The peace child

If you read my facebook, the last trip I came back home, I baked two fruit cakes meant for Christmas. I left one cake at home and my husband readily agreed to “brandy” it regularly. The other one I took to Kuching as a Christmas present to a good friend who walked through with me in my journey of eye treatment in Kuching when I was not only handicapped by the poor eye sight, I was also grounded with no transport. I faithfully “brandied” this cake meant for my friend before I gave it away on Friday just before I came back home.

I reached home on Friday night. Hubby said, “I did not brandy your fruit cake.”

“But why? You said you could do it.”

“Do you know it’s difficult to brandy the cake yet you are not able to eat it? Women are very strange creature, they bake the cake and want to keep it like forever and torture others.”

Familiar to you? I mean the favourite indoor sport of the whole race – passing the buck. I was amazed. But I decided that I would bake another one so that he could enjoy the fruit cake before Christmas.

I was more amazed by the reminder that the “blame game” is the oldest game in the world by Pastor (well she is Rev, but pastor seems more endearing to many) Lenita Tiong through her sermon “The Peace Child”. Read this -

He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:11-13 RSV)

Interestingly enough, it is exactly the same way by which we 21st century people also try to relieve guilt. In order to evade the sense of guilt, we do what Adam did. We say, "Well, it's not my fault. I'm but a victim of circumstance." He took it like a man -- he blamed it on his wife. And she passed it along to the serpent.

But behind both excuses is the unspoken suggestion, very clear in this account, that it is really God's fault.

"The woman whom Thou gavest me," says Adam. If you had never given me this woman I would never have fallen into this sin.

The woman immediately passes it on and says, "It is because you allowed the serpent to come into this garden, that's the trouble."

Both are pointing the finger ultimately at God and saying, "It's all your fault."

Pastor Lenita’s sermon went on to say that the “blame game” pervades the whole of society, and the whole of history. It is what married couples say to each other all the time.

It is because you baked a fruit cake, I can’t resist the temptation of not being able to eat the cake therefore I did not brandy it. I could have said it was because you forgot or you were lazy and the blame game started.

This is the primary cause of our racial strife – it’s all your fault. This is what the nations are doing in the international scene.

Pastor Lenita’s wisdom in reading Matthew 3 together with Genenis’ blame game in her sermon amazed me! She related the reaction of Joseph knowing Mary was with child as the “love game”.
Joseph not wanting to expose Mary to public disgrace had in mind to divorce her quietly. But when an angel appeared to him in a dream, Joseph did what the angel had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

I agree with Pastor Lenita that it's not easy to preach of PEACE when the world is in turmoil. But if we are obedient like Joseph, God gave him the reputation and He gave us Emmanuel - God with us.

May the Peace Child be with you today, this Christmas, and beyond.

The love fruit cake –

You need to nurture it by brandying it now and then!
But you can eat it fresh from oven....for love game...