If you have noticed, my wife has not been attending Sunday service lately.

First she told me that she does not believe in “Church” any more. Then there was the Olympics … God knows what’s next.

I don’t know whether she will come back to Church. Perhaps she just needs a little break to catch up with her inner self before deciding to do anything.

People leave church for various reasons. Some leave because of bad experiences with religious organizations and/or people. Some leave because of personal setbacks, feeling of meaninglessness in life etc. Some leave because they want to take a “break” from God, or I would say take a break from the stress of participation in an organized religion (which I don’t think is a bad idea).

While doing research for this sermon, I found this interesting website “www.losingmyreligion.com” – a website where “Ex-Christians help Christians break the shackles of their religion by encouraging them to think”.

Here is a quote found on the website:

"People go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy."

-Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin

Quite a slap on the face of those who have been attending Church service religiously. But I don’t think it’s such a bad idea to hold a service in a pub once in a while. After a drink or two, we may start seeing the true side of people you will never see in normal church service or cell meeting.

Anyway, I think there is more to “Church” than just coming to a religious set-up and listening to a sermon, hoping to be blessed at the end of the day.

To be frank, “religious” people scare me off quite a bit. When I see Bible-clutching Christians approaching me, I would turn and run the other way.

Similarly, when I start getting preachy to my wife, she will tell me to mind my own business first i.e. to first take the log out of my own eye, before I can see clearly to take the speck out of her eye (Mathew 7).

Is there more to “Christianity” than just “Church”? And has the Church lost touch with the world?

As in my last sermon, I’ll share with you a song, just to wake those who are falling asleep. This is a song by the late Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen, entitled “In My Defence”:

In my defence, what is there to say?
All the mistakes we've made must be faced today
It's not easy now, knowing where to start
While the world we love tears itself apart

I'm just a singer with a song
How can I try to right the wrong?
For just a singer with a melody
I'm caught in between, with a fading dream

In my defence, what is there to say?
We destroy the love, it's our way
We never listen enough, never face the truth
Then like a passing song, love is here
And then it's gone

I'm just a singer with a song
How can I try to right the wrong?
For just a singer with a melody
I'm caught in between, with a fading dream

I'm just a singer with a song
How can I try to right the wrong?
For just a singer with a melody
I'm caught in between, with a fading dream
Caught in between, with a fading dream
Caught in between, with a fading dream

Oh what on Earth, Oh what on Earth
How do I try
Do we live or die?
Oh help me God.
Please help me!

Just to share a little bit about the life of Freddie Mercury (as taken from Wikipedia).
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a Zanzibar-born British musician, best known as the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Queen (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001). He was noted for his vocal abilities, his charisma, and for his live performances. Mercury, who was of Indian Parsi descent and who grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star." He died of bronchopneumonia induced by HIV (AIDS) on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease. In 2006, Time Asia named Mercury as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years. However, he has also been criticised for having kept his ethnicity, as well as his sexual orientation and HIV status, a secret from the public.
One of Mercury's most notable performances with Queen took place at Live Aid in 1985, during which the entire stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang, and swayed in unison. Queen's performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music.
Freddie Mercury's death represented an important event in the history of AIDS. In the spring of 1992, the remaining members of Queen founded The Mercury Phoenix Trust and organised The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness. The Mercury Phoenix Trust has since raised millions of pounds for various AIDS charities.

Freddie Mercury’s life was no short of controversies.
But would you say that Jesus would not be seen at a Queen Rock Concert, joining hands with people to raise funds for charity and for advancement of mankind?
We often like to put Jesus in a box. Jesus is like this, Jesus is like that. Jesus says this, Jesus says that. The Cantonese calls such Bible preaching “Gong Ye Sou” which means “talk Jesus” which basically implies that Christians talk a lot, very long-winded, and NATO (No action talk only). You can probably hear this said quite often in older Cantonese movies/drama.

Was Jesus a religious person? I use “religious” here in a negative sense, which broadly means to hold dearly to a set of rules, traditions etc, showing no compassion and/or regard for relationships.

Since I like to drink, I will say something about this.

If you would recall, the first miracle performed by Jesus was when he turned water into wine at a wedding he attended with his mother Mary at Cana in Galilee.

[Read John, Chapter 2].
Jesus Changes Water to Wine (NIV)
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Here was a wedding party where the guests already had quite a bit to drink. When the wine was finished, I guess everyone sort of looked at one another and thought that they could probably do with another pint. Jesus looked at his mother and said “But my time has not yet come.” Jesus and his mum were guests at the wedding party, and were not obliged to do anything. [Imagine yourself at a 10- course Chinese wedding dinner, and the alcohol ran out. Not your problem right?]

But Jesus obliged. It was a happy occasion and Jesus was no spoil sport. There was nothing religious about it.

Jesus chose a common day-to-day event (a wedding party) and the turning of water into wine as his first miracle. Nothing like parting the red sea, or raising someone from the dead. It was not even necessary, it was an act of “excess”, nothing religious and in fact rather scandalous, but he did it.

That is my interpretation. My wife, on the other hand, was telling our son Caleb that the moral of the story is Jesus listened to his mommy’s wish, while conveniently omitting the part where Jesus called his mommy “Dear woman”. Same text. Different interpretation.

Imagine the news headlines: “Self-proclaimed Messiah transformed water into wine at wedding party, so that the party animals could make merry and get pissed.”
As you would probably know, Jesus often appeared in places and with people whom others would least expect him to.
He mingled around with the “not-so-nice” people of his time like the tax-collectors, women with “questionable character” and pharisees.
When people were busy criticizing Jesus for mingling around with the “wrong” crowd, he did not care and continued to do so.

Jesus broke the cultural and religious mindset of his time.
So, would you hang out at places and with people who may make you look bad? Is your “reputation” more important than God’s command for you to love thy neighbour?
It is not easy. Sometimes, I don’t even want to speak to my wife. Let alone mingle with strangers.
Since we are on the topic of loving thy neighbour, I will also talk a bit about it.

[Read Luke, Chapter 10].
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (NIV)
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Once again, Jesus created a scandal. He scandalised the Jews (the so called “chosen” people of God) by presenting the Samaritan as a model of “neighbourliness” to a Jewish audience.

A little bit on the historical context of this parable. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews. The Samaritans were also largely taught by their interpretation of history to hate Jews. In other words, they could not stand one another.

Imagine the news headlines: “Jewish lawyer dumbfounded as Jesus praises the Samaritan and challenges him to follow the way of the second-class citizen.”

The Jewish lawyer, full of himself, wanted a response from Jesus that would make him feel like he was good enough to qualify for eternal life.

But Jesus, in his usual self, did not provide the answer that the Jewish lawyer wanted to hear.

Jesus praised the Samaritan for his selfless act of generosity towards a stranger (possibly a Jew, the type who hated his kind). Do you think the Samaritan would have stopped to consider whether the victim was Jew or not before he helped? He saw the victim as someone in pain and suffering, and if not helped, would die. That’s the way of Jesus.

The stricken figure in the parable represents all those who are spiritually sick, such as the gentiles and the sinners (Wikipedia, Parable of the Good Samaritan).

Jesus’ command is not just to love your God, but also to love these “sick” people (regardless of race, gender or religion) as yourself.

That, the Jewish lawyer must follow, before he can be called a true disciple of God. Not by going to church every Sunday or participating in religious activities, but by getting your hands dirty in fulfilling God’s command to love your neighbour as yourself.

Not an easy task. Imagine trying to love or serve someone who is by the standards of the world “unlovable” or who hates or despises you. Would you help only if it is convenient for you? Would you help if it means your reputation, wealth and health would be compromised? There’s too much to lose, we often say, compared to the selfless attitude of the Samaritan.

I find it difficult too. Because I often hold on to the things of the world too much. Like the priest and the Levite in the parable.

“The priest may have had an "excuse" not to help since touching a dying or badly wounded person for someone so "holy", while not forbidden, would be … distasteful due to all the necessary cleansing rituals prescribed by Mosaic Law. The priest therefore decided that being ritually clean and "priestly" was more important than saving someone else's life.” (Wikipedia)

Here in Singapore, we face a different set of challenges. There is this spirit of kiasu-ism, kiasi-ism, kiaboh-ism and kiachenghu-ism which is well and alive. In English, it means we are scared to lose out in our material life, scared to die, scared of ending up with nothing [corrected after the sermon], scared of the Government/authorities.

We are “indoctrinated” to conform – not to question too much (don’t be too nosey or busy body) and to mind your own business. It does not pay to be kay-poh (busy body). I must say, sadly, the Christian “religion” has contributed quite extensively in this process of indoctrination.

If faced with the situation as the Samaritan did, we would probably ask “What if the injured person does not need my help, and may get embarrassed?” or “What if the injured person has an ulterior motive, and is only pretending to be sick?” Better hurry, get on with my life, don’t bother about other people’s problem. Anyway, if someone really needs help, the Government will surely know what to do, right?

Many co called “Christians”, including myself, behave like that. We fabricate all kinds of excuses and rationalise that it is not worth the trouble. Help yourself, not others, like the priest in the parable.
Many a times, it takes people outside of the Christian faith to show us what Christ-likeness is. Such behaviour sometimes cannot be explained, other than it is a display of the sacrificial love of Christ:
Can you see the grace of God displayed when one hungry person shares his food with another hungry person?
Can you see the grace of God displayed when a mother stranded in some deserted place in the harsh winter cold, covers her child in her own clothes, only to freeze to death so that her child may live?
For these people, they acted as though death has lost its sting. They were willing to lose their own lives so that others may live.
True faith belongs to those who espouse the sacrificial love of God, reaching out to people who are in need (whoever and wherever they are) and sharing our lives with them as a community at large because God (whoever He is to you) first loved you. We can’t buy our way to heaven.

We should constantly ask ourselves this question “How do we help each other make sense of life in this broken world, with the help of God or a Higher Power?”

In our own human limitations, we have confined God neatly into the box of our own bigoted mind. We must confess that we have lived selfishly, not caring for those who need help.

So, friends, let’s get out of the Church, I mean get out of our “religious” mindset. [Council will blame me if no one turns up for Sunday service next week].

Make friends with people of other faiths. Learn from them.

“Participate” in secular events. Do something not so conventional. You will probably be alright.

My wife says she will be signing up as a volunteer for the Youth Olympics to be held in Singapore in 2010. Perhaps I should volunteer in the Miss World pageant (for selfish reasons known only to myself).

We live in a complex world. We all experience sorrow and loneliness in our life. We all have been through phases in our lives when things don’t make sense. This is the common denominator of mankind.

To quote the prayer by Rev. Jeffrey Symynkywicz of the First Parish Universalist Church:
“When we build a bridge from our shared pain
linking soul to soul
and reaching out our hands to help each other,
we build a roadway so powerful and strong
that no division of age or class or color
can ever threaten to tear it down...
Let’s try to help one another through the night, to make sense of this existence, to take the daily events of our lives and try to weave from them a pattern of meaning, and to rise at the dawn of each new day with a sense that it is somehow important that we are here.”

Before I joined FCC, I was experiencing some “glitches” in my marriage. We decided to do something about it, and joined this group of mostly Christian couples (about 6 or 7 couples), meeting every week for about 16 weeks, sharing with each other the upsides and downsides of marriage. There were tears and there were laughters (we laughed when we heard other couples going through the same shit as us). At the end of the 16 weeks, I thought we thrashed out a lot of issues, and by the grace of God, were committed to embark on the road to recovery. My wife says we were successfully brainwashed.

Then we ended up at FCC. Strange indeed! Life is full of tears, laughters and surprises.

To end, I will share with you another song by the late Freddie Mercury. It’s called “There Must Be More To Life Than This”:

There must be more to life than this
There must be more to life than this
How do we cope in a world without love
Mending all those broken hearts
And tending to those crying faces

There must be more to life than living
There must be more than meets the eye
Why should it be just a case of black or white
There must be more to life than this

Why is this world so full of hate
People dying everywhere
And we destroy what we create
People fighting for their human rights
But we just go on saying c'est la vie
So this is life

There must be more to life than killing
A better way for us to survive
What good is life, in the end we all must die
There must be more to life than this

There must be more to life than this
There must be more to life than this
I live and hope for a world filled with love
Then we can all just live in peace
There must be more to life, much more to life
There must be more to life, more to life than this.