A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
February 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings from Jakarta!
The new semester has begun at Jakarta Theological Seminary. I am teaching three classes this term: Liberation Theology, Systematic Theology and Contextual Christology. The first two classes are for undergraduates, and the third is a graduate class in which the students are pastors who have come back to school for continuing education.
I realize that the names of the courses may sound a bit overwhelming, and I still get nervous before each class. But perhaps if I explain each one, it won’t seem so bad. I hope my students feel that way, anyway.
Becca with her Liberation Theology students, who are in the fourth year of a five year undergraduate program to become pastors. Jakarta Theological Seminary, Feb. 21, 2011.
Liberation theology is just a fancy way of saying that Jesus wants each and every person to live the life that God means for them to have. Other types of theology have sometimes phrased this idea with the question, “Are you saved?” Over the years, that question became limited to the perspective of whether someone had made a private decision about whether to believe in Jesus. Through liberation theology, we get to “liberate” that question from such a narrow interpretation and talk about freeing people from everything that prevents their enjoying a full life in relationship to God, their neighbor and themselves. The things that people need to be saved from include from their own limitations (traditionally called sins) but also from the wider things that threaten human life. The stories of Jesus’ ministry in the Bible give us many examples of how he liberated people from whatever situation they were trapped in, whether emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical or social. Each week we discuss a different aspect of the many contemporary issues that threaten humankind, such as poverty, racism, sexism and environmental destruction. Because my students are training to be pastors in their home churches, I hope that they learn how the church as the Body of Christ exists in order to continue the same ministry of liberation that Jesus started 2,000 years ago in Palestine. My students are called to bring words and actions of liberating hope to the people of Indonesia.
Becca with her Systematic Theology students, who are in the second year of a five year undergraduate program to become pastors. Jakarta Seminary, Feb. 21, 2011.
Systematic theology is another one of those types of theological jargon that makes people’s eyes glaze over. I try to make it understandable to my students, since the topics we cover all revolve around the basic theme of who God is and how we as human beings relate to God. The course will last a year, so I have plenty of time to discuss issues such as how we know who God is, what God’s mission in the world is and how we can participate in it. The main theme of the course is God’s holy love. I explain to the students that all theology, no matter how complex, is basically an attempt to explain how God loves us. God’s love is not like human love; God’s love is a holy love because God loves everyone unconditionally and unceasingly. The best human response is to praise God for such a gracious love and to join together with others to work on loving our neighbor and ourselves in the same gracious way.
Students Debora, Theo and Nancy join Becca in a funny moment during Liberation Theology class. Jakarta Seminary, Feb. 21, 2011.
Contextual Christology is the third in my list of classes with intimidating names. It is also much easier to understand than the title suggests. The basic principle I want to share with my students is that Jesus was an Asian rather than the blond-haired, blue-eyed man we often see in drawings of him. Many Indonesians have grown up seeing that western image of Jesus in their churches, Bibles and Sunday school material. Through this class, I seek to bring Jesus back to Asia, by showing the students how we can look for models of Jesus’ teachings and values within the many cultures that make up Indonesia. Before missionaries brought the name of Jesus to Indonesia, the Holy Spirit was already at work in Indonesian society preparing the way for people to hear the Good News through their remarkably vibrant and creative cultural expressions. In past years when I have taught this course, the students have found traditional songs, dances, artwork and even shadow puppet characters that spoke to the Creator’s amazing love for creation. In this class, I help the students celebrate and lift up that creativity and see how it can be a bridge to teach Indonesians of the hope they can find in our Creator God’s love expressed through Jesus Christ.
As I describe these classes, I realize what a privilege it is to be able to share with these Indonesian young people what I believe about God and what I have learned and experienced over the years in my Christian journey. At the same time I am humbled by the privilege that I have been given through your generosity to my mission, which enables me to be here and be with these students day in and day out. I thank you and hope that wherever your path takes you today, you also may find ways in which to tell the people around you about God’s holy and liberating love for them.
Peace to you and yours,
Becca
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 138
