Church Camp: Location

We have just returned from CERC's annual church camp, usually held in Malaysia.  This is a big event for the congregation, and has a very good turnout.  Not only do members of CERC attend, but some of them bring family members or friends from other churches; and some of our regular visitors attended this year also.

This year's camp was held in the Genting Highlands, which is a beautiful location and a welcome relief from the heat of Singapore.  It was a good time to be away, as pollution levels in Singapore reached record highs this week.  Farmers and plantation owners in nearby Indonesia set fire to their land to clear it for cultivation, and the smoke from those fires has gotten out of control and blown over to Singapore.  The PSI (pollutant standards index) hit a record high this week of 401.  At numbers over 100 it is considered unhealthy, and 300 is considered hazardous.  The following picture is the view from our balcony this morning.  We've been told to wear face masks especially outside, and keep all our doors and windows shut--but homes here are not fully sealed, so it was plenty smoky even inside our flat.  Face masks were sold out in Singapore days ago, but a woman from church found some as we were traveling home together.

(The record of 401 came after this newspaper was printed.)

But at the church camp five hours north in Malaysia, we were given a break from all of this heat and pollution, and were able to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

The tower where most of us had our rooms

The view from our room

I'd like to say a few things in this post about Malaysia, and write more about the church camp itself next time.  Malaysia has its own language (Malay).  Some of their words ("universiti teknikal") are easy to understand.  Others you can use context clues to figure out.  Sometimes along the road we would see big "Awas!" signs, which means "Caution!"--but we had no idea what we were being cautioned against. :-)  

No "Deer Crossing" signs around here, just "Hati-hati memandu," which we
think is quite fun to say :-)  The last two times we were in Malaysia
we also saw monkeys along the roadside! 

We can figure out what "Berhenti" means!

Something else we saw along the roadside--someone selling ice cream from a
motorcycle on the side of the highway

But the real reason I wanted to write about Malaysia is to tell about the religion there.  It is a very Muslim country.  On our way to church camp we passed a Muslim cemetery outside Kuala Lumpur.

Every morning at 5:30 a.m. I was awakened by the Muslim call to prayer, and I heard it a couple other times throughout the day as well.  It works similar to the way tornado sirens in the Midwest work.  It is "broadcast" through the tower (minaret) in the following picture. But instead of the siren sound, it is a man's voice singing/chanting in another language.  I don't know how to describe it, but there was something very eerie about it.

In each bedroom there were green arrows on the ceiling.  These point the way to Mecca so that Muslims know which way to face when they pray.

Looking up "kiblat" online, it seems that it means "direction,"

specifically the direction to Mecca

The rest areas along the highways have prayer rooms.  (A little side note--even the Ikea in Singapore has a Muslim prayer room!)  My husband heard that Muslims wanted to have calls to prayer broadcast in Singapore too, but the government here, which wants all religions to get along together, said no.  Whew--I can't say I enjoyed waking up early to that noise every morning!

Thinking about the Muslim call to prayer all week put the words of Psalter #348 in my head. I wonder if Muslims ever think "With joy and gladness in my soul I hear the call to prayer..." The religions we see here are more religions of fear and bondage than of joy and gladness. As we all go up to God's house tomorrow, let us go before Him with joy and gladness in the freedom from that bondage that He has given us in Christ!  

Funerals

Funeral traditions in Singapore are very different from those in the States.  We still have a lot to learn about the funerals of other religions, but we have observed some from a distance and will share what we have seen, and also describe Christian funerals.

Funerals here are held outside.  The first floor of each building, called the void deck, is left open to the outside.  This is where funerals and other events are held.  We have seen four funerals right by our place since we moved here.  I'll attach a picture of where the most recent funeral was set up so that you can understand the "void deck" concept.  This is the view from our living room window.

Funeral wakes go on for days (usually 3-4, it seems, although we've heard they can last up to 7).  Visitors are allowed to come at any time during the day, and the family is expected to cater food and drinks for those visitors.  To help with the expenses of that, those who come give a cash gift to the family.  Because the funerals are held outside, someone must be with the body 24 hours a day to guard it from vandalism.  When funerals are held for members of our church, the young men from church stay overnight to give the family a break.

The wakes for some funerals get very noisy.  In addition to the traffic that may be going past, the neighborhood noises, a building project going on at our flat during the last funeral, and maybe even a little white baby yelling "Hi!!" over and over and waving at you from his 6th-floor flat :-), Buddhist and Taoist funerals have rituals that include a lot of drums and other instruments.  Below is a video in which you can hear the noise of the latest funeral by us, including a little bit of the construction noise.  What you see is the view from our balcony outside our flat--I didn't want to videotape the people at the funeral.

The band leading the funeral procession at the end of the funeral

At the first funeral we saw by our building, there was a lot of chanting in addition to the instruments.  On the last night people in white shirts or white robes walked around in a circle, banging on instruments and chanting.  When we asked someone about that later, we were told that they were probably saying prayers for the dead.  At one funeral we saw an idol with offerings in front of it set up in front of the casket.

And then there are Christian funerals.  We've had one below our building, and what a nice change from the others!  At night we could hear faintly the singing of "Amazing Grace" and other hymns, and they also sang "Amazing Grace" as the casket was taken away.  When the casket is taken away (from all funerals, not just Christian ones), the family and friends follow on foot, with those closest to the hearse putting their hands on it and "pushing it" along.  Everyone else follows for a little ways.  Then the hearse goes to the cemetery (or to the place where the body will be cremated, I guess), and chartered buses take the funeral-goers to the cemetery.  Not only family goes to the graveside--everyone who was at the funeral goes, and stays after the graveside service until the backhoe has filled the grave with dirt.

The cemetery in Singapore is surprisingly large, with a Chinese cemetery, a Malay cemetery, a Muslim cemetery, a Christian cemetery, and other sections as well.  The gravesites are very, very close together.  We have heard that because of the large number of people in Singapore, you are promised your gravesite for only 15-20 years.  After that your body may be dug up and cremated to make room for others to be buried there. Because of this, many people (although not among the Christians that we've heard of) skip burial and are cremated right after death.

Notice how close together the graves are.

So, are there ANY similarities between funerals in the U.S. and funerals in Singapore?  Yes. Each night of the wake at funerals for members of our church, a service is held that is almost exactly like the funeral services in the U.S.  The same songs are sung, and the same Word is brought.  All these speeches are a good opportunity to bring the gospel to relatives and friends who may be living in idolatry.  Thanks be to God for the hope and comfort of the gospel!