Posts filed under 'Articles'
Following SCOPE article:
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The World Cup going on these days has made cricket lovers go crazy. The scramble for tickets is so much that many both here and in the other two Asian countries have missed opportunities of watching them on the field. While cricket is loved by all cricket fans, even by our village lads and lasses, cricket lovers should also reflect on the ethics of cricket and see that the game is kept clean.
The Island newspaper recently published a series of 50 articles by Rex Clementine where he interviewed many of our shining cricketing stars of the past like Duleep Mendis, Anura Tennekoon, Sidat Wettimuny, Ranjan Madugalle, Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunge and others and also some of the past administrators. Reading the responses of these stars and administrators who recalled nostalgic memories of the past era, one common factor that emerged in all these interviews was the extent to which Sri Lanka Cricket was clean and the caliber of those who were at the helm of Sri Lanka cricket. Special mention was made of leaders like Robert Senanayake, Dr. N.M. Perera, Gamini Dissanayake, and Ana Punchihewa. Arjuna Ranatunge made special reference to the role played by Gamini Dissanayake in bringing Sri Lanka to its present status and in winning the world cup. Arjuna in his interview mentioned how as a token of tribute to Mr Dissanayake he took the cup the day after they arrived to Mrs Dissanayake who broke down in tears..
These cricket administrators of the past worked tirelessly for the love of the game and to uplift our standards and not for any other consideration. Politicians like Dr N.M. Perera and Gamini Dissanayake never allowed politics to influence SLC. These past cricketers also spoke of the financial difficulties under which SLC developed and their own financial difficulties. Unfortunately soon after the World Cup victory saw a change in administration and along with it all ethics and moral values of Sri Lanka gradually declined. The greed for power and money soon entered SLC. Allegations of corruption were leveled against the administrators. The ultimate result has been that SLC has since been administered by interim committees who are not accountable to the stakeholders. While some of these interim committees have had men of capability and integrity as chairmen, the moral and ethical standards of others have been questionable. The media has often spotlighted shady deals and irregular appointments and politicization of even the present committee.
It is unfortunate that players too internationally are now very often lured by big money. The recent scandal where top Pakistan players including a former captain were involved, is just one example. The IPL league is another example where players and teams are auctioned and bought at a price and where big betting is rampant. Fortunately hardly any allegations have so far been leveled against our local players, and the recent unfortunate news commentary in a state television channel casting aspersions on two of our leading players is vehemently deplored.
From a Christian perspective all these factors described above boils down to the question of ethics in cricket. It is not the game alone but the spirit of the game that counts. It is refreshing to see all our Christian bowlers making the sign of the cross when they start bowling. One of them even kisses the cross hung round his neck. This, in a small but very significant way in a predominantly Buddhist country, is a true Christian witness, and it would be hard to imagine that any such player would betray his Christian principles. It would be pertinent here to mention the name of a former top Sri Lankan cricketer Rumesh Ratnayake who has on several occasions openly declared his deep commitment to the Lord and his faith.
As a senior citizen still very much involved in Christian youth work, I appeal to all young Christian undergraduates and not so young Christian graduates who belong to the FOCUS and GCF families to reflect on these thoughts and build public opinion to keep cricket clean and help in re-building good ethics of cricket.
Nimal Bhareti
(The writer was an undergraduate at the Peradeniya University in the 1950s and is a retired senior state official)
March 17th, 2011
Christmas and children
Christmas is without doubt a festival centred on children. Whether in carols or presents, or even acts of charity, it is children that figure significantly. This is understandable, because Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christ child. Unfortunately, the commercialism and sentimentality that surround Christmas also involve children. So for example, it is said that some children in the U.S. can expect to get up to 25 gifts from Santa Claus – what a bonanza for the department stores. In the carols, the Christ child is portrayed as someone who did not even cry, despite the sounds made by the surrounding animals – and I thought Jesus was supposed to be fully human!
I want to consider however the aspect of raising children to adulthood. What are the usual assumptions about this commonplace but very important activity? Are these assumptions challenged by Christmas? Let us look at two such assumptions.
Model citizens or Trouble makers?
It is commonly assumed that the goal of raising children is to produce model citizens who will take the place of their parents in upholding and continuing a way of life. The birth of Jesus however sits uneasily with this notion. Even before he was born, his mother proclaimed in the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) that Jesus’ birth would upset the status quo – “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble; He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.†When the wise men inquired from Herod about the new born “king of the Jewsâ€, King Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him (Mt 2:3) – “all Jerusalem†being no doubt the corridors of power in Palestine at the time. When the wise men wised up to Herod’s intentions of killing the infant king and avoided reporting their encounter, Herod flew into a rage and ordered the slaughter of all the male children of Jesus’ age in Bethlehem. Jesus managed to get away as a refugee to Egypt because Joseph was warned in a dream of the impending doom. I wonder what Jesus thought later on about his “culpability†in that slaughter? Whatever the answer to that, it appears that trouble followed Jesus, or vice versa.
When Jesus was 12 years old, he brought grief and anxiety to his parents by deserting their travelling party and remaining in Jerusalem for 3 days to discuss the law with its teachers. The Lucan passage (Lk 2:41-52) does indicate at the end that Jesus was obedient to his parents, but they certainly seemed to allow him to challenge their values and ways – this I think goes to the heart of parenting; we must allow our children to rebel against our prejudices, often dictated by selfish interests. Later on in his ministry, Jesus embarrassed the social elites, identified with the marginalized – including fallen women, tax collectors and former insurrectionists – and broke the letter of the law in order to keep its spirit. This confrontationist attitude eventually led to his crucifixion – a death reserved for brigands and enemies of the state. All this however was juxtaposed with the meekest of dispositions towards his fellow human beings.
So, when we sing “For he is our childhood’s patternâ€, what exactly is the pattern we see and fit our children to? Meekness and humility are certainly to be prized. Jesus was also resolutely obedient to the will of his Father, but that often meant social disobedience (breaking bread with sinners, breaking the Sabbath to engage in acts of mercy, not breaking his silence when questioned by ruling dignitaries etc.). Too often we train our own children, whether at home or school, in passive obedience rather than in social/civil disobedience.
In some ways our attitude to raising children depends on how we view our society. If we think all is well, we will tend to want our children to be social conformists. If we feel that there is much amiss both in our world and ourselves, our children can be a source of hope for better things. That can only happen if they learn to trouble the strong on behalf of the weak. I venture to suggest therefore that the goal of raising children must not be to produce model citizens but trouble makers instead.
Sparing or Sharing?
We do not raise children in isolation. We do so in the process of living our own lives, where we are constantly challenged in new areas of costly discipleship. Some of us respond to such calls for sacrificial living, often incarnating ourselves in deprived environments. Almost all of us however would hesitate to expose our children to hardship or deprivation. We have a genetic tendency to shelter our children. The working assumption is that we would not mind any hardship ourselves, as long as our children get the best that life has to offer. We feel that our children should not have to suffer because of our choices. So, for example, we may choose to serve in difficult areas – even as missionaries in remote areas – but we would want to give our children the best of education back at “homeâ€. This is fair enough – I am not criticizing anyone who has done that, given that I have not even left “homeâ€. Christmas however gives us a different model for our consideration.
The language the Bible uses in describing the incarnation (e.g. Jn 3:16) is that the Father sent the Son. In other words the parent allows the child to experience the self emptying deprivation of the incarnation (see Phil 2:7). And the incarnation is for “keeps†– just as Jesus was God with Man while on earth, he is now Man with God in his resurrected body. Of course Jesus is glorified at the end (Phil 2:9-11). The principle we can draw is that it is often deprivation and hardship that cause our children to blossom. We should not try to shield them either from our choices for sacrificial discipleship or indeed their own.
We do have examples where parents have taken their children along with them to serve in difficult areas – including war zones such as the North & East; or where parents have encouraged the callings of their children to work in Christian service or even low paid and risky service oriented careers (e.g. journalism). God honours such parenting even in this world, but most certainly in the next. We should of course heed and/or dispense wise counsel where our children’s futures are concerned, but the Great Incarnation at Christmas urges us share our children with a world in need, and not spare them.
Putting Christ back in Christmas?
We hear frequently that we must put Christ back in Christmas – the call becoming more pertinent given that the festival is often called X’mas! The invocation is mostly directed against the commercialism associated with the last fortnight in December. However, the sentimentality surrounding the Christmas stories is probably more pernicious than the commercialism. Putting Christ back in Christmas means we have to seriously consider raising trouble makers rather than model citizens; and that we take steps to share our children with the world, allowing them to make sacrifices, rather than sparing them.
Priyan Dias
(from a sermon preached at S. Paul’s Milagiriya on 26/12/2010)
January 25th, 2011
What would you do if you had an embarrassing family secret? I suspect that most of us would not be eager to draw attention to the embarrassing situation. As far as it depended on us, we would make sure to keep the secret buried.
A friend once told me of a well-to-do young Sri Lankan […]
Continue Reading August 26th, 2010
Evangelicals have always been zealous for the cause of the gospel. We have been enthusiastic in taking on the call of going into all the world to make disciples for Christ. We have also worked hard on not just bringing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but to also equip new believers to be […]
Continue Reading May 10th, 2010
I have never ceased to marvel at a few simple words in Philippians, “ in humility consider others better than yourselvesâ€. Is this really possible? If you are like me, I suspect that you feel that your attitudes, perspective on issues or way of doing things is normal and right.  Even if we might not […]
Continue Reading May 9th, 2010
Walking along the Galle road in Mt. Lavinia the other day I came upon the following statue (see picture on right). It was erected in 2004 in “appreciation of the working classâ€. On closer inspection we see that the name of the person unveiling the statue is written in larger font than the persons to […]
Continue Reading November 9th, 2009
My wife and I realized a common dream recently – a long awaited visit to Jaffna. We went by plane as the bus service was functional only for Jaffna residents who travel to Colombo. What was actually a 1 hour flight became a 9 hour journey with the checking and being packed into buses at […]
Continue Reading October 13th, 2009
The recent teaching program on the poya day saw us discussing some important aspects of success & failure. The following is an outline of the talk done by Dr. Rajan Rajasingham.
Check out the speaking notes of ‘Success & Failure’
If you would like to meet other university students and discuss issues such as these join us every poya day at the FOCUS office (25A, Waidya Road, Dehiwela). We look forward to your presence.
October 12th, 2009
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