George Martzen "georgos"

Reading the news of the first verdict at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh brought back memories of a recent visit to Cambodia. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, was sentenced today for crimes committed 30 years ago during the Khmer Rouge. Two years, during a GBGM gathering, we had toured the Tuol Sleng Museum. There we saw how innocent people, caught in the witch hunt of the Khmer Rouge, were herded into the old school grounds, boxed up in tiny brick cells and tortured on bed frames. Duch ran the notorious S21 prison, overseeing the death of up to 17,000 women, men and children, accused of being "enemies" of the state. That was only a fraction of Cambodians slaughtered during the period from 1975 to 1979, when over 1 million were executed or died of starvation and mistreatment. Cambodia has captured my interest for a number of years. In 1980, as an undergraduate at Fresno Pacific College, I had a Cambodian room mate. I think his name was Tom. He wa...

Book Review: Wesleyan Eucharistic Spirituality: Its Nature, Sources and Future . Lorna Lock-Nah Khoo. Adelaide: ATF Press, 2005. The Rev Dr Lorna Khoo, in her book, Wesleyan Eucharistic Spirituality , calls attention to an often overlooked characteristic of Methodist heritage. The revivals of 18th century England that gave rise to Methodism were both eucharistic and evangelical in nature (p1). While the earlier Reformers vainly sought to encourage frequent communion (p53), the Methodists flocked to the table. John Wesley, a tireless chronicler of the revival, noted that Methodists sometimes numbered over one thousand at the parish churches (p.1). Khoo observes how the Anglican clergy were “overwhelmed” by the flood of Methodists seeking communion. In a letter to his bishop, the vicar of Devlin quotes some Methodists who walked ten miles in order to have communion, and that they wished it could be more often (p1) This is a book about a particular form of spirituality. So it i...

What defines a generation? My son and I were conversing today, as we often do, about "pop music." The question was whether or not older pop singers need to update their repertoire to attract younger listeners. It was a good, rollicking conversation. Most people enjoy music of one sort or another. And we love the fact that people love music. Watch American Idol or Singapore Idol to hear all the people who enjoy singing in the shower. Now, according to the great jazz musician, Duke Ellington, if music "sounds good it is good." All music is popular to someone, even church hymns. So there should be no argument about styles of music. One could certainly argue about the appropriateness of any one style of music for particular social settings. Normally you would not sing a funeral song at a wedding, nor a party song at a funeral service. I myself enjoy listening to a range of music, from what might be defined broadly as "classical music" to folk, blues, ...

Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Church (The Methodist Church in Singapore) Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 John 18:1-19:42 Meditation on the cross: The violence of human nature and the grace of God Today the Straits Times headlines say that Singapore will seek an indictment against Romanian diplomat for a hit-and-run death. Today’s reading from gospel of John is also an indictment against the human race. Betrayals, tortures, murders, assassinations – these are all part of our world. From a strictly human point of view, the events that we commemorate today only exemplify the long history of murder and genocide that characterized the human race in every age, from the killing of the Hebrew babies of Goshen to slaughters of the 20th century. In Red Scarf Girl: Memories of the Cultural Revolution by Jiang Ji-Li, we are told of how, during China's Cultural Revolution, family members, especially children were used by the party to spy on the family, and turn them over if they should say against the...

It's the last week of the semester (two papers yet to complete), and after two family funerals, I may be experiencing the word noted by my former bishop - kanashimi . When I googled that word I came up with nearly 600,000 hits, mostly Japanese Anime. "Of course," my 14-year-old said. "I could have told you that." The experience of suffering or pain honoring another. I felt that pain when news reached me of Aunt Esther's passing in November. It was the renewing of an old pain that comes from being part of a large extended family. Each passing "celebration of life" is also another root cut out from under the tree. Those who in life connected me to my past have now receded into that same quiet past. Again when Uncle Vern passed away another root was cut away, but also joyfully commended to the One who always remembers. Now in the midst of Advent we celebrate in prayers, songs and anticipatory activity, the One who remembers our human suffering, o...

Having moved to the Berkeley over the weekend we took the BART to SF on Sunday morning and did the Glide experience. Ok, our son was doing a mission trip with El Segundo UMYF serving meals to the homeless, so we wanted to check it out. I had known about Glide UMC since I was a youth, hearing both rave reviews and grave ones, depending on the reviewer. But here we are in the Bay area, so we stopped in. It's a popular place. Before 10:30 there was line half-way around the city block. On en tering, we walked up a flight of stairs to the sanctuary, where the rosette and south-facing columnar stained glass windows poured soft rosing light on the antique pews. It was warm, and some folks were handing out fans, which could be kept for a small donation. A jazz band was warming up on stage left. Men and women were casually greeting each other. Eventually the band began playing a mix of cool jazz and gospel, and the Glide Ensemble trouped onto the spare platform. The service proceeded with ...

I love to observe and learn from animals. Last week, with a day off in San Diego, we spent some time at the SD Zoo. It is much more than a zoo now, with interesting botanical sections and educational programs. Here are a just a few pictures and observations. I'm not sure what the guy on the right was really up to, whether he wanted to get out and run across the open savanna or just join in with whatever the wild boars were eating next door. Speaking of lunch, we observed numerous animals, including the Siberian Brown Bear here, gnawing on some bones, and speculated what unfortunate visitors might have turned into satisfying meals. Could it also be that animals have a form of spirituality? Might some parent animals teach their young to kneel in prayer? We observed the flamingos strutting around the stream and noticed that the grey-feathered youngons were in the posture of confessional or practicing their bed-time prayer. While some animals are loners, others are very social and m...