Since I came back from my trip to Penang, I wanted to write about some of the things that has made me review my life and the world around me. It has been 16 years since I got to know my first friend who is HI. Since then, it is like a roller coaster in the Deaf community. The ups and downs, the highs and lows, the excitement of anticipation and the fear of depression....
My entry will be something about The Word.
The situation began, after the whole day of sharing about Denying Myself and Following Jesus. Sunday was the debrief and feedback. A volunteer stood up to encourage our HI friends in Penang to continue to read the Bible and keep His words in their hearts, so that they may remember God and follow Him in a deeper relationship. A HI volunteer from Ipoh stood up and she commented How Difficult it is for her HI friends to do that because they are illiterate. She has been accompanying her friends to Penang to attend the camp as an interpreter (using Deaf gestures) for them.
This got me thinking. My 16 years in MHI, part of the ministry was the emphasis on education of the HI. In fact, the majority of Outreach Department is all about Tuition, how to improve the academic standards of the HI. When we first started in 1992, many of the HI hardly even pass O Levels. By secondary 2, they are already working part time and preparing themselves to work for a living. I remember going to KFC after work just to be see them and talk to them and encourage them to study hard and change their lives.
MHI has successfully done that, to instil the importance of education for the HI. I know of my students who are now studying in NUS and those who have gone overseas for a degree in an overseas university.
As much as the Deaf community in Singapore has progressed in leaps and bounds, there are those who are left behind. Those who for some reason or other have difficulty in catching up with the system. Those who have poor parents support and education is not an important part in the family. Those whose friends have preferred to adopt a less hectic life and to take life easy. Those who have financial difficulty in coping with the school fees. I remember many years ago when I talk to a group of HI, there will always be a few who cannot understand me and the rest has to help him/her understand what the conversation is all about.
This is also the problem we will face when MHI moves beyond our shores and provides assistance to the Deaf outside Singapore in our neighbouring countries. Communication that we take for granted in Singapore remains a big task for the visiting team. A simple message can take hours for the illiterate HI to grasp.
This comes to the next point about God. When I first came to an awareness of God, I realise God is there. That was simple enough, until somebody tells me I must communicate with Him. Oh, my Sunday School teacher taught me I must pray. Ok..I opened my mouth and talk to Him. It became second nature to me as I got to know God more. Simple enough........then I start to forget Him....troubles that I face, the temptations that I face......I needed Him to answer.....
For some people listening to God is like having Singtel......clarity.
Not for me.....usually.....silence. I thought.....ok.....God is an answering machine....."At the tone, leave a message.....we will get back to you...."
Then somebody says.....God talks through His word.....The bible...."Thy Word is a lamp on my feet".....ok....I got an uncle who is a Christian and asked him to pass me a Bible which he does not need since most Christians own more than one Bible....
Then I realised that it is more like a dam that has broken...on me...everything is just confusing....I am drowning !! There is the King James Version, the New American Standard, the NIV, The Good News Bible....slowly...but steadily, I struggle with my Christian friends, go to church....I still don't understand some of the verses...(even though I am 43) ...I read the Good News Bible..it was then the easiest to read as a teenager. Then settle with NIV and recently the New Living Translation has been an eye opener for some of the passages.
Of course now the bomb is ....my wife and Pastor in church request...memorise these verses....I still struggle. Put those verses in your head and then to the heart. So...you will not forget. And I realise my cycle of my journey so far has come back to where I started "in case you forget".
For a doctor who has gone to university and gone through many post graduate examinations, who have read so many books, my journey with God, I realise, besides all the worship, the giving, the going to church, the fellowship,etc etc.....I struggle to understand and keep His word in my hard.."in case I forget".
What about the illiterate?
Comes to the next question....is God a God of words? It is like is words important to Him? Many religions do not have a religious book. It is spread by culture....parents tell their children...do this and that...go to the temple, participate in this festival, etc. Some has a religious book, but it is written by the believers.
Christianity surprisingly is not only written by leaders who believe, God wrote to us !!
We know that Moses go to Mount Sinai and God appeared to him and he came down with 2 tablets written by the hands of God himself the 10 commandments.
How come God did not just shout from the mountain to His people? Probably more awesome and maybe they will be so frightened they will definitely obey...
Is it because He is a God of words? He created language...we know we listen to his words and repeat in our mouth his words. I realise....written words are His too. Perhaps like my experience...He is saying "In case (lest) they forget"
For the illiterate, how is this going to be part of the experience of God?
Love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul and all our mind.
I believe it is a challenge for MHI as we embark on a new chapter of our journey overseas.
Our church forefathers probably have the same problems. 1000 years ago, the world was a harder place to live in. Education was for the elite, the rich. Only the rich and the priviledged can read and write. Most of the rest of the people are poor and going to school is never part of the lives of the children or teenager.
How did the early church reach out to God?
How did they manage the part I have mentioned? Read the Bible and memorise it in your heart..
I think the old church fathers tried using pictures. Beautiful pictures painted on the walls of the church. Beautiful pictures painted on scrolls. (however printing of books did not happen until the invention of the printing press) Statutes.....these objects convey calm, peace and joy. A reminder of our Christian faith.
In the old testament, Joshua wanted the people to remember God and he asked the people write verses and keep them and tie them around their head, their wrists, etc.
It will be a challenge for us to think of other things as the teams we send to other countries not on plan for a spiritual encounter with God through worship, sharing of His word, fellowship and sharing of testimony, we should also think about how we can allow the illiterate to bring a part of the experience home that they can remember God. To them, reading the Bible has as much meaning as just holding the Bible and looking at its colour of the cover.
Our trip to Penang, a member of the team prepared more than a hundred bookmarks with verses written in them. She did that continuously for 3 days before the trip(a labour of her love for God). I was touched when I saw one of our HI friends from Malaysia proudly displaying all 3 different bookmarks round his neck walking around in Penang church. I know he cannot read. I know he cannot remember the words written on them, yet I know, he brings back to his town, a part of the experience he had with God that weekend and hopefully it will remind him to continue to search God and live according to His way that he has learnt.
