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Asia Sunday 2008
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 25th May 2008
Revd. Matthew Vernon
I went to Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand, last weekend for a conference.
It was a meeting of the Asia Region arm of the World Association for Christian Communication.
It is an umbrella organisation for Christians, NGOs and churches involved in the media.
This ranges from a professor of media studies in India to a publisher of women's theology in Korea to the Campaign for Media Reform in Thailand to ministers involved with religious radio programmes in Hong Kong to a publishing NGO in the Philippines.
There were nine Asian countries represented and I was one of just two Westerners amongst nearly 40 people.
It was wonderful to spend time with people from these very different cultures and with a wide range of experience.
One of the morning worship sessions was led by a Chiang Mai Christian group.
Three women performed two traditional Thai dances in traditional costume.
The dancing was beautifully graceful and curvaceous.
The Christian group uses the dances for evangelism.
One of the main feelings I have after the conference is how fortunate we are to live in Hong Kong.
Fortunate compared with much of Asia.
Here in Hong Kong we might not vote for our leaders, but we have many of the features of democracy: freedom of speech; freedom of the press; freedom of religion; the rule of law and so on.
Hong Kong, of course, is not perfect and there is poverty and deprivation, but we have a high standard health care system, excellent education, the ICAC keeping corruption to a minimum, a just police force and legal system.
As you know, these things do not exist in much of the rest of Asia.
Extra judicial killings take place in Philippines.
The military have huge clout in many countries: Burma, of course; but also Thailand and Pakistan.
Millions of people live in poverty in India where the Dalit caste are the underclass with very few rights.
The media is not free in Thailand or Burma or China.
Corruption is rife in many Asian countries.
On a recent trip to Cambodia I went on a simple boat ride. 70% of the fee went to the police. 30% to the boat owner. A tiny amount to the boat driver who relied on tips to make a living.
We are very fortunate to live in Hong Kong compared to the millions of people in Asia who do not have the freedoms and life style we enjoy.
I'll speak about what we can do with our freedoms in a couple of minutes.
It was fascinating at the conference in Chiang Mai to hear about Christianity in different countries and cultures.
I've mentioned the traditional Thai dances already.
Our host was Rev Dr Buakab Ronghanam.
She is a Christian pastor and works for an organisation in Thailand called Voice of Peace.
She explained how 95% of people in Thailand are Buddhist and Buddhism runs very deep in Thai culture.
She said that's why Thai people are so gentle and content with life – "the land of smiles".
A man from Burma was at the conference – a member of the Baptist convention in Burma.
He was from part of Burma south of where the cyclone caused so much devastation.
He explained the Christians are 5-6% of the population of Burma. 80% of Burmese are Buddhist.
Christians cannot be promoted to the higher positions in government.
Recently the churches in Burma have been debating how much to speak out against the military junta.
It's a tricky issue when living under such a regime.
The churches did appeal to the government when the Buddhist monks protested last year.
They wrote to the government urging restraint in their dealings with the monks.
Now, the churches need trained counselors to help the victims of the cyclone with the trauma of what's happened, since the churches in Burma don't have many trained counselors.
One of the most interesting conversations I had was with a theologian from India, Revd Dr John Anand.
He spoke about how we as Christians can support those who are less fortunate than we are.
Dr Anand translated the Bible into Hindi and is now working on a modern, Indian equivalent of the Pilgrim's Progress.
He explained that in India, portraying Jesus as a guru is very attractive.
He said that its good to focus on Jesus rather than on the Trinity. Indian religion has thousands of gods already, so three more doesn't make much difference.
But Jesus' concern for the suffering and the marginalized is distinctive in Indian theology.
As is Jesus' disciples concern for those who suffer, and so our concern for people in need since as Jesus' disciples.
Christian love is about empathy for those who suffer and empathy leads to action.
Loving our neighbours as ourselves is feeling that we are united with them and so feeling empathy for their plight.
In India, Christian social compassion is distinctive.
So in the face of the conditions that so many people live under in Asia, there is hope and there are things we can do.
Supporting NGOs and charities in their wonderful work is essential.
There are many people organisations doing wonderful work.
Trying to choose some to support amongst the many shouldn't stop us supporting.
In Cambodia, the Harpswell Foundation recently built a Mosque for a minority Muslim community.
The Harpswell Foundation was founded by a Jewish-American family to help children and women in developing countries.
In Manila, there's a famous, mountain of rubbish known as smoky mountain.
A school has been built there for children of the women who scavenge off the rubbish.
In Thailand, I bought some birthday cards sold to support the Queen Sirikit Breast Cancer Foundation for underprivileged woman in Thailand.
These are just three examples of many hundreds of charities and NGOs in Asia that we can support.
It is our calling as Christians to do so.
There are many NGOs working for economic and political change in Asia.
Developments in economics and politics are desperately needed.
We can support them too and their longer term goals.
Until then most of us can afford to give financial support to charities alleviating so much suffering.
Some of us might even be able to visit a charity and get our hands dirty.
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