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The Power of Faith and Memory

Kwok Pui Lan

When I was a graduate student at Harvard University, my family lived in the Center for the Study of World Religions. We lived among people with different faiths and learned from them how religious people lived out their traditions. My neighbors included a Jewish family who helped me to get better acquainted with the Jewish tradition. I have always read the Hebrew Scriptures as my Old Testament. Now I call the book the "Hebrew Scriptures" as they are the scriptures of the Jewish people. They belong to a particular people who have a very bitter history. I learned that my Jewish neighbors still celebrate the Passover; the woman still lights the candles. Some of their friends continue to observe strict dietary laws laid down in the Book of Leviticus. Since living with them, the Hebrew Scriptures are no longer an abstract thing for me but a living testimony. Because there are people who still keep and live by it, the Hebrew Scriptures represent not an abstract religious piety but somebody's history.

Keeping the Memory Alive

The passage in Deuteronomy 6:1-16 illustrates what memory means. The book of Deuteronomy was found in 621 B.C. during the reign of Josiah. At that time, the Assyrians had already defeated the Northern Kingdom. Josiah, the king of the Southern Kingdom, wished to reform his country and he found the book of Deuteronomy in the temple at Jerusalem. What is this book about?

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The Book of Deuteronomy is a law book. It had special significance to the Jewish people at a time when half of the kingdom was lost to the foreigners. It laid down the foundation of the reform of Josiah who wished to strengthen his country and to gain back national and political unity of his people. The law book urged the Jews to remember that past, to purify the cultus to Yahweh and to keep God's commandments. The message of Deuteronomy 6:1-16 is memory. Remember you were slaves in Egypt. God had liberated you from the yoke. You had to abide by the laws and pass on the living memory. Tell your sons, your daughters, your students and all who would listen: "Remember...pass it on."

What do the Jews wish to remember? They wish to remember a very special event - when they were slaves in Egypt. Why do the Jews wish to keep that piece of bitter memory? If you ask me what particular things I wish to remember as a Chinese, I probably would tell you about the sages such as Confucius and Mencius. If you accompany me to Beijing, I would show you the national treasures at the Royal Palace or the beautiful historical sites. These are some of the things I would want you to know. But the Jews are very strange. They keep telling us, "We want to remember when once we were slaves." I can never quite figure out how a people can bind himself or herself together with that horrible, bitter memory.

In this particular passage, the Jewish people were asked to follow the way of the law because they were a people of a particular history. They were once slaves and they had witnessed the liberation of their land. The Exodus event has been a fundamental religious experience for my neighbors and their ancestors. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, this particular moment in their history was remembered again and again as a foundation of their faith.

As Asian people, we also have our own histories. So let us learn from our Jewish friends. Let us meditate for a few minutes on the following:

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1. What particular historical event that has salvific significance for you do you want to uplift from the history of your people?

2. What particular signs of liberation that are happening today have salvific significance for the next generation and us?

The Need for Counter-Memory

I have participated in the ecumenical movement in Asia for over 15 years. One thing I have learned from my sisters and brothers in Asia is that we are people with two memories. As a Chinese Christian, I have two memories: my Chinese story and my Christian story. Very often, as Christians, we have been brought up by our churches to remember just one story. Baptism is a very important initiation rite. Through this ritual, we acquire a new identity. But that does not mean we should forget our old identity.

The Jews remember their sufferings. They remember the Diaspora (when they were brought off their land and scattered). They remember the holocaust. They keep their memory alive. As Asians, we should also wish to keep our memory alive. We are a people with at least two histories. As Asian people, we learned English, French or Dutch because of our colonial past. I tell my friends in America I can speak English better than my Korean or Japanese friends simply because I live in a British colony. I have, learned something about Britain much more than what I have learned about Pakistan, for example. The same may be true for my Pakistani friends. You perhaps did not know so much about the 1997 issue (1997 is the year that Hong Kong will be returned to China) until you landed in Hong Kong. In our collective memory as Asian people, our colonial past or semi-colonial past has cast important influences on us. I have decided to learn more about my Asian people so that, when I meet them face to face, we shall no

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longer be strangers to each other. Our colonial past has separated us from each other. Now we have to learn from each other – our past, our bitter memories, our struggles and hopes.

The last point I want to talk about is counter-memory. I have highlighted the fact that the Jewish people remember the liberation from slavery as a paradigm of their identity. What does our government, the status quo, the dominant culture, tell us to remember? They teach us to remember the dominant memory. In the secondary school, I learned in the history class about kings spanning over 5000 years. I remembered who fought whom, what happened and where the capital was. But that is the dominant memory. I was taught to remember all those important men in my history. I can tell you something about Confucius, Mencius and other literary figures. All men! I was taught very little about my mothers and foremothers. Did you learn about those women in your history? Not much, I guess. Perhaps we should ask our history teachers to refund us because they have done just half of the job by telling the men's history and not the women's.

What about the history of the church? How many Christian women can we name? We know so little of them. Michel Foucault, the French philosopher, writes about counter-memory in his book Language, Counter-Memory, Practice. Counter-memory is looking back at history from the underside to remember those things that the dominant culture does not want us to remember. Thus, counter-memory can be dangerous memory, which involves memory of suffering and of hope.

Some of our memories are dangerous. To remember Exodus is dangerous for the Jewish people because it talks about liberation. To remember the disciples following Jesus – and there were women disciples, too – is very dangerous for women. It motivates us. It raises questions. And it calls us to action. Dangerous!

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As Christians, what do we remember? We remember a fellow who was nailed to a cross. This is the fundamental memory for our Christian identity. If this memory does not move us into action, it at least tells us something of what Christianity is all about. Dangerous! And that is why to be a Christian in some of our Asian countries today is a dangerous thing. You can be put into jail for following the example of Jesus.

What is the major thing I want to stress on our theme, "You Shall Be My Witnesses?" I want to urge all of us to keep this multiple, collective, counter, dangerous memory alive. Pass it on, share it, and light a little fire. Various persons, who have been affiliated with the Student Christian Movement, one-way or the other, have shared with you our experience with the SCM. We hope that "You shall be my witnesses" indeed to keep this memory alive.

Song of Peace Artwork: Kim Yong Im

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Suggested Procedures

1. For breaking the ice, you may start with personal and individual sharing on:

a) What is the most memorable thing/event/experience in your life? What made it memorable?

b) What thing / event / experience in your life do you want to "erase" from your memory, if any? Why do you want it "erased"?

2. Proceed with part one of the presentations focusing on memory, after the scripture reading (Deuteronomy 6:1-16) and brief background of the text, have a moment of reflection on the following questions:

a) What particular historical event that has salvific significance for you do you want to uplift from the history of your people?

b) What particular signs of liberation that are happening today have salvific significance for the next generation and us?

3. After sharing your reflections, continue with part two of the presentation focusing on counter-memory. What "counter-memory" do you need to uphold as a people, a church, or students professing a faith in the liberating power of Christ?