Inspired by 50 Ways to Love Your Neighbor.  Let me give it a jump start, can’t come out with 50 at one go.  But 7 is possible.  “Neighbor” here begins with the people really staying next to you or the same floor with you.  But it extends to “Neighbors” at work, school, interest groups, clubs, other drivers on the road, etc.  Anyone who is not “you”

Ready, set . . .  go!

1. Remember to use the signal light  to indicate whether you are turning left or right while driving. 

2. Don’t simply throw rubbish (includes spitting). Watch WALL.E if you don’t understand.

3. Register to vote, and vote wisely. Don’t wait till one month before the next election. Performance now! Imagine what a sudden surge of registrations would do to those who are in power or desire power . a reminder it’s an entrusted power to serve?

4. Purge all traces of racism and discrimination of any kind (e.g. disabilities, migrant, religion, social standing, etc) . Start hanging out with people who are different from you. Be their friend, that’s even better.

5. Smile at the people who are in the same lift with you. (They may think you are crazy, prove them right by singing in the lift. Try You are my sunshine!)

6. Join a good cause you believe in. There’s plenty out there.

7. Add your own 7 ways to Love Your Neighbor. Tell people about it, do a blog post, take pictures, spread the word, and be creative.  But more importantly Just do it!

Reading Public Theology as Christian Witness: Exploring the Genre by John W. de Gruchy, has been so timely as I continue refining my own thinking in the context of Malaysia today. His seven theses is a helpful place to reboot myself.

1. Good public theological praxis does not seek to preference Christianity but to witness to values that Christians believe are important for the common good.

2. Good public theological praxis requires the development of a language that is accessible to people outside the Christian tradition, and is convincing in its own right; but it also needs to address Christian congregations in a language whereby public debates are related to the traditions of faith.

3. Good public theological praxis requires an informed knowledge of public policy and issues, grasping the implications of what is at stake, and subjecting this to sharp analytical evaluation and theological critique.

4. Good public theological praxis requires doing theology in a way that is interdisciplinary in character and uses a methodology in which content and process are intertwined.

5. Good public theological praxis gives priority to the perspectives of victims and survivors, and to the restoration of justice; it sides with the powerless against the powerful, and seeks to speak truth to power drawing its inspiration from the prophetic trajectory in the Bible.

6.  Good public theological praxis requires congregations that are consciously nurtured and informed by biblical and theological reflection and a rich life of worship in relation to the context within which they are situated, both locally and more widely.

7. Good public theological praxis requires a spirituality which enables a lived experience of God, with people and with creation, fed by a longing for justice and wholeness and a resistance to all that thwarts wellbeing.

I’m always alert to 101 things floating in my head whether it’s when I’m driving, listening to a lecture, engaged in an intense conversation, or whatever.

Here’s a list of 10 future topics I would like to write.

1. The place of Religion in Public and Private Tertiary Education in Malaysia.

2.  Major Ecclesiological issues confronting the Malaysian Church today.

3. Major Missiological issues confronting the Malaysian Church today.

4. The Formation of a Common Malaysian National Identity from a Christian perspective.

5. The Christian Federation of Malaysia: Towards the paradigm of “a Communion with an Apostolic Mission”.

6. Doing Good Together: Partnership between Faith Communities towards the Common Good of Society.

7. Doing Theology between the Local and Global context in Malaysia.

8. Decolonizing Christianity in Malaysia towards a Liberating approach to faith and practice.

9. Friends in Conversation: Moving beyond the polarities of Denominational and Theological  parochialism as well as the polarities of Evangelism and Inter-faith dialogue

10. Transforming Leadership in the Malaysian Church and Society.

In no particular order . . .

1. “Canggih”.

2. And

3. Beyond

4. Random

5. Change

6. Engage

7. Conversation

1. Having a Hair-Cut is amazingly relaxing.

2. Warm-almost-hot water tastes good.

3. I love the feel of the the wind blowing in my face.

4. Eating Potato Chips. Such pleasure!

5. Journaling. It helps to unload everything inside me on paper.

6. One cup of coffee in the morning.  Only one not more.

7. The practice of Examen like reflecting on the highs and lows recaptures “moments”.