One Church year ends and and another begins.

Yes, before Christmas, the Church has an early New Year, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent.  So we finished our year on the last Sunday of November.  We do like to be different, but the point is that the dates of the Church Year revolve around the timing of Easter. 

By nature, end of year is a good time to reflect, being good to stand back and ask:  How are we going?  Where are we going?  What have we learnt?   

As I get older, I reflect that life gets more challenging and interesting - more challenging with the natural losses in life and more interesting in watching our world, from hopefully a wiser standpoint.  

I recently came across an American-Vietnamese writer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, an insightful and smart individual.  For me, his wisdom was in naming that we are people in construction and that our vulnerability is our strength.  I find both to be so true as I deal with my own vulnerabilities and loss, as well as that of those around me.  

The line from another writer, TS Eliot, also stays with me at this time - In my beginning is my end.  I only came across it in the last month, while reading a work on prayer by Archbishop Kallistos Ware, but this line literally haunts me.  What is it saying to me?  Its message is slowly unfolding.  

Is it that we keep repeating the same themes in life, even if absolutely absurd?  Is it we never learn?  Is it that God's presence is eternally now?  Is it all this and much more?  Who knows?  More to come.  Life is a mystery.  It remains as such and I only grow in my appreciation of this as I go along in life.   I give thanks for a year that has been and look forward to a year that is to unfold more of God's mystery.    

Colour reflects what is essential.

Colour and Christmas are two things I so love in life.  With Christmas fast approaching, I had the coming together of these two, key themes, when I recently bought a shirt.  The woman, selling the shirts, on helping me choose which one, asked me if I liked a particular style, to which I replied - 

"Yes, I like colour and it is for Christmas". 

She immediately said to me - "Merry Christmas". 

So this went down in my diary as my first exchange of "Merry Christmas", which automatically became a red letter day in my calendar, a milestone event in my year.  

All this happened over a simple, everyday encounter which served as a reminder, that another year is about to end, which is a natural time to reflect upon how life is going.   In indulging in my annual, end of year reflections, I came across one simple, but powerful, line - "In my beginning is my end".  This so captivated me, but what was it about these six words that had me mesmerized?  On research, I did discover that this was a line from T.S. Eliot's poem, Four Quartets.  

Then it struck me.  What is my beginning?  God. What is my end?  God.  

In between, it is all about God, who is enmeshed in our human reality, all the way. With this assurance, hope is embedded in the harshest of our reality.  Thus hope lies at the core of our human reality.  Wow!    

How to be a Christian in Buddhist Thailand?

A typical bus of My Bangkok

During my daily routine, I recently had two natural, human encounters with bus conductors.  I get around My Bangkok using public transport.  So bus conductors are people I encounter every day.  Yes, My Bangkok still has bus conductors.  Some are regular and know me.  

One has even become a good friend.  So when I saw her recently at the bus stop, she became very excited, coming over with a big smile to greet me.  She took hold of my hand, explaining why I no longer see her so regularly.  I was touched and taken aback by this most welcome encounter.  Next time, I will take hold of her hand.  

Two days later, I got on a bus to be greeted by a bus conductor, who was the exact opposite.  He stood right back from me, saying nothing, showing no sense of engagement.  His behaviour was such that it made me ask myself - what is going on here?  

Quite naturally for me, this questioning deepened to my asking myself - how does one be a Christian in Buddhist Thailand?  On later reflection, I realised I could also ask - how does one be a Christian in secular Australia?  Still, I am here in Thailand, not Australia.  So my question stood.   

I would not name this as a World War III question.  Nor would I think this demands a deep theological response.  I would simply say that it raises the challenge of our being human together.  No matter who we are, we enjoy a shared humanity.  It makes the uncomplicated demand that we make the other feel at home in our presence.  Humour, a smile are great tools for engagement, leading to a good, natural and huiman encounter.  

How did I become such a good friend with his woman bus conductor?  On first meeting her on a bus, she too was most unfriendly.  I rsponded by greeting her in return, with humour in my poor Thai, which she loved and to which she responded most positively.  She even asked for my phone number (which I never gave).  How funny! 

  

It is not rocket science.  I am not on Mars.  It is just about being a decent human being, who sees the other as my equal and partner on this planet.  And that is not always easy but, after all, we are all human.