December 12, 2005
Christmas 2005
…whoever wishes to become great among you must be
your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must
be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but
to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Mark 10:43-45
Christmas greetings from Lahore Pakistan! We have been in Pakistan
since Thanksgiving and will be returning home on December 21,
just in time for Christmas. We heard that some churches are canceling
Sunday service since Christmas falls on Sunday this year. We are
determined to find a church and worship God on Christmas Sunday.
We are here in Pakistan to work with the leadership of the Presbyterian
Church of Pakistan to help develop their administrative capacity.
When a church reaches beyond its traditional “sanctuary”
ministries, administrative ability and communication (as well
as transparency and accountability) become very important. We
are grateful for the opportunity to walk with the Pakistani brothers
and sisters in this journey of faith.
Last Thursday we came to Lahore from Gujranwala to visit Forman
Christian College, where Simon serves on the board of governors.
FCC was established by Presbyterian missionaries in 1864 by it
was nationalized by the Pakistani government about 30 ago, and
then finally returned to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2003.
Rector Peter Armacost is eager to receive help from experienced
academics to restore the college to its place as the leading institution
of learning in Pakistan and in the region. We will share more
about the opportunities in future letters.
This month we want to share some observations we find humorous
and biting. On Friday morning, after a meeting with professors
at FCC, we returned to the Presbyterian Church’s guesthouse
after stopping at a store to buy food stuff, a pot, and a hot-water
bottle.
As we went through the checkout counter at the grocery store,
one young man put our purchases through the scanner, which sounded
out each item, while another person sat at a computer monitor
observing each item being registered and a third worker counted
the number of items while bagging. What customer service to ensure
that the computer system and workers are not making mistakes!
A more realistic explanation might be that it is a system to prevent
improper behavior by the employees.
We went to the next floor to buy a water bottle and a pot. At
the counter a man wrote out the slip in duplicate and gave us
the original. We took that to the cashier to make the payment
and were then told to go to the delivery counter to pick up the
items. After a few minutes, another young man brought the items,
the very same ones that we had taken to the counter in the first
place. Then our receipt and the products were carefully compared
before we finally took possession of the items. This may sound
very cumbersome to you, who are used to scanning and bagging your
own purchases, but it had much more significance for us.
When Simon stressed the importance of internal control systems
and the “segregation of duties,” he was often heavily
criticized for imposing a “Western” system upon a
society built upon relationships and trust. Simon was told repeatedly
that Pakistanis (insert Indians, Nepalese, Congolese, and others,
as appropriate) will never accept such a system. We hope they
never have to work in a department store or a grocery store. Come
to think of it, Indian-run stores in Congo and the Nepalese post
office both had similar systems. Perhaps I’m not saying
it right, but I am encouraged to find a system that is being followed
in this culture and shall continue to try telling the truth with
love.
Then, on our way home, we saw one illegally parked car being
picked up by a forklift and carried away. The small Maruti was
traveling slowly through the traffic seven feet off the ground.
Almost at the same instant, a flashy new BMW 740 passed us sporting
a California license plate. It went by too quickly for us to jot
down the number. It could not have been purchased and used in
California, as it had the steering wheel on the right side of
the car. We asked the driver why the policeman hitching a ride
on the forklift didn’t stop the car. Our driver said that
the police dare not stop someone who can drive a BMW 740, especially
one with a California plate. I hope we never understand the logic
and accept the necessity of such a truth.
When we neared to our destination, the traffic came to a complete
standstill. Three lanes became four or five lanes, and motorcycles
filled in all the space between the cars. A few donkey carts in
the midst added to the chaotic situation. The intersection ahead
of us was in total gridlock as cars turning after the traffic
light changed got tangled up with other cars not yielding. After
a good twenty minutes a policeman showed up and directed traffic,
he himself ignoring the traffic light. Finally we were able to
move. When we recounted this experience and expressed our belief
that the incident demonstrated the value of a system and the need
for everyone to follow for the benefit of all. We were certain
that everyone would have gone through much quicker had everyone
waited for their turn. But many disagreed with us on the moral
of the story: They insisted that the situation demonstrated the
need for and value of a forceful authority figure, a good policeman.
We experienced the above in the short span of two hours. We tried
to sort through these and reconcile differing opinions on the
cause and solutions to these happenings. Based on empirical evidence
alone, there is no way to choose one over the other assertion;
the choice must be one of values—either you want the systems
to be respected by all, the powerful and the powerless alike,
or you call for powerful authority and obedience to it.
For now, we prefer to stick to our understanding, which is based
on Jesus’s saying that he came to serve not to be served.
Before we talk about others, we pray that we celebrate this Christmas
by serving others. We are convinced all three of the situations
described above can be answered by “serving others.”
May God bestow upon the powers of this world the secret of “serving
others” in humility, wisdom, and compassion. Christ our
Lord is born.
Haejung and Simon
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
261 |
