Creating Safe Communities of Faith

Published in the Fiji Times' "Off the Wall" on 19th June, 2013

Many religious leaders, when asked for comments by the media, speak out against gender violence. Yet how are we addressing the issue of violence in general and in particular violence against women and children within our communities of faith, mata-siga and bible-study groups etc?

In a society that holds dearly to religious values that promote peace, justice and the greater good, the question needs to be asked: what are we doing to stop violence from destroying our homes and our communities?

One of the critical areas that has been needed is the training of clergy, church workers and lay leaders in not only understanding the issues surrounding violence against women and children but also how they can impart this knowledge and lead their congregations to eliminate violence against women and children from the pulpit and within the community.

How do religious organisations to respond to violence in the home and the community in a country where close to sixty percent of the population claim to believe in and follow the teachings of Jesus the Christ, who uplifted and empowered the status of women?

The South Pacific Association of Theological Schools (SPATS) is an organisation that is not only responsible for the accreditation of theological training institutions in the region but also in developing curricula that address the important emerging issues of our time. It is an ecumenical partnership of 29 schools of the South Pacific basin compromising of 15  islands including Australia and New Zealand as its associate members. 

SPATS challenge is to bring together a multi-lingual, multi-cultural and geographically scattered membership.  The twenty-nine member schools are spread across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, from Tahiti in the east to Vanuatu in the west, from the Marshall Islands in the north to the Aotearoa in the south.  The area encompasses the three major Pacific regions: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

SPATS seeks to commit itself in three main core values:

1.       Ecumenism  -  Value the mixture of Christian traditions stated by the Member Schools in understanding creative relationship in theological education among theological institutions.

2.       Quality Education - Enhancing and training for higher education by improving common practices and standards. 

3.       Leadership Training - Upholding the significance of leadership as a fundamental goal in its dominated ministerial formation of theological education. It is a tool for institutions to accomplish their church missions in developing skills for lecturers and students for future church leadership roles. 

So far SPATS has developed two training manuals for addressing HIV and AIDS as well as one for on the issue of disabilities. Through its WEAVERS (Women Doing Theology) programme it has also worked on developing a training manual on the Church and Violence Against Women. 

Yesterday (Tuesday) an important step was taken in the struggle to face something often unspoken in the context of church life in Fiji, with the launch of the iTaukei/Vosa Vaka Viti version of the training manual on the Church and Violence Against Women.

The manual has already been translated into a number of Pacific islands languages.

The launch of the iTaukei/Vosa Vaka Viti version of  the manual is an important step in addressing this uncomfortable issue in worship services, prayer meetings, and teaching programmes in places of worship as well in religious education classes in school.

Many churches and other religious organisations have Men’s Fellowship groups and youth groups. These are also important forums and spaces in which to seriously discuss the role of men in perpetrating and, more importantly their role in preventing all forms of violence against women.

The manual was launched by the head of the largest Christian group in Fiji, Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu of the Methodist Church in Fiji.

Earlier this year, Rev. Waqairatu spoke at a regional workshop on eliminating gender-based violence, acknowledging that was, “legitimised by many cultures, institutions and some Christian groups in society and its effects are extensive in nature.”

He was quoted as saying that the church “must create a climate of openness and develop policies and procedures which keep children and the vulnerable safe from harm.”

I acknowledge that many Christian churches and other faith-based organisations are meaningfully engaged in this issue. At the same time the newly translated manual will be an important tool in elimination of gender-based violence.

Having worked with the English language version in educating would-be ministers at Davuilevu Theological College, I have witnessed first-hand the change in attitudes to the issue of violence against women and children as students worked through the manual.

While the attitude of ministers and pastors towards this issue is important, at the same time this manual is not piece an overly academic literature but has facts, explanations and provides a biblical and theological understanding for Christians to work together at all levels of the community to understand and overcome violence against women and children.

“Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity”

ENDS

Opportunity Knocks

Published in the Fiji Times' "Off the Wall with Padre James" Wednesday 12th June, 2013

THE past weekend was a milestone not just for the Roman Catholic Church in Fiji but for the wider Christian community. It presents an opportunity for all churches in Fiji to re-engage in dialogue and strengthen relationships within the "Body of Christ" in Fiji.

It is no secret that for the last decade, relations between the mainline churches have not reflected the unity expressed in the prayer of Jesus "that they may all be one".

I was encouraged to see a photo, taken by former The Fiji Times editor, Netani Rika, of the leaders of the Methodist Church in Fiji, Salvation Army, Samoan Congregational Church and the Pacific Conference of Churches, standing with Archbishop Chong and archbishop emeritus Petero Mataca. Rika titled the picture, "Brothers in faith".

A new archbishop and new president now lead the two largest Christian denominations in Fiji. Archbishop Winston Halapua, head of the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia — another mainline church — was elected and consecrated in 2010.

Well into the second decade of the 21st century, we are in a time of transition. The world is entering an age that German theologian Hans Küng calls the ecumenical paradigm.

He describes it as the shift towards, "… a new global understanding of the various denominations, religions, and regions; that is, if the religious and theological origins of this term were not all too clear, and if this oikoumen, this inhabited earth, had not become, to so great an extent, uninhabitable — a state that, of course, is essentially connected with 'modern' developments. We have reached a crisis that some today would understand apocalyptically as an 'end time', while others, unwilling to abandon all hope, would see as a time of transition." (Theology for the Third Millennium: An Ecumenical View, 1984)

This transitional period has so far been marked by division. It is time for this to be replaced by embrace — an act of humility; an act of love.

Despite doctrinal differences, the mainline churches profess the same basic affirmation of faith via the Nicene Creed. Even the earlier Apostle's Creed expresses Christian unity as the catholic (the small "c" in this word refers to the universal) church.

Archbishop Chong's coat of arms has the motto: "To be church in the world". He has spoken about the need for the Catholic Church to be relevant in Fijian society.

The same sentiments have been articulated, in various ways, by other mainline church leaders.

The time has come for this relevance to be not only contemporary and contextual, but to be communal. This means not only being relevant to their particular community but to each other's community of faith. It means being relevant to Fijian society as a whole.

To set the example for an inclusive, just and peaceful society, churches in Fiji — both mainline and Pentecostal — need to be communities of faith that practise a radical egalitarianism the poor who are not only the economically disadvantaged but also those who are socially marginalised and excluded.

This means not only meeting others but deeply listening to their stories and including it as part of their own story. It means a preferential option for the marginalised as God's people and for the environment as God's creation. It also means celebrating the traditional values of relationship, community, mutuality and reciprocity which are hallmarks of the Ecclesia Primitiva — the Early Church; while at the same time opening eyes, ears and hearts to embrace the wider community of faith.

This embrace of the wider community of faith is part of the new ecumenical paradigm. The challenge of embracing ecumenism more fully so that the spirit of kononia of fellowship permeates all of Fijian society is a necessary challenge. But it is an encounter with other members of the body of Christ who are also seeking to manifest just peace in their communities.

Such engagement is not only a reminder that we are not alone, but also an opportunity to struggle together, from the global to the local level for God's shalom /peace.

Opportunity knocks for the churches in Fiji.

It knocks at the door of reconciliation and relationship strengthening for the mainline churches.

It knocks at the door of dialogue and cooperation between mainline and Pentecostal churches through both the Fiji Council of Churches and Assembly of Christian Churches in Fiji.

It knocks at the door meaningful engagement in the social, political, economic and environmental issues affecting the nation and the region.

It knocks at the door of friendship and tolerance with the other faith communities to which the other 36 per cent of the population belong.

The door is heavy; it will take many hands to open and keep open.

The door is low, entry requires bending down.

Yet the door is wide enough for diversity to fit through.

Perhaps now is the time to respond to the knocking, before the opportunity is lost.

May the rest of your week be blessed with love, light and peace.

"Simplicity, serenity, spontaneity."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, currently a Masters of Theology student in Seoul, South Korea. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.

Human Responsibilities

Published as "Papua's Open Wound" in the Fiji Times' "Off the Wall with Padre James," 7th June, 2013

OF the many "summer" blockbuster films already released this year, two in particular have posed an important question about our treatment of this planet we inhabit. Both the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, and Will and Jaden Smith's latest starrer, After Earth, offer us a glimpse into the future, where humankind has rendered the Earth uninhabitable.

Oblivion is set 64 years from now in 2077 and prominent throughout the movie are giant extractors draining the oceans and converting the seawater into energy. 

After Earth is set over a thousand years from now and humans have rendered the planet unfit for human habitation and colonised another planet.

Last week I received a picture via social media of something I thought may have come from the sets of one of these movies. However, the shocking truth is that it was from nearby West Papua.

The text that came with the photo reads: "A gaping wound in the heart of Papua is visible from space". Every day thousands of tons of gold and copper are being extracted from Freeport mine. All the proceeds are channelled to Jakarta, while Papuans become poorer and poorer in their own land.

Freeport dumps over 238,000 tonnes of toxic waste into the local river system EVERY DAY. And pays the Indonesian military over $3 MILLION every year to kill local Papuans and keep them away from the mine."

Recently production at the US-owned Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. ore mine Grasberg, Papua was suspended for three months following the deaths of 28 workers in a tunnel collapse on May 14, and after one more person, a truck driver, was also killed three weeks after the May 14 incident.

According to Wikipedia, the Grasberg mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It includes a very large open pit mine, an underground mine and four concentrators. The open pit forms a mile-wide crater at the surface.

The concentrator's tailings, (the materials left over after the process) generated at a rate of 230,000 tonnes per day, are the subject of considerable environmental concern, as they wash into the Aikwariverine system and Arafura Sea. Native fish have nearly disappeared from now-turgid waters of the Aikwa River. The acidic runoff of dissolved copper, and the finer material gets washed into the headwaters of the Wanagon River. It settles out along the river course and then into the ocean, and will continue to do so indefinitely.

The mine is located within what used to be a small equatorial mountain glacier. Steepening of slopes related to mining activities, as well as earthquakes and frequent heavy rainfall has resulted in landslides within the open pit mine. While landscape reclamation projects have begun at the mine, environmental groups and local citizens are concerned with the potential for copper contamination and acid mine drainage from the mine tailings into surrounding river systems, land surfaces, and groundwater.

The Grasberg mine has been a frequent source of friction in Papua. Possible causes of friction are the mine's environmental impact on Papua, the perceived low share of profits going to local Papuans and the questionable legality of the payments made to Indonesian security forces for their services to guard the site.

I have discussed the continuing issue of West Papuan self-determination in previous articles in this column and on my blog (http://thejournalofaspiritualwonderer.blogspot.com) and Facebook page.

However the fundamental issue raised by the Freeport Mine in West Papua and the films Oblivion and After Earth for me are that of the systematic exploitation and destruction of Earth for the sake of financial gain. For too long now humankind has ignored the fact that we are co-inhabitors of this planet. We share this planet with millions, possibly billions of species of flora and fauna — plants and animals.

I am a firm supporter of human rights. As a Christian, I believe that my faith affirms the essence of human dignity, equality and liberty. However my faith also calls me to recognise that I am not apart from, but rather a part of, and in an integral relationship with, the rest of creation. It is a relationship that recognises the inherent goodness of all creatures and their integral place in the web of life. Humanity's role, therefore, is not of owner but of steward of creation.

With that in mind I suggest that we not only focus on human rights but the rights of this planet we call home. What are responsibilities as humans, not just to other humans but to the rest of creation? In the discussion on land rights, how many stop to give pause for responsibilities to the land?

Sustainable development is an old catch phrase. But just how sustainable is the exploitation of land and sea and seabed? Who measures this sustainability?

The phrase "Noqu Kalou, noqu vanua" is a double edged sword. It is not just an expression of "my God" and "my vanua" that has been touted for so long as a claim of ownership. It is an affirmation of relationship and mutuality. God is not only mine, I am God's. The vanua is not only mine, I am the vanua's — and the vanua is God's.

We have a responsibility to each other as fellow human beings. We also have a responsibility to this planet as co-inhabitors.

"Simplicity, serenity, spontaneity."

* Reverend JS Bhagwan is a Masters in Theology Student at the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, South Korea. The views expressed are his and not that of this newspaper.

Enhancing empathy

Published in the Fiji Times' "Off the Wall with Padre James" on May 29th, 2013

LIVING in a situation with people of different ethnicities and cultures and trying to create a sense of unity, we can often overlook the difficulties experienced because of our differences or particularities.

In my time away from home these past two years, I have lived closely with colleagues not only from Korea, but India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Kenya, Togo, Liberia and Sri Lanka. Being a seasoned traveller, I consider myself extremely adaptable to differing contexts. However listening to their situations, both in Korea and, for the foreigners, back in their homeland, gave me a greater understanding of the struggles.

Sometimes that is the case for us in Fiji where communities have existed side-by-side for generations and know of each other but do not really know each other. By "knowing" I mean not just knowing names and occupations, but knowing their problems, their dreams, their fears, their reality.

I recently read an article by Steven Youngblood, the director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University. Youngblood is in Lebanon in this month directing peace journalism workshops for students and for professional journalists.

Peace journalism aims to open the framework for how reporting and journalism is done, especially during times of crisis. It calls for journalists to look beyond the immediate events and to frame them in a wider context. At the same time it calls for not just news of the parties engaged in conflict but also those affected on all sides by the conflict.

Youngblood's article, written in Beirut, illustrates this: "We've all walked past the poor or the homeless asking for money, usually not giving them a second thought. I was about to do the same thing yesterday until the young journalists I was accompanying on a reporting assignment stopped and engaged one such middle-aged man, whom I'll call Hakim, in conversation.

"Believe me, Hakim doesn't have your usual down-on-his-luck story. But then again, the same can probably be said for the other 463,000 Syrian refugees (UNHCR) who have made their way here into neighbouring Lebanon.

"As we approached Hakim, the first thing we noticed was the odour. It's hard to guess, but it's been many days, perhaps weeks, since Hakim has bathed. He was sitting on the sidewalk, splayed, ironically, in front of a fancy jewellery store on Hamra St, in the centre of Beirut's upscale shopping district.

"As the well-heeled shoppers robotically wheeled around us, we stooped to speak to Hakim.

"He explained three times that he had never been in this position before, that he "never had to beg" to survive. Hakim said he was going to get bread for his family in Syria when a massive explosion killed his entire family and left Hakim's foot injured. To dispel any doubts about this, and to elicit sympathy, his foot was prominently displayed, jutting out into the middle of the sidewalk. I could see that the foot was injured, but didn't want to look too closely.

"Hakim said that he smuggled himself in to Lebanon almost two years ago, right after the explosion. He crossed the border with nothing but his ID. He has been looking for relatives who live in Lebanon, but hasn't located them yet.

"Even as a self-described beggar, Hakim said that life on the streets of Beirut is 'safer than the streets of Syria. If they see me in the streets of Syria, they would run me over'. In fact, he said that in comparison, life in Lebanon 'is almost like a hotel'. But one minute later, Hakim did an about face, commenting, 'I have no help. The situation is very bad'.

"Hakim is one of 88,000 Syrian refugees living in Beirut, according to the UNHCR. This makes sense, since Beirut is only 55 miles from Damascus, Syria's capital. Syrian refugees come from all walks of life, as I learned during our visit to Hamra Street. In fact, we met a group of four very well dressed and presumably wealthy Syrian women who were window shopping, a Syrian retail clerk who charmed my female companions with his intelligence and good looks, and four Syrian construction workers laying concrete blocks.

"Their stories all differ, but unlike Hakim, all were reluctant to call themselves refugees or admit that they have been in some way victimised. My Lebanese companions insisted this refusal to admit victimisation was Arab pride. I told them that I believe that no one anywhere likes to admit that that they are vulnerable.

"Our discussion with Hakeem and the others was part of an assignment in my peace journalism workshop to produce stories about Syrian refugees. As the participants wrote stories about the Syrians the day after their reporting forays into the city, we all shared a 'count your blessings' moment.

"The Lebanese student reporters said that they now have a better and more sympathetic understanding of the refugees who have crowded into their tiny country. I hope that, through their journalism, these students can help spread this enhanced empathy among their Lebanese neighbours."

(Source: www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org Follow Steven Youngblood onTwitter: @PeaceJourn)

In Fiji, where sometimes the coconut wireless is faster and has more news than newspapers, radio or television can provide, the example set by these student reporters in their new understanding of the "others" in their communities is not only for student and professional journalists to follow.

We are all citizen journalists in Fiji. We all share the stories we hear or of our experiences. However, it is no longer enough to just report what we see or hear, but to try to understand each situation and share our understanding. It is no longer enough for us to share stories about events and people. We must share the lessons learned from our experiences and also share the experiences of those different from us so that we can truly start to understand each other.

"Simplicity, serenity, spontaneity."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, and currently a Masters of Theology student in Seoul, South Korea. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.

Rethinking John Wesley

Published in the Fiji Times

THIS Friday is a special day for Methodists around the world. It marks the 275th anniversary of John Wesley's spiritual awakening. Given the significance of this for about 65 per cent of the population, I am unabashedly standing on what one reader described as my "Christian soapbox".

Following a difficult and discouraging mission trip to America, the 34-year-old Wesley, an Anglican minister questioned his faith. On the night of May 24, 1738, he attended an evening worship service in London which moved him deeply. In his journal, Wesley described his "Aldersgate experience": "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate St, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

He made the realisation that God's loving grace was available to everyone and anyone and we only had to respond to this by faith in Christ to be saved. In Christian terms he realised that salvation was not by works but by faith. Many term this Wesley's "spiritual conversion".

Globally, the Methodist community celebrates this day as the spiritual beginning of the Methodist movement. In Fiji this is commemorated not just in Methodist churches but also in the many Methodist schools around the country.

Having spent the last few months writing my thesis about what John Wesley means to us in 21st century Fiji, I would like to suggest to fellow Methodists in Fiji to that they this Friday, not only remember this important event in the Methodist calendar but move beyond it to what it meant for Wesley and can mean for us.

As a result of this experience and realisation, Wesley was not only revitalised in terms of his purpose and mission of evangelism in 18th century Britain, his whole outlook on life and the world changed.

His many charitable actions which had been undertaken out of fear of judgment by God, became actions based on love of God and love of neighbour.

Holiness for him was no longer matter of personal piety for him but to be lived out in society. He practised and encouraged a practical Christianity of faith in action. Faith was to be not just a personal but a social expression of one's love for God in response to God's love for them.

Wesley set out to not only to preach God's boundless love, but to also enact this love of neighbour in the situation in which they were found. The primary implication of Wesley's focus on love, when taken with his emphasis on community and fellowship, is that each Christian must seriously engage in a holiness that is transformative in society.

Wesley believed that the good to be done to neighbours had to be done to them in the situation in which they were found. Wesley did not entertain the illusion that we could bring the good news of God's limitless love to those immersed in suffering without addressing that suffering.

Love for one's neighbour was not only selfless but completely non-judgemental of the neighbour, even in the face of hatred. In other words, neither that national or racial differences make a person unworthy of love, because all humanity is personally loved by God.

In his "Word to A Protestant", he wrote: "Let your heart burn with love to all mankind, to friends and enemies, neighbours and strangers; to Christians, Heathens, Jews, Turks, Papists, heretics; to every soul which God hath made. Let this your light shine before men, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven."

This understanding of all people as worthy of God's unconditional love, is the foundation of human dignity and was at the core of Wesley's active campaign against slavery in his day. His understanding human equality was also evident in his refusal to let social status or gender distinctions prohibit members of the society from being class leaders or lay preachers.

Wesley saw humankind as stewards, not dominators of the environment. Humanity is not apart from but rather, in an integral relationship with the rest of creation. Wesley affirmed not only our relationship with creation but also the inherent goodness of all creatures and their integral place in the web of life. He even suggested that animals had "souls and reasoning powers". Wesley insisted that our relationship with God must be reflected in our relationship with nature and vice versa.

Wesley considered the Sermon on the Mount as the basis for Christian living. We as Methodists, and in the wider Christian community can take encouragement from the call by this short man who lived in a time of rapid social change in his society and look to our role in ours.

Wesley called for the church to not focus on aligning itself with the powers that be, but more importantly to be with the powerless.

The Wesleyan traditions we celebrate as Methodists are not just song, preaching the word, and prayer but also social action of solidarity and love with the least in our society.

As Methodists in Fiji reflect on the impact of Wesley's ministry and of Methodist mission in Fiji we would do well to remember the social aspect of Wesley's faith. Our love for God is not only to be expressed in personal piety but in the challenge to have unconditional love for the other — the different, the marginalised and consider them a brother or sister; and love and respect for God's creation.

Wesley's last words were, "Best of all, God is with us".

The question Wesley might ask of us today is whether we, in the words of the prophet Micah, were acting justly, loved mercy and were walking humbly with God?

"Simplicity, serenity, spontaneity."

* Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma, currently a Masters of Theology student in Seoul, South Korea. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.

One Big Family

Published as "Family Ties" in The Fiji Times in "Off The Wall with Padre James", Friday 17th May, 2013

This week marks a number of important days in both the local and international calendar.

In Fiji, we marked the 134 anniversary of the arrival of the first indentured labourers from India brought by the British to work in the sugar plantations that would make Fiji a commercially viable colony. Of the 60,965 bonded servants sent from India between 1879 and 1916, 60,553 survived the ocean journey of sailing and

adoption; legitimate or illegitimate; favoured or prodigal, we are sons and steamships arriving at Nukulau, off the coast of Suva, where they were quarantined before being shipped off to various plantations around Fiji.

Far from the image of migrants seeking to settle in a new land, the girmitiyas were little more than "sugar-producing machines".

A modern version of slavery, the indenture period or "girmit" was referred to as "narak", which in Hindi means hell. Girmityas were often grossly over tasked with corporal punishment and threat of prosecution used to get the work done. Girmitiya women suffered the most, subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse on a regular basis.

Yet despite this and the social and cultural alienation they experienced, many chose not to return to India and seek better life in Fiji.

For their children, their children's children and their children's grand-children and those who come after, Fiji is the only homeland they know. Regardless of language, religious and cultural connections to India, it is Fiji which is now their motherland.

Wednesday (May 15th) also marked International Day of Families. This year's theme is "Advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity". Given the significance of the previous day, this year's International Day of Families has a deeper meaning for us in Fiji. I invite you to join me for a moment to reflect on what kind of family we have in Fiji.

In December, 2007 in a Christmas reflection in the Fiji Times (10/12/2007) , Anglican Bishop Apimeleki Qiliho wrote,

"To paraphrase the words of Vaclav Havel (former president of the Czech Republic) to the US Congress some years back "The salvation of the human family lies nowhere else than in the human heart, the only backbone to our actions, if they are to be moral, is responsibility." The family is where the human heart is nurtured and shaped according to Christian values."

He went on to say, that "as Christian families, particularly as parents, we need to be faithful to our family prayers, rituals and sharing of our faith stories. It is within the family that most of us experience the love and compassion of God, made real in the lives of our parents, siblings, elders and other family members. It is where we learn what it means to love, value justice, to be compassionate and to be aware that these values are essential to striving for a compassionate and just society.

It is for this reason that the Christian family, should and ought to be a cradle of love, hope, forgiveness and compassion to its members and to those who live among them".

Bishop Qilhio added that, "our education must also include values of loyalty and commitment between husbands and wives, the responsibilities of parents to their children and children to their parents and more visible expressions of love, justice and compassion".

One of the things I have always been appreciative of in Fiji is our concept of family, in particular our notion of extended families as the norm rather than the exception to the rule. This is expressed in the way we call people "uncle" or "aunty", or ta-levu, or barka abba, or refer to our cousins as "cousin-brother" and "cousin-sister". Often we have to clarify when we are talking about our "real brother" or "real sister". As friends and co-workers we refer to each other as "brother" or "sister".

In Fiji we celebrate kinship. We know our kai and tau and naita and refer to them as such, even if our naitas sometimes do respond with "o cei nomu nait?"

Is there any way in which we can take our understanding of the extended family and expand it to include the whole of our society?

I would like to think we can.

In our extended families, we have those who are our kin by blood or adoption, yet hold equal place at the table. We have those who are our relations by marriage. We have family who are legitimate and illegitimate. We have favourite sons and daughters and prodigal sons and daughters. We have the odd parent, brother, sister, cousin or aunt or uncle we wish were not our relative.

Yet because they are family, we accept them. We accept them because they are a part of us, no matter how different they may behave, or look.

Today our Fiji family is not only the i-Taukei or kai Rotuma. It is more than just the descendants of the girmit. Our extended Fijian family includes the descendants of blackbirded Solomon Islanders and ni-Vanuatu, Banabans relocated to Rabi, descendants of Tuvaluans on Kioa, descendants of Chinese settlers and those of free-Indian migrants.

Our extended Fijian family includes the many "half-caste" communities that do not quite fit into the term Kai-loma reserved for reference to descendants (legitimate and illegitimate) of European settlers and visitors. It grows every day when we adopt the many people who chose to make Fiji their home.

Last week, both Children's Day and Parents' Day were celebrated in South Korea . Preaching on Parents' Day at Gaepo Church, I concluded with that Sunday school chorus so popular among our children in Fiji — "We are one big happy family, God's family. He is my brother, she is my sister. Our Father in heaven, he loves you and me".

But our extended family is not just diverse in ethnicity. It is diverse in many ways. It includes abled bodied and the disabled, those who are healthy and those who are not - living with the many non-communicable diseases prevalent in Fiji, as well as those living under the shadow of HIV and AIDS. It also includes those whose views and lifestyles we may not necessarily approve of. We may not agree with their view, their actions or their sexual orientation. But still, they are family.

Today is another special day in the international calendar, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Yesterday, the Suva Peace Vigil at the Holy Trinity Cathedral shared the space for reflection of those who are persecuted because they are different in sexual orientation.

The vigil was "an opportunity to reaffirm the need for safe democratic spaces for all", said FemLINKPacific Executive Director, Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, "and that as we come together regardless of our faith backgrounds we are also reminded that daily members of our society do not enjoy the respect, dignity and pride because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Building a culture of peace and non violence requires everyone to enjoy personal and political security."

In our extended family we are challenged to love the son or daughter, the brother or sister, or cousin who is different because they are part of us.

There are times when our big family of Fiji is not happy. Perhaps for the most, we are a dysfunctional family. But we are still a family. By blood or by adoption; legitimate or illegitimate; favoured or prodigal - we are sons and daughters of Fiji. We are brothers and sisters.We are family. Let's behave like one.

* Reverend JS Bhagwan is a Masters in Theology student at the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, South Korea. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.

Sermon: If not now, when?

Sermon for Gaepo Methodist Church English Worship (4th May, 2013
Based on a reflection on Matthew 25:31-46

Twenty years ago, I worked as a producer and director in our local television station in Fiji. I lived with two other young men who also worked at the station, one a journalist, the other a video editor. As young people in the media and entertainment industry, we would often have parties in our 3-bedroom house on the weekend.  At one of our little events, someone gave me a gift of some posters…  they were for Palestinian statehood… for the Palestinian people to have their own state.

 

One particular one had a picture of a little girl looking through barbed wire, her eyes filled with tears. The slogan or message in all of the posters was the same. It was a question… If not now, when?

This question was also asked by John Wesley, when he reflected on today’s scripture reading.

When he first formed the Holy Club in Oxford, Wesley used to fear God’s judgment. The Holy Club included feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and poor as essential elements of their work.

But Wesley’s motivation was wrong. He thought that by doing this good work he would be saved.

However, after his spiritual experience of May 24^th 1738, when his heart was “strangely warmed” as he experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time and understood that he was saved by God’s free grace – because of God’s love for everyone – something changed.

Wesley continued to serve the least among 18^th century England. He allowed women to be class leaders and preachers. He fought against social abuse and slavery. But what really changed was that he was no longer serving the least so that he would be saved. He no longer believed in salvation by works. He now served the least because he was saved and because he was sure that God loved all of us.  He acted out of compassion for the least. In the first Methodist societies were communities of the least.

To engage in a work of mercy is to be a disciple of Christ, or to treat another as if the person were Christ. For Matthew tells us throughout his Gospel that the Christian must translate his or her faith into the work of discipleship. There is no option… whether the work is “saving” or not, a Christian must manifest his or her faith in an initiative to build up the kingdom of God.

The interesting thing about this is that Jesus is clearly saying that the ultimate mark of an authentic Christian is not his creed, or his faith, or his Bible knowledge, but the concern which he shows to those who are in need. The practical demonstration of love is the final proof.

It is a serious matter to realize that Jesus identifies himself with those in need. If you help them, he says, you are really helping me; and if you ignore them you are ignoring me. He flings the cloak of relationship around them and calls them "my brethren." “My brothers, my sisters”.

There is a famous painting by the artist Fritz Eichenberg, titled “Christ of the Breadlines.” In this painting Jesus is not feeding the hungry, he is standing among the hungry. He identifies Himself with the least and the lost. That is where he wants our attention to also go.

 

And note also that in the bible reading today, Jesus does not ask anyone to present his case or argue his cause. He asks no questions nor requests any evidence. He simply extends to this one group the invitation, "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom." Then he explains the basis of his choice. He has simply noted that when they had opportunity to help someone in need, they did it. Nothing more is required.

The sheep who inherit the kingdom are those who have responded to these needs in love, concern, and ministry. They have probably done so at considerable cost or risk to themselves. But no matter, they did what they could. They are surprised to be rewarded.

With the goats it is the opposite story. And let us remember that these are people who honestly think they are sheep! They can point with pride to a moment when they made a profession of belief, they are, perhaps, church members in good standing, but by their lack of response to the pleas for help that come to them from every side they stand revealed as goats-false sheep-who never were sheep at all.

But the goats are equally surprised. They, too, are caught off guard by this basis of judgment:

"Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?"

It is the times which they have forgotten that he uses for judgment, and not the times they remember.

It is the times they looked the other way when some begging hand reached out.

The times they were busy with other demands when word came of the sick and the dying.

The times when they refused, through shame or pride, to visit some poor wretch in prison lest they be associated with him. Their eyes were averted as they walked around the stricken man lying by the wayside.

They turned deaf ears to pleas when they could have helped. But these incidents have long been forgotten.

They are quite honest when they say in astonishment, "Lord, when?"

As sinners, we are supposed to be the least in the Kingdom of God. But God has lifted us up, out of God’s great love we are forgiven through Jesus and feed, clothed, welcomed, healed an liberated.

We are call to share this experience with the least here on earth.

Who are the least? To whom do you give the least of your time and attention?

The Pacific islands are thought to be paradise – lovely sandy beaches, blue sky, crystal clear sea.. sometimes when I am home,  feel that I am in the island of Eden.

But it is not the case. We have serious political problems in Fiji. No constitution, no democratic government.

 

Many  feel that they are the least.

But there are others who are the least.

One of the four churches I looked after was the mother church of the Indian Methodist Church. Fiji’s President, Prime Minister and many famous people have come they for worship every now and then.

But one of the four churches is in a slum area.

Not many from the other churches want to go there. They are in the community of faith. But they have the feeling of being the least. Is that good? No, it isn’t. Their cry is to be treated like everyone else. Their cry is, “If not now, When?”

Yet even though they are the least, there are others they can look at and call the least.

Those, for example in West Papua, a place that was invaded by Indonesian military 50 years ago and was made a province of Indonesia. It’s like thinking what it would be like if the north had won the Korean war…. Indonesia takes all the natural resources of West Papua, the soldiers abuse the local people and kill anyone who even talks about independence. Their cry is also, “If not now, When?”

Even in a time of tension between North and South Korea, those who live here are challenged by this story by Jesus to not only think of the least in Gangnam-gu, in Seoul, or in South Korea, but to think about the least in the North. The least in terms of material needs, the least politically, and the least in spiritual food and clothes.

Jesus calls us to act out of our love for God and God’s people, our love for those we know and for the stranger.

We a called to feed, clothe, welcome and visit.  We are called to provide material, spiritual and emotional care for the least. To open our hearts so that they can see, not us, but Jesus who is alive in our hearts.

We a called to not be so busy with our own lives that we cannot make time for the least.

We are called not to ask “when?” We are called to say, “Now”.