MEDITATIONS

By Canon Alan Chan

Matthew 16: 13-16, 21

John 7: 1-10

It is a great honor and privilege to be invited to preach at the opening worship of such an important occasion as the CCA/WSCF Consultation. It is a great joy to see so many old friends of WSCF and new bloods present at this meeting. I guess we have at least three, if not four, generations here, counting from Kentaro Susuki, former WSCF Asia Secretary when I was a student, to some of the younger participants from Hong Kong, who are my students. It reminds me of many great meetings in the past such as Life and Mission Conference at Strasbourg the General Assembly at Saloniki, the Regional Conference at Bangalore, etc. The Bible I take with me is full of signatures of those participants. Some are still here, and some are still known in the ecumenical circle, but the majority of them have disappeared. This phenomenon may serve as a sign showing the many ups and downs of WSCF in the world, especially in Asia. This evening, I would like to take three passages from the Bible to illustrate what I want to say.

The first passage is from Matthew 16:13-16. In this passage, Jesus, after asking his disciples of what others say about him, turns to the disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replies, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

All students reading the Bible would know that this is a very important statement. It is very important for every believer of Jesus to confess him as the Christ. Yet important as it is, this passage should be read together with verse 21: "From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the

elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Jesus is not just the Christ, but he is also a suffering Christ. To miss this connection is to miss the whole truth of who Jesus really is. Peter missed that. So his words and his enthusiasm for his master became empty words. He did say to Jesus courageously and without reserve: "This shall never-happen to you." "Though they all fall away . . . but I will never fall away." "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you." The result was just contrary to what he said. He denied Jesus three times! It is not enough to confess Jesus as the Christ unless the confession is deeply rooted in His suffering experience.

The third passage is from John 7: 1-10 where Jesus was encouraged by his brothers to go to Jerusalem and do great works there & for "no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly." Jesus refused to go and said, "My time has not yet come." But immediately after his brothers had gone, he also went up to Jerusalem privately. Readers of the scripture may find Jesus' behavior strange. Jesus, though fully aware that he is the suffering Christ, and at a later time, went publicly to Jerusalem, yet at this point, decided not to go there publicly. One of the important key word is the word, "time". It is not yet the right time.

I guess that WSCF has done a great deal to remind Christians all over the world, especially in Asia, that Jesus is not just the Christ, but He is also a suffering Christ. This has had great impact on the mind of many Asian Christian leaders. But it seems to me that WSCF has not taken the word 'time' or 'the right time' very seriously, to the point that the philosophy of WSCF has become an imposition on many Asian Christians without taking seriously their context and the right time. I once attended a conference in which I was responsible for presenting a local report on Hong Kong. Since I did not mention Hong Kong as a colony, I was bombarded with challenges to do something to get rid of colonialism in Hong Kong. My feeling then was I was not properly understood. It is a good thing to do away with colonialism in Hong Kong but Hong Kong was in a peculiar position. To get rid of the colonial government in Hong Kong would do more harm than good. It is not that colonialism in Hong Kong should stay on, but it was not the right time.

Maybe the fact that this consultation is jointly sponsored by CCA and WSCF is very good. The latter can challenge the former the need of confessing Jesus as the suffering Christ and the former reminds the latter the need to take seriously the context where the Asian churches

are in so that this joint consultation may be a mutually beneficial and complimentary occasion to the two organizations.

We need to affirm Jesus as the Christ.

We also need to affirm Him as the Suffering Christ. We especially need to commit ourselves to such an affirmation, not blindly, idealistically but carefully and understandingly, with due consideration of the context that we are in. Let us, in our obedience to God, be as wise as serpents, though as innocent as doves.

By Shoji Tsutomu

Phil. 3.13-16

I am grateful to be invited to this CCA-WSCF Asia Consultation and to be given a chance to reflect deliberately on the relationship between the Church and SCM in my own country. It is an encouraging experience to me to be with you in this meeting, for, you discuss with each other with a clear hope of making a new form of Student Christian Movement, after you have suffered many difficulties and failures in the past decade or so, which I also share in my country.

Here we have talked about the increase of controlling power over and within universities. We have discussed the decline of the Student Christian Movement. It is true that university issues are becoming more and more complicated and difficult to handle than before. But, is it not really a sign of hope that still in this difficult condition there are many students and faculty members who seriously examine the meaning and goals of their study and education in the context of social situation, and who definitely commit themselves to take social responsibility.

I am reminded of the words, which prophet Elijah heard when he escaped to a mountain in despair. "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al". Can't we see God is providing a new core-group in campus?

In Japan, four years ago, when the NCC planned to organize a delegation of seven representatives of student bodies to send to Seoul for Korea-Japan Ecumenical Youth Consultation, it was rather difficult to find the seven. But just before I came here last week, when we organized a delegation for the fourth Joint Consultation in Seoul, we found it very difficult to limit the number of representatives, which this

time were fifteen.

Today, more and more students are, with zeal, looking for opportunities to face issues in Asia, minority issues and other social issues such as nuclear plants, while re-examining the value system of the university as well as of society, and are coming to read the Bible again in the midst of their concern, for they cannot help but seek a truly human and meaningful life.

I believe that students are seekers of truth in the bottom of their hearts, although the majority of them are, so to speak, captives of the power, success or status-oriented system of education and culture.

Therefore, I think we should not be so anxious about directing them or imposing our purposes on them, however right the purposes are as in trusting them, recognizing their own aspirations and their search for being human and loving neighbors, and walking with them and sharing the search for the truth with them. For, as Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, "God is at work in you (SCM), both to will and to work for his good pleasure", "that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life".

By Park Hyung Kyu

Minjung Wisdom

There has been throughout human history, two contradictory attitudes toward Minjung or people, especially toward the younger generation of Minjung.

One is the attitude of the ruling elites who distrust the ability of Minjung to solve the problems they face and to govern or create order among themselves. All ruling elites tend to justify their control of national or social affairs and to suppress voices of Minjung by saying that Minjung has no wisdom, no morals, and no sense of order.

The Confucian saying, "women and small people (Minjung cannot be controlled without iron and whips" has been quoted frequently to justify the repressive rule by military or intellectual elites. However if we study history with an eye of critical attitude toward the ruling elites, we find that the truth is the other way around.

Minjung has always been more clever than any ruling elite and has shown more ability of self control and order than any government bureaucrats or generals. At least this has proved true in the history of the Korean people.

About an hundred years ago, the Korean peninsula was invaded by the big Japanese army under the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In a few months, the Japanese army had control of all the country. The King fled into Chinese territory, and the defending Korean army, except for a tiny navy force was defeated totally and completely disappeared. At this, the Chinese Emperor sent his army to take Korea back from Japanese control. But his attempt was a miserable failure. The Chinese army was immediately defeated by Hideyoshi's army. It

seemed that Korea had no other way but to become part of Japanese territory.

But after the Chinese army's defeat a strange phenomenon appeared all over the country. This was the Japanese army's inability to cope with the attack of the Korean peasant army. After a few months of continuous defeat at the hand of the peasant army and big losses of army personnel, Konishi, the invading Japanese general wrote a letter to Hideyoshi proposing the withdrawal of his army from Korea. An American expert of Japanese history, George Sansom described the case as follows: (I quote from memory and so will not be completely accurate) "the government of Korea was weak and ineffective to defend their country but the people of Korea were strong and very effective to defend their land, and to harass and to throw back the invading Japanese forces."

A second example—about 100 years later a big Chinese force invaded Korea and the King and government fled to a small island called Kangwha. The regular army forces had disappeared from the scene. But the People's irregular army so harassed the Chinese invaders that after several months' occupation of the country the Chinese army was forced to withdraw. In Korean history, it is always the Minjung in their wisdom that saved the country from the foreign invaders.

As you will remember in May 1980 when General Chon's army surrounded the city of Kwanju, again a strange phenomenon appeared. For about 2 weeks, there were no police, no mayor, no district governor. Yet there was not a single occasion of robbery or violence. At the time there seemed to exist an unspoken agreement among citizens to keep social order so that they may not be accused later as being the mobs, which disturbed security. I was told by a man who was on the spot when the Kwangju students were confronted by the invading army, that many of uneducated young laborers volunteered to stand in the front and be killed instead of students to whom the future of the country was entrusted, insisting that the students should not be sacrificed in this foolish combat between people and army. And there was yet another phenomenon. The wounded people were brought into hospitals one after another. There were not enough beds to receive them all. But less wounded people were eager to give their beds to the people who had more serious wounds. When they were kept in beds by the nurses, they just jumped down from the beds to offer their beds to others.

A Christian lady who was a nurse in the hospital describing the general mood of that period said, "well, I think, I saw the kingdom of God truly realized in that period of peoples self-control, self-rule and compassion for each other. I wondered always what was meant by the Kingdom of God, now after experiencing this Kwangju incident I have a clear picture of the Kingdom of God."

I don't think this phenomenon is due to the special character of the Kwangju people. Nor is this to be ascribed to the particular "Minjung" character of Korean people. This is. I think a revelation of "Minjung" character of people, which can be applied whenever people are allowed to have their own autonomy all over the world.

It can also be applied to the SCM in Korea. In Korea now, there are difficulties for Professors and Pastors to get involved in student's movements. We, the so-called leaders in student's movement, had abstained for some time from the movement to avoid the danger of possible arrest, following accusations of agitating students to rise up.

So the students themselves have developed a method to continue the movement, readjusting organizational structures to the situation, taking leadership training by themselves, and attempting ideological clarification through group discussion and study . . . etc.. Some of the activities are carried on under the cover of some Churches' very conservative religious programs, other activities are totally underground.

Even the Korean CIA admit, that it is impossible to find out the real root of the movement. The government has taken all possible measure to kill student's movements in Korea, but so far, it has been a total failure. KCIA classifies students' activities in Korea into 3 categories for convenience of the interrogation. One is called "CAMPUS FOREST", the other is "PUSAN FOREST", the last one is "FOGGY FOREST". The trees of students' movement are growing although government is trying hard to cut down all trees, which were defined as being dangerous for the national security by the government agencies.

Recently, The Education Ministry has taken another measure that is to give professors responsibility to note down every student's attitude on the government and behavior, so that a certain student maybe or may not be recommended to a certain government, educational or business employment.

Now I come to the vision of the Bible. When Jeremiah saw (Jer 31:34) a vision of society, which has no place for any elite, is it not a prophetic vision of the same quest, which happened in our days like the phenomenon of Kwangju during May 1980?

When Jesus fed 5,000 "Minjung" (ochlos), he proposed to divide people into groups of 100s and 50s. Can't we find any meaning in this way of grouping of the people!?

It is maybe that Jesus proposed that the problem be solved by the people themselves, transforming the mass of people into autonomous, self-sustaining groups?

We may perceive some suggestions, which are given in the Scriptures and try to apply them in our SCM movement.