The road is not finished yet

Week 2 of our holy::ground online Lent retreat, using Brian McLaren's book: ‘we make the road by walking. Chapter 28: A New Path to Aliveness, based on Matthew 5:17-48 about Jesus not abolishing but fulfilling the Law and prophets.  I was struck by one image ....

If tradition could be compared to a road that began in the distant past and continues to the present, Jesus dares to propose that the road is not finished yet. To extend the road of tradition into the future – to fulfil its potential – we must first look back to discern its general direction. Then informed by the past, we must look forward and dare to step beyond where the road currently ends, venturing off the map, so to speak, into new territory. To stop where the road of tradition currently ends, Jesus realises, would actually end the adventure and bring the  tradition to a standstill. So faithfulness doesn’t simply allow us to extend the tradition and seek to fulfil its unexplored potential; it requires us to do so   (p163)

I have been on a fairly long journey this past week. Sunday Flight from London to Manila, via Singapore.  Then Monday a flight to Roxas in the north of Panay Island (Western Visayas) Then on Wednesday, a  6 hour journey in a van to Cataclan   the North West tip to catch a Catamarang to Boracay where we held our three day Tearfund workshop at the Eco Village Conference Centre near Puka Beach  in the north of the island.

On Saturday afternoon we went back to Tambisaan Jetty and a boat to Caticlan.   We then embarked on a 8 hour van journey to Iloilo City,  where we stayed overnight  and continued on Sunday morning to the Port to catch a FastBoat to Bacolod and then a van to Cadiz  in the North of Negros Occidental. (arriving about 4pm). I took a number of (instagram) pictures on the journey and have been meditating on them in relation to the passage.  

PICTURE ONE: St Catherine's Church, Mambusao  

 On the road from Cataclan to Iloilo, we stopped at a small town called  Mambusao and I had a brief reflective moment walking around the Town Square and standing outside St Catherine’s church. The cement was decomposing, the paintwork peeling, but the most heavenly music was coming from within, behind closed doors  …. elusive  hymns at twilight  

Maybe the church symbolises the traditional institutional approach to religion – outwardly strong, steadfast certain    but as you approach you realise it is crumbling and inaccessible. Moral certainly and a universalising theology looks initially attractive and clear, providing solid certainty in an unstable world. And it has an other worldly sound to it   But the walls are crumbling and the future uncertain….. and the doors are locked to strangers. Life seems to be happening in the Town square 

And the road goes on to new places and new experiences….. 

PICTURE TWO:  Boat on the Sibuyan Sea

I had another reflective moment on the fast boat to Bocalad. On the waters of the Sibuyan Sea  where everything was more fluid, unstable and fast-paced.  You can watch a clip on Facebook here  

Morality does seem to be changing so rapidly and feels unstable. My colleague was sitting inside the boat feeling nauseous in the choppy seas. Faith and certainly seem to be at sea in a postmodern world. Morality is more fluid, more liquid. Remember Don Cuppit’s  ‘Sea of Faith’ ?    or some would suggest that it’s more ‘faith at sea’ these days…. It's certainly more liquid...

PICTURE THREE: Motor Tricycles in Cadiz  

Traveling in a small Tricycle a colourful motorised motorcycle and sidecar in Cadiz.  They carry visible signs of faith   ‘God Is great’  Jesus is Lord, ‘Trust in God’  ‘God will provide’ …..  bumper sticker theology.

But I like these local, contextual, colourful forms of transport – each region has their own like the local Jeepneys…. Converted from jeeps after WW2, they make for an exhilarating ride.

I’ve been reading a book as I travel on Contextual Theology by Clemens Sedmak  Doing Local theology: a Guide for Artisans of a New Humanity (MaryKnoll, 2002) 

All good theology is contextual:   Theology is done locally. In order to be honest to the local circumstances theology has to be done as local theology, as theology that takes the particular situation seriously. Local theology can be done with basic theological means. It can be done by the people, and it is done with the people.’   (p3)

Very little theology is universal and good theology demands local application. It goes beyond book knowledge  and is based on real, every day experience.  

That makes theology local, colourful adventurous. It lives in the vernacular,  like  ‘treasures in earthen vessels’  always based on the somewhere we are living and embedded in the here and now.

PICTURE FOUR:  eating Balut in Cadiz

In holy::ground we do what we call kitchen table theology, where we discuss scripture around the table.  Anyone can contribute. This is part of  'extending the road of tradition into the future'.  Sedmak talks about the need for ‘little theologies’ (not just 'bumper sticker' theology) and describes a model of local theologian as 'village cook'.   Doing local theology is like cooking with local ingredients. In Cadiz we were invited to try the local delicacy in the market where the locals eat Balut - steamed Duck Embryo – I decided to give it a miss…….. not all local theology can be stomached by outsiders.  

Starfish Asia

This time it's a painting of a starfish based on a picture in a brochure in a hotel. We were by the beach in Thailand at the time.

Starfish have become significant since I read the book and have engaged with the ideas. I now seem to see starfish everywhere. You can read some excerpts here

I did a blog previously on the Starfish and the Spider which includes a brief outline of some of the main points and some useful links.

I even came across a Starfish Asia web page owned by someone I know, dedicated to children's education in Pakistan.

As we consider the setting up on a separate CMS entity in Asia, the Network ideas contained in the book have grown in significance.

I was at a conference on Samaritan Strategy and 3 people mentioned the Starfish book as sinificant It seems that it has helped a lot of people to think out side of the box and re-imagine organisations. In a more networked less centralised way.

So back to the 5 simple strategies for building networks (based on the ideas in the book - slightly adapted)

1. Catalytic leadership - a style of leadership that enables people to participate , an instigator and enthuser who gets people on board and inspire action.

2. Core Ideology - for AsiaCMS this is the Missio Dei - the mission of God that binds people together. But what is core will grow and become clearer.

3. Champions - a variety of people - maybe volunteers, or staff or 'people in mission' who champion the cause and spread the message and get others involved .....

4. Cells of Participation or Communities of Practice - maybe in certain locations, Seoul, Delhi, Bangalore, Kathmandu, Manila, Islamabad, etc who share stories and pray and encourage each other to participate in the Missio Dei.

5. Connecting using pre-existing Networks. Rather than re-inventing the wheel it is using what is already there. Networks like DNA/Samaritan Strategy, ISAAC, Micah Challenge to name but a few.

This book inspired me as we started the enquiry process - looking at what AsiaCMS might become. It continues to provide a helpful alternative, light, networked structure as we look at implementation. And I suppose its all about simple actions repeated again and again . A bit like the original Starfish story

A well known author and poet was working and vacationing on the southern coast of Spain. One early morning, he was walking along the beach - the sun was rising, the rain had ended, the rainbows were magnificent, the sea was calm. While enjoying the beauty around him, he glanced down the beach and saw a lone figure dancing about. Fascinated by this person celebrating the new day, he moved closer. As he drew nearer, he realized that the person was not dancing, but in one graceful motion was picking up objects from the beach and tossing them into the sea. He approached the young man and saw the objects were starfish. "Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?" "If the starfish stay on the beach, when the tide goes out and the sun rises higher, they will die," replied the young man as he continued tossing them out to sea. "That's ridiculous! There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't really believe that what you are doing can possibly make a difference!" The young man picked up another starfish, and tossing it into the waves, said, "It makes a difference to this one."

'That's the way it is' Asia CMS

Aamir from Pakistan has put together a little video about Asia CMS

If you are interested in becoming part of this great little team, then look us up on Facebook

and participate in a little of what God is getting up to in Asia ......

CMS website

Some of the goodies available on the CMS website with Asia links to them. No Particular order. Follow the links.  

 

SONG  We give to you

Six CMS people got together to create a new worship song - this is the result. And its to support Jigsaw in the Philippines 

 

Local heroes of Asian mission

In India, a recent gathering of remarkable people in mission showed the way forward for mission in Asia, says Helen Harwood's article on the Pune conference in India .

Issue 43 - July 2009 - South India

In this edition of Audiomission Jeremy Woodham talks to the Reverend Moses Jayakumar, the general secretary of the Church of South India and mission partners Hugh & Debbie Skeil tell us about their work at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore,

  

There is a photostream in Flikr from CMS people  Lots of pics from Becky and Shemila in Sri Lanka  Plus the IDP crisis there and some fiundraising events   

    Bangalore Interviews

A 5min video.  Find out more about a CMS Short term team that went to Bangaloret from the Centre for Youth Ministry Students ...

 CMS - Praxis - Philippines Experience

Jigsaw Kids Ministries - The work of CMS mission partners Kate and Tim Lee (9mins)

And some Photos Stories 

ART   He Qi: art of mission 

Watch the development of renowned artist He Qi's (CMS Artist in residence in 2008)  large-scale commission for CMS: 'The Mission of God

EMERGENCY  China earthquake: love in action

Chinese Christians responding to disaster with ActionLove, the social development arm of Asian Outreach, a CMS partner

And Finally some Misison Opportunities 

Mission Service opportunities:   Teachers – various subjects

Nepal, Asia, required as soon as possible
Region: Asia, Role: Education, Time commitment: 1-2 years, Time commitment: 5 years +, Country: Nepal

MISSION TRIPS   Short term team opportunities 2009...

Local Heroes in Asia

Helen who worked for the Asia Team as East Asia Administrator has written about a Co-Mission Partner meeting in Pune earlier this year.  

Helen spoke to Adrian who looks after CMS work in the Region: 

"This was the first ever gathering just for people working with CMS in Asia who are from Asia. It therefore had much more of an Asian than British or Western character and identity.”

For CMS, ever-increasing collaboration in the region could also signal a new step forward.

“Given the growth and current scale of our work in South Asia this is now the time to establish some kind of physical presence in the region,” said Adrian.

Indeed, on leaving the conference, Adrian felt he’d begun to glimpse something new that had hitherto been just a dream. 

“It was not just another conference – there was a clear sense of celebration of the emergence of an identifiable ‘Asia CMS’.”

You can read the full article on the CMS Website  

and an earlier post on my blog The Changing Face of Asia 

‘A holy and humble man’ Cecil Hargreaves (1919-2009) Asia Secretary

 

I attended the funeral of Rev Cecil Hargreaves at the college of St Barnabas in Lingfield  Although I did not know him personally he was Asia Secretary for CMS in the 1960s and I found myself identifying with this man quite profoundly. His son Jeremy spoke very eloquently and movingly about his father’s life and ministry.

During WW2, as a conscientious objector, Cecil served with the RAMC in India and Burma, at one point operating on the Viceroy’s leg in Peshawar. His call to priesthood was motivated by seeing a river full of bodies during the Bengal Famine.

After ordination, with CMS he served in India as a missionary (at Bishops College Calcutta) before becoming Asia Secretary for CMS and then later returning to India at the time of the United Churches experience (1970). He married Katrina, a Church of Scotland missionary in India and had three boys

Volley Ball at Bishops College Calcutta 

Here was someone else who had travelled some of the same ancient pathways for CMS in Asia. He loved music (he was also an accomplished pianist - we heard a 1937 recording Cecil played of Chopin's Scherzo in C minor, Op 39) and walking,  poetry and watercolour painting – somethings I just aspire to rather than actually achieve.

In UK, he was also heavily involved in the New Jerusalem Bible project and worked as a parish priest in Marden in the 1980s. He has written a number of books including Reader on Indian Christian Theology and The Translators Freedom. 

We were given a copy of his book - The Nazareth Route (Jesus Spirituality of Challenge and Vulnerability) Melrose Books 2008. I look forward to reading it as it explores various route-makers’ and ‘route-finders’, a number from Asia itself.

The CMS archives come up trumps at times like this. Ken the archivist had picked out some papers. I was drawn to one particular quote from CMS Executive Committee,  21st January 1970:

His immediate colleagues learned to look at him as a shrewd counsellor, a keen advocate of truth and justice in all things, an unfailing spring of comic relief and most gracious friend; and his fellow workers in all ranks at the Society’s Headquarters have recognised in him that rare person, a holy and humble man of God'                         

During the service his youngest son read a poem (cited in the book) a reminder that in all the travelling to turn aside and find the sacred places and memorable moments.

I have seen the sun break through 


to illuminate a small field 


for a while, and gone my way 


and forgotten it. But that was the pearl 


of great price, the one field that had 


treasure in it. I realize now 


that I must give all that I have 


to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after 


an imagined past. It is the turning 


aside like Moses to the miracle 


of the lit bush, to a brightness 


that seemed as transitory as your youth 


once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

The Bright Field by R. S. Thomas

A mission giant - Dr Pat Nickson OBE

Rev Dr Patricia Nickson, long time CMS mission partner, died peacefully yesterday (1.pm, Sunday 26 April). She had suffered from abdominal cancer for nearly two years. Her health took a downward turn last Wednesday and she was transferred from hospital to a local hospice the following day. On Saturday, in a simple ceremony, she received a final anointing, heard a reading from Bishop Tom Wright’s book Surprised by Hope (which she greatly treasured) and her vicar prayed the Nunc Dimittis. Later various friends called to say their farewells. She is survived by a brother and a sister.

Pat Nickson, 62, was one of the mission giants of her generation. She worked in Northern Australia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Congo and became a world authority in her field, working closely with the WHO, the World Council of Churches and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (where she had a faculty position). She was a leading trainer of indigenous healthcare workers, became a leading authority utilizing the healing properties of local herbs and how ‘well-ness’ is understood in different cultures (which involved rich dialogue with local healers). She was awarded the OBE for her work. Quite recently she was ordained to the Anglican ministry.

Pat’s funeral will be held at St Mary’s Upton at 11.00am on 5 May. CMS will be represented. The vicar the Rev Graeme Skinner is preparing a book of condolences. Anyone may contribute, email graeme@stm-upton.org.uk Also, if anyone has stories of Pat and how she influenced their lives, Graeme Skinner would be glad to receive it via email.

May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

John Martin, CMS Head of Communications 

There are more details on the CMS website  including links to other webarchive materials on her ministry including a nice article on Dr Pat going clubbin

I personally remember Dr Pat Nickson's keen interest in Afghanistan where she had served as a community health practitioner. She was always keen to be updated on developments. She was a person with a very wide grasp of global affairs haveing lived and served in DR Congo,   Bangladesh,  Afghanistan - some of the world's real troublespots. A great lady with a  great spirit. 

  

Sungkonghoe Anglican University Seoul

I was able to visit the Anglican Sungkonghoe University in Seoul on this trip to Korea. As ever the hospitality was overwhelming. 

Originally founded in 1914 as St Michael's theological school,  it was closed in 1940 due to students' refusal to accept and follow Japanese religious customs. It reopened in 1982 and developed into a university in 1987. Maybe it was the opposition to the Japanese regime that underlined the University’s commitment to civil rights and world peace:

‘we cultivate Christian Humanity in students that enables them to practice a spirit of openness, sharing and service. We encourage students to be independent and open-minded….to share with others ….to serve others first’

I was impressed with the wide range of courses on offer: 

Langauges - English, Japanese, Chinese;   Social welfare; Theology; media and communication; Glocal (global and local) IT; college of Asian Civil Society; democracy and social movement institute - 

And also the resources centres available online: 

NGO Resource Center  

Asian Archives Center  

Democracy Resource Center     

Institute for East Asian Studies 

Institute for the Aged 

Silver Institute for Social Welfare 

Welfare Labour History Research Center 

In addition there are a number of related institutes:  

Institute of Church Music, 

Center for Culture and Information Studies 

Institute for Study of theology;    

Management and Distribution Research Institute;    

Research centre for social enterprise
Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives Center  (ARENA)   

Academy of democratic society and policy 

The university has a library of 150,000 volumes, with 2000 undergraduates and 500 post graduates research students from Asia (including 100 theology students). 

The University has a good reputation for developing indigeous Asia thinking and has pioneered a lot of innovative work in Asia. One such emphasis is on leadership development in Asia-Pacific students from Korea Japan and China.  In addition windows have been 'opened' on India Philippines, China and Russia.

I was attending a presentation on vision of Asia Mission and Theology centre. Particularly impressive has been the new development  Masters in Asian NGO management (MAINS) in 2007 including  theology and sociology a development of their NGO studies course. It was also interesting to hear that a number of staff had stayed at CMS's Crowther Hall and studied at the University of Birmingham.

Sunghkonghoe University is also part of CUAC -  Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion.   I was also interested to see they are linked to other CUAC unverities, including 2 other East Asian universities I have visited:   St Johns University in Taiwan  and Poole Gaukin University in Osaka Japan 

Korean Hospitality is out of this world..... 

social networking audit

New Map of the Internet 

I have just done a mini audit of the web2:0 technology, 'social networking' tools I am using (as part of a report on developements in Asia)  A few years back I wouldn't have understood half of the terms.  

This Blog ‘Wandering4loveofGod’ (50 posts so far in 2009) 

Facebook (422 friends) ‘CMS-Asia’ Group (84 members) SACYN (99), sacred:space (40) TWITTER (36 followers),  Plaxo (37 connections),  and now  'kindling – big fires start small'.  a CMS Network that I have just joined.

 

Then there are the Yahoo Groups: ‘faithconversations’(110), people_movement (73) ISAAC (55) CMSRegional (15) MAGI_Asia (2). All groups, or 'communities of practice', that I am helping to motivate. And that's just some of them.  They are very basic  - simple email forwarding systems. And some are more functional and popular than others.  

So far I've failed to upload  a video to YouTube (I've produced 2 of my own videos) and whist I have a Flickr account I've yet to upload pictures. (I've got so many - where to start!?) 'The virtual/spirit is willing but the physical/flesh is weak' 

I'm finding it all takes an inordinate amount of time.  I trust that it is all worth it. 

Any thoughts/ suggestions/ encouragements?

Is there anyone out there?? 

kindling - big fires start small

As we try to join up work around the CMS world, we are increasingly looking at social networking tools:  Facebook, Flikker, YouTube, Plaxo, MySpace, Blogging. These are among the many, many tools available to help us connect. 

I've been investing a  disproportionate amount of time and effort into all this, in the hope that we can encourage participation in the work of CMS in ASIA.

 

As well as this BLOG, we have set up various Yahoo Groups  (a bit old hat these days) some of which have been running for some time:  'faith conversations' (for dialogue about interfaith issues), 'people-movement' (for CMS people in mission),     

We also have  a Facebook for CMS-Asia.  I have just been connecting up my Twitter and the Blog through Twitterfeed,   which in turn links to my Facebook.

  

And now I've just joined the new experimental CMS community 'kindling - big fires start small'. Set up by Jeremy in the comms team, this group is hosted by Ning:create your own Social Network.   We'e even set up an ASIA CMS page as an experiment.   Our symbol is the starfish   based on the book the Starfish and the Spider

Why not come and join us and see where all this leads us....

Christ Mandela by Nalina Jayasuriya

This is another post in the series 'God is Rice'  with quotes from the book by Masao Takenaka

Christ's anointing by Nalini Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka 

Many Asian Christian artists such as Jyoti Sahi, Nalini Jayasuriya and Alphonso are utilising the rhythmic form of the circle and centre to express the presence of Christ. They clearly and simply place Christ at the centre and in that representation he embraces the cosmos as a whole. 

Take for example the painting Christ Mandala by Nalini Jayasuriya, She is a third generation Christian from Sri Lanka, where Buddhism is the predominant religion. To be sure, there are numerous expressions of mandalas, varying according to locality, such as Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese. The original meaning of mandala is ‘assembly.’

In Nalini Jayasuriya’s Christ Mandella we find in the centre the Christ figure. He is seated in the lotus posture of meditation with his hands in a Mandala gesture of blessing. He is surrounded by a circle which can be interpreted as a mandala or halo (a ring of light) position) representing the glory of God. Or it can be read as a mandala of a circle of light showing Christ as the centre of the Universe. To the left and the right are fiur small human figures representing the four evangelists (left above Matthew , the human figure; left below Mark the lion; right below Luke the ox and right above John the eagle) we also note tha above the figure of Christ there are three suns representing the Trinity, and all the motif’s float on a sea of fine circular lines suggestive of the vibrations from the centre outwards and back again.

This suggests a harmony rather than dualism between spirit and body, secular and sacred, the paternal an the material , heaven and earth. positive and negative and good and evil

you can find more on Yale's Prism

and and article by Nalina Jayasuriya on art as theology

The 'Christ Mandella' image is used on the front cover of Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue by Jacques Dupuis,