An adaptation of 'God bless us and disturb us'

Some years ago, I came across the Wild Goose Adaptations of Christmas Carols. Once I heard and sang their lyrics, full of social justice connected to traditional spiritual expression, my attitude to Christmas changed. I became less sentimental and more urgent about the Gospel message. This adaptation of John Bell's version of 'God rest you merry gentlemen' has come many years later, as I see the opportunity to connect the timeless story of the birth of the Saviour with the present needs of the world in 2024...

 

God bless us and disturb us as we celebrate the feast

when he who ranked the highest come to earth to be the least.

Lest we consign to Satan’s power 

those who still have no peace

O come, Christ the Saviour from below, from above

and infect the depths of earth with heavenly love!

When Palestinian people long for place to sleep at night

Will refugees be welcome and supported in their plight?

Where war-machines refrain from taking funds 

to build their might:

O come, Christ the Saviour from below, from above

and infect the depths of earth with heaven’y love!

While traffickers of people steal their innocents for gain,

When civil wars and revolutions come with untold pain,

Where hope lies in a drink, a shot 

and life runs down the drain

O come, Christ the Saviour from below, from above

and infect the depths of earth with heaven’y love!

In Bethlehem, Johannesburg, London and Singapore

the star is needed now as much as ever from before

We celebrate Emmanuel – God come, fulfill the Law

O come, Christ the Saviour from below, from above

and infect the depths of earth with heaven’y love!

Singapore Silent Night

​Christmas in Singapore is full of city lights.

Based on the traditional carol,

this was written for singing at a CWM Christmas party in singapore

- keeping the spirit of Christmas as a Jesus birthday party song!

 

Silent Night, Holy Night​,

City lights, shining bright

Sounds of singing will herald the babe,

Tables laden see feasting arrayed​.

Christ, the Saviour, is born

 

Silent Night, Holy Night,

Fam’ly feast: Faces bright​,

Gospel stories resound in the air,

Friendly greetings to show that we care​:

Christ, the Saviour, is born…

 

Noisy night, joyous night, ​

Take your fill of Heaven’s delight​
Sparkling star will lighten the way,
As we celebrate Jesus’ birthday:​
Jesus, light of the world!…

(c) 2024, A.Koh-Butler, Singapore.

Looking back on 2024

As I look back on 2024, I am amazed at how you can feel so young and so old at the same time! Partly, I just feel like I have so much to learn and wonder how I can ever acquire the knowledge I need to undertake the tasks I have to perform. Partly, I feel the complexity of life, with new apps, new AI influences, new politics, new values... of course, many of these are not that new, but they feel new to me.

I miss my family heaps. It is no surprise, as I dont see them often and they live full lives too. I was glad to spend some time with Janai early in the year (and she popped in for a meal on her way through to Penang) and Emryn and Kathryn came to Singapore for a visit. I met up with Ann and Chris Perrin for a few days in Sweden and Denmark and saw a number of UCA peeps at the world Methodist Council Conference in Sweden. I am very much looking forward to seeing the two grandsons (14+16) who are due to come just after Christmas. I get to show them Singapore!

The year was full and rich. It was a Council for World Mission Assembly year, which was held in Durban (Sth Africa) in June. This meant lots of prep, as I was the Worship Coordinator and general troubleshooter... all of that in addition to my regular gig of being the Education-Formation-Empowerment AND Pacific Mission Secretary. The Pacific Pre-Assembly involved Member Churches and Observers from 12 Church Denominations and working with excellent colleagues and resource people. The Assembly itself was a major production, involving choirs, liturgists, writers, preachers, leaders, dramas, instrumentalists and many more... it was both exhausting and exhilarating at times. All the multi and intercultural experience of years in the Uniting Church proved to be a great preparation and it was lovely to catch up with a few UCA friends there too (Monica, Sef and Cliff).

I was glad to have a chapter published in Filipe Maias "Decolonizing Wesleyan Theology" along with my friend Lilian Siwila (Wipf and Stock, 2024) and some other articles and some contributions to devotionals, such as With Love to the World (thanks John) and contributing to the World Communion of Reformed Churches Theology working Paper.... just trying to keep a bit of beyond-work writing going, although it is usually done while taking long-haul flights! These bits and pieces keep me interested in global ecumenism and mission on the days when work is tough and the demands feel draining. Much of the work with CWM is rewarding, so I cant complain, but it does require long hours and being away from most of my support crew.

My main lifeline to Oz is regular facecalls with Ann, messaginf some friends and family, but I have taken to watching or listening to ABC (Aust) news online on Youtube most mornings when I am in Singapore. It is amazing how much more grounded I feel having that little injection of Oz. When I need update news from the Pacific I add it a good dose of SBS to supplement... handy if there is a crisis, political unrest, earthquake or cyclone.

Some highlights from 2024 included cooridinating the TIM (Training in Mission) programme and  facilitating the "A New Face" programme. The latter involved 12 Ordained women doing a Faith and Culture Encounter in the UK for 3 weeks, including 2 weeks in Welsh-speaking Wales. This was a very special group of people and I am sure we will continue to "make waves" as womanist missionaries. A lowlight was getting food poisoning in Jamaica, but I was cared for in my recovery by the lovely Nan and Huw from Wales. I particularly enjoyed borrowing their grandchildren for cuddles! 

TIM is a longer-term programme and I am in awe of the courage of young people in adventuring into the unknown for 6 months of challenges and learnings. As with the 2023 group, the 2024 group undertook learning and life in two different regions, this time in the Philippines and Jamaica. The time in both countries was really valuable, but the logistics of trying to get from one to the other can be a bit nightmarish, especially if you come from certain countries. Three of the young men had to take very complicated routes because it can be very difficult for them to get visas, even for transit. I enjoyed getting to know a bit more of the Philippines and was glad to have added a long weekend there for myself, so I was able to feed my ethnographic curiosity with museum visits and cultural observations!

2024 has also given me the opportunity to get more engaged with both the Legacies of Slavery movement and involvement with strategies and projects to combat modern-day slavery. There are intersections with both of these with decolonizing and resisting Empire. It makes me look at global politics with a keen awareness of the consequences of particular economic policies and the need for deeper critiquing.

Quite a number of people have visited Singapore this year, so I occasionally get to be tour guide. Let me know if you are coming through. 

In 2025, I will be in Samoa and then Zimbabwe (with overnights in Australia to hug family), Hong Kong (for my 60th) and in Cook Islands and Vanuatu in March. There are planned visits to the Philippines, Korea, South Africa, Zambia and Jamaica.... with more to come! 

May God be present for you in the retelling of the stories this Christmas and throughout 2025

and may those who hear your sharings experience good news!

  

News from the Field

from June 2024

How to describe the contemporary ecumenical mission field in an age of technology and disparity?

I am fresh off an overnight flight from Singapore to Johannesburg and now I am in Durban. It is lunchtime and I am sitting at an outdoor table overlooking the Indian Ocean, imagining I am home in Australia. It is Saturday afternoon and work starts tomorrow. This could easily be any coastal town in Australia. Yet, I am aware that Umshlange is a well-off beach/surf destination, not easily accessed by the general population. For me, it is not overly expensive, for many it would be prohibitive.

So, I sit waiting for some fishcakes and sip a glass of wine, the first I have ordered in months. For a couple of hours, I am taking a holiday from the mission life. As I pause and reflect, there is much to give thanks for and much to question. On the screen, over the bar, Arsenal are playing - I can almost sense Terry’s presence. Right now he would be yelling: SAKAAAAAA!

Perhaps football helps me gain some perspective. So much mission activity seems to be about survival and justice, but life is more than the next meal or the longing for a secure roof over our heads. Footballers (fans and players) refer to the cup of life. Raising a cup of victory is celebration of joy and teamwork, of hope and of achievement. The cup of life is a cup of thanksgiving for life itself and all the relationships and elements that go with it. Let is raise a cup to the Bride, or the Groom, or the Parents, or the Attendants! Let us rase a cup o the Guest of Honour! Let us raise a cup to new friends! Let us raise a cup to the Creator of this Life!

It is easy to get philosophical with a glass of wine in hand. Yet, I am seated alone at a table for six (because I asked for a view of the waves). I know which of my friends would be enjoying conversation in this setting - yes, I think of you often! I have the privilege of being here. You have the privilege of being able to gather with one another. By the time I get back to the hotel, it will be too late to zoom you. Perhaps I will try to do so before breakfast?

Last time I walked this beach, I had to educate some of my colleagues about blue bottles and where to walk.  

Two New Acknowledgements of Country

Christmas Acknowledgement

Come to live on country, the Spirit came.

The star shone to show the light on land. In this place, the place of the ................................. peoples,

we celebrate the connection between spirit and land.

Today they come together. As Christmas peoples, we see valleys raised and mountains made low. We see love poured out in a child and by those who are children of country. We honour the story of birth, death and resurrection of the first peoples who long to honour the stories of dreaming. We bring ourselves respectfully to the traditional peoples of this land,

praying in wonder and hope, that hope, peace, joy and love may be reborn And become the reality of heaven on earth in this place. May Christ’s gift of peace and presence show us how to live in harmony with this land and with one another.

                    (C) 2024, A.Koh-Butler

___________________________________________________________________

Newcomers' Acknowledgement

Place is sacred. Of earth we are made, yet not all earth is the same.

Today, we pay respect to those of this place, of this earth - the .................... people.

We give thanks for their connection with country.

We give thanks for the skies that watch over this place and the waters that lie below.

We pray for those who care for this land, the oceans and rivers, the creatures that live here.

We pray for the wisdom that is carried from generation to generation.

We pray for the space to listen and appreciate the sacred stories.

We bring our ears and our eyes, our gentle footsteps and our willingness to sit and wait.

We bring stories to share and wonder for the stories we will learn.

We acknowledge the ....................... people, their Elders and kin, 

those who have gone before and those who are yet to come.

                    (C) 2024, A.Koh-Butler

FIVE years - Another Love letter

Hello my darling,

Looking out my window, I see lots and lots of apartments. So many people live on top of each other here, and I grieve for them that none of them ever knew you. They don't know the colours of life that you brought into the world, nor the humour, nor the compassion.  How dull for them!

My eyes drift back into my little living space. I am predictably untidy still. I don't have to allow for trip hazards, as I can pick my way through the creative debris I leave about the place. There are bits and pieces from my last trips to Jamaica and the UK, sewing fancies and jewellery, leads and eye-glasses, ends and odds. The paintings and pictures fill the space with character and colour. 

The pink Kaurna (Adelaide-area) Aboriginal painting keeps my home centred and gives the sense of spiritual home-away-from-home, the Rod Pattendon 'toaster' painting of Nobby's headland in Newcastle, keeps family close, the tourist paintings of Cuba remind me to find music and fruit in the midst of tears, the photo of Ikara (Wilpena), where your ashes drift, give me the promise of homecoming one day, pictures of Spain and California prompt memories of adventures. My favourite photo, though, is the one of you and Cass. He has imitated your blue mohawk by gelling his hair straight up. It was taken in the kitchen in Hamilton when he was a toddler. You held his heart... and mine.

The boys will visit soon and I am looking forward to seeing them. We will do some of the things you would have taken them to. Exploring and adventuring is so much nicer shared. Much of my adventuring these days is on my own, so this will be a refreshing change. You are present and absent constant and surprising. You catch me unawares, even when I am looking for you.

I have two pretty thin fold out mattresses for the boys. I hope they cope! They are teens now and taller than me - can you believe that? We will lego theme the visit a bit. I know they are older, but you never really get too old for lego, do you? 

I often see things that prompt me to listen for your commentary. You were so opinionated and entertaining. Sometimes, as I am walking along, I find myself having a little giggle at your comment. I can still hear you, even if no-one else can. When I get tired, I can hear your encouragement. When I get lonely, I close my eyes and feel you close. When I gat sad, I remember your devotion. When I get isolated, I look at swing dancing and remember your lead.

I occasionally watch soccer or cricket without you. I suspect you keep yourself busy playing, rather than just watching. Incarnation suited you so well - I can't really imagine you as disembodied. I suspect that teaches me something about thinking about the concept of Heaven. God liked creation and said it was good - and the whole thing with people was very good. Yes - I think there will be some kind of embodiment to come. We may be spiritual beings, but there is more, isn't there.

Life is filled with travel and projects, but much of it feels like waiting for you and what is yet to come. I throw myself into the present, but eternity never feels far away - and then, again, it feels an eternity away. I have grown accustomed to missing you. Days like today may be a bit tearier, but many days have laughter and smiles.

What makes home are the quilts I have. The one Margaret made me to describe the Trinity is always close on the lounge. The one Vivianne made is in the heart of the living space, reminding me of supportive friends. The one Tony and Shirley passed on remains on my bed, cloaking me in prayer. My life is a bit like a quilt, made up of many pieces, put together in new ways, yet you remain the backing and the pattern. People rarely see you in ways they could name, but whenever they see me, they see your life in me.

Stay close, my love.

A 

Prayer near the end

Prayer for a friend and her sister…. 

In the in between, o God,

May our forever ties stay strong. 

In the companioning, may we bathe in love. 

Bless our moments and grant that sleep is calm and breaths are comforting. 

Send your angels to tend to our spirits, pave the way for peace, and share our tears and laughter. 

Grant moments of lightness and promise. 

We pray in the name of the one who knew both tears and life beyond life. 

Amen