Along the main street in the northern seaside town of Jaffa is small shrine set up beside an old stone church. These shrines are not uncommon, whether along the roadside or beside a church, they are regular sights in any area of Sri Lanka where there is a strong Catholic presence. Usually consisting of a lighted glass case with a statue of the saint inside, they offer a place for the devout to stop and pray as they go about their day. What makes this shrine unusual is that is has been erected beside an Anglican church. And the Anglicans had nothing to do with it.
For thirty years Sri Lanka was wracked by civil war. The war has had many definitions from many people: a struggle for freedom, for a homeland, against racist oppressors, a terrorist action, unjust, barbaric, unjustified. The war took place mostly in the north and east of the country, along the Jaffna Peninsula and the region just to the south of the peninsula, knowns as the Vanni. As with most wars, territorial gains swung back and forth between the government forces and the LTTE (the Tamil Tigers). The civilians were always the losers in this back and forth of territory.
The town of Jaffna is the most significant center in the north. A center of learning before the war, the standards of education in Jaffna were recognized throughout the country, with Jaffna school papers and exams being used for student preparation nation wide.
Jaffna was also subject to the conquest and re-conquest that were a part of the war. The town was captured by the LTTE in 1990, and re-taken by the government forces in 1995. The town was never captured without a long fight, which involved a significant amount of collateral damage. There were many houses and businesses inadvertently destroyed by the repeated shelling.
One of the buildings that was severely damaged in the battles was an Anglican church - Christ Church, Jaffna. Formerly the High Church of Jaffna, during the fighting the building reverted to one of the most ancient functions of a church building- being a place of sanctuary. citizens from the surrounding community would gather in the church during the worst times, in the faithful belief that such a holy place would be safe from the shells.
One night, as the masses were huddled in the church, desperately praying for their safety, two shells fell on the church. Two shells fell, and neither exploded, nothing short of a miracle. The surrounding community banded together and built the shrine that can still be seen outside the church. People who were there on that fateful night still come regularly and pray at the shrine.
Although no one was killed, the damage to the interior of the church from later fighting was severe. Several windows were blown out, the walls became pockmarked with bullet holes and shell fragments. Much of the roof was destroyed, as were the parish hall,and the mission house adjacent to the church.
The war has been over for a little more than a year now. The LTTE were defeated in a decisive military action, and peace has come to Sri Lanka. The people of Jaffna are beginning to put together the pieces of lives shattered by war, or perhaps more accurately, are learning to live in a time of peace. Thirty years is a long time, a whole generation. A state of peace is something new here.
One of the people most dedicated to this new peaceful way of life if Fr. Nesakumar, the Anglican Archdeacon of Jaffna and rector of St. John the Baptist. Fr. Nesakumar has big plans for Christ Church, Jaffna. The Diocese has already repaired the outside of the church, but the inside remains scarred by war. Shell marks and bullet holes still pock the walls. In one niche the head of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary still keeps watch over the church.
The plan for the inside is to repair the small side chapel, with wooden carving behind the altar depicting Jaffna as it was before the shelling. The nave of the church will remain unrepaired, and will become a center for peace. The plan, which is already beginning, is to hold conferences and workshops about peace in the middle of this battle scarred building.
Recently some school children from the south of Sri Lanka were visiting Christ Church. "This is Jaffna" they said. "It's painted and repaired on the outside, but the inside is broken and scarred".
As Christians we know that the church is the people, not the building. However, it is true that our building are reflections of who we are as a community. Christ Church, Jaffna, reflects the scars and wounds of the people of Jaffna, it reflects their work at rebuilding their town and their lives, and it reflects their deep desire for a lasting peace, and an end to war. Truly, this is Jaffna.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Colombo Again
I wasn't going to post today, but I'm in the St. Michael's office, and Fr. Dushantha is being interviewed for a newspaper right behind me. I don't really want to barge past to get out, and so I'll tell you about my last couple days in Chilaw.
I really enjoyed my time there. Fr. Sam was really friendly and very good about answering questions - and I had a lot of questions! A lot of what we were doing was going around to the cluster group prayer meetings that happen once a month. At. St. James they have divided the congregation up into clusters based on regions, so people who live near each other will be in the same cluster. Once a month they gather for a prayer meeting with Fr. Sam - they sing some praise songs (including several I knew from Sunday School, including "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made" and "He Will Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving". The services were all in Sinhala or Tamil, but where there were English speakers, they would sing one verse in English (I joined in with gusto!).
These meetings were all in people's homes, so I got an interesting look at how the ordinary people live in a rural village like Chilaw. As you might expect, there was great diversity, from some houses that were clearly very big and well appointed, through to some very very small dwellings. Everyone was super hospitable though, and happily for me, made a point of making sure I had a fan blowing on me!
Fr. Sam thought it would be good if I wore my cassock when I was going around with him, and people got quite the kick out of the fact that it was black. The priests here all wear white cassocks with black cinctures, so to see an all black cassock was quite shocking for people!
Last night we went to a parishioner's house for supper, and boy was that an inter-cultural experience! It was the house of one of the youth leaders in the parish, and his extended family. There was a young boy there who I made friends with - he brought me all his toys, one by one, and patiently showed this dumb foreigner how each of them worked! He chatted away to me in Tamil like I knew what he was saying, and I just talked back to him in English. A kid that age, I doubt I would have understood what he was talking about anyway!
Before long it was time for supper - rice and curry. There was a chicken curry, a pork curry and potatoes. Fr. Sam explained to me later that for these people chicken is a rare thing, and that they have gone all out for us. There were a couple things that were quite uncomfortable for me. The first was that I used cutlery. Now, I know that I've been practicing using my hands, but they had the cutlery out, and I was not sure if it was rude to not use it. Fr. Sam explained later that to not use it would have been fine, and that they were uncomfortable seeing someone use cutlery! Also, it made the meat, which was as usual still on the bone, hard to eat. The second thing was that they sat us down at the table and watched us eat! That is definitely something that I am not used to! When I finished, they kept giving me more, and more and more, until my natural acquiescence was overcome, and I had to say no. It was delicious, but quite hot, to the point where my nose was running!
So it was an interesting, experience, the kind that is difficult to go through, but so valuable when you're done. I seem to be getting a lot of lessons like that... I think it's time for a nice easy lesson for a change!
Today was back down to Colombo on the bus with Fr. Sam. It was quite crowded, and so I had to have my big fifteen kilo bag on my lap the whole time. It was blocking the air conditioning, and so I was dying of heat, my legs and arms were cramping up around the bag... pretty miserable! I was actually grateful for the security checkpoint where all the Sri Lankan nationals got off the bus and I could move a little. The enormous guard suspiciously checking my passport and bags was, by comparison, a tiny inconvenience!
I really enjoyed my time there. Fr. Sam was really friendly and very good about answering questions - and I had a lot of questions! A lot of what we were doing was going around to the cluster group prayer meetings that happen once a month. At. St. James they have divided the congregation up into clusters based on regions, so people who live near each other will be in the same cluster. Once a month they gather for a prayer meeting with Fr. Sam - they sing some praise songs (including several I knew from Sunday School, including "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made" and "He Will Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving". The services were all in Sinhala or Tamil, but where there were English speakers, they would sing one verse in English (I joined in with gusto!).
These meetings were all in people's homes, so I got an interesting look at how the ordinary people live in a rural village like Chilaw. As you might expect, there was great diversity, from some houses that were clearly very big and well appointed, through to some very very small dwellings. Everyone was super hospitable though, and happily for me, made a point of making sure I had a fan blowing on me!
Fr. Sam thought it would be good if I wore my cassock when I was going around with him, and people got quite the kick out of the fact that it was black. The priests here all wear white cassocks with black cinctures, so to see an all black cassock was quite shocking for people!
Last night we went to a parishioner's house for supper, and boy was that an inter-cultural experience! It was the house of one of the youth leaders in the parish, and his extended family. There was a young boy there who I made friends with - he brought me all his toys, one by one, and patiently showed this dumb foreigner how each of them worked! He chatted away to me in Tamil like I knew what he was saying, and I just talked back to him in English. A kid that age, I doubt I would have understood what he was talking about anyway!
Before long it was time for supper - rice and curry. There was a chicken curry, a pork curry and potatoes. Fr. Sam explained to me later that for these people chicken is a rare thing, and that they have gone all out for us. There were a couple things that were quite uncomfortable for me. The first was that I used cutlery. Now, I know that I've been practicing using my hands, but they had the cutlery out, and I was not sure if it was rude to not use it. Fr. Sam explained later that to not use it would have been fine, and that they were uncomfortable seeing someone use cutlery! Also, it made the meat, which was as usual still on the bone, hard to eat. The second thing was that they sat us down at the table and watched us eat! That is definitely something that I am not used to! When I finished, they kept giving me more, and more and more, until my natural acquiescence was overcome, and I had to say no. It was delicious, but quite hot, to the point where my nose was running!
So it was an interesting, experience, the kind that is difficult to go through, but so valuable when you're done. I seem to be getting a lot of lessons like that... I think it's time for a nice easy lesson for a change!
Today was back down to Colombo on the bus with Fr. Sam. It was quite crowded, and so I had to have my big fifteen kilo bag on my lap the whole time. It was blocking the air conditioning, and so I was dying of heat, my legs and arms were cramping up around the bag... pretty miserable! I was actually grateful for the security checkpoint where all the Sri Lankan nationals got off the bus and I could move a little. The enormous guard suspiciously checking my passport and bags was, by comparison, a tiny inconvenience!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
St. James, Chilaw and St. Clement, Puttlam
Just about everthing has changed since my last post, and it all happened at the last moment. I get the feeling it is going to be that kind of a summer!
It all started on Friday, when I went with the sisters to a lecture at the Cathedral. When last you read this blog, I was on my own for a couple days as all the clergy were at clergy synod. Well, this lecture was the wrap up for that, and once again the sisters were kind enough to bring me along. When we got there Sr. Lucy took me around the garden, and showed me all the kinds of trees (they have teak trees in the garden!). We also looked at the labrynth they have, which is very difference from others I've seen. The path is made of different materials at different points, from grass to gravel to huge rocks. I think that it is indicative of the changing paths of our lives. Anyway, it was quite nice.
The lecture itself was on "Is Science Very Different From Religion?" given by a Christian engineer from the University of Sri Lanka. He was very good, arguing that science and religion share many of the same qualities (albiet in different quantities) and showing how that goes against many of the major arguements that the militant scientists and athiests use. It was interesting- I agreed with much of what he said, but could see how a scientist who was not religious would take issue with parts of it.
Anyway, at the lecture I ran into my supervisor, Fr. Jayasiri. "Hi" he said "I've been talking to some people about hosting you. You leave tommorow".
"Ok" I thought "last minute, but what the heck, right?" I didn't come to this country to tell them what I should see and when, and after a week in the convent, I was ready to do some other work, and see more of the country.
Fr. Jayasiri stopped by the next afternoon to give me more details. He has a schedule for me for May, which involves quite a lot of travelling, so this blog should stay interesting a while longer. He also briefed me a bit on Chilaw, which is where I was headed that night. He used to be the rector here, back in the eighties.
Fr. Sam came by to pick me up at 7:00. I had my big backpack all packed and ready to go when he pulls up in this tiny hatchback with his wife, son and mother already in the backseat, and a whole bunch of luggage. We wedged all my stuff in somehow, and I went to get in. To give you an idea of how small his car is, our shoulders actually bumped when we got in at the same time. We took off through the Colombo traffic.
I don't know if I've said a lot about the traffic here, but for a small town boy, it's terrifying. There are horns all over the place, people passing people, moterbikes and three wheelers cutting in and out, just avoiding being run down by the enormous trucks that make up a large part of the traffic. Fr. Sam had asked about how I was adjusting, and I said fine, but the traffic took some getting used to. "Well" he said "It could be worse" I wasn't sure...compared to Canada, this was nuts! Then he went on "there are two clear directions of travel, right? And no rickshaws... not many bikes... few pedestrians..." All of a sudden the traffic looked pretty straightforward!
Fr. Sam is very friendly, and we had a good talk over the two hours it took us to get to Chilaw about the Church of Ceylon and the Anglican Church of Canada, how they are the same, and how different. He finished school in 2003, and was priested in 2005, so he is quite young.
There was one other thing about that drive. As we were speeding away from the Convent he looks at me "We have an English service at 7:00 tommorow. Wanna preach?" How could I say no? I had all of 12 hours to prepare!
Flashforward to this morning. The English service is quite small - 4 in the congregation, and Fr. Sam and I. The sermon was a bit awkward- amazing in my head, but not in my mouth. I think I'm a little out of practise from last summer! If people keep asking me to preach at the last minute though, I'll soon get back into it.
The second service was a mixed Sinhala/Tamil service. The youth of the parish were taking a leadership role this Sunday, and the St. James Mother's Union was joininig the Sri Lankan Mother's Union. I didn't understand a bit of the service, of course, although again could follow where we were. At one point, during the sermon, Fr. Sam's tiny kitten wandered into the church and curled up for a nap under my cassock. One of the choir promptly removed it!
Fr. Sam asked me to come up to the altar with him at communion- all the servers, the Lay Eucharistic Ministers and apparently me go up for that. I did my best to stay out of the way, but was never quite sure where I should be. Fr. Sam was very good about pointing and gesturing though. I was asked to distribute the bread (the roti, a local flat bread), which I was very honoured to do. Also very able, which turned out not to be the case when he asked me to perform the abolutions (clean up after communion). Although I've helped with this and seen it done a thousand times, my mind went blank! Usually in a case like that you can look to the servers for help, but they had no idea either. Between us we managed it, and it was at least on my part, a reverent sort of fumbling. I mean, I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I was doing it reverently. Which is a first step, I always think!
After the service I chatted with a few of the congregation as we drank tea on the steps, surrounded by coconut trees. Did I mention that St. James is in a coconut grove? With a view of the lagoon? And a cow?
There was breakfast after the service as well, and then the people who had come up with the Mother's Union from Colombo came over the vicarage with us for lunch. Not right away of course, so I sat and chatted with the Mother's Union ladies for a while.
After lunch we were off to point 2 of the parish, St. Clement, Puttlam. This is a small Tamil congregation about an hour from St. James. It also has a lagoon view and a coconut grove. The congregation and the church are small. The church was full, and I counted 60 people. They have a lay leader who takes care of things most of the time, and Fr. Sam comes out twice a month for Eucharist. This service was in Tamil, of course, and so again I was only able to follow the basic structure. The good news was (for me) that when Fr. Sam asked me to perform the abolutions I was ready, and had practised in my head, and so was able to do it both reverently and correctly. It helped that the lay leader was assisting me, and he clearly knew what he was doing.
After the service we sat drinking milky sweet tea under the trees as a breeze from the lagoon played over us. Later, we ate supper together, sitting in a circle underneath a giant palm tree as the day faded quickly into night.
It all started on Friday, when I went with the sisters to a lecture at the Cathedral. When last you read this blog, I was on my own for a couple days as all the clergy were at clergy synod. Well, this lecture was the wrap up for that, and once again the sisters were kind enough to bring me along. When we got there Sr. Lucy took me around the garden, and showed me all the kinds of trees (they have teak trees in the garden!). We also looked at the labrynth they have, which is very difference from others I've seen. The path is made of different materials at different points, from grass to gravel to huge rocks. I think that it is indicative of the changing paths of our lives. Anyway, it was quite nice.
The lecture itself was on "Is Science Very Different From Religion?" given by a Christian engineer from the University of Sri Lanka. He was very good, arguing that science and religion share many of the same qualities (albiet in different quantities) and showing how that goes against many of the major arguements that the militant scientists and athiests use. It was interesting- I agreed with much of what he said, but could see how a scientist who was not religious would take issue with parts of it.
Anyway, at the lecture I ran into my supervisor, Fr. Jayasiri. "Hi" he said "I've been talking to some people about hosting you. You leave tommorow".
"Ok" I thought "last minute, but what the heck, right?" I didn't come to this country to tell them what I should see and when, and after a week in the convent, I was ready to do some other work, and see more of the country.
Fr. Jayasiri stopped by the next afternoon to give me more details. He has a schedule for me for May, which involves quite a lot of travelling, so this blog should stay interesting a while longer. He also briefed me a bit on Chilaw, which is where I was headed that night. He used to be the rector here, back in the eighties.
Fr. Sam came by to pick me up at 7:00. I had my big backpack all packed and ready to go when he pulls up in this tiny hatchback with his wife, son and mother already in the backseat, and a whole bunch of luggage. We wedged all my stuff in somehow, and I went to get in. To give you an idea of how small his car is, our shoulders actually bumped when we got in at the same time. We took off through the Colombo traffic.
I don't know if I've said a lot about the traffic here, but for a small town boy, it's terrifying. There are horns all over the place, people passing people, moterbikes and three wheelers cutting in and out, just avoiding being run down by the enormous trucks that make up a large part of the traffic. Fr. Sam had asked about how I was adjusting, and I said fine, but the traffic took some getting used to. "Well" he said "It could be worse" I wasn't sure...compared to Canada, this was nuts! Then he went on "there are two clear directions of travel, right? And no rickshaws... not many bikes... few pedestrians..." All of a sudden the traffic looked pretty straightforward!
Fr. Sam is very friendly, and we had a good talk over the two hours it took us to get to Chilaw about the Church of Ceylon and the Anglican Church of Canada, how they are the same, and how different. He finished school in 2003, and was priested in 2005, so he is quite young.
There was one other thing about that drive. As we were speeding away from the Convent he looks at me "We have an English service at 7:00 tommorow. Wanna preach?" How could I say no? I had all of 12 hours to prepare!
Flashforward to this morning. The English service is quite small - 4 in the congregation, and Fr. Sam and I. The sermon was a bit awkward- amazing in my head, but not in my mouth. I think I'm a little out of practise from last summer! If people keep asking me to preach at the last minute though, I'll soon get back into it.
The second service was a mixed Sinhala/Tamil service. The youth of the parish were taking a leadership role this Sunday, and the St. James Mother's Union was joininig the Sri Lankan Mother's Union. I didn't understand a bit of the service, of course, although again could follow where we were. At one point, during the sermon, Fr. Sam's tiny kitten wandered into the church and curled up for a nap under my cassock. One of the choir promptly removed it!
Fr. Sam asked me to come up to the altar with him at communion- all the servers, the Lay Eucharistic Ministers and apparently me go up for that. I did my best to stay out of the way, but was never quite sure where I should be. Fr. Sam was very good about pointing and gesturing though. I was asked to distribute the bread (the roti, a local flat bread), which I was very honoured to do. Also very able, which turned out not to be the case when he asked me to perform the abolutions (clean up after communion). Although I've helped with this and seen it done a thousand times, my mind went blank! Usually in a case like that you can look to the servers for help, but they had no idea either. Between us we managed it, and it was at least on my part, a reverent sort of fumbling. I mean, I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I was doing it reverently. Which is a first step, I always think!
After the service I chatted with a few of the congregation as we drank tea on the steps, surrounded by coconut trees. Did I mention that St. James is in a coconut grove? With a view of the lagoon? And a cow?
There was breakfast after the service as well, and then the people who had come up with the Mother's Union from Colombo came over the vicarage with us for lunch. Not right away of course, so I sat and chatted with the Mother's Union ladies for a while.
After lunch we were off to point 2 of the parish, St. Clement, Puttlam. This is a small Tamil congregation about an hour from St. James. It also has a lagoon view and a coconut grove. The congregation and the church are small. The church was full, and I counted 60 people. They have a lay leader who takes care of things most of the time, and Fr. Sam comes out twice a month for Eucharist. This service was in Tamil, of course, and so again I was only able to follow the basic structure. The good news was (for me) that when Fr. Sam asked me to perform the abolutions I was ready, and had practised in my head, and so was able to do it both reverently and correctly. It helped that the lay leader was assisting me, and he clearly knew what he was doing.
After the service we sat drinking milky sweet tea under the trees as a breeze from the lagoon played over us. Later, we ate supper together, sitting in a circle underneath a giant palm tree as the day faded quickly into night.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The First Weekend!
Things have been going along quite nicely here in Sri Lanka! I'm staying with the Sisters of St. Margaret, a group of Anglican nuns, and since my days at the moment are quite relaxed, I have been joining them for the daily offices. I really like the daily offices, and am glad that I've landed in a place where there is a community to pray with! We have Matins at 6:20, Mid Day prayer at 12:00 and Vespers at 6:00. The sisters are very friendly, and have been helping this poor dumb Canadian to sort out the right pages in the book - it's almost as complicated as the BAS in Canada!
This weekend was May Day, and so the parish church near here, St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte, held a May Day mass. They invited me to come along, and I'm glad I did - it was like nothing I would see in Canada! We started with a march around the village, led by traditional dancers. All the priests (there were quite a few) were wearing their usual white cassocks, with red stoles emblazoned with the Hammer and Sickle! I marched next to a Sri Lankan ordinand, and just in front of the retired Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. Sydney Knight, who has been very kind to me. After the march (about half an hour, but seemed longer in the hot sun) we went into the church for the mass. The service was all in Tamil and Sinhalese, so I couldn't understand a word of it, but I was still able to follow more or less what part of the service we were at. Things were kicked off by remarks from a Buddhist Monk, and an Imam. Instead of the sermon there was a drama, with Jesus and his followers (the workers) walking in, carrying the cross. Then a man dressed in coat and top hat with "America - USA" written all over it in red white and blue came in, and did a little dance, kicking at Jesus every now and then. As he ran off stage, a chorus came on, did a little dance and song. Then the American was replaced by a politician, then the chorus, then an actor. It was really cool, with great Sri Lankan music through the whole thing. It felt like the liberation theology we talk about in school being lived out!
Yesterday was Sunday, and I went to St. Michael's for the services. I had been asked to preach at the 7:30 (English) service. It went ok, I think. The services here are quite high church, with lots of incense, and bells at the Sanctus and the Consecration (even the outside bell of the church!). I went to the next two services as well the 9:00 (Sinhalese) and 10:30 (Tamil). They were quite similar, although the language was very different. The music changed as well - the 7:3- service felt like an English service, but the 9:00 and 10:30 felt more Sri Lankan. that's not really a good distinction, I know, since they were all authentically Sri Lankan, but it's hard to feel local when you have a pipe organ blasting out English 19th Century hymns!
This weekend was May Day, and so the parish church near here, St. Michael and All Angels, Polwatte, held a May Day mass. They invited me to come along, and I'm glad I did - it was like nothing I would see in Canada! We started with a march around the village, led by traditional dancers. All the priests (there were quite a few) were wearing their usual white cassocks, with red stoles emblazoned with the Hammer and Sickle! I marched next to a Sri Lankan ordinand, and just in front of the retired Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. Sydney Knight, who has been very kind to me. After the march (about half an hour, but seemed longer in the hot sun) we went into the church for the mass. The service was all in Tamil and Sinhalese, so I couldn't understand a word of it, but I was still able to follow more or less what part of the service we were at. Things were kicked off by remarks from a Buddhist Monk, and an Imam. Instead of the sermon there was a drama, with Jesus and his followers (the workers) walking in, carrying the cross. Then a man dressed in coat and top hat with "America - USA" written all over it in red white and blue came in, and did a little dance, kicking at Jesus every now and then. As he ran off stage, a chorus came on, did a little dance and song. Then the American was replaced by a politician, then the chorus, then an actor. It was really cool, with great Sri Lankan music through the whole thing. It felt like the liberation theology we talk about in school being lived out!
Yesterday was Sunday, and I went to St. Michael's for the services. I had been asked to preach at the 7:30 (English) service. It went ok, I think. The services here are quite high church, with lots of incense, and bells at the Sanctus and the Consecration (even the outside bell of the church!). I went to the next two services as well the 9:00 (Sinhalese) and 10:30 (Tamil). They were quite similar, although the language was very different. The music changed as well - the 7:3- service felt like an English service, but the 9:00 and 10:30 felt more Sri Lankan. that's not really a good distinction, I know, since they were all authentically Sri Lankan, but it's hard to feel local when you have a pipe organ blasting out English 19th Century hymns!
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