‘Malaysians only eat once a day: we start when we get up in the morning and we stop when we go to bed at night’, it was suggested to me yesterday (Sunday), when I happened to observe that I felt like I’d spent much of the day taking food. 

I’ve been based at the Cathedral today, and was taken by Dean Jason to the RSC (Royal Sengalore Club rather than Royal Shakespeare Co; but they share a quintessential Englishness) for both lunch and dinner.  At lunch we were joined by Daphne, Jason’s wife, and his youngest son Joash, as well as by one of his assistant clergy, the Revd Davis Sigamoney.  In the evening, it was just Jason and myself and a leisurely opportunity to compare Cathedral life in Malaysia and in the UK.  In the course of the conversation, I gathered that part of the explanation for the fact that the practice of intinction at Holy Communion is so widespread (ie, the practice of taking the communion wine by dipping not sipping – dipping the wafer in the chalice, not sipping directly from it as we usually do in the UK) is because in the past this was thought to reduce the risk of infection from such diseases as tuberculosis.  Whatever the actual risks of contracting infection via a shared chalice (and the advice we receive in England is that this is minimal) practice received fresh impetus during the recent SARS outbreaks.

At one point at about 7.30 last night, we were sitting at the ‘Gentleman’s Bar’ (yes, part of the club is still a child- and woman-free zone), looking out over Merdeka Square (a cricket square) as the sun was setting, with a cold lager, and we were both thinking ‘There.  Job done’.  For Dean Jason that meant, another Sunday over, with all nine services at the Cathedral safely negotiated.  For me it meant that my three week visit is just about over, and my commitments are just about fulfilled.  I have this blog to write up on yesterday, and then a brief summary report of my visit to produce for the Diocesan Newsletter out here (‘The Messenger’).  Today (Monday) I have most of the day to myself and tonight I fly home. The Lord is good.

Yesterday was fun.  It was a great privilege to preach at the 8.30 English-speaking Sung Eucharist at St Mary’s Cathedral. I found the congregation a delight to preach to – alert and attentive. 

The nine services at St Mary’s each Sunday altogether draw over 1000 people.  Six of the services are English speaking.  Of these four are ‘traditional services’ (Holy Communion said at 7.00am, Sung Eucharist at 8.30, Family Eucharist at 10.30) and two are ‘contemporary services’ (the exceptionally unfortunately acronym-ed SMACC 1 at 10.30 and SMACC 2 at 5.00.  SMACC has nothing to do with either naughty children or drug addicts, but stands for St Mary’s Anglican Cathedral Contemporary service).  In addition, there is an Iban language service at 8.00, a Nepali one at 8.30 and a Bahasa Malaysia one at 10.30l.

You’ll notice that several of these run simultaneously, or at least at overlapping times.  This has been a new notion to me: that within a single church, different congregations might meet for worship at once in different parts of the same site.  But it seems to work well enough, and the refreshments served at the 8.00/8.30 services and before the three (!) 10.30 services was a buzzingly eclectic occasion, drawing in Iban, Nepali and Bahasa Melayu speakers, plus traiditional worship- and contemporary worship-prefering English speakers, with a real sense of fellowship in Christ.  Impressive.

I then joined the SMACC1 service to see how that went.  It was well done.  Interestingly, that seemed to be the ‘ex pat’ congregation.  I’d perhaps expected to see more westerners at the 8.30 services; but they turned out in force at 10.30: Aussies and Americans, Brits and Kiwis.  The worship and preaching had a University Chrittian Union feel about it, with all the strengths and limitations that implies. 

There was time, in the afternoon, for me to wander in KL for a few hours.  I managed to get to the Observation Platform of the KL tower (that’s the iconic telecommunications tower that looks like a spinning top on a stalk).  Wonderful views.  I found China Town and Little India and just went where my feet led me. 

At one point I passed a bookshop – a small, independent seller, and realised with a start that it was the only the second or third one I’d noticed in three weeks, all of them small and independent.  I haven’t seen a single bookshop chain out here: no Waterstones or Borders or equivalent.  I haven’t had a chance to ask anyone about this, but it must say something about the degree that Malaysia remains a ‘non-book’ culture, relative to England, and that must have implications for church life.  So much Christian nurture in England is mediated by books: that’s how many of us develop in bible study and prayer – we often learn from other people’s experiences by reading about them.  I suspect that’s not how it works out here.  I recall Canon Fred David telling me that when he was working in the Interior in Sabah Diocese, and establishing churches among isolated tribal groups, one of the first objectives was to start a literacy school, so that new believers could begin reading their bibles.  In many rural areas, he told me, there was no incentive to learn to read, because people didn’t enounter day to day anything that was written down.  That’s clearly not the case in the cities – people can read and do.  But there are still no major bookshops.  

There will, I think, just be one more blog in this series.  God willing, it’ll be written from home late on Tuesday, English time.