Who is that Man? 16/06/06-18/06/06
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
♥ Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Church camp from 16th June to 18th June.
See, i heard that this could be one of the last camps we would be doing (which i personally feel shouldnt be the case), and so i wanted to leave with a bang. Well, God sure had many, many other interpretations of wad a 'bang' was.
Have u watched Silence of the Lambs? Or Hannibal? Or Red Dragon? Its all by this author called Thomas Harris and this infamous criminal called 'Hannibal Lecter', played so cooly by oscar winning Anthony Hopkins. Now, how does this fit into camp?
See, one trait that Hannibal Lecter plays is this: the probing of minds. He's a professor in psychology and is an expert of getting into the minds of people ( in that case, it was Jodie Foster's character). Now, in camps, what is the exact purpose of a facil? Yes, Marie pointed out adequately is to aid, make easy the entry this idea of a loving God, and a Jesus who yearns for a relationship with outstretched arms (literally/metaphorically).
Nevertheless, no human intention can be completely pure, including that of a human church camp. There definitely must be the work of human powerplay: knowing what to say and what response to give at the appropriate time. Why? Because we have the responsibility to. Minds, however stubborn or mature, however innocent or brilliant, have a certain weakness. That weakness could be in the form of admiration, or nagging, or influence, or praise, or abuse or pride. Either way, even metal bends under pressure.Much less the mental. The necessity of being 'tactful' and 'strategic', is for the mind to buckle ( or bend, if buckle's too strong a word), so that we can introduce some new idea. The idea of God, for example.
I have made the camp sound too human. Its not. There's more spirituality to this camp than possibly acknowledged. The blowing of one's top is what i could be talking about: how can just saying words reptitively, or singing songs move one to bring up his or her past, or move one to the point of tears with tremendous guilt and sorrow, or make one flare up so prepostrously( after all, this is a camp where we actually promote peace)? How can words just let people hope. The very fact people hope, as a results of words said or read in a book, is the proof of the spiritual. Must we see to believe? How often we believe things we dont see. How often these things are even more real? A relationship shared between a father and a daugther, can neither be quantified nor seen.. no more than from the outside. So from the outside, a hug or a look, we gather there is something 'more' right? That 'more' is the evidence of a reality thats invisible, but all the more evident.
We're there to teach this idea of love. The most real thing ever has sadly slipped into and out of the mind, as a cliche. Thats why human powerplay is impertinent. If its at the mind the truth got lost, its at the mind where the truth have to be found, even if it be through such 'indecent' means. Thats why i brought in the example of Hannibal Lecter. And thats why i bring in the obviousness of the spiritual. I highly doubt that i am being a cynic in making such propositions, and if anybody strongly disagrees, i am all ears.
Touch time, or what is now called 121 ministry (how strange that we change its name only on the last of our camps), group sharing and the praying over are the few main instances where the magic happens. We give them first an intellectual stimulation, and then a psychological one, and finally an emotional one. These 3 sorts of stimulations are also, intimately intertwined with a spiritual stimulation. In fact, some may argue that what happens is actually all spiritual, while our attempt to qualify gives rise to words like intellectual, psychological and emotional. What magic? The magic where a person's life, governed by all that a life can be governed, suddenly shifts to an alternative source, or even considers the possiblity of shifting. The magic where people who never once looked back in their life, take that step towards. The magic where somehting that sounded so seemingly far fetched, like faith and God and Jesus, seems actually closer than ever before. The magic where people actually dares to make a change for what others think is 'no apparent reason'. Thats the magic Jesus's ministry offers.
Thats what the camp is all about. For facils to experience, be part of, and aid the happening of this magic. And thats the challenge really, daunting and liberating at the same time. For once magic happens, its a fatal flaw to slide back into mediocrity, to denounce the existence of even such magic. The tensions of my life, of church and of friends, of identity and of community, lie in the struggle to acknowledge such magic.
Praise God for a great camp. And praise God for me being his magic wand, or cap, where only He can pull put rabbits from nothing, and change wine from water. :)
Who is that Man? I want to shake his hand...
