Archive for October, 2007
Friends in Conversation: Mosaic of Possibilities
I was delightfully surprised with who turned up for the Friends in Conversation gathering on “Politics and the Kingdom”. At least 30 people participated in a pretty free flowing conversation beginning with initial starters from our 2 guests: Goh Keat Peng and Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri. It was good to see some new or less familiar faces and some of our regulars in the days of emergentMalaysia open meetings (which we haven’t met for ages! Or perhaps a better way of putting it we have been evolving or reforming 
)
What I liked about the content of our conversations was how anchored it was on down to earth realities – especially the realities of our context and our church experiences. Yes, there was a reflective and even theological tone to it but it wasn’t so high flung and out of our world. I think maybe it’s because of the topic “Politics and the Kingdom”. But more importantly, I think the guest speakers set the tone well …
We took some time before we managed to warm up… and by the time I felt we were getting into issues – very concrete ones the time was over. Maybe that’s why we need to have a consistent rhythm in engaging these issues of politics and faith not just at the level of conversations but more so in action. So, often we get warmed up only to miss the chance to press on for depth and impact. That’s part of the reason why I felt I needed to kep the blog talk going a little bit more.
As usual the post-meeting interaction had a nice afterglow to the conversation, I think the energy level was even higher at some points. We indeed had an interesting mix of people present (KJ John’s presence was a pleasant surprise!)
I think all present are Christians and/or part of the Church (big C and small c) in some way, but a number of us also wear different hats in the following (we didn’t come representing these networks or organisations but I think our involvement there informs our thinking):
Christian Federation of Malaysia
Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST)
Oriental Hearts & Minds Insitute
I’m quite sure I must have missed some others. Please forgive me (or if you were present add to them in the comments section)
At the end of an event like this, my prayer is always let’s be open to what are the possibilities ahead for us personally and beyond!
Voter Registration … Three Issues … any more thoughts?
one for the participants in our recent Friends in Conversation gathering on “Politics and the Kingdom” last Saturday afternoon emailed me some of his thoughts which he felt we didn’t have enough time to deal with as we had to end. I’ve taken the liberty to repost it up (with some minor editing). I wonder whether this the view of majority Christians in Malaysia? Or even broader the majority citizens in Malaysia? My deeper question is this –> what are the implications for those who think along these lines. I’m throwing this open for anyone to contribute your thoughts.
Issue 1 – Voter registration
To be honest, I never knew this was an issue and have never given it a thought till it was mentioned on Saturday. My first reaction was logistics – how would they know who’s going to vote, who votes where, etc. Later on after the session a kind lady pointed out to me that for voter registration, they will follow your IC information, thus making the exercise pointless. Then I asked the lady what was the issue then, doesn’t it become a moot point? The 4 million who have not registered are clearly not interested, so why bother making it an issue. Apparently, you have to wait 3 months from registation to be able to vote.
Is that really a big deal? One can register as soon as they are 21 and not have to wait till the elections are called?
Is this a big deal because you are hoping that these newly registered voters will vote for the oppostion? I hear that lots of UMNO members are not registered also…
What I wanted to say in the meeting was that while on principle we can say that the Govt knows our age and address thru our IC, thus voter registration may seem unnecessary, but in practicality, its not that simple. How is the EC going to get this information, and its necessary updates? Now it may be possible thru recent advancement in IT, but what about in the 50s and 60s, when the elections first started? When there was no computers. Of course it would be possible to except tons of govt staff to go thru all ICs and pass on the EC those above 21 for the EC to then process. I guess they found a simpler way – to get voters to come forward and register. Another reason is to probably to deal with postal votes and overseas votes.
Maybe thats not the reason also, maybe there is more, after all, I’ve only been exposed to this issue for not more than day. But, just for the sole reason of “Apparently, you have to wait 3 months from registation to be able to vote” – it is worth making an issue out of this?
Issue 2: Short campaign period
The campaign period is not 7-8 days. It is every single day of every single year. Oppostion parties must be doing this all year round. The same election process is used in UK and Australia – 2 countries which surely you will consider democratic. Is it the best way? I don’t know, maybe yes, maybe no. But is it a necessarily bad way? I don’t think so. What do you propose then, if you consider the electroral process undemocratic?
Issue 3: Corruption in Govt
Corruption is bad. Lots of resources are wasted and hence a lot of progress and development is lost. On this, everyone agrees, there is no debate.
Where I’d like to raise a debate is on this: Competency of Govt
I see the opposition parties continuously focusing on corruption in the Govt, and now there’s the AG’s report to re-enforce that believe that we truly have a corrupted govt. I hate it that ppl in power abuse it for personal gain and wish for the full force of the law to be brought upon them.
But a lot of issues, such as the Malay sweeper that has been doing that for 20yrs that was brought up – is that the work of corruption or of competency? Regarding the bridge compensation issue – The govt should not have started the work on the bridge if it had no green light to complete it, or if it was not sure whether it could do so legally – to me, that’s competency. I’ve worked in construction since 2003, and while i’ve seen lots of public money wasted on corruption, i also see wasted funds due to incompetent Govt staff, in my case it was JKR, UiTM and MoH. That’s on the wastage of public funds due to incompetent officers.
On a 2nd level, no other political party has shown or demonstated the ability to govern. Where’s our shadow cabinet like Conservatives are doing in UK? All the oppostion does is harp on issues, which yes i admit is importart to some people, but they totally miss out on the bigger picture. As corrupted and BN and UMNO is, at least, over the last 20years, is has delivered a annual average growth of 5-7%.
Reformation Day: Beginnings of change and not the end of discussion!
The last whole month I’ve enjoyed the chance (and the discipline) to speak based on four of the five Solas. In fact, the pastors in our two districts in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor all did the same which I thought was a good idea. Here are the slides (in pdf) I used for each sermon I suppose minus me speaking the slides are like a jigsaw puzzle. So enjoy them as well as your imagination!
Reformation 1: Scripture alone
As I was preparing for this message I was struck how often our discussions on the Bible are adventures in missing the point of the Bible … which is to me getting us or pointing us to hear the “living voice of the Gospel”.
What struck me is the paradoxical nature of faith in its simplicity of trust and complexity in our experience.
I was amazed how Bono could relate Grace to our times … Grace is such a hard “concept” to grasp but does wonders in our life experience and spiritual quest!
I confess I can run away from this re-occuring theme of the person and work of Christ in my own life and ministry. While maybe to some the is an exclusivity in the tone of “Christ alone” which offends or at least hinders them, but for me even though I find some formulations of their understanding of Christ blocking people from appreciating his true mission and person, I’m constantly drawn to the concrete reality confronting me in and through Jesus Christ. The theological and rational aspects are in constant evolutionary learning and even change (other times it’s mostly a second naivete), I can not and will not deny some very real experiential (and even mystical) encounters with him which stretches the intellect, broadens the emotional capacities and deepens one humanity and spirituality. For me, Christ is not the end of all questioning. In fact, I think I’ve started more questions then finding answers. And the answers lead to new questions … I think a living relationship involves that.
I’m not too excited when Christians appeal to the Reformation to close down inquiry or shut down theological exploration. After the whole series, I think the best of the reformation is more about bubbles and even explosions of change and not the end of discussion. We might prefer some form of security – which often is a false one. Reformation Day for me reminds me not to me too complacent and keep an eye out of stuff which either has domesticated the faith and rendered it meaningless or distracted us from its liberating power.
Anyway, I wanted to keep this post short. Bob has already wiggled into the mood with Reformation Day Arbitrariness. I also stumbled upon this post (which has more to add on the reformation): A Decisive Moment Worth Singing About: Remembering The Protestant Reformation . My attention was captured by a lesser known hymn by Luther in the post which I shall use as an ending prayer for now:
From trouble deep I cry to thee,
Lord God, hear thou my crying;
Thy gracious ear, oh, turn to me,
Open to my sighing.
For if thou mean’st to look upon
The wrong and evil that is done,
Who, Lord, can stand before thee?
With thee stands nothing but thy grace
To cover all our failing.
The best life cannot win the race,
Good works are unavailing.
Before thee no one glory can,
And so must tremble every man,
And live by thy grace only. . .Although our sin be great, God’s grace
Is greater to relieve us;
His hand in helping nothing stays,
The hurt however grievous.
The Shepherd good alone is he,
Who will at last set Israel free,
From all and every trespass.
Holy Smoke
Another classic touch from 201(The Ongoing adventures of ASBO Jesus)…
with a special dedication to Bob!
Random Links 185
Why Everything Must Change: A Conversation with Brian McLaren
I wonder how people will react to Brian’s latest book … but it can’t be that bad if he’s quoting John Stott extensively right?
“But if you want to talk about evangelicals who really have affirmed the need for evangelicals to be involved in public life in a positive way, then people like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, and Ron Sider come to mind right away. But I think we also have to pay attention to people from Latin America like Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar. There have been many, many people who have done this well in my opinion but a lot of them are non-white and non-American, and so sadly they haven’t been heard. But, you know, John Stott would be a great example of an English evangelical deeply concerned about a wide range of social issues.
TOJ: Yes, you quote Stott extensively in your book.
BM: I do, and I think many people don’t appreciate the fact that John has been reflecting on these issues for decades and has a lot of very wise things to say. Not only because of the length of time he’s been reflecting on these issues, but also because of his decades-long friendship with Rene Padilla from Latin America. “
interesting though the details aren’t too relevant in my context.
Check out how to pray for riches!
What kind of party spirit am I on?
What’s on our minds when we go for conferences?
Good summary of some essential Newbigin thoughts.
Even though the comments are based on a USA context, and yet, I’m wondering whether we are always playing catching up here in Asia because the majority Christians are still deeply captive to popular American evangelicalism. Anyway, food for change tonight:
“I continue to be surprised by the way in which many evangelicals are still fighting theological “liberalism” as the primary enemy, so that every shift away from the cultural trappings of evangelicalism is seen as a shift towards such liberalism – without always recognizing to what degree evangelicalism’s own cultural trappings are already a “capitulation.”
Moreover, as far as I can discern from the article and my own experience and exposure to younger evangelicals, most evangelical Christians have not really moved much politically on issues such as abortion, use of embryonic stem cells, euthanasia, gay marriage, and so on. Rather, they have raised questions and shifted on issues such as environmental stewardship, warfare, economic policies, global poverty, HIV/AIDS, and so forth.
In these respects, it seems to me that some evangelicals are actually often moving closer to the historic social teaching of the Christian church, particularly in its contemporary application in orthodox varieties of Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Neo-Calvinism, and so forth. If so, then perhaps these political shifts among evangelicals are more a matter of Christian ressourcement and retrieval than cultural capitulation.”
The story before the questions is worth the whole post:
“Why is that so hard for Christians who talk so much about wanting to “reach people with the Gospel”? Why are we so afraid actually to “reach” out with an invitation to have lunch with folks with whom we disagree? Or maybe it is not so much that we are afraid, but that we don’t even think about the need to do that kind of thing. Why not?”
False Teachers and False Teachings
Lovely quote:
“G.K. Chesterton put it nicely when he wrote: “Idolatry is committed not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils.” God is not honored when we are unfair to people with whom we disagree.”
Reformation Sunday: Some Thoughts
I should be putting up my slides for the last 4 Sundays tomorrow! It’s Reformation Day!
The Crisis of Modern Fundamentalism
Fascinating …
“Who worries today’s fundamentalist leaders? According to the FBFI’s 2005 resolutions, “Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven Life movement represents an incomplete gospel, a negligent carelessness in the use of Scripture paraphrases, extreme pragmatism, and a disdain for biblical separatism.” Another resolution targeted John Piper. “The great popularity of Piper’s writings, especially among younger fundamentalists requires that FBFI warn its members concerning Piper’s non-separatist position and, for those who read his works, to do so with careful discernment.” It’s not like Piper is unfamiliar with second-degree separation, when fundamentalists separate from Christians who do not separate from other Christians with poor theology. Piper’s father once served on the board of Bob Jones University.”
Making Friends in Noah’s Ark
As usual my good friend Alwyn Lau beats me in getting his notes and reflections up on the recent Friends in Conversation gathering on “Politics and the Kingdom” last Saturday afternoon. Before, I catch up with my own thoughts, please feel free to listen to his. He does have a way with words – a simple cut and paste from his blog post below (I thought I’d throw in a bonus remark from the comments section).
It isn’t every weekend I hear a sustained discussion on the church and politics. Come to think of it, it isn’t every half-year that I do, either. Which is why I probably needed to participate in the Friends in Conversation forum on faith and politics at Bangsar Lutheran Church last Saturday (also the 20th anniversary of Operation Lalang - how’s that for timeliness?)
In my self-introduction, the phrase ‘power-house’ came to me in referring to the two speakers. But if the phrase was a little overkill, it wasn’t by much.
Herman Sastri is a calm, cool, ecumenical, peace-making, smiling leader who works towards greater harmony among the denominations and - in this context - greater justice and welfare for all people, regardless of race and religion. For Sastri, dialogue is a non-negotiable to meet the demands and complexities of differences in worldviews and outlooks among ethnicities, faiths, parties, and what-nots.
Politics is necessary because, in a wonderful analogical use of Noah’s Ark, Sastri says that the storm outside requires us to ensure there is peace and calm inside. And this inside stability is achieved via the political process.
He also juxtaposes Christian socio-political involvement with evangelism, arguing that the former is a part of the latter. In a reasonably ‘emergent’ take, he even suggests that as Christians preach the Gospel, we are ourselves evangelised. I take it this means that evangelism via getting our hands dirty in politics is a critical way by which Christians grow in their faith. Sastri is no one-way monologueist when it comes to Christian-and-Culture conversations.
In contrast to Sastri’s suave demeanor, Goh Keat Peng reminds me of a Christianized Lenin in a Petrograd crowd. He makes no apologies (he said this a few times), pulls no punches (I was only about 4 chairs away and I could feel his words like a belly blow) and wastes no time in speaking his mind (the phrase ‘warm-up’ doesn’t apply very well to Goh).
And his mind is about making friends as an urgent end-goal of the Christian life, disastrously ignored, especially in the area of politics. He quoted from Matthew 5:25, about settling matters quickly with one’s adversary on the way to court (how apt), lest you be convicted and sentenced for life (a condition, I assume, which applies to more than just a penitentiary context).
Failure to do this results in Christian (and ecclesiological) apathy towards socio-political injustices, corruption, oppression and discrimination. In between sharing about some of his work and friends during this near-decade in Keadilan , he made clear his (which overlap with Sastri’s) beliefs that:
- Christians (in general) have their heads trapped in a privatised, post-earthly, hands-off religion which is doing next to nothing to speak out against those who suffer by the hands of a political administration which is either too bent to care or too busy to act.
- Christians (in general) are way too inward-looking and have failed in their God-given mission to expand their church walls to the world outside. We’re this huge communal anti-socialite and who isn’t going to do more than say, “We’ll pray”, unless:
- A prominent Christian (or one of our church members) get detained by the Internal Security Act
- Our own ‘Christian rights’ are being eroded or threatened
- Christians have been talking (and singing!) too much too long about things (and theology?) totally ineffectual in spurring the church towards action and compassion for the unspoken ones in society (and if action and compassion are necessarily linked, then I guess the lack of one implies the lack of the other; in other words, and I don’t think Goh would disagree: if we’re not doing anything, it means we just don’t give a damn)
And this, Goh (and, he’s sure, God) cannot and will not accept. Whilst Hamlet may bear the law’s delay and the oppressor’s wrong, Goh demands action and he wanted it many yesterdays ago.
Furthermore, Goh and Sastri assure, we are not alone and our core Christian values needn’t be compromised. Scripture, not the Party, rules us. Our friend-making is also Christ-sharing, albeit indirectly and without any overt prosyletizing. Goh, however, takes Sastri’s interplay between evangelism and political involvement one step further. He says that unless we are jump in to politics, we have not earned the right to evangelism(!) – awesome (but no comment).
And yet much more could’ve been discussed.
The session was about how to make a difference, yet it seemed that the focus was on more about the need to (and the indifference towards such a need). It would’ve helped to list down, say, 20 ways a church or Christian or parachurch organisation could help redeem Malaysian politics.
I can think of a few ways to contribute, though I confess I’m unsure about the level of real difference the following make:
- Help make your community be more aware and sensitized to the malpractice, mischief and misdeeds happening around us (by writing, sharing, raising the issue at appropriate times, conversations, etc.)
- Join a virgil or march for justice
- Vote a bad party out
What else can we do?
Whilst I was thinking about that, I also found it strange that Goh admonished the Church not to be involved in partisan politics. But why politics and not Politics? He reminds me of Gregory Boyd, who became famous almost overnight with his Myth of a Christian Nation. The book argued that the kingdom of God should have nothing to do with politics because the methods, priorities and agenda were worlds apart.
When we take up the sword, we put down the cross.
This is Boyd’s position, but it isn’t clear what Goh’s stance is. And I’m frankly surprised he disagrees with the church getting mixed (up?) with the Parties – I felt it would’ve been more consistent the other way. If not, why not? And if not, then the question comes back: what can the church do?
The issue (for me, at least) is sharpened by a question or comment raised about the need for Christians to be concerned not only about the hungry people on the street, but why they’re there in the first place.
But ay there’s the rub: The “average Christian” can do something, and do it very effectively, about a starving homeless person. She can feed him. But she cannot do something about the presence of the homeless.
This job is for specialised trained personnel, with the appropriate contacts, networks and experience to make an effective difference. This job is for politicians or people and organisations close to them.
Almost all of us can add water or coolant to our car’s thirsty radiators. Almost none of us can fix a dead (or dying) radiator. So whilst we certainly must bring it to the repair shop (and get on with making the world better elsewhere), I guess this is far better than turning a blind eye to the state of our vehicles. It may even help if some of us took car-repair lessons, or made friends with a mechanic or car-expert.
If nothing else, I appreciate Sastri and Goh for this reminder to make friends with everyone – no matter who – so we can all brave the storm.
Posted at 10:59 pm by alwynlau
Here’s one comment with more than 3 lines
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Random Links 184 (Malaysia)
How Can We Make A Difference? – Conversations on Politics and the Kingdom
We are meeting today, 2.30pm at BLC with Bro. Goh Keat Peng (MCCBCHST) and Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri (CCM & CFM)
YB Zaid, you don’t belong in UMNO!
I need to learn how to come up with blog posts titles like this … Anyway, bravo to the 5036 and Haris! But there is still more work to be done!
“It is people like Hishamudin who should be heading the judiciary”
Here’s another great title .. which pulls you in :
The right to a free(d) Judiciary
This discussion is not going away soon …
Jerai MP to Karpal: Now you are sitting in a wheel chair. God has punished you!
MPs shouldn’t get away with statements like this.
Michael Backman is at it again, This time on Pak Lah!
I know it’s not nice when people outside our country comments (criticizes) us …maybe there’s not much love in it, but if there is truth in it, perhaps those inside the country should do something about it?
Some Victories, Some Hope and Some Reminiscence
Good question: “What effect did Operasi Lalang have on you?” … I was 15.
Hartal: 10 tahun sebelum merdeka, 10 years before independence
Good example of “… using art as an agent for change; to produce new ideas and generate critical thinking”.
Random Thoughts enduring a slow Streamyx internet connection
I’m not even in the mood to upload a picture. I miss the wonderful connection I experienced while I was in Germany at the hostel room I stayed in.
I’ve been having problems accessing my Gmail account the whole day! (That’s in addition to a few days … last week!)
Ok … The good news which balances the bad experiences above for today is when I got a call and found out some working situations have improved. I don’t know whether I had anything to do with it. But, it’s good to know there were changes. And if there was any nudge on my side, then I’m amazed with the power of asking a simple question.
The haircut felt good. I noticed lots of white hair in between the black hair as the hair dropped in front of me. After the whole haircut, my conclusion … wow. this is pretty short
Some intense reading did me some good today. But I still need to get down to some writing. The writing will help me get some focus and direction towards the end goal of my part-time studies. It’s been very hard, but I would like to persevere. Another 65 pages to go …
It was encouraging to hear some words of appreciation from the Student group who uses our church premise almost every week for their meetings. It’s kind of like their mini-home away from home with other fellow pilgrims as they prepare to enter the educational institutions which shape the future of our nation. I’m simply happy that we were given a chance to play some role to providing some space for them to worship, fellowship, learn and grow. Nothing fancy, only what’s necessary.
Physically, I’m still tired from the about 8 hour meeting yesterday, and the 3 hour afternoon meeting the day before, plus the few hours of preparation before the two meetings. Now, there are times when meetings can become a waste of time and we just beat around the bush and not get to the point of what needs to be discussed and decided. Thankfully, that was not the case for the past two days. Overall, I think we were good stewards of our energy and intelligence. Now, it’s on with the work!
On second thoughts, even though I’m not happy with the internet connection. I think managing to read what I’ve been delaying for one week has been redemptive.
Three conversations. One face to face. Two on the phone. It was good listening and sharing moments. The first pretty extended which included life stories, personal reflection and sharing of pain and frustration. Humbling to be given the honor to be a recipient of such gifts. At times, I wonder whether I can handle the amount of information coming from such conversations. This round, I managed. I’m aware there were other times, I couldn’t handle so much. The second asked for ideas and opinions, and then we went off tangent and talked about surrounding matters of concern. Again, I’m in awe how we could talk so openly when in normal circumstances people in our positions might avoid this. The last was a nice little information which encouraged me … because I wonder why am I placed in some contexts and not others. When in doubt, I wish I could have spent time doing something else (like my much needed reading for my studies). But good news of “change” helped me find some worth being there.
For now, I’m not in a mood to over analyze or have a great commentary on the events thus far. It’s been a pretty good week thus far, with a baby born in between all these events and thoughts (note: not our baby yet, another church member!). So, even though physically I’m tired, mentally frustrated with the internet connection, spiritually and emotionally I do feel inspired. I’ll hold on to that for now
