Malaysia #3

Last night we went to a meeting called "the association of Christian churches".
Although I said what I said in the last post, embarrassingly I was frustrated having to be there because it took up about 4 hrs of our evening, exhausted us, and kept us from working on preparations for the #1 thing we are here to do. "If you say yes to something, you are saying 'no' to something else." right? Yet I've been trying to be present more...trying to appreciate and be aware of what God has for me 'here' 'now' - even if it is outside my plans.

So notwithstanding the above, this is what I saw:
A group of probably 800 Christians from all denominations worshipping together, praying together, and interceding for their city and country. It was an amazing sight.
What perhaps impressed me most about it was that this type of thing is diametrically opposed to some of the thinking I have experienced in Christendom and in Adventism. (The "southern baptist great lakes region council of 1863, reformed, twice removed" joke comes to mind here)... "We are the only ones who've got it right. Therefore we are the only ones who are on God's side. We are competing with other denominations for market share...they are really our enemies. We need to be covert, secretive, suspicious, and afraid of them - they are with the beast." and it goes on and on.

Not much of this is actually said outloud of course - but it is felt (at least in my hearth) through conversations, in requests for joint ventures, in online blog posts, and so on. I'm sure there was some of this nonsense going on in the auditorium last night - but I couldn't help but be smitten by the air of mutual appreciation, camaraderie, and yes, even unity among the bunch. Not because we are all in agreement on theology or the pragmatics of Jesus' way - I'm sure there are sharp divisions and all kinds of under-current stuff going on that I would have no idea bout - but because we all agreed to gather in Jesus name, perhaps at the lowest common denominator: God Loves Everyone. That's a denominator I'll sign my name to happily.

One pastor from the Anglican church prayed this prayer at the end:

Where there are ignorance and superstition,
Let there be enlightenment and knowledge.

Where there are prejudice and hatred,
Let there be acceptance and love.

Where there are fear and suspicion,
Let there be confidence and trust.

Where there are tyranny and oppression,
Let there be freedom and justice.

Where there are poverty and disease,
Let there be prosperity and health.

Where there are strife and discord,
Let there be harmony and peace.


God's spirit was afoot. Jesus' prayer in John 17 feels somehow more hopeful: 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.