As I take that walk through the various paths to church most Sunday mornings, I know I am rather alone in my journey. At the doors of St Padarn, I leave my worries and when I leave, I feel my spirits lifted and my faith restored. I have not posted on my blog for some time. I wanted to share a moment during this period of binary silence which I thought would be worth sharing. Funnily enough, I have started this on numerous occasions but always ceased to complete it. I was persuaded to continue my blog posting after reading my niece Lekhna's status on how revolted she was about a Quran-burning day organised by a church in Florida. I started writing this about the time of the Sikh new year and after a friend had visited Aberystwyth, a lovely Hindu girl - a former student of Aberystwyth University and from back home. On of the days of this visit, she enthusiastically agreed to accompany me to church - insisting that her being my guest should not get in the way of my daily routine. So we set off to St Padarn in the historic village of Llanbadarn - a bilingual church that has brought me so much of peace. The sermon was on Paul's letter to the Corinthians - about love, from one of the readings on that Sunday - on how there is one thing that unites us all - love. How wonderful for us! A Sikh, a Hindu - in a Christian place of worship - to hear those wonderful words.
We were, apart from being a Sikh and a Hindu, Malaysians. Every Malaysian with a heart and conscience was affected by the unaceptable crimes commiteed in the name of God - when several churches in Kuala Lumpur were damaged as a result of arson arising from the decision of the High Court to allow a Christian publisher to use the word 'Allah' in its Malay language publications. But most disappointed of all would have been HIm. How petty and pathetic are we all? We are His children - and I have grown up admist all of them - Muslims, Chrtistians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddihists and more. I have learnt of our differences but more importantly, I have learnt how similar we are. As I was equally disturbed by the burning of the Churches in Malaysia, I was equally disturbed by how the Swiss have voted in a referendum against the bulding of mosques with minarets, about the lack of respect for Muslims by the taunting of visual representation of the Prophet or by the banning of the right of a Muslim woman to choose [emphasis added] to wear a hijab or burka. Any form of suppression of a belief in any religion is inexplicable and unfathomable as it is unaccepting and non-respectful of a person's choice of how they wish to live and lead their life.
Often I wonder what are we doing wrong? In a world that is increasingly cynical of God, we who believe are certainly not making a good case on His behalf. If we can take our differences and celebrate them as our uniqueness and if we can rise above all the unGodly forces that wedge us apart, our true religion will prevail - love.
St Padarn Church, Llanbadarn, Aberystwyth
Beautifully written! The past few weeks I have had to defend what I believe in quite a number of times. It's been hard I must admit...but I stand firm and I am not ashamed. You're right, love is the core and underlying element of each and every religion...it's just a shame not many people have grasped that yet....
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ReplyDeleteFor me, Paolo Coelho sums it up beautifully in the very first book of his that I read. you remember right? You lent me that book. :)
ReplyDelete"Do you see the Fifth Mountain? From whichever side you look, it appears different, though it is the same mountain. Thus it is with all of creation: many faces of the same God."
Beautiful analogy, isn't it?
But sadly, Man fears what it cannot understand; Man fears what it cannot control. And finally, Man fears difference although ironically, it is by differentiation that power relations are established.