us or US?

us or US?

A Reaction for the Dr. Gumersindo Garcia Memorial Lecture

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN THE PHILIPPINES 24^TH GENERAL CONVENTION

Prepared by: EUNICE “Nicee” B. JUMALON, CYF National president, UCCP

The mere thought of being a delegate to this much awaited National Council of Churches 24^th General Convention thrilled me to the bones. For I know, I will have the chance to listen and talk with the looked after ecumenists in the country and even abroad. And now being tasked to be one of the reactor to Dr. Gumercindo Lecture in front of this body is a something that I will forever treasure.

Allow me to bring in the greetings of the Christian Youth Fellowship of the entire Philippines, the youth arm of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Maayong hapong kanatong tanan.

My two day attendance here in the General convention have brought me to cloud nine. Fact to tell, I am still rookie in the National ecumenical platform, so much more with the international. I was also able to appreciate the vibrant life and works of the NCCP. Yet being someone who wants to make things happen, you have all left me at a quandary of how to put things into pieces. I always take time on analyzing how we materialize the wisdom in a collective way, as one nation and soon as one world. It has always been a dream that we can all do things harmoniously, just like how a choir does, diverse voices yet singing the song in harmony.

Now allow me to share with you that state of dilemma, for all of us to reflect. I will be looking into these through the lens of the young people of our society and the middle class (petty bourgeois) where most of my colleagues belong.    

The life of a medical surgeon, Dr. Gumersindo Garcia Sr. exemplified how it was to be actively working in our chosen career pathways yet continue to be part of the struggle of the people. If I may, I would wish that there would be more Dr. Garcia’s around today, on second thought, I think we already have, but then we were not able to make them all be a part of the greater picture, the work for a peace based on justice. If you would look at the lives of the people now, you can see that they too are doing something in their own little ways. This line, “own little ways” made me remember my level of thinking when I was in grade school, now I think we are all supposed to level up. Young people’s organizations are now really very varied and have probably been affecting the very lives of their constituents, their thinking and how they do things. Churches, on the other hand have been sprouting out of nowhere and in their own judgment, they too are doing “Missio dei” (God’s Mission). True, I was once a part of an organization that conducts feedings, visitations and etc to the least of the community members. It felt so good! I felt so blessed that I was able to help in my own little ways. But hey, “In our own little ways” are things that are done by grade school pupils.

We are all guilty at times, for being contented in doings things “in our own little ways”. This is usually happening among our local churches, we get things done only when we can see it through our own eyes. Needless to say, we are very much involved in the community works in our locale, yet not in the whole plight of journey towards justice and peace. This could probably be the reason why majority of those who are working to fight the injustices for the masang Pilipino, are also themselves, or ourselves- the least. What if we were are just viewing things through our own lenses, our own prejudices, our own biases, just ours, not “OURS”, us and not “US”. Maybe we were not able to see the context of the other parts of the society. Perhaps we viewed ourselves as the only victims of the trash systems of our nation. Furthermore, we were not able to look at it through the lens of the middle class (petty bourgeois).

As someone, who have been dwelling in the context of the middle class society allow me to share their images. The usual picture of working daily to be able to sustain the life of their families in a much comfortable manner is common among the middle class. The Filipino culture of working for our families, have grown really big, that the mind set of everyone is for us to be able to help our own families. It has always been about our families. Young people are taught to do good in school so that when they are already working, they will be able to help their own families. This system of thinking is killing the Philippines. The leaders in position these days, is the best example. Look at how our national leaders in the Philippine government have taken care of their families. They tried hard to make the lives of their very family- BETTER. Now this mindset is like the cancer cells in our bodies. We all have it, and then sooner or later it will be triggered by some factors, then the disease would progress. Now, when these cancer cells have already eaten us up, we have no other way but to combat it to the point of killing the other parts of our own bodies. The carcinogenic thinking of the Filipino about our families, would all leave us fighting with each other just to sustains our own bodies- our families,

THE BRUTAL INHUMANE SYSTEM- in line of the struggle of the middle class society, aside from being brainwashed and dehumanized by system of their respective communities. They were not able to see themselves as part of that struggle. As someone, who can have their three full meals and can even have some more funds for recreation purposes, one may think that this is the kind of life that God, has promised. It is a sad reality that we were not able to make them feel, that indeed, they are a part of the greater picture of the society that we are all fighting for. They were not able to see that as they continue working for this large companies, as they continue serving the ruling class, they are also killing humanity. They were not able to see that as we continue on ignoring the cries of the Mother Earth, we are just like the large scale mining companies who always put the icing on our broken piece of cake- our own lands. They were not able to realize that our dear lumads or indigenous people are actually fighting for the whole humanity, when they defended the lands, and not just for themselves. The cancer cells of individualism is killing each and everyone one of us. The struggle for fittest made us focus to live for ourselves, rather than living as one community.

But then, let us also remember that it is also innate in our amazing human bodies to have the receptors. When we experience something new, it is our receptors that make us realizes that we have something going on. Our bodies, are greatly affected by what it can feel, hear, touch and see. That is why as members of the National council of Churches in the Philippines, we ought to make them realize the same sensation that we already have. Only when the humanity can perceive that we are but one body of Christ, it is only when we can work together to one direction. And it is my fervent prayers that we will be able to let them feel that before mother earth have totally died.

Sometimes, in our advancement in the field of theology and in the ministry, we tend to forget the fundamentals. Which is now, being focused by the fundamentalists which is just but a frontline of our imperialist society. In fundamentalism, we are taught to seek God, to worship God and to make ourselves anew for God so that our God would be happy. We taught to focus on making our own selves better, rather than making the world better. The social media platform- facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest and the likes, is a very good machinery of this ruling class. If you may have noticed, it is actually shaping us to think only for ourselves, to boast about what we have, to tell the world to follow what is the trend, to fake the memories- they are making us all very individualistic, contrary to what they call themselves to be- social media.

And we are all affected by this rubbish media. The Philippines as an example have garnered around 24 billion tweets for #aldubnation. If we look at it on a larger scale, we were actually just being played by, because we are but the playing field of the others. The #prayforparis, in a matter of hours have been viral in the social media, and most especially in the Philippines, that made me really jealous for our advocacy to #stoplumadkillings, which was never even given the attention of the netizens, even after the Lumads of Mindanao have walked from Mindanao to Luzon, to voice out the concerns of our lands, our lands and our people. Maybe it was just us and not US. 

As we launch out into the deep waters, it is my fear that we would forget those who were left on the shore waiting, my fear that we focus on the bigger things and forget the small and equally important things. Sometimes, as we progress too much in our progressive theology, we forgot to take care of our relationship with our God. As we go more active in the plight of our struggles of a peace based on justice, we forgot that there are still many people who needs to know God first. The same God that we worship, that God who said, “That all may have life and live it abundantly.” We ought to continue preaching about the God, who loves “US” all. When I say us, it is not just us who are now involved in the ecumenical movement, but “US” the whole humanity. 

Because, friends, there are indeed many workers in the field, we just have to make sure that we are all working towards the same goal- JUSTICE and PEACE. Let us forget “in our little ways” have a paradigm shift to “COLLECTIVE EFFORT”, it is ECUMENISM in its truest sense.