Redeeming the Days...Anticipating the Coming Hope
It looks like Christmas and the 4th of July hit Myanmar congruently, as colorful lights hang outside my apartment building, and men, women, and children are lighting sparklers in merriment. Fire balloons are being shot up all over the place…they float high in the sky for several minutes and then fall down swiftly. And yes, some houses do catch on fire!
What is all of this festivity? What is it pointing to?
One of my good friends here is working with some new believers (they come from a Buddhist background), helping them to contextualize the message of Light with their worldview, even incorporating some of their “Buddhist” framework, so that they can be effective lights of spreading news of the Returning Risen One. This is some of what I’ve learned from him and these new believers…
Yesterday (October 6) was the Myanmar Buddhist full moon festival of Thadingyut. This festival concludes the Buddhist lent period and marks the end of the rainy season. Normally, most people here get up early in the morning on Oct. 6, attend a reading of the ancient Pali scriptures at the local monastery (which they can’t understand), then make their way to meet with their parents to offer and receive forgiveness (this last practice is a good thing and something we need to do more!)…after noon they fast from eating (though this really isn’t strictly observed)…the day culminates in the Festival of Lights once it gets dark. This last ceremony is practiced to commemorate Buddha’s descent from the celestial abode. Candles are lit to light the way for his return. The Theravada Buddhist monks blow a conch shell to trumpet the coming of Buddha…
But we know the One who IS coming back, and soon! He told us to keep our lamps lit as we keep watch for Him. When He comes, he will take us back to His Father’s house, the Golden City, where there will be no more tears and we will feast at the Great Wedding.
So…my friends here have decided to claim this annual Thadingyut celebration as a Holy Day looking forward to the return of Christ. In the words of my friend, “If there was any people and country that needed to hear the message of this Hope, it surely is the peoples of Myanmar!”
Last night, during Festival of Lights, I sat in the home of new believers; we had church there. We sat in a circle, read Mathew 24:1-51 and Ephesians 5:8-33. The leader began to light the candles and pass them around the circle one-by-one. We read the Scriptures saying that we are children of the True Light and that we will shine for him. Then we took the Lord’s supper (we used bread, but maybe rice would have been appropriate, as the Burmese “have to have rice to survive”…just like the Bread of Life). We prayed and shared our thoughts and questions with each other. To close the fellowship time the leader chimed the Buddhist bell (usually hit 3 times in the name of the Buddha -and 2 other things that I can’t remember- to begin and end their meditation time), but this time the bell was chimed in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. During the fellowship one lady said she believed in this One who is coming, and she told us that her whole house wants to be baptized.
“I say to you that there will be many who come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Golden Land.” – Matthew 8:11
Pray for these young believers. They have many hurdles to cross in understanding the truth, but they are ever eager because the Spirit is drawing them. They want to share the news with their neighbors, too…REJOICE! Pray for accurate Bible translations to be done in the many sub-language groups of Myanmar, with redemptive concepts that make sense to the people. (Even the Burmese translation completed by Judson has some concepts that are easily misunderstood because of the Buddhist worldview…e.g. the word Judson used for “heaven” (literal translation) is actually part of the Buddhist layers of “hell”; the word for “sin” means “criminal” and most people think that does not describe them; and the concept of substitutionary atonement is absolutely unheard of in a religion that says your future is determined by your own actions (cause and effect)…and killing is associated with bad karma (So how could God command Abraham to kill Isaac? And how could God really be God if He killed his own son?)…there are more issues than these, but we must remember that it is the child’s faith that is needed to understand, and all of us who believe today have been given this as a result of grace alone.
So, if you believe Jesus is Savior and Lord, celebrate the coming Wedding Feast with lights and trumpets…knowing that the sun and moon will pass away and the stars will fall from the sky…but the Word of the Lord will remain. Not a hair from you head will perish as you journey home.
I am remembering this verse from Luke 21 (verse 18) daily, and meditating on Psalm 23. I may be going to another state in Myanmar next week, called Rhakine State on the West Coast. There are some villages off the coast that were badly hit by the 2004 tsunami who are in need of finding ways to support their children’s teachers’ salaries. One of the things I studied at Covenant College and actually did my Senior Integration Project on was facilitating savings groups in communities with little resources, trying to promote self-sustainable ways of utilizing the community’s own assets. If I go, it will be a long journey (15 hour bus ride over large mountains with rough roads, and then a boat ride; maybe we’ll take an internal flight one way, we’ll see), and I will need strength and insights for listening and teaching. But I am so eager to go if God opens this door. Thank you for praying and encouraging me in various ways…each week here brings more familiarity with my present environment, but more of a longing for home as well. Love for both grows, and your prayers are part of my sustenance. Thank you, friends. I hope to write again soon.
What is all of this festivity? What is it pointing to?
One of my good friends here is working with some new believers (they come from a Buddhist background), helping them to contextualize the message of Light with their worldview, even incorporating some of their “Buddhist” framework, so that they can be effective lights of spreading news of the Returning Risen One. This is some of what I’ve learned from him and these new believers…
Yesterday (October 6) was the Myanmar Buddhist full moon festival of Thadingyut. This festival concludes the Buddhist lent period and marks the end of the rainy season. Normally, most people here get up early in the morning on Oct. 6, attend a reading of the ancient Pali scriptures at the local monastery (which they can’t understand), then make their way to meet with their parents to offer and receive forgiveness (this last practice is a good thing and something we need to do more!)…after noon they fast from eating (though this really isn’t strictly observed)…the day culminates in the Festival of Lights once it gets dark. This last ceremony is practiced to commemorate Buddha’s descent from the celestial abode. Candles are lit to light the way for his return. The Theravada Buddhist monks blow a conch shell to trumpet the coming of Buddha…
But we know the One who IS coming back, and soon! He told us to keep our lamps lit as we keep watch for Him. When He comes, he will take us back to His Father’s house, the Golden City, where there will be no more tears and we will feast at the Great Wedding.
So…my friends here have decided to claim this annual Thadingyut celebration as a Holy Day looking forward to the return of Christ. In the words of my friend, “If there was any people and country that needed to hear the message of this Hope, it surely is the peoples of Myanmar!”
Last night, during Festival of Lights, I sat in the home of new believers; we had church there. We sat in a circle, read Mathew 24:1-51 and Ephesians 5:8-33. The leader began to light the candles and pass them around the circle one-by-one. We read the Scriptures saying that we are children of the True Light and that we will shine for him. Then we took the Lord’s supper (we used bread, but maybe rice would have been appropriate, as the Burmese “have to have rice to survive”…just like the Bread of Life). We prayed and shared our thoughts and questions with each other. To close the fellowship time the leader chimed the Buddhist bell (usually hit 3 times in the name of the Buddha -and 2 other things that I can’t remember- to begin and end their meditation time), but this time the bell was chimed in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. During the fellowship one lady said she believed in this One who is coming, and she told us that her whole house wants to be baptized.
“I say to you that there will be many who come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Golden Land.” – Matthew 8:11
Pray for these young believers. They have many hurdles to cross in understanding the truth, but they are ever eager because the Spirit is drawing them. They want to share the news with their neighbors, too…REJOICE! Pray for accurate Bible translations to be done in the many sub-language groups of Myanmar, with redemptive concepts that make sense to the people. (Even the Burmese translation completed by Judson has some concepts that are easily misunderstood because of the Buddhist worldview…e.g. the word Judson used for “heaven” (literal translation) is actually part of the Buddhist layers of “hell”; the word for “sin” means “criminal” and most people think that does not describe them; and the concept of substitutionary atonement is absolutely unheard of in a religion that says your future is determined by your own actions (cause and effect)…and killing is associated with bad karma (So how could God command Abraham to kill Isaac? And how could God really be God if He killed his own son?)…there are more issues than these, but we must remember that it is the child’s faith that is needed to understand, and all of us who believe today have been given this as a result of grace alone.
So, if you believe Jesus is Savior and Lord, celebrate the coming Wedding Feast with lights and trumpets…knowing that the sun and moon will pass away and the stars will fall from the sky…but the Word of the Lord will remain. Not a hair from you head will perish as you journey home.
I am remembering this verse from Luke 21 (verse 18) daily, and meditating on Psalm 23. I may be going to another state in Myanmar next week, called Rhakine State on the West Coast. There are some villages off the coast that were badly hit by the 2004 tsunami who are in need of finding ways to support their children’s teachers’ salaries. One of the things I studied at Covenant College and actually did my Senior Integration Project on was facilitating savings groups in communities with little resources, trying to promote self-sustainable ways of utilizing the community’s own assets. If I go, it will be a long journey (15 hour bus ride over large mountains with rough roads, and then a boat ride; maybe we’ll take an internal flight one way, we’ll see), and I will need strength and insights for listening and teaching. But I am so eager to go if God opens this door. Thank you for praying and encouraging me in various ways…each week here brings more familiarity with my present environment, but more of a longing for home as well. Love for both grows, and your prayers are part of my sustenance. Thank you, friends. I hope to write again soon.
posted by Asha @ 12:35 AM
1 Comments:
hey awesome asha,
you rock!
jay
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