Source/Author: By Bishop Dr. Ong Hwai Teik

We have read many an account of the nostalgia of Merdeka that happened 56 years ago. There are those of our elders’ generation who call us to cherish the Merdeka spirit of peace, stability and national advancement as they vividly share with us the joy of this memorable and formative part of the journey in the life of our beloved nation.

As we continue to navigate our way in the complex life of this country in the midst of a confusing world, I pray that you will find God’s blessings in an area that is felt universally in the postmodern world.

We live in chaotic times, challenging us to the core so that the issue of security is a very real one. Today this is undoubtedly a common problem of concern to every Malaysian in the light of the escalation of crime, especially the very violent ones. The newspapers reveal that prominent personalities and industry captains at this time have to wait their turn on the waiting list as there is an upsurge in the demand for armed body guards and security personnel!

Moreover, nowadays it is not unusual for us to encounter neighbours who speak languages we did not grow up with. Foreign languages flood our homes, restaurants, supermarkets, petrol kiosks, streets etc. Authority is looked upon with suspicion, whether secular or religious – caused by scandals in churches, governments, industries, corporations and traditional institutions; in some countries even the institution of law enforcement and security providing agencies are regarded as just another gang – in uniform!

Beyond the insecurity that is created by rampant crime, this feeling of insecurity is compounded by a world that is destabilized by rapid and voluminous changes such as in the ways of communication. Many in the older generation are just overwhelmed by the number of features in a smart phone! Other significant insecurity producing causes include the shifting of boundaries. Borders have been extensively redrawn in our lifetime. Since the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics broke up in 1991 resulting in 14 countries declaring their own independence.

All these factors experienced in living in the world today cause us to be acutely drawn to the desire for security. For Malaysians, this troubling and unavoidable sense of insecurity is exacerbated by the outcome of the May GE 13 results. For many, the way to deal with this insecurity is to cling ever more tightly to the old, institutionalised understanding, systems, ideologies and “maps” that help us read our world. There are those who would call us to return to the values and crafted social practices of the past in order to regain a secure footing in one’s personal, social and national worlds.

It is acknowledged that institutions and old “maps” do offer us a measure of security and provide ways of reading and understanding the world and evaluating it; they do have their place. But problems arise when the champions of these “old narratives” of understanding the world, assert dogmatically (and sometimes very loudly) that they are the only way to understand reality and bring back “order and security” - economically, politically, socially or religiously. These “old narratives” often govern via maintaining their authority through fear – even to the extent of using the politics of coercion and force to frighten, intimidate and suppress; they also exclude and demonize those who do not agree with them.

At best these “old narratives” offer a system, structure or way of looking at the world and evaluating it – even as a system of morals and behaving; but they cannot give us an assured sense of security which comes from faith as a lived personal relationship with God. It is like trying to get at the actual depth of a coin at the bottom of a barrel of clear water without any other aid except to do so purely by sight (in which case the refraction of light will deceive us).

But when we choose to reject the seeming security offered by the old man-made narratives and systems and step into walking towards God in personal faith – we begin to discover security that comes from a rootedness in God, and the reality of an alive and personal relationship with God that institutions and systems of ideology cannot provide. It is this rootedness in God alone through a personal and intimate relationship with Him that will enable us to overcome, when we are vulnerable - the temptation, seduction and intimidation of the false claims of these old maps and systems.

The Jubilee celebration of every 50th year as taught in the Old Testament (Lev 25;8-13) and applied in the new by the Lord Jesus (Luke 4:18-19) is built on the Sabbath principle (the Jubilee is a kind of “super Sabbath” year) that reminds us in no uncertain terms that God and God alone is in control.

In saner moments, we acknowledge that because God is the Creator of the cosmos, so it will take the sovereign power of the Divine to fix “the (dis)order”. However, there is something inside each of us that makes us want to “play God’ – to want to control things (and outcomes) and be secure by our own hand. But the only security is to enter into the path of spiritual intimacy with God. This very rootedness in God shall provide the security and assurance that no matter how disordered, confusing and chaotic life becomes – Someone (i.e. God) will finally make things turn out the way they were meant to be.

The Jubilee celebration magnifies the Sabbath keeping principle that reminds us not to step into God’s domain ie to be ultimate Controller of things. The Exodus 20:8-11 passage is a clear call to God’s people to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” and they are to consecrate it to the Lord as they rest from their routine of work. The Sabbath (the original Hebrew word means “to cease”) attitude is one that says “today I shall endeavour not to control the world. I need to keep in mind that God and God alone is in control” – as we intentionally trust Him. We are to desist from becoming “control freaks” – who find it quite impossible to “to cease” and rest.

The author and pastor, Mark Buchanan (in The Rest of God) reminds us poignantly that we “mimic God in order to remember we’re not God. In fact that is a good definition of Sabbath, imitating God so that we stop trying to be God….Sabbath-keeping involves a recognition of our own weakness and smallness, that we are made from dust, that we hold our treasures in clay jars, and that without proper care we can break.”

In this Jubilee year, may this realisation that - God and God alone is in control - continue to shape, energise, keep us humble and secure, as we continue to proactively give ourselves unreservedly to the life, history and nation-building of our beloved country as we celebrate Merdeka and also Malaysia Day. As we view our country at this unprecedented challenging times through the lens of this truth, we are secure in the God Who is in control - able to persevere and overcome “old narrative” dogmatic forces who operate by using intimidation and fear especially in the political realm. We can then persist in our labour as “salt and light” for Christ in the face of very discouraging odds and anticipated consequences, with hope.

Many in the Church of Malaysia will be celebrating in unity the closing of the Jubilee Year of our nation’s formation. The Jubilee Year has drawn many of God’s people in this nation more closely together, including the coming together of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship and the Council of Churches Malaysia to jointly organise the Malaysia Jubilee Prayer Celebration on 15 September 2013 at the Calvary Convention Centre, KL. Our Methodist Churches in Bintulu, Kuching, Klang, Ipoh, Sitiawan and Alor Setar are also the host venues for the inter-denominational Hope of Jubilee / Malaysia Day Prayer gatherings over the Malaysia Day weekend. And Methodists will also be joining in the prayer assemblies and gatherings hosted by other churches across our land during that weekend.

May the Sovereign God Who alone is securely in control of the cosmos and the nations, graciously grant us a new season of change and spiritual renewal, of fresh beginnings within His Church in Malaysia that will heighten – Spreading Scriptural Holiness, Transforming Our Nation.

^NLT Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.