God used a flood to create a real community part 2

(Following on from part 1)

We were all very tired from worrying, packing and lots of travelling. We desperately needed sleep. Even then I was really impressed how we care for one another, one sister Gail decided to sleep on the floor so that Christine and I could have our own room. Even though Oliver's house, oops, I meant mansion, is huge, we managed to fill every bedroom. Prior to sleeping everyone were glued to the television trying to find out what would happened next. The authorities predicted that the Brisbane would rise to 5.5 metres which would break the 1974 flood record. This is amazing because since 1974, a flood mitigation dam (Wivenhoe) was constructed to reduce flooding in the Brisbane river flood plain. The fact was that we had received a record breaking rain days before into the catchment. We also had rain in the Toowoomba area which led to inland tsunami that killed dozens of people. The rain that felt in the Toowoomba area did not fall into the Wivenhoe's catchment area. And finally there was the king tide! Wivenhoe was threatening to overflow and some water had to be released. This is why the water level continue to rise even though the rain had stopped. This fooled many people into believing that they were safe.

Given the circumstances, we had a really good night sleep. On the morning of the 13th, I woke up to bird noises. Stretton didn't have as many bird sounds as did St. Lucia. Well you always have your crows but there were other really nice sounding birds that I didn't hear before. Well you definitely don't need alarm clocks in Australia! Coming in from the front door, Oliver's house has a huge lounge. The first floor has a large openning from which we can see this huge lounge. From this indoor balconey, I could see Mr and Mrs Au (Gavin's parents) practiced their Tai Chi. They were very graceful. It is amazing to see Mrs Au, she is very flexible and she is in her 60s! We couldn't see a single of part of Oliver's kitchen's bench because it was covered with food. We had food that we hurriedly packed and then food that Jenny had brought us from the night before. Breakfast was certainly not a simple affair, definitely not what I would normally have. And we are escaping a flood :-) ? Thinking back, this reminded me of verse 5 of Psalm 23 (my cup overflows ... our kitchen bench overflows??).

Even though we had so much food, we do have 12 people and so it was off to the nearby shopping centre. In spite of the television pictures, a large part of Brisbane was not directly affected by the flood. However, everyone were indirectly affected (and still is at the time of writing) because many of flooded areas are argiculture areas from which we source our meat, cereal and vegetables. The flooded roads also meant trucks carrying food stuff could not get through. To make matters even worse, the main food distribution centre, Rocklea, was also flooded. Having said that there were still a lot of food in the shops but fresh vegetables were not as plentiful as per usual. Some panic buying of food and vegetables did occur.

As I was still on call, I tried connecting my laptop to the work but even here the flood was having its impact. The telecommunication system was also affected as some telephone exchanges and mobile phone towers were also located in flooded areas.

Of the five family groups that were seeking refuge at Oliver's house, three of them have some flooding in their homes. Christine and I knew our homes were OK (except Christine and I had some concern about looting). Gail was concerned because the units on the other side of her street were starting to flood. It is amazing how different people react differently to news. My youngest sister Miriam has a friend whose was flooded in Warren St which is parallel to Durham St. Miriam automatically assumed that my father's unit would be flooded in Durham St. In spite of my assurance, my father called from Hong Kong to get me to return to check on his unit. Somehow the word "danger" just did not register in the minds of my extended family. The roads are closed and many did not having working traffic signals because of the lost of electricity. One man was sucked in the storm water drain precisely because he wanted to inspect his flooded home. It is interesting how different people reacted to crisis. On the one hand, those of us whose homes were mostly safe and those of us whose homes were already flooded or in danger of being flooded. As far as I can tell there was no panic or massive anxiety attack in our refuge. Yet my father, whose unit was still safe, continued to panic. As a Christian community I believe we had experienced the faithfulness of our heavenly Father. I am sure this was the best preparation one can ever have. Thinking back this reminded me of the hymn "Be Still, My Soul". Here's the first verse:

Be still, my soul:
the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently
the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God
to order and provide;
In every change,
He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul:
thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways
leads to a joyful end.

The authorities predicted that the Brisbane river would peak twice (during high tides). It peaked on the morning of the 13th and the afternoon of the 13th. The morning peak of the 13th only reached 4.46 Metres and not the predicted 5.5 Metres. Thank God, because that 1 Metre made a huge difference to what houses would be affected. I have other friends whose first floor was within two steps of being flooded. I was quietly confident (well not so quiet when I was trying to calm my father) that my father's unit was going to be OK. I called my pastor, Andrew Teo in Toowong and he was OK and even have electricity. However the church was closed by floods on three sides. As the water started to recede on the 14th (Friday), Andrew asked everyone to either come to church's prayer meeting or try to have a meeting at our place. On the evening of the 14th, Alvin (Alvin is himself a pastor at Sunnybank Baptists) and Cherry helped us organised a prayer meeting. We even sang my favourite "What the Lord Has Done in me". Verse 3 was very interesting given our circumstances:

I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God.
I will sing salvation songs;
Jesus Christ has set me free.

We really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. Everyone was moved and I even prayed well in Cantonese! To top it off, Jenny brought us some really yummy Chinese dessert.

By the afternoon of the 14th the power was already back for our unit but a large part of St Lucia still had no power. Christine and I decided to stay one more night and return on the morning for the 15th.

On the morning of the 15th, Mrs Au had made some really yummy congee (rice porridge) for breakfast. Oliver was sad to see us leave. Actually we ourselves felt sad as the three days of forced evaculation were an amazing time of fellowship. I got know to the Au family quite well. Poor Gavin, even though the water has receded and he could get back to his unit, the lower floor flooding meant the unit was unlivable (they had lost what was flooded on the lower floor). Gavin now has to find a new unit to rent and house his sister and parents. There was also uncertainity for Gail, Alvin and March as they don't know whether they will have electricity in St Lucia. Furthermore the water was still rising when we left on the 12th.

Alvin decided to stay behind has he has to give a sermon on the 16th. I then led March and Gail back to St Lucia. We say goodbye to the Au family as their unit was in not in St Lucia. The travel back to St Lucia (heading North from Stretton) was good but the traffic became very heavy as we closed in on St Lucia. I took a longer way so as to bypass the massive traffic jam (some roads were still closed). We stopped by Gail's place and saw an Energex truck but sadly the Energex's crew said that the areas around Gail's place still had no electricity. March and Sophfina went to check their unit while Christine and I headed back home. Later Gail rang to say her power was back. After sorting out our things, I had a bit of time left and so I went down to help the local stores at the end of our street. There was literally an army of volunteers cleaning up. Some other locals were helping the Chinese grocery store to salvage some non-perishables. I got my shovel out to clean a driveway under a small shopping complex. The shovel also came in handy when removing ice cream containers out of freezers. All the ice cream and ice blocks have melted. It really stink! With the help of a completely unknown stranger, we lifted the freezer side way and poured out the watery content. We had to do it, it was mozzies breeder!. There was also mud to shovel from people's gardens. Sir Fred Schonell Drive look like war zone. Rubbish are piled up on the footpath but at least the road was passable with much effort from volunteers, the SES and the army. Shall write some more later... If you reading this please pray for the recovery. But with all this mess, I knew our city has changed. As Master Card would say:

"a bridge cost millions, a tunnel costed billions but a new community spirit ...priceless"

I remembered just as Christine, Sophfina, March and I left the house we prayed and I ask God why the flood....Now I know, out of the flooded water is a new community and may be even revival!

God used a flood to create a real community part 1

On the 11th of January, it was raining cats and dogs. We were told to get ready to move the Energex's control centre from Newstead to Victoria Park. Victoria Park is our old control centre. All the old workstations were there but needed to be loaded to get them ready to take over control of South East Queensland electricity network if we needed to evacuate Newstead due to rising Brisbane river. We arrived at the old control centre late in the morning and started gettng the workstations ready. Not long after that other control centre staff started arriving, it seems the evacuation order had already been given - we weren't told! We only got the news from project staff who had remained at the old control centre. One of our manager called me to send our other staff home. I stayed because I was on standby until Thursday morning. Only one member of our team stayed in Newstead to keep an eye on things while we transition from Newstead to Victoria Park. At least one staff had to stay home that day as he thought his house was going to go under. Things were moving at a rapid pace. The seriousness of the situation was slowly dawning on me as one of the shift manager had to arrange for an emergency outage at a Geebung quarry. He was desperately trying not to have to shut down a large area. By evening more control centre staff have moved over and huge wallboard diagrams were being shifted. I helped set up the these diagrams and didn't leave till 10:30pm. By that stage I decided not drive home the normal way. Instead I went via Latrobe Terrace which is way back from anywhere near the river. Previous to this I had already started looking at flood maps and realised that the lower part of my father's street and my street (Mitre St) will be affected. At that stage I was still thinking no way that the water will reach my parents' place. When I got near home I drove down my dad's street and saw water has already risen up from Sir Fred Schonell Drive. All was dark and I knew that part of Sir Fred Schonell Drive was already flooded, I didn't bother trying to find out by how much as I had been working since 7am that morning.

That night, Christine told me that our friend March and his wife had not yet evacuate their home which is even closer to the river. Given the predict rise in water level we tried to convince them. Anyway I was too tired to worry and so went to bed.

Morning of the 12th, the rain had stopped. Christine and I went to have a look at dad's street. The telephone booth closest to Sir Fred Schonell drive was already half way under water. Some SES volunteers were using a boat to transfer people out of already-flooded houses. We called March again about getting out. We even looked around the University of Queensland to see whether they could escape to our place without getting their stuck in flooded streets. One of the service road already had at least two metres of water. We rang March to urge them to call the SES (State Emergency Service). Returning back to dad's street around midday we saw the flood water had covered all the glass area of the telephone booth. The neighbour just below my dad's unit said that the rising tide will make the flooding a lot worse. Later in the afternoon we were pleasantly surprised to hear that March and his wife had driven out of the flooded area and ask for the name of our street (March had forgotten our street name). March had a miraculous escape. After warnings from several friends, March had moved his car to higher grounds within UQ. The miracle was that they met another car which knew how to drive out of the flooded areas in UQ. Previous to this, March had thought that they were trapped within UQ. March gave me a hand to take some of dad's belongings to the second floor as one tenant had already empty their ground floor in preparation for the flood water. On the way home we dropped by Philip's place and heard that tap water may be cut-off. We got home thinking things were still OK until the fan stopped turning when we lost electricity. We should have predicted this as an Energex truck had rolled past our street. They must have stopped power because of an emergency outage nearby. With no power and possibly no tap water, it was time to get out.

The night earlier we had heard that Alvin, Cherry and Gail had already left for a place in Taringa. However both Gail's home and parts of Taringa were also threatened. Alvin and Cherry had a flooded basement and were worried that it will start threatening their ground floor unit. We found out that Alvin, Cherry and Gail had started to leave St Lucia and headed south to Stretton where Oliver lived. Oliver had emailed everyone in our fellowship group (Salt and Light) to see if anyone needed temporary accomodation. Another brother Gavin Au, had to leave their flooded home in Sherwood and his entire family were making their way also to Oliver's place. Christine, March and I also came to the same conclusion as we thought we could not possibly stay with no water and electricity. While we frantically packed, we also tried to work out what route to take. Coronation Drive and Milton Road (to the East) were closed and then Cherry called to say that they were coming back as Oxley Road (to the South and West) were also closed. It look as if we were stuck ... trapped ...

Late that afternoon all of us met at the Taringa Five-way. We figured that the only way is to go via Paddington and down towards the Storey bridge. However, I was the only one familiar with that direction. We had four cars between us and I took the lead as we headed towards the higher parts of Taringa. We weaved our way through to Toowong and then onto Fredrick St. From Fredrick St, we headed towards Latrobe Terrace. We briefly lost Alvin but we got the four cars together again and headed to Caxton street. Along the way, I took the wrong turn and ended up in Given Terrace, even there the flood was not far away as we quickly u-turned and headed back towards Caxton street. Eventually we made it down to Wickham street and onto the Storey bridge. Safe at last but not without having to run the gauntlet of sightseers hanging around Kangaroo Point to see the now absolutely swollen river. Afterwards both March and I thought we are all trying to escape and you people are sightseeing? After a long drive (how I appreciate Coronation Drive!), we made it to Oliver's place. Gavin's family was already there. Oliver helped us to find rooms in his mansion so that we could all have a good night rest. On top of that Jenny arrived later to bring us roast chicken, bread and other food. God is good! We were so glad we didn't have to go to the emergency evacuation centre. I am sure the evacuation centre would have been good but there is nothing like being amongst friends in the midst of an emergency! This is so long but it was memorable. I had never have to leave home like this.... Please read on ...

From Red Cliff to Mordor

As a young boy, my father told me stories from “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, one of the four great Chinese classics. For my recent birthday, my wife and I watched the movie “Red Cliff” which is based upon a pivotal battle from the book. For the first time, these childhood imageries came alive for me on the big screen. My primary teacher introduced me to the world of Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and many of the wonderful characters from “The Lord of the Rings”. On the one hand we have “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” written in the 14th century based on real historical events from 2nd century China. On the other hand, we have from Tolkien; mythical stories of the struggle for Middle Earth. Separated by centuries and the East-West gap, can these two epics actually have anything in common?

A little explanation of China’s Three Kingdom (169 to 280AD) period is needed. Towards the end of the 2nd century the Eastern Han dynasty was drawing to a close. The last of the Eastern Han emperors were weak, the ordinary Chinese struggled to survive and many warlords rose up to take advantage of the uncertain times. An important figure in this period is a man called Liu Bei (note that Liu is the surname). Liu was a poor cousin of the emperor who dreamt of restoring the glory of the Han dynasty. Liu’s loyalty to his friends made him different to the other warlords and he was able to gather many loyal followers. Amongst his followers were great warriors like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In addition, he had the help of the military strategist Zhuge Liang (also called Kongming). In spite of having great warriors and the best military mind of his time, Liu found himself on the run from Prime Minister Cao Cao. Cao had an overwhelming numeric advantage over Liu. At the start of the Battle of Red Cliff, Cao had over 800,000 men while Liu and his ally Sun Quan (ruler of Eastern Wu south of the Yangtze River) had only 50,000 men. The movie “Red Cliff” is based on this battle between Cao Cao and the Liu-Sun alliance. Both the movie and the book emphasize several recurring themes. These include loyalty, care for the ordinary people, having a righteous character and the idea that the righteous shall prevail in spite of the odds. While Liu had loyal followers behind him, many of Cao’s soldiers were soldiers of war lords who had surrendered to Cao on his campaign from Northern China. Cao’s soldiers fought because they had to but Liu and his band fought because it was the right thing to do. Although some of the details of the battle had been dramatized in the centuries since the actual event, Liu and his band did win the Battle of Red Cliff. Liu won because of Cao’s pride and Cao’s disregard for people.

What about the “The Lord of the Rings”? Does Liu remind us of Aragon the rightful ruler of Gondor? Does Gandalf remind us of Zhuge Liang? What about the loyalty that Samwise Gamgee showed to Frodo? Does that remind us of the loyalty that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei showed to Liu Bei? Just as Liu prevailed in spite of Cao’s numerical superiority so too was Aragon able to defeat the forces from Mordor. In spite of the centuries and the East-West gap we all desire these same noble qualities. Furthermore, these noble qualities are so important to us that we will give our very lives for them. Just look at Gallipoli in our own time. Australians like to pride ourselves as being a tolerant and a multicultural society. Some argue that we must reject moral absolutes for the sake of harmony. However, rejecting moral absolutes and tolerating for the sake tolerance does not promote harmony. Rather, “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and the “Lord of the Rings” tell us that we can promote harmony by persuading these noble qualities because these are the qualities that make us all humans.

Tiananmen Square Massacre – the 20th Anniversary

Anthony Lee

Twenty years ago (June, 1989) I joined fellow students at the Great Court of the University of Queensland to mourn the massacre of students and civilians in Beijing. Many of us had hoped that the protest would mark a new beginning. It was not to be but the dream is still alive.

Growing up in Hong Kong and Australia meant that I only became aware of what China was like through the mainland students on campus. The reformist leader Hu Yaobang’s died in April 1989. 1989 was a pivotal year for China and the world. Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost had led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The end of Mao and Gang of Four had allowed Deng Xiaoping to liberalise the economy and to a much lesser extent the political system. Hu Yaobang (once a Deng supporter) had called for even greater liberalisation. Hu’s call angered the party and forced his resignation from leadership.

Civilians honouring Hu Yaobang in Tiananmen Square were joined by university students. Mourning soon turned into protest against corruption and a call for freedom of the press and democratic reform. Via the People’s Daily, Communist hardliners denounced the protestors as opportunists wanting to create civil unrest. This enflamed the situation because the students believed that their cause is just. They believed they were following in the footsteps of pervious generation of Chinese students. Feelings were so strong that many students began a hunger strike to have their demands addressed by the government.

On May 19, Zhao Ziying, Hu Yaobang’s successor, went to the square to persuade students to end their protest. Zhao, a reformist, wanted conciliation but was opposed by the party. Zhao failed to end their protest and Premiere Li Peng declared Martial Law. The party placed Zhao under house arrest and was not heard from again until his death in 2005. The party chose Jiang Zemin (Shanghai’s Party Secretary) to replaced Zhao because he had not sympathised with the students in Shanghai.

In Beijing, the local PLA (People’s Liberation Army) sympathized with the protestors and so soldiers from outer provinces came in to enforce Martial Law. On the night of the June 3, soldiers moved in on the students. Soldiers attacked the protestors and there were eyewitness accounts of soldiers firing on unarmed civilians and even armour vehicles running over students. The government reported 241 deaths but some believe the deaths were in the thousands. During the subsequent occupation the image of the lone young man blocking a line of PLA tanks became an icon for democracy in China. Students and protestors who did not escape were captured and jailed.

The protest was a great political setback for Deng and there was growing opposition to his economic reforms. Deng used a tour of Southern China to reassert his economic policy. This allowed the 3rd generation of communist leadership under Jiang Zemin and Premiere Zhu Rongji (also from Shanghai) to achieve great economic growth. However this growth was not universal and it created a wealth-gap between rich coastal provinces and the impoverished interior.

In 2002, Jiang and Zhu retired. Hu Jintao took over from Jiang while Wen Jiabao took over from Zhu. Wen was Zhu’s former right hand man and also an ally of Zhao Ziyan. Hu and Wen were not from Shanghai. They both served as officials in China’s interior and perhaps for this reason purposely addressed the wealth-gap that they inherited from Jiang. In spite of the lack of democratic reforms, China has moved on from the dark days of the Cultural Revolution. Hu-Wen leadership response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was vastly different to how the Gang of Four dealt with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. In 1978, while traveling by rail from the Northern city of Dalin to Beijing, I could still see official attempts to hide the earthquake’s destructive power. The Gang of Four was not interested in saving the earthquake’s victims. Jiang Qing (Mao’s wife and one of the Gang of Four) was quoted as saying “There were merely several hundred thousand deaths. So what? Denouncing Deng Xiaoping concerns 800 million people.” In contrast, Wen Jiabao travelled within hours to Sichuan, the centre of the 2008 earthquake. Wen, like Zhou Enlai, were both known as the people’s Premiers.

The Chinese people are rightly proud of China’s recent economic and technological achievements. China is only one of a handful of nations who have sent men into space. However the growing trend towards nationalism both in China and elsewhere in the world is troubling. With the world’s economy now relying on China, it is becoming harder and harder to raise human rights concerns. If the United States has trouble convincing Chinese leaders the value of democratic reforms then what chance does Australia have? This does not mean we should forego the struggle for democratic reforms in China but vocal protests by the likes of Senator Bob Brown against President Hu Jintao does not help. Ordinary Chinese in China will not hear of these protests and many might even interpret such protests as anti-Chinese sentiments that echo past Western oppression of China. The Chinese leadership may be opposed to democratic reforms but it does not mean that they don’t value good governance and the rule of law. China’s amazing economic growth would not have been possible without initial foreign investments which in turn needed a legal system. Furthermore the growing middle class expect more from the authorities. Even here, every step forward will often mean two steps back. For instance, while Wen Jiabao made a great effort towards the relief of Sichuan earthquake victims, official responses have not always been so encouraging. Parents wanting to investigate the shoddy workmanship of collapsed schools, were rounded up, detained, and threatened.

Tiananmen in Chinese means “Gates of Heavenly Peace”. Ironically, there was no peace on June 4, 1989 but in the years that follow some things have changed for the better and some for worse. When I visited the current China Project exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Arts (GOMA) in Brisbane, I realised that even though there are people who want to silence dissent, dissent will always find a way to express itself, even in art! Imagine if Zhao Ziyang or Hu Yaobang had succeeded. We would probably have seen a more open and confident China. Good governance would be the Chinese Communist Party’s mandate rather then hyped up nationalism. The world owes a debt to those slain or maimed on June 4, 1989. We must not forget them. The dream will live on.

Where is the Peace of Christmas?
By Anthony Lee

It is Christmas again and the words of the carol
“Hark the herald angels sing” are resonating in
my ears. The words “Peace on earth and mercy mild”
are troubling. Where is the peace? How quickly we
forget the Mumbai terrorist attack that claimed
173 lives. The carol goes on with
“Joyful, all ye nations rise” but where is the
joy in the worse economic downturn since the 1930s?
Our children will want the latest toys from the
big department stores but many of us will have
to invent ways to explain to them why they can’t
have their toys. Along with “Hark the herald angels sing”,
we will probably sing the same old Christmas carols
and have Christmas dinner (may be with less of our
favourites). How do we deal with all these
contradictions? Peace when there are conflicts?
Joy when all we hear are economic dooms and glooms.

The Mumbai attack was supposed to have been
perpetrated by Muslim extremists. Perhaps
John Lennon is right and we should get rid
of religion. Perhaps we should ditch
The Lord’s prayer in favour of an acknowledgement
of the ancestors of our indigenous people as the
Greens have suggested. What then do we do with
baby Jesus? What then do we do with Christmas?
Perhaps we can keep the holidays. The shopping
is always good even if we can’t afford it!
However ditching religions will not necessarily
mean that our problems will go away. The human
condition, the very thing that religions try to
solve is still there. We still have to be content
with non-religious violence and we still have the
same greed which led to the demise of the stock
market. Presumably those who objected to
religious-based solutions would argue that we
need secular solutions. Unfortunately they too have
failed. The two greatest secular ideologies,
communism and capitalism have brought us to dead ends.
Where then do we go?

The contradiction between the Christmas story
and the real world is troubling but has the
Christmas story really failed mankind or is the
problem with us? Do we even understand the
Christmas story when the Christian message
is under attack from both the popular media
and scientists? Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”
challenges the authenticity of the Christian Faith.
In “The God Delusion”, the British biologist
Richard Dawkins attacks the belief in a
supernatural creator by suggesting that the
belief in a personal god is a delusion. The
popular media is obsessed with the controversial
aspects of Christianity such as televangelists,
the Rapture, Revelations and the End Times.
E O Wilson, the two-time winner of the Pulitzer
Prize, singles out the Christian belief in the
End Times as being an obstacle to the salvation
of our planet’s fragile eco-system. But, the
Christmas story is much bigger than either
televangelists or the End Times. At the heart
of the Christmas story is God’s desire to restore
a broken relationship. God so loves us that he
willingly sends His Son into our world to experience
our deepest despair and to restore the broken
relationship. This despair came about because
of the breaking of that very first relationship
between us and God. God’s solution does not only
mend our relationship with him but it should also
mean the restoration of all human relationships –
truly there would be peace on earth just like the
words of the carol.

You say all these sound very ideal but we
still live in a broken world? And yet history
tells us that whenever men and women take
seriously the true Christmas message, not only
are relationships restored but we see social reforms.
William Wilberforce was an evangelical Christian
and a British politician who struggled for decades
(1797-1833) to end the slave trade to abolish
slavery across the British Empire. One of
Wilberforce’s influences was none other then
John Newton, the author of the hymn ”Amazing Grace”.
One cannot but be amazed by the power of the love
that can turn Newton, a former slave-ship captain
into an Evangelical Anglican clergyman and an
Abolitionist. If injustice like slavery is part
and parcel of a broken world then social reforms
should be part and parcel of a restored world
where there is true justice. Closer to our time
we have Martin Luther King, a Baptist minister
who sought to end racial segregation and
discrimination through non-violent means.
King’s legacy lives on today and who could have
imagined that within four decades of his
assassination we would see the first
black president of the United States?
In King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech,
he said that “… we will not be satisfied
until justice rolls down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream”.
He also said “I have a dream that one day
every valley shall be exalted, and every hill
and mountain shall be made low, the rough
places will be made plain, and the crooked
places will be made straight; ‘and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh
shall see it together.’ ” These two passages
came from the Old Testament and they describe
God’s justice when we are in a right relationship
with him. The second passage also appears in the
Luke’s Gospel. This is the same Gospel where we
find the images of the manger, the three wise men
and baby Jesus. If these images appear as shining
lights outside our houses then surely justice
must roll down like waters for all and this
would include our indigenous Australians, our
refugees and all those disadvantaged in our
society. Now that is the true message of Christmas
and truly we can sing “Hark the herald angels sing”.

Fighting Terror With Peace

How do you fight a war where there is no front line?
How do you fight a war where your enemies can easily
disguised themselves as one of us? That is what the
Indian security forces faced in this last week. We
can bring to bear the latest technologies or even the
most draconian measures but the terrorists will
still slip through. Perhaps it is time to re-think
our approach to fight terrorism. Perhaps it is time to
reconsider the non-violent approach that Gandhi and
Martin Luther King advocated. We saw the end of Communism
and in these last days some say even the end of Capitalism.
And yet Dr. King's non-violent resistance continued to this
day with Barak Obama becoming the first black president of
the United States. Perhaps it is time to rebuild the
threads of humanity that is based on the knowledge that we
are all created in God's image. And if young Scout
(To Kill a Mocking Bird) can turn back the wrath of the lynch
mob then we know that the message of peace is the ultimate
anti-terror weapon.

Wall Street, God and the Environment

Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents knew what
it was like to live through the Great Depression and
understand the need to save. Some how we have
forgotten what they learn. The people most responsible
for the current down turn may be the corporate
high-flyers but we, with our high consuming lifestyle,
are also equally guilty. The Wall Street crisis are not
only going to affect this generation of Americans but
also future generations as well as countries like
Australia. And while some of us might be able to cutback,
please spare a thought for the poorest of the world
who are already doing it tough. If and when this crisis
is finally over, we must rethink how we use what God
has given us and realise what it mean to be good
stewards of the earth's resources. Perhaps we can be
thankful that the earth's eco-systems might finally
get a much needed rest from our wasteful ways.