of Kings chose to be born in a stable - not the over-romanticized sweetly smiling child surrounded by adoring farm animals - but probably crying, cold and hungry, in a dirty, smelly, fly infested environment.

Mary was reported to have sung these famous words when she discovered her pregnancy (Luke 1):

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

Let us remember Jesus came to bring salvation, justice and hope. Peace on earth, and goodwill toward men.

If nothing else this year, let us pray that for that one night, when we supposedly commemorate the arrival of the Christ-child, that no child in this world will go to bed hungry, crying or abused.
May God grant us this one wish.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Ping and e.

Readings from Proverbs

We've been on this "Read through the Bible in a year" programme and at the present wading through the Book of Proverbs. This writings are supposedly written by Solomon, though it is not universally agreed that he was the author or wrote all of it. Parts of it appear to originate from Agur, Lemuel and 'men of Hezekiah' who may have been mere translators. In any case, the Book of Proverbs contains a collections of 'wise' sayings....shrewd observations of life.

Quite a few are directed towards the proper and 'wise' treatment the poor. For me it has been a powerful reminder of our human responsibility to care for the need and disadvantaged among us.

Here are a selection I have extracted:

11:1 The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight. 2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. 4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

17:5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

21:13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

22:9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor...
22:16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich-- both come to poverty.
22:22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, 23 for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.

Alms

The giving of alms is by definition a little different in concept from tithing. Generally it may be regarded as giving to the needy as an act of religious virtue. As such it should not be prescriptive. There are however, clear biblical principles with regards to supporting the destitute and needy. In addition, Jesus made it very clear (Luke 11) that giving, as is true for other aspects of religiosity, must come from the inside of a person and not done as a display.

39Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. 42"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

Alms giving should therefore be part of our intrinsic spirituality rather than a mere response to a specific requirement. Nevertheless, there are specific Old Testament commandments that prescribe the tithing of alms once in every 3 years. In Deuteronomy 14, the Israelites were commanded to lay aside a specific tithe, once every 3 years, for the foreigners, fatherless and needy:

28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: 29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

In the overall context of tithing, the Israelites were specifically commanded to to provide 10% per year as a Levite/Temple tithe, 9% (10% of the remainder 90%) as a festival tithe and 2.7% (10% of the remaining 81%, once every 3 years) as an 'alms' tithe.

Therefore, at a personal level, apart from the 10% tithe/pledges we make annually to the church (this is not giving of alms!), we should be prepared to set aside at least 2.7% annually for 'alms' giving. Similarly, at a corporate level, since the Levites were also subject to the same principles of tithing, the annual church collection from the congregation should be prepared to set aside at least 2.7% for corporate 'alms' giving. A church with average annual receipts of ~$2 million, should therefore be prepared to allocate at least $54,000 annually towards 'alms'.

These are however, merely the legalistic old testament principles. At best, they exist as guidelines for our giving. Giving now is for us an act of grace, and a manifestation of our spirituality. We are instructed to give generously (Luke 6:38;Matt 10:8), according to what we have and not what we do not have (2Cor 8:12), cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7) and quietly (Matt 6:1-4).

The Watch Night that isn't....

So we have survived the Christmas cheer, and now find ourselves on the threshold of yet another new year.....another anachronistic milestone. :) Seems strange since our lives have long since ceased to be organized around the idea of January 1st being the start of a new year. Neither our working nor personal life is truly organized around the Gregorian calendar, and practically, our calendar year neither begins on 1st January nor ends on 31st December. The only cycle of activity that seems still to operate according to the conventional January 1st - December 31st cycle would probably be the school system.

Many churches organize a watch night service, which is kind of a misnomer as it is merely an evening service on New Year's eve and not a true watching-of-the-night service.

If you google 'watch night service', you'll get a variety of resources that will point the origins of the watch night service to John Wesley's covenant service 0f 1755. Somehow, I am not so convinced, since the original Wesley Covenant Service was not held on New Year's eve but on 11th August. Neither was it a watching-of-the-night vigil service. A commentary by Rev. Diedra Kriewald ties it to a later event 33 years later involving converted British miners:

"Watch-night prayers became a regular service in the Methodist centers of Bristol, London and Newcastle. They were generally held between 8:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. on the Friday nearest the full moon "so that participants walked safely home through moonlit streets," as stated in Wesley's journal, Dec. 31, 1777. Wesley linked the watch-night vigil liturgically with a covenant of grace (an invitation to accept renewed obedience to Christ) in a service on Aug. 11, 1775 -- 33 years after the first watch night."

By the 19th century, this had somehow morphed into a New Year's eve service. And for pragmatic reasons, many 'watch night' services have since ceased to be vigil services, but merely evening services held to remember God's Grace and blessings over the past year.

It seems to me that the meaning of the event has been somewhat lost. We still unthinkingly refer to it as a 'watch night service' when it is clearly not a watching-the-night vigil service. The original covenantal spirit as envisioned by Wesley has also been somewhat lost over the years. And as a remembrance of God's Grace, which should be celebratory, my impressions of past watch-night services has been that they have tended to be overly introspective, sombre and morose. Where is the joy and celebration in recognizing God's Grace and blessings in our lives?

Perhaps we should return to fundamentals and revisit the idea of a covenant renewal service on the first day of the new year, or a truly celebratory service on the last day of the old year, and drop this anachronistic idea of a watch night service.

So why on earth do we celebrate Christmas???

Well, here I am, at 5am in the morning Christmas eve wondering why we celebrate Christmas. Someow as I get older, I seem to get increasingly scroogey about Christmas. Bah and humbug...and all that! After all the bible never tells us to celebrate Christmas. We don't even know when Jesus was actually born. Almost certainly, it wasn't on the 25th of December. And isn't it just some carryover of a pagan past? A celebration of the winter solstice? Even the icons of Christmas are all related to this pagan appreciation of the solstice. Christmas trees, snow, yulelogs, evergreens.... I must admit to being somewhat put off by this seemingly unthinking applications of these symbols to the celebration of 'Christmas'. I mean, what do these have to do with the celebration of Christ's birth? Even on a purely secular level, these symbols have nothing whatsoever to do with local culture...Shades of our colonial past! ...*sigh*

The winter solstice, something that we in the tropics have absolutely no appreciation of, is a big deal in northern hemisphere countries that are exposed to harsh winter conditions. All the way from Europe through to China. It represents for these countries, the day in the calender with the longest night and the deepest of winter. After this day, hours of sunlight get increasingly longer, and the land gradually recovers from winter sleep and moves towards spring. It was in these countries clearly a day for celebration. Things just gets better from that day on.

In China the solstice is called dongzhi 冬至. My wife tells me that in cantonese, they use the term 'guodong'. This festival is celebrated by the eating of a special desert call tangyuan 湯圓, which we enjoy in Singapore as well (the ahborling is a variation of this which I particularly like!). In Judaism, it is celebrated as the tekufah tevet. Cambodia doesn't have a winter solstice so there is no equivalent festival. The day that marks the reversal of the Tonle Sap is more important (Water Festival, Bonn Om Touk) as it signifies the beginning of the fishing season.

So what has all this to do with Christianity and my faith? Probably nothing.

On the other hand, there are only 2 definitive milestones for the Christian faith - Jesus' death and resurrection, during which the veil in the temple was torn and the barrier between God and man was dismantled forever, and Jesus' birth, when God became man. Jesus' birth was no random event in history, no quirk of nature. It was a fulfillment of prophecy. A most holy and critical moment in God's plan for His creation. 'In the fullness of time', the Bible says. In a sense, Jesus' birth was the winter solstice for all of creation. As the world got darker, and the nights grew longer and longer, God provided a solstice. When He sent His incarnate Son into the world, history changed forever. Winter will become Spring. Where there was certain death and destruction, there would be hope and life. And our days will one day become eternal Light and Life.

It is now 6.30am, and as I thought about all this, it seemed like such a holy moment in the history of creation needs to be commemorated. Doesn't matter if the bible does not mandate it. Common sense dictates that we should, as believers, commemorate such an important milestone in our history. And if we had to choose one day to commemorate this holy and critical moment in eternity when God became man, surely it should be the winter solstice. I can think of no better day. So even if it is not prescribed by the Bible, we should not feel inhibited in celebrating this wonderful moment. So let us eat, drink and be merry, setting aside all references to those icons drawn from past pagan celebrations, as well as all all that crass commercialization centred upon the over-romanticised nativity scene. Let us give our gifts, remembering how He first gave us this most wonderful gift of His only Son, that we might live and have life eternal.

And most importantly, let us not forget those who have not yet received.

God's richest blessings for Christmas.