Saturday 20th October 2007. Today was my uncle’s funeral. He passed away in the evening last Tuesday. I just went to visit him at the nursing home on the previous Monday. Although I had a strong urge to pray for him, I did not do that. He was not himself then. His speech did not make any sense. And I know that even if I prayed for him, it would not make any difference. The funeral was conducted in the typical Chinese observance. There were both Taoist and Buddhist rituals. In fact, I had an amusing time observing the rites. I took a seat from an angle that provided me with a good view of everything that went on. So, I found myself facing as if in confrontation with 5 Buddhist monks while 3 Taoist monks performed various rituals. At the end of the rituals, the head (Buddhist) monk ridiculed the Taoist monks! I mean, he sneered at them with remarks like, “So that’s it? Monks for just one, two hours?” I was amused, and also disappointed that this so-called “head” monk, who supposedly have better self-control had actually publicly ridiculed Taoist monks!
Throughout the days after my uncle’s death leading to the funeral, I had a busy time rushing here & there in an effort to lend support to my cousins. At that time, I was the only one in my immediate family in Penang. Most relatives reside in the Klang Valley and it took them some time to travel back. Family reunions are often during weddings and funerals, so, in a way, that was a family reunion time. I had the opportunity to meet relatives I seldom meet. I met children of cousins who are so grown up, they are practically entering adulthood! I have almost always feel out of place among my relatives. Probably because I’m at the younger age group bracket and there are very few relatives in my age group. Probably because I’m a Christian and that set me apart as different from the rest. Yeah, there are some Christians among my relatives and I’m still questioning the effectiveness of us, Christians in our family, if we do not make our presence felt in family occasions. As I conversed with older relatives who are at the same generation as me, I saw the change of perspective. The older one gets, the more one focus upon the importance of family solidarity. There was a time when the topics of conversations were careers and opportunities of advancement, talks of education and opportunities of excelling materially. Perhaps, different phases of life change our perspective as we experience differing life situations. Diverse as we may be, I learnt much from observing different characters among my relatives.
Back to ministry matters. There’s been a lot of dinners and gatherings as the MBTS community prepares for the coming 52nd convocation. I thank God for the opportunity to meet and fellowship and to network with fellow ministry workers from all over the world. As we pack our bags to venture into the next phase, I pray that the Lord will continue to nurture our relationships. It’s been a great year in the missions department with many interesting characters among our students. And as I continue to seek the Lord for further equipping, I pray for the passion to impact our generation to be birthed within each of our hearts with such urgency that it spurred us to be fervent for Him in all that we do.
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