Graves and Memorials

Bright and early Friday, December 13 our group checked-out of the Panda Hotel in Yangon and boarded a chartered bus for an eight hour trip south to the city of Mawlamyaing.  In British times, this city on the Indian Ocean was known as Moulmein and was a center of Baptist mission work. This morning (Saturday, December 14) we re-boarded the bus for a three hour, fifty mile trip down the coast to a small fishing village that in former days was known by the very English sounding name of Amherst.  It was to this location that the Judsons relocated after Adoniram was freed from imprisonment.

It  is also in Amherst that Ann is buried together with her young daughter Maria.  Her original grave was beside the sea. With time and erosion, the sea was claiming that site, so her grave was moved to higher ground.  However, the Burmese government claimed that second site for an national independence monument. So, once again Ann's grave was move. It now is on the property of the Amherst Baptist Church, a congregation founded by Adoniram Judson. Here a few photos of the Ann Judson grave site today.

Original Ann Judson headstone.

Later memorial marker.

Ann Judson grave site at Amherst today.

After our trip to Amherst Baptist Church and Ann Judson's grave we return Moulmein, where we visited two congregation's founded by Adoniram Judson: Ebenezer Baptist Church and First Baptist Church.  First Baptist's large sanctuary includes a memorial plaque to all of the American Baptist missionaries who have served in Moulmein.  Included on the list are Cephas and Stella Bennett.

First Baptist Church secretary discusses missionaries listed on
the congregation's memorial plaque.

Close up of upper left corner of memorial plaque.
Notice  "C& S Bennet" (Sic)

The Bennetts were sent out to Burma as American Baptist missionaries from the Second Baptist Church of Utica, New York in 1829. Years later when Second Baptist Church built a new church building at the corner of Hopper and King Streets it took the new name of Tabernacle Baptist Church.  Tabernacle was only about a decade old when it sent the Bennetts to Burma as its missionaries. Cephas was a printer by trade and once in Burma helped print the first Burmese language Bible and later the scriptures in the Karen language.  

He was a multi-talented man.  He also began the first high school in Burma. The school still exists, but was nationally by the government in the 1960's.  I learned today that Cephas Bennett also printed the first newspaper in Burma. And, during Adoniram Judson's long period of depression following the death of his beloved Ann, he stayed in the Bennett's home for a time.

It was a very humbling and sobering thing to stand at the grave of Ann Judson and before a plaque honoring Cephas and Stella Bennett, the first missionaries sent abroad by our congregation.  These servants of Christ endured great suffering, heartache, and loss.  They left behind them family, friends, and everything familiar to go half way around the world to live and minister in a distant, foreign land.  Must others would have turned backed and abandoned the endeavor, but they persevered to plant the seeds of the Christian gospel in Burma.  

Walking in the Judsons' Footsteps

After visiting several Judson sites in the old city of Yangon on Monday (12/9) including the place at which they came ashore, very early Tuesday morning (12/10) we boarded a plane for Myanmar's second largest city: Mandalay.  There is much to see of traditional Burmese culture, arts and crafts, and religion (Buddhism) in Myanmar's second city. It is a region of great beauty and charm.  And, we saw several of traditional sites that draw tourists from around the globe.

The primary purpose of our visit to Mandalay was to see two sites related to Adoniram Judson's imprisonment during the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Burmese king suspected Judson and other American and British foreigners of being spies for his enemies, the British.  So, the English-speaking men were rounded up and thrown in prison.

Adoniram Judson

Ann Judson

Our first visit was to the site of the Le Ma Yoon (Hand Fail Me Not) Prison in the shadow of the royal palace at Ava.  All that remains of the palace is a leaning guard tower that in Judson's day overlooked the prison.  At one time a large boulder with a memorial inscription marked the spot of Judson's imprisonment. However, the Burmese government a couple decades ago declared that a marker honoring a Christian missionary is inappropriate to a national archaeological site. The government attempt to remove the stone. However, its great size and weight defeated the government's efforts. Instead, the memorial boulder was buried.  So, in a field beside a banana grove, we stood on the ground above the Judson memorial and offered prayers of thanksgiving for his life, suffering and witness.

Our tour guide, Rachael Htwe Htwe Hla (a Karen Baptist) explains some of the
history of the Let Ma Yoon prison site.

Replica of the buried Judson Memorial Stone at the  Let Ma Yoon Prison
(at the MBC history display on the Pwo Karen Baptist Compound)

Replica of the engraved face of the Judson Memorial Stone at the  Let Ma Yoon Prison
(at the MBC history display on the Pwo Karen Baptist Compound)

Depiction of conditions at the  Let Ma Yoon Prison
(at the MBC history display on the Pwo Karen Baptist Compound)

Late Tuesday afternoon we visited the Judson Church at Aungpinle. Today Aungpinle is a Mandalay neighborhood.  This humble Baptist meetinghouse sits on the site of Judson's second prison.  Judson was marched the ten miles or so from Let Ma Yoon to this site.  Later, Ann Judson would open a school for girls on the site.  Eventually, it became a Baptist compound and houses an active Baptist congregation today.

New Memorial to the Judsons outside Judson Baptist Church - Aungpinle.

These visits to the two places in which Adoniram Judson was imprisoned caused me to reflect on the significance of a human life.  The Let Ma Yoon prison has vanished, as has much of the royal city of Ava. There are several abandoned stupas and pagodas nearby, as well as archaeological sites waiting to be explored. There are few formal monuments to the Adoniram and Ann Judson to be found in Myanmar today. The Judson Church in Yangon and the Judson Church in Aungpinle bear their name. One can visit Ann's grave site in a relatively obscure town outside Moulmein (as we will do soon).  But, Adoniram's grave is unknown and inaccessible as he died while aboard ship was buried at sea.

Pastor of Judson Baptist - Aungpinle, Rev. Seelah (Silas) and his wife bid
their American Baptist visitors, "goodbye."

Most monuments weather with time and eventually crumble.  Great empires collapse and are covered by the sands of time.  The powerful and famous are quickly forgotten. The monument to the Judsons' sacrificial witness is not etched in stone, but in human hearts and lives.  The enduring value of their ministry can be found two hundred years after their arrival in Burma in a growing Baptist movement across Myanmar.  The significance of what they accomplished by God's grace has not yet been fully measured.  The seeds they planted continue to produce good fruit now in the third century since they first stepped upon the Golden Shore.

A Feast to Remember

It has been several long and busy days without reliable internet access since I last posted about my sabbatical adventure in Myanmar.  In the next couple of blogs I will share a few highlights from my recent activities.

The Bread and Cup

The Mynamar Baptist Convention's celebration of the bicentennial of Baptist Mission in Myanmar, which is dated from the arrival of Adoniram and Ann Judson on July 13, 1813, concluded with a communion service on Sunday evening (December 8).  The service was attended by an estimated 44,000 people.  Many were seated in the assembly hall.  Every available of inch of space was filled.  People jammed the aisles. Others sat row upon row in the narrow space between the first pew and the communion table. An equal number were beneath the auditorium in a large basement meeting area that had been outfitted with flat screen monitors and speakers.  Thousands more surrounded the hall listening as the service was broadcast to them.

The choir reflects some of the diversity of the MBC.

The American Baptist delegation was seated at the front of the hall. While it was a hot and humid Yangon night, intensified by the thousands of bodies packed into building, the discomfort was insignificant when compared to the palpable presence of God's Spirit during the final act of worship.  A woman, the Rev. Dr. Greeta Din, outgoing General Secretary of the Karen Baptist Convention, led the massive congregation as we received the elements of the Lord's Supper. Baptists from across Myanmar and around the world - people from a rich tapestry of ethnicities and languages - together received the cup and bread.

Dr. Greeta Din, KBC General Secretary (Center) at the Lord's Table.

Each time we break the bread and drink the cup we look backwards and remember Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. But, we also look forward in anticipation.  In the Lord's Supper we receive a small taste of the great banquet feast John the Revelator describes for us in the final book of the New Testament.  I have rarely had such a powerful sense of God being at work bringing a broken and fractured world together and reconciling all things in Christ as I did this past Sunday evening as I received the bread and cup.

The Bread and Cup are distributed to worshipers.

The evening concluded as so many Baptist communion services do.  We sang "Blessed Be The Tie." Around me I could hear the words being sung in English by my ABC companions.  Nearby, it was by sung in Burmese. I sang the second verse in Karen, as is our tradition at Tabernacle.  Throughout the hall others were singing in various Chin dialects, Kachin, Karreni, Naga, Mon, Lisu, Lahu, Shan, Wa and many other tongues.  It was a beautiful foretaste of the Marriage Feast of the Lamb!

Another Full Day at the MBC Bicentennial Celebration

Our group continues to spend most of our days at the Myanmar Baptist Convention's Bicentennial Thanksgiving celebration.  Yesterday, December 6, we attended both the morning session (which lasted well into the afternoon) and were back at the celebration venue before 6:00 p.m.  We arrived back at the hotel around 11:00 p.m.

The morning session included several leaders bring official greetings from Baptist bodies near and far.

Dr. Molly Marshall, President of ABC-related Central Baptist Theological
Seminary in Kansas City brings greetings.

The evening session included a sermon by Rev. Dr. Neville Callam, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. Dr. Callam prefaced his remarks by commenting on the death of former South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelsom Mandela by calling for Baptists to embrace the work of justice. In his sermon, based on John 15, Dr. Callam urged listeners to remain connected to the true vine and to produce abundant fruit of faith and love.

BWA General Secretary Dr. Neville Callam preaching.

The highlight of the last couple of evening programs, for both Myanmar natives and overseas visitors, has been a program of cultural song and dance numbers performed by members of the various ethnic conventions that are members of the Myanmar Baptist Convention.  Here are a few photos of last night's song and dance program.

From the Golden Shore

This morning's session of the Myanmar Baptist Convention's Judson Bicentennial celebration was concluded by a choir from Christ's Church - Ahlone singing a song commemorating the Judson mission that calls on Myanmar Christians to carry the light of Christ from the Golden Shore to all the world. It was quite moving. Especially for those of us who recall a Judson biography entitled: "To the Golden Shore."  When the Judsons arrived in 1813 in what is now known as Myanmar, it was called "the Golden Kingdom." Two centuries later, largely because of the persecution of ethnic minorities within Myanmar, tens of thousands of Christians have fled from this nation to nations around the world. Wherever they have settled, these Christians from Myanmar have carried the good news of God's grace in Jesus Christ.  They have been a wave of missionaries sent from the Golden Shore to the nations.  Here's a brief clip of the choir singing.

#MyanmarIM

Myanmar Baptist Convention Opening Sessions

Yesterday (December 5) saw the opening of the Myanmar Baptist Convention's celebration of the Bicentennial of Baptist Mission in Myanmar.  The afternoon session was devoted to receiving greetings from ecumenical partners in Myanmar and Baptist bodies around the globe.

Baptist and Ecumenical Representatives at MBC Opening Session

At the opening session representatives of the many ethnic Baptist conventions within the country came attired in their tradition dress.  It was quite a colorful display!

Young Woman at MBC Opening Session

The evening session focused on the Judson mission legacy.  ABC/USA leaders presented the MBC with a commemorative plaque honoring the two hundred years of mission beginning with the arrival of Adoniram and Ann Judson in 1813.

Dr. Roy Medley (ABC/USA General Secretary), Dr. Reid Trulson

(International Ministries Executive Director), Ruth Clark (ABC/USA President)

and Rev. Don Ng (ABC/USA President-Elect) present commemorative plaque.

ABC/USA General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Roy Medley brought the evening message.

Dr. Medley preaching.

The evening service was followed by an entertaining and engaging time of song and dance presented by the various ethnic peoples that are part of the Baptist community of faith in Myanmar.

Immanuel Baptist Church - Yangon presentation.

A Day of Highs and Lows

Yesterday (December 4) had many memorable moments. It was a day of many joyful moments.  It was also a day when many of us shed tears.

The day began with a visit to the Myanmar Baptist Convention Union building where ABC/USA folks were joined by the General Secretary of Norwegian Baptist Union and representatives of the various "ethnic" Baptist conventions in Myanmar that have ties to refugee groups resettled in the United States: Karen, Chin, Kachin, and Karenni. Several of us in the ABC group also serve on the denomination's Burma Refugee Taskforce.  We reported on our efforts to aid various refugee groups in their transition to life in the U.S., to welcome them into American Baptist life, to aid them as they organize congregations and networks, and to advocate for Myanmar refugees and internal displace persons (IDPs) with the U.S. State Department.

Rev. Dr. Greeta Din (KBC General Secretary) and Ruth Clark (ABC President) hold U.S. map
while Rev. Florence Li (ABCHMS Asian Strategist) points out communities across the country
where Baptist refugees from Myanmar are now living and worshiping.

Dr. Saw Ler Htoo, General Secretary of the Karen Baptist Convention/USA, reported on the progress being made by various Baptist Myanmar ethnic groups now living in the U.S. to establish structures for themselves in America.  Convention leaders from Burma spoke of their endeavors to support and maintain ties with their Baptist brothers and sisters living in the United States and other third countries.

Following a lunch hosted by our MBCU friends, we went to the Myanmar Baptist Convention compound where with hundreds of others we received our registration packets and names badges.  Estimates are that there will be tens of thousands of participants in this year's MBC Convention and Judson Bicentennial Celebration --- both from within Myanmar and overseas.

My official MBC Bicentennial name badge.

After registering, we returned to the Panda Hotel which is next door to the MBC compound.  There we found the remainder of the Mission Discovery Team which had just arrived from the U.S.  Pandemonium broke out as old friends greeted one another with hugs and embraces.

American Baptists greet one another in the Panda Hotel lobby.

Our last event was the saddest and most sobering experience of my sabbatical.  We met with Internally Displaced Persons from the Kachin State.  As you may know, the Myanmar Army has been waging a campaign in the Kachin State since 2011.  Kachin people with whom we spoke describe it as a civil war. 

I expected this listening session would happen in a small conference room with perhaps a handful of IDPs telling us their stories.  Instead the ABC delegation was seated in chairs at the front of the Yangon Kachin Baptist Church with one thousand or more Kachin persons present - many were IDPs from the contested areas in the northern Kachin State near the Chinese boarder.  One after another, men and women stood to tell us their tales of eviction from their homes and villages, murder, rape, and torture at the hands of the national army's troops.  They told us that fear, deprivation, and disease have become their constant companions. 

What was to be a meeting of about an hour or so, became a meeting of several hours.  And, I am certain that if we had been able to stay longer, the stories would have continued to be told long into the night.  The IDPs asked us to remember them and pray for them. They asked us take their images recorded on our cameras and stories etched into our minds back with us to the U.S. and to share them with others.

Kachin IDP woman share her story as ABC group intently listens.

I have noticed almost a sense of euphoria among western visitors to Myanmar who have witnessed the many positive changes that have been made in the nation in the last two years.  There seems be a genuinely more open approach by the government which can particularly be seen Yangon.  However, after seeing firsthand the pain and sorrow in the eyes of my Kachin Baptist brothers and sisters last night, I wonder how genuine these changes really are.  When the president of Myanmar three times calls for the national army to cease its military campaign in the Kachin State and is ignored, one most wonder how much power rests in the newly formed civilian government.

Kachin IDP Baptist pastors recounts what he has seen.

I confess that I do not have enough information to fully understand the complexity of Myanmar politics. But, I do understand the needless suffering of God's people in the Kachin State.  Their stories are the very same stories I have heard time and time again from my Karen brothers and sisters in the U.S.  Whatever changes may have been made in this country, the horrible truth is that the military continues to wage a genocidal campaign here against minority ethnic peoples.