A travel day today, back to KL in West Malaysia. The next flight is home. I was sorry to leave Sabah after such a short time: it’s a fascinating place and there’s lots to explore. I’m making a list of things I missed both there and in Sarawak, in the hope that they will amount to grounds to return… like climbing Mt Kinabalu and swimming in the South China Sea, snorkeling off Labuan Island and seeing a hornbill, visiting the rapidly growing St Patrick's Church, Tawau and meeting Albert Vun, the new Bishop of Sabah...

I was able to attend a 7.00am service of Holy Communion at the Cathedral before leaving for the airport. It was a treat to sit in the congregation and to focus exclusively on the experience of worship, rather than on taking responsibility for either presiding or preaching. It was a 45 minute service, with two hymns (good, marching tempo missionary songs – not quite Sankey and Moody, but certainly not either Common Praise or Spring Harvest either!) and a 15 minute sermon. It was an exposition of the David and Goliath story, with careful attention to the text in context, which I enjoyed, and thoughtful application which didn’t trivialise the story. I was impressed.

The liturgy and hymnody continue to bother me slightly. It all feels stiltedly English to me, and I long for the local church to shape the worship more fully. I have been struck consistently right through the trip by the pace at which the liturgy is taken. From the Opening Greeting to the Blessing, the prayers rattle along at a tremendous lick and I wonder if that is partly because English is often not the first language of the officiating ministers, so that there is little incentive to dwell on the words. Perhaps Chinese rattles along and the pace is transferred to the English. I suspect Chinese is also something of a declamatory language. I have often found myself feeling just a bit haragued, so vehement has the leading of the worship been. I wonder what the students on the Vocation Camp yesterday made of what must have seemed to them a peculiarly downbeat, sober, gentle style!

The flight itself was a trifle late, but otherwise uneventful and I was met at the airport by Jonathan, the son of Canon Fred David, my host for two nights when I first arrived in KL over two weeks ago. I will be staying with him and Yoke Fong and their two boys for the next five nights until I leave.

The rest of the day has been blessedly free, with space and time to reflect a bit on all the experiences of the last ten days in Borneo; and to begin work on the sermon I’m due to preach on Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral. Tomorrow there are further meetings planned with local church leaders, but also with the young woman, Helina Solomon, who is coming to Lichfield next month to take up a placement at the Cathedral as a St Chad’s Trust volunteer. It will be good to meet her.

Pete

Wednesday 23 January 2008