I’ve just completed three days of meetings all relating to church matters but the reality is we are a church in Malaysia and thus what is happening around us constantly hovers over my mind. I’m catching up with the news. The reaction ranges from speechless to “vomiting blood” and everything in between.
Ampun Tuanku, patik-patik petisyen lagi
I’ve been struck by the word and haunted by the word Conscientization since Sunday.
Sanctity of Parliament violated – Mustafa roughed up
Tian Chua Arrested At Malaysian Parliament (full version)
How does one respond after watching these videos?
Haidar to head royal panel on Lingam tape
A friend of mine helped me a little to understand the background of some of the members in the royal panel.
Royal comission ‘a great letdown’
Lots to catch up these days.
“This is outrageous!”, Bar screams over arrest of Edmund Bon
Bar to proceed with action against Datuk Bandar
I confess … this is more than mind boggling! One of these days it would be good to hear the story from Edmund’s mouth.
Wielding the big stick and sweeping issues under the Putrajaya rug
Anil’s questions perhaps is in many people’s minds lately:
“What on earth is the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi trying to do? Doesn’t he know this does not reflect well on him – and on Malaysia?”
I bought Gandhi’s autobiography yesterday. RM10 at Popular bookstore.
At least not for McDonalds.
Once upon a time I was blind … until I met my friend Palani. I was 14.
I find the M for Malaysia video very relevant, imaginative, stirring and piercing – in other words, truly PROPHETIC! Though I have to say I disagree about bombing the parliament and killing people :P, I can’t help but be reminded of the old testament prophets and Jesus in challenging the powers through the dismantling of symbols (e.g Jesus’ at the Temple) and through speech. It’s sad that we as the Church in Malaysia are a bit lagging behind when it comes to being a prophetic movement in the critique of empire and in reimagining God’s future for Malaysia. I pray that God will continue to use RoH to lead the way in this respect. 🙂 To rephrase the last sentence in the video clip, “The people in Malaysia do not need
more church buildings right now, they need hope…”
Kevin – I think the “prophetic” voice of the Church may have been hijacked (unconsciously) by those who operate with a more spiritualized version of the gospel and missing a big chunk of what the OT prophets would have focused on especially in terms of social justice. Once upon a time, I was in that camp too! So, when people hear the word “prophetic” there is a tendency to “hear” personal prophecies which at best can be good confirmations on initial promptings of the Spirit but at worst Christianized fortune-telling (Lord, forgive us!). When all is said and done, we all are prone to adventures in missing the point. And if God is the point where we can get our hope from then there’s a lot of soul searching we need to do while breaking out of our self-constructed cocoons towards flying into God’s future for us.