Chiang Mai Orality Network

If you search the word “Fail” using Youtube, you will generate literally 100s of clips and millions of hits. If they had Youtube in Bible times they could have videoed numerous fails by some very famous patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets. Today we need a Youtube channel for missionary “Fails”, because the question on the field is not whether you will fail, but more importantly, how you will respond. John Mark is a classic example of a young missionary who fails, but eventually dusts himself off and gets back into the game. The most probable first “exposure” to John Mark was when he ran naked after the arrest of Jesus in the garden (Mark 14:52). He is next mentioned as the son of a wealthy Christian woman named Mary who hosted a prayer meeting in her house (Acts 12:12). As the cousin of Barnabas and close associate of Peter he was taken as a helper on the first missionary journey (13:5). Mark’s main “fail” is recorded in 13:13 when he abandons Paul and Barnabas. Many have speculated on his reason for leaving, but they could have included the rigors facing the team in pagan Galatia, the leadership change from his Uncle Barnabas to Paul (13:1, 9, 13), or maybe he was just plain homesick. The next reference to Mark is during the altercation between Paul and Barnabas about his inclusion on the team for the second journey (15:37-40). Barnabas, “Son of ” gives Mark another chance and by Colossians 4:10 we find that even Paul has reconciled with this young missionary and in Philemon 24 calls him a “fellow worker”. Near the end of Paul’s life, the apostle states that Mark is “ very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11 – ESV). The combined effect of all these fails and restorations is a mature believer whom we now refer to as Mark the Evangelist and are indebted to for the second gospel. After 40 years of missionary service, the story of Marks makes me extra grateful to God for giving me a loving “Mary”, a number of encouraging “Barnabases” and a significant “Paul” to pick me up after my numerous “fails”. Every missionary needs such a team around him or her for the inevitable falls and restorations that will be needed over the course of a missionary career.

A few years ago, a group of women on a short-term mission trip from the states came to a Thai temple and to the horror of their host began to hug some of the child novices! They explained, “We just couldn’t resist, they were so cute in their little saffron robes and bald heads!” This underlines the steep learning curve new missionaries must climb as they navigate the various protocols within Thai culture, especially the “wai”.
The Thai “wai” or bow is used to greet/thank people or just show respect. To the casual tourist it may look like a simple gesture, but it ends up being quite involved. It is an all-purpose gesture because you use it for both greeting/good-byes as well as when you want to apologize (ie. if you inadvertently jossle someone you “wai” and say “excuse me”, which must be followed by “never mind”).

It is often comical on both sides of the cultural divide to see a new missionary negotiating Thai greetings or a Thai using their left hand to “wai” as they extend their right hand to a foreigner, not quite knowing just which to use! Missionaries often get so enthusiastic in their greetings that they “wai” everyone, even little children. As with the 12 different Thai “smiles” that Thai can give to others, there are a number of alternatives when it comes to greeting a Thai person:

Four levels of “wai” depending on respect shown as you say “Sawatdiikrap/kha”.
1. To monk or Buddha image – thumbs touch between eyebrows (Note: Need to use “Sawatdiithan” and when I meet a monk it causes a dilemma, so I most often opt for #2)
2. Parent/teacher – thumbs touch nose
3. Elder/co-worker – thumbs at chin
4. Receiving a “wai” from a younger person or inferior –thumbs at chest or polite nod
A few others I have observed are:
Politician – You can trust me “wai”
Beggar – Can you spare some change “wai”?
Polite – The rather quick “Don’t bother me “wai”

As I review these cultural ways of bowing to others, it reminds me that bowing in ancient Israel, as in most cultures, is a similar expression of respect and worship. When bowing before the Lord one could take various physical postures: 1)Kneeling – Dan. 6:10; 2)Standing – 1 Sam. 1:26; 3)Sitting down – 2 Sam 7:18; 4)Lying down – Ps. 4:4 or 5)Prostration – 2 Chron 20:18. When meeting the king of Thailand, so high is the level of respect that one must follow a strict protocol of greeting which includes bowing to the ground, never turning your back and not making eye contact. As I see Thai bowing to their king and superiors, my prayer is that one day the Thai would learn to approach the true King of Kings with the respect and obedience that is reserved only for Him.

In the fall of 1971, the United States was in the midst of the Vietnam War, so as a freshman in college I decided to join the Air Force R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers’ Training Corp) due to an upcoming military draft scheduled for Feb. 2, 1972. If my lottery number was low on that day I would have been drafted, but allowed to finish college due to my R.O.T.C. commitment. However, afterward, the prospect was strong that I would have been directed to the Vietnam conflict since I already had my pilot’s license and was in the Air Force. My number turned out to be high enough to escape the draft. Soon afterward I met Christ in Campus Crusade and the direction of my life headed to seminary and on to Thailand with OMF (I arrived in 1980). Recently I had a chance to reflect on the impact of this event on my life after visiting northern Laos. The war officially ended in 1975, but 44 years later there were still massive craters covering the countryside due to 580,000 bombing raids and the 2 million tons of ordnance that fell on that country. I learned that 50,000 Laotians had been killed or maimed due to UXOs (Unexploded Ordnances) from 1964 to 2008. Such casualties still happen at a rate of around 100 per year. Such statistics caused me to pause and think about how different my life would have been if I had received a different lottery number and how grateful I am that God directed me to Thailand.

The countries of Asia, as a part of the majority world which are mainly preferred oral learners, receive the Easter message very well when it comes in the form of concrete relational communication. Such communication is best expressed through Biblical narratives. Each Easter at my Thai church, I give an oral presentation from memory of 11 Gospel stories starting with the Triumphal Entry and ending with the Appearance of Christ on the Emmaus road. The cumulative effect of hearing the events of the passion week told as a continuous oral story has a visible impact on Thai listeners.

Another effective way we have found to flesh out the message of Easter has been to decorate rooms which depict the key events of Christ’s journey to the cross. Each room has a biblically dressed narrator of a particular scene starting with the Last Supper and ending with the resurrection. Small groups have hands-on experiences as they proceed from room to room (ie. counting out 30 coins, praying next to the Gethsemane rock, carrying the cross, hammering nails, throwing dice and even taking a rod to the back of a purple robed mannequin, etc.) This hour-long experience climaxes with the showing of a portion of the Passion of Christ movie. Distinctively western traditions are often used in Thai churches such as hiding eggs and letting the church members find them (but in this case, the boiled eggs become part of their breakfast!). Also in Thailand, a number of churches construct a garden tomb and hold sunrise services on Easter morning before the tomb to show that Jesus, “pen kuen ma laew!” – “He is Risen Indeed!”

I am writing this on April 1st (April Fools), a day famous for hijinx and general tomfoolery in the west. But in Thailand it is a serious day to reflect on King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) who on April 1, 1905 freed all of the slaves in Thailand, an institution that had been in place for centuries (Above is the 100 Baht note showing the king freeing the slaves). Next to King Rama IX (Bhumibol Adulyadej) who died recently after 70 years on the throne, King Rama V is the portrait most seen displayed in Thai houses. Chulalongkorn is the son of King Mongkut (Rama IV) who is known in the west as the young prince in the Hollywood musical “The King and I”. As a young missionary studying Thai, it was months before I realized that Thailand actually means “Free Land” (ie. it has not been under colonizing powers like the rest of its neighbors). Yet over time I saw that a great many of this ‘Free People’ were in fact ‘under slavery’ to social problems and entrapped in various religious systems and thus not truly free as Jesus promised: “If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Pray that 99% of the Thai people not yet knowing Jesus will get to know their true liberator: Jesus Christ.