We just
celebrated the first anniversary of our Togetherness in Building a caring (TBC)
Community of Butterworth. The TBC as we know took its roots from the Taman
Senangan BEC,after the latter was forcefully divided by the new Parish Priest
Fr.Victor Louis in June 2010 with the help of some members of the BEC.
I for one
was dragged into the problem as I saw what the PP and some members did was
uncalled for and unjust move on their part. Since our exclusion from the BEC,
we decided to go ahead with the formation of our group to prove to the PP that
we are indeed a legitimate group that should be recognized as the new BEC.As
the PP was not prepared to listen to us or recognize us as the legitimate BEC
we decided to call ourselves the TBC, which the PP was quick to declare as an
illegal group. It was shocking that he considered not just the group as illegal
but even the prayers that we offered were regarded as illegal.
The way forward for us
and our TBC
After much prayer and reflection we decided to continue our struggle for justice for us and our BEC in
a peaceful way without anger and hate. We should continue to strongly oppose
our BEC to be spilt in the manner it was done, high-handedly without
consultation whatsoever. We should continue with our pressure until the PP and
the leader realize their folly in dividing the BEC. We may not succeed now but
I feel we must try and leave the rest to God as the truth will finally prevail.
Our struggle to build a united God’s
Kingdom consisted of three aspects as follows:
1. Prayer – asking for almighty
guidance to rebuild our new group,TBC
2. Fellowship – strengthen the bonds of
love among one another.
3. Charity – reaching out to those in
need in our midst
We decided to continue doing what God
wants of us with great love and commitment, without anger or hatred towards
those who dissent, disagree with us or even hurt us. We hoped by our example we
will make them realize the value of being together with us as one happy family.
We placed our trust in God that He will deliver us out of this mess amicably
and take us to greater heights.
Where are we one year later?
Where are we
after one year since the formation of the TBC? What have we achieved? Have we
succeeded in our aims or have we failed? Do we regret choosing the path of
departing from BEC recognized by the PP? Where do we go from here now that the
PP continues to neglect us? These are the questions that should run through our
minds on this first anniversary.
The two great Commandments
Christ’s
teachings are very simple – Love God
with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength, and with your entire mind, and your neighbor as
yourself (Luke 10:27).These were His two great Commandments which override
all others before Him.
It is of
utmost importance that we really understand these tow commandments in order to
do the right things that Jesus wants of us.Fig.1 illustrate the relationship
between the two commandments. We show our love for God by the various physical means
of worship and our love for our neighbour by acts of charity and fellowship
forged among ourselves in our TBC.
In the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10: 30-37) Jesus clearly tells us who our neighbor is. He further elaborated
what he meant by ‘love your neighbor’
in his Sermon on the Mount, particularly in the Beatitudes (Mathew 5).
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Worshiping
God encompasses not just the many rituals that we perform but by our acts of
charity, forgiveness and humility towards our neighbour.
His words “I say to you, whatever you
did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me”.(Mathew
25:40) clearly tells us that unless we love to our neighbor there is no
way we can love God Himself. It is through our neighbor that we can reach Him.
This is the greatest commandment that Jesus had given us which we often do not
take it seriously. We do all sorts of things to reach Him and go all over the
world to search for Him but forget that He is in the people around us and it is
through our love for them can we reach Him.
Jesus commands us to reach out to
others
With these words of Jesus it is very clear what we
should do as His followers in the TBC – we should reach out to those in our
midst as it in them resides Jesus. Are we doing that? In this respect we in the
TBC had initiated many activities to build the love among ourselves. We had
succeeded to forge the closeness among us, ridding of the suspicion and
jealousy from our hearts. We were like strangers when we started 1 year ago but
today we have become like members of a big family. This is indeed a great
achievement for us that were made possible by the splitting of the BEC. We all
know that God works in mysterious ways but did we realize He did so by
splitting our BEC despite vehement protests from us.
With these commandments in mind, it
may be time to search our conscience to see whether we are indeed in the right
path as Christians and TBC members. We may have many great fellowships, outings
and other such activities but are we in the path that of Jesus? Did we see Him
in the fellow members of our TBC, the old folks we visited in Ai Xiang Home,
the orphans of Shan Children’s Home and the sick June Chin for whom we prayed?
If we have then we can be proud that we have succeeded but if we did not see
Jesus in these people who came into our lives, then we would have failed in our
mission and it is time that we try harder to succeed in the coming year.
Conclusion
Our charitable acts of visiting the sick like June
Chin, the Ai Xiang old folk’s home and lending support to the children from
Shan Children’s Home are all commendable. However as far as I am concerned, I must admit that my enthusiasm for such acts of
love for others was must less as compared to that I placed in the various
fellowships and outings that we organized for ourselves. I feel I should strive
for greater spirited commitment into helping the more unfortunate people around
me in the coming year.
Results of survey done on TBC
A total of 22 people returned the answers to the 3 questions
posed to the members at the recent TBC anniversary dinner. The results are as
follows.
1.TBC to continue? 21 said yes,1 abstained
2.If yes,suggest 3 ways to move forward.
a.Family outing and fellowship
b.Community prayer,payer for those in need
c.Charitable deeds,visit old folks,works of mercy for those
in need,visiting those I need
Others :
Everyone should take part
Team building
Fund raising including to help those need for education
Field trips
More health walks, games,Bowling,camping,
Visiting church members
Register officially,open an office
Encourage more to join
Discuss current issues,politics,educate about truth and
justice
Bible study
Get together more often and do projects
3.i. Any other comments for improvement – Doing
fine,continue,no comments
ii. Is the TBC doing it correctly in building God’s Kingdom
among us?
All said yes,yes,yes
Hope more will join,more talents
Do more charity
Be proud of what we are doing
Meet up with BECs in our area to offer hand of friendship
but we stay together
Minimise expenses