The Stranger Finds a Peacemaker.
I describe my friend Jay Gurnett as a ‘Bishop Without Papers’… for those of you who do not know Jay, he is a church planting consultant with Vision Ministries. This morning, Jay introduced me to one of his charges: Indiana (Indy) Cungcin.
Indy came to Canada as a refugee from Burma in early 1997. Though he became a believer in his native Burma, the transformation of Indiana’s person into being a Shalom kingdom agent was another process altogether. In Burma, his Christianity was secondary to his pursuit of the excellence in kick-boxing and martial arts. As a national champion, the young Indiana punished his body to achieve personal glory… and gained skills and prowess that enabled him to kill another at will.
And then a bomb entered his life. Literally.
The expression of Indy’s Christianity was sufficiently nominal that when he was expelled from Burma, it was as a political dissident rather than a religious one. In a truck with 50 others, Indiana crawled to safety in Thailand. Crawled? – Yes crawled. The forty miles of road had so many land mines that the normally one hour long trip took three days and three nights of slow, persistent, but constantly interrupted travel. At the mid-point, a rocket propelled grenade landed in the back of the truck. Though it miraculously had not hit anyone or exploded, its immanent lethal latent potential was obvious to all.
Epiphany. Dependence. Transformation began. The discipline, force of will, and physical prowess that had combined to create one who could defeat any adversary could do nothing to save him or his fellow passengers. A terrified passenger asked Indy if he had a faith – ‘Christian’ he replied. ‘Pray for us!’ was the response. Grace prevailed. The grenade did not explode, and the group crossed safely into Thailand.
During his years as an illegal immigrant in Thailand, old patterns continued to dominate Indy’s survival tactics. Ultimately, his time in Thailand led to further revelation of the love of God, a baptism, and the application of the gifts of discipline, will and physical commitment to the service and glory of God, but now under the motif of dependence.
Fast forward to Canada, 2009. Indy is now National Coordinator of Chin Christian Fellowship of Canada www.chinchristianfellowshipofcanada.com, and a part time staff with Vision Ministries. As well, Indy co-pastors a congregation in Winnipeg called City Church. His congregation of more than two hundred fifty is composed of about 20% white Canadian, the balance being almost all refugee status immigrants from Burma (Karen, Kareni, Chin, Shan, Arakan linguistic and ethnic groups) and the Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwandan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eretria and other countries. Indy’s congregation of refugees have found a home in a Kingdom that allows them to provide Peace and Refuge, in all of the dimensions discussed in the prior post… spiritual, emotional, social and physical.
Indy’s work through Vision Ministries is assisting in creating nine other churches or fellowships of Burmese Chin immigrants throughout Canada as they create an indigenous expression of Chin faith within a Canadian context.
Indy is writing a script of Peace and Refuge. The damage to his body from years of rigorous, extreme training now affects his walking and arm movement. He lives in significant pain. But the will of Indy has been redeemed and now is applied to effect his passion in spite of the pain. There will be many acts to his play.
It is all very well to declare that I exist in order to save my soul and give glory to God by doing so. And it is all very well to say thon in order to do this I obey certain commandments and keep certain counsels. Yet knowing this much, and indeed knowing all moral theology and ethics and canon law, I might still go through life conforming myself to certain indications of God’s will without ever fully giving myself to God. For that, in the last analysis, is the real meaning of His will. He does not need our sacrifices, He asks for our selves. And if he prescribes certain acts of obedience, it is not because obedience is the beginning and the end of everything. It is only the beginning. Charity, divine union; transformation in Christ: these are the end. Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island p. 63