The Most Revd Datuk Bolly Lapok
AT a time when irrational racial and religious polarisation in our country is on the rise, the church nationwide is facing severe restrictions.
For example, over the ban on use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims, despite scholarly statements that have been made against it, the highest court in the country ruled to the contrary. There is no need to rehash all that. Political expediency has won over what traditionally characterises Malaysian society – moderate, tolerant, friendly, gracious and generous.
For the sake of peace, it is tempting to accept the decision, to give the other cheek; after all Romans 13 urges us to be “subject to the governing authorities” and to constantly seek for the welfare of the nation.
However, to the natives of Sarawak and Sabah, the impact of the court decision is far-reaching. To them, the issue at stake is more than religious sensitivities whether one is a Christian or not.
For us the word has become part and parcel of our language and embedded in every aspect of our culture. It is in our writing, speaking and dreaming. In other words, it is in our language and cultural DNA.
We feel that there has been a miscarriage of justice; it is insidious, it is tantamount to an act of language and cultural genocide. Never before have we felt so alienated, disenfranchised and dispossessed in our own country.
What makes the ban particularly tragic is the fact that a vast majority of the natives are naive, ignorant of their own rights, dependent, vulnerable as lambs are. Many are completely oblivious to the dynamics that are making them pawns and victims of the political hegemony of the day.
They cannot understand why certain people take offence and go ballistic when all they do is simply living and praying the way they have done for generations. It is as if we – the natives – are banned for who and what we are.
For the Church to keep silent about the ban is not only irresponsible but a denial of her holy calling to be the salt and light of the earth – to serve, to care, to feed Christ’s lambs.
This is the reason why I said it before and I am saying it again: “We shall use the word till Kingdom comes”.
Christ challenges us, “If you love me, feed my lambs”. That must be the core challenge in these days of a troubled Church in a troubled world; to pray ceaselessly for justice to prevail for what is morally wrong cannot be theologically right; for in God’s scheme of things, the measure of a nation’s greatness is to be found in its care for the poor, the meek and the needy of its citizenry – not in the strength of her army nor in the abundance of her wealth, neither in her shrewd politicking.
But the Church is also being challenged from within. It is to our peril if we take lightly that the danger that can inflict the greatest damage to the Church is not by an enemy from outside her but from within. It is imperative to remember, first and foremost, that the Church is called to be; that is, to be with God before she is sent to do anything; to be holy as God is holy. That is why St Paul reminds the Romans – and us – that we need “to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”.
Therefore amidst the hostile changes and chances of this fleeting world, it is required that stewards are holy, trustworthy and are faithful to the tradition of the truth divinely given.
Only then can they have the freedom and integrity of mind, which can resist the pressures to conform to the spirit of the present age; only then can they have the confidence to guard the sheep from being harassed by wolves.
These are indeed difficult and trying times for the Church; “a day of clouds and thick darkness”; and it is easy to exaggerate that aspect of things and to be overly preoccupied by them. But the Church has often seen much darker days, and has come through her trials purified and renewed, refined as though by fire. May it be so for our Churches and our generation.
— Adapted extract from the sermon of the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of South East Asia, the Most Revd Datuk Bolly Lapok, on Oct 3 during the installation of Charles Kumar Samuel as Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia, at St Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur.