An Orange Appeal

Season's Greetings Chinese New Year Style - Feb 2010

The word for Mandarin Orange in Cantonese sounds an awful lot like the word for Gold - or so I've been told.

That linguistic similarity (plus the fact that now is when this tasty citrus fruit is widely available) explains how it became a symbol of wealth and prosperity during Chinese New Year and an important gift to share with one's family and friends during the season. This also explains why a dozen members of my congregation here in Petaling Jaya spent Friday night and Saturday afternoon sorting boxes of oranges, wrapping them in gift bags, and delivering them to more than 150 homes and businesses in our neighborhood.

See, having recently moved into a new location, the upcoming holiday (it starts Feb 14th this year) and the simple gift of oranges were used as a way for this English speaking congregation of Chinese, Indians, a German and an American to reach out and make an introduction to our new neighbors.

Sure, a church delivering oranges might not seem like a noteworthy event; but in multicultural Malaysia, where recent actions demonstrate how issues of race and religion can divide as much as they can unite, faith is a really tricky thing to talk about. Actually, it can be illegal.

Although they had to look for indications of Malay/Muslim houses (signs written in sacred Arabic are often a give away) so to steer clear of them, as they went door to door through the streets of SS4C congregation members found many aunties and uncles and families eager to hear that there is a new church in the neighborhood. Many were already Christian or had church homes, some said they might stop in sometime, and others said to come back when some of our 'outreach' classes and programs are up and running - apparently line dancing has a large following in our part of town.

While we wait to see the fruit that this orange appeal will bear (sorry lah, I couldn't resist), it is both heartening and inspiring to see the unexpected ways that the faithful find to follow the command to 'Go!' and 'Be Neighborly!' - even in a place as culturally thick and complex as Kuala Lumpur.

Six months in to the internship and still, every day, there is something to be surprised by and to learn from.

Happy (almost) New Year everyone!