ISI at Duke

Antioch Stew experience

What is “Brunswick Stew”?  What does it taste like?  What are the ingredients?  Why do you spend so much time twice a year to prepare the stew?  What kind of people live in/near Timberlake – about 20 miles north of Durham?  Would the folk at Antioch Baptist Church welcome us to watch, even join in helping, the preparation of the stew and taste it?  What fund raising purposes are served by selling the stew?  And finally, does the basement of Adam’s and Beth’s rental house really hold a ping pong table, WII games, pool table AND a climbing wall?

A ‘Holy’ moment

Nine of us were debriefing an incident from the New Testament in which an “outsider” approaches Jesus with her very moving request.  Jesus’ own response is quite surprising initially; it stimulated a lot of re-reading and discussing.  One in the group had not said too much.  When that person was asked, “What do you think?”, the response was something like, “I just have a very different feeling than what I have been hearing the rest of you describe.  I feel [Jesus'] love in this incident.

For a brief moment there was a kind of holy electricity in the air as the rest of us paused to appreciate what we had overlooked in the albeit, enjoyable study-discussion.

Thus emerged again the value of reading and reflecting on the Scriptures together.  Inevitably, the potential of multiple views can allow the power of God’s nourishment and instruction to filter through what may ordinarily be… well, an ordinary reading or discussion.  That’s Good.

Haiti

For most, if not all, of us the suffering of Haitians who experienced the recent massive earthquake is very much on our hearts.  There are many agencies ready to accept donations.  Here are two that we trust:  Medical Assistance Programs, Intl. and Haiti Outreach Ministries.  (In the case of the latter organization note its address at the bottom of the left hand column of their site.)

In addition, we pray for Haiti – the nation-state and the people.  We pray because we believe and have confidence in the living God whose authority is supreme and His acts of righteous deliverance are good & trustworthy.

“May the LORD be a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold when times are hard.

Those who acknowledge your name can rely on you,

you never desert those who seek you, LORD.” (Psalm 9:9-10)

The ‘blessing’ of being high among smiles

Remembering People Power

Reflection on the rise of Corazon Aquino

…While in Manila in 1988 on government business, I joined my friend Agapito “Butz” Aquino at a dinner celebrating his birthday.

Butz is the brother-in-law of Corazon Aquino, who died of cancer on August 1. At the time of the dinner Ms. Aquino was president of the Philippines. She had displaced its autocratic president, Ferdinand Marcos, in the aftermath of what turned out to be a relatively peaceful revolution. While the revolution had many causes, the trigger had been the 1983 assassination of Butz’s brother and Cory’s husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, as he was returning to his country from exile to contest Marcos.

Butz occupied a unique position; he was the brother of a martyr and the brother-in-law of the President. He was also a powerful senator and a popular political figure. He was in great spirits that evening and indulged his American guest with a story that was well known to his other friends. He must have told the story numerous times, but the revery that accompanied its retelling seemed fresh to me.

Butz had been a leader in the “People Power” revolution that overthrew Marcos and brought Cory to power. He had been instrumental in organizing street marches and rallies, and in particular became a compelling symbolic figure in the four-day revolt that culminated on February 25, 1986. That night he told how the popular revolution gathered force as thousands and then tens of thousands journeyed to Manila to join the growing mass of Manilans who wanted Marcos out. Each day there were demonstrations in Manila’s central city, with Butz at the head of the forward phalanx.

On the day Marcos fled, Butz related, there were well over 100,000 people shouting for his fall. Marcos had dispatched the armed forces to break the will of the revolutionaries; troops were gathered behind tanks on cobblestone streets just off the square. General Fidel Ramos, who later succeeded Cory Aquino as the Philippine president, commanded the military.

As the tanks were told to move forward, Butz said, the people facing the tanks at the head of the crowds knelt in prayer. The tanks began to rumble forward. Butz called it the most horrifying sound he had ever heard. One can imagine—metal tank tracks rolling across cobblestone streets. “I wanted to run,” Butz said, “but I looked to my left and then to my right and there were nuns kneeling and praying. I couldn’t run; you know us Filipino men and face. How could I run while the nuns stayed?”

Just as his troops reached the front line of the resistance, General Ramos halted the tanks and joined the revolution. Marcos was out. Cory Aquino, the woman in the yellow dress, would replace him.

After her funeral, The New York Times reported, “more than 100,000 people thronged the streets of Manila as the body of Former President Corazon C. Aquino was driven slowly through swirling winds and rain for burial.” Butz was there, too. I am sure his mind must have often gone back to that extraordinary day in 1986 when faith in God animated courage that broke the back of an autocracy and gave Filipinos a leader of grace and resolve.

Written by Al Sikes,  Chairman of The Trinity Forum and former Chairman of the FCC, this reflection first appeared on “Provocations“.

Alumna in the news

Mary Gan, who visited Duke in the early 1990s, recently retired after 15 years as a music lecturer at Trinity Theological College and 13 years as the founding principal of Methodist School of Music, both in Singapore.

Duet!

Recently several of us got together to enjoy one last time with brother/friend Vipin before his return to the place of his calling under God.  His fellowship at the Eye Center was brief; otherwise we could have tapped his (and Catherine’s) hidden talent for a wider benefit!  Check out their duet!  God be with you Dr. V!