Mely Wezah
United Theological College, Bangalore
The whole world had suffered untold miseries from the pandemic in the past two years and was looking forward to a brighter and better year ahead as the New Year rings in. On 1st January 2022, everyone was welcoming the New Year with the traditional wish for ‘a prosperous and successful year’ to their loved and dear ones. As the New Year begins with much hope, unfortunately, we were also saddened by the tragic news that followed the New Year celebrations in our land. The passing of a former member of the Chakhesang Mission Center Church (CMCC) the next day (2nd January) brought much gloom and sadness, celebrations turned into mourning for the community as the young man, who passed on at Kohima was nurtured and brought up in this very church. Again, on 3rd January people woke up to the tragic news of the burning down of the Chakhesang Mission Centre Church, Pfutsero. Messages, pictures and videos of the CMCC inferno were flooded on social Media (whatsapps, facebook and Instagram etc). It is said that the incident happened at around 3:00 AM when people were in deep sleep. No concrete reasons for the fire could be ascertained as most of the people were asleep at this wee hour, thus putting the entire blame on the faulty electrical short circuit for the tragedy.
The incident was a major setback because it is a rare case when a church gets burnt down. Burning of houses and other properties were not a new phenomenon but not the church. Many womenfolk can be heard weeping for the loss of the church. This is a normal process when humans have a close attachment with the persons/objects. It left many fellow church members and well wishers speechless and numbed. In the midst of this ongoing crisis, there were messages from the church elders to limit the spread of the news so that it does not go viral, albeit, unsuccessfully, as the news began to spread far and wide, breaching the privacy of the unfortunate incident. Since the church is composed of a large number of congregations, varied opinions, criticisms as well as concerns were shared by many, within and outside the church. Both rational and irrational thoughts began to show up on various social media put forth by members of such groups. Beliefs and superstitions are part and parcel of our lives and cannot be easily driven away. Several members commented on the tragedy with a judgmental attitude, considering it as a sign of bad omen, caused due to the accumulation of sins, of pride, and for being materialistic and not spiritual and has brought shame and disgrace not only to the church but the whole Chakhesang community! The Pastor and the Executive Secretary shoulder major responsibilities as they are the spiritual leaders of this church and Council respectively. Others commented that the Christmas decorations are beautified for earning fame and losing the essence of Christmastide. It has become a competition rather than hailing and welcoming our Lord Jesus Christ.
Within less than a year (April, 2021) one Reverend under the Chakhesang Baptist Church Council (CBCC) was suspended for some months. Minister(s) of God need to know the boundaries particularly in maintaining the relationship with the politicians. In Mizoram, the church is powerful and everyone adheres to it, whereas in Nagaland, politicians control the church affairs. It also questioned the efficiency and competency of the so-called shepherds!
Elbert Ellis, a well-known Psychologist and proponent of Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) says in his ABCD model that people develop crises not because of the event (incident) but the belief of an individual. This belief is irrational! Here the belief is not the burning of the church but how people interpreted (the above points) and spread the news which caused more disturbances. Again, psychologists say that how people think of us disturbs our thoughts more than what we think of ourselves.
Human beings are sinful by nature, one cannot claim to be totally free of sin from this sinful world. Therefore, who are we to judge our fellow-humans? In judging others, we are no better than others except to be labeled as hypocrites. In the Story of Siloam (Luke 13:4), Jesus refers to the collapse of the Tower of Siloam which resulted in the death of 18 people. Do we think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? Humanly speaking, they were not worse offenders than the others living in Jerusalem. The point is we should not be judgmental because none knows the mind of our God (excerpt from a well-experienced Psychotherapist in dealing clients with irrational beliefs).
On the brighter side, technology is at a rapid pace and everything goes viral once we update it on Social Media. Most of us want to get the latest updates/news from any corners of the world but want this very news of the incident to be hidden. We want to glorify the success stories and cover the catastrophic events. Count Galeazzo Ciano has delineated, “Victory has a hundred Fathers and defeat is an Orphan.” Thanks to Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram etc because of which many people came forward and expressed their solidarity. Had not these facilities been available, many people would not even know about it and might not have received the kind of overwhelming support it got from far and near. For instance, our Konyak brethren (KBBB) from Mon Town visited, consoled, prayed and handed over Rs. 3,00,000/-. The technological communication world we live in made such support possible to a large extent. That said, maintaining the ethics of Social Media is vital considering the times we live in.
To put it all together, a renowned Journalist in Nagaland commented, “Sometimes, I feel very insecure standing near the church because it gradually becomes the symbol of the rich.” The suspension of one Reverend under the CBCC indicates that all is not well with the church’s functionaries. A large loophole is visible which needs to be fixed immediately. A new year has dawned; a new hope is lit and nothing is too late to begin. With deep regret and sorrow, we mourn for the loss and extend our solidarity to the bereaved families and the community. Only the sufferer will feel the pains and agony of such tragedies. On the other hand, we are grateful to God for the renewal of our commitment, a broken heart which draws closer to God will lead to a life of humility and empathy in due course of time. In China, the word CRISIS has a significant meaning and is referred to as an opportunity. The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis'. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. Let this bring for us all an opportunity to serve our Lord with greater zeal and energy. I pray that God helps us all in the restoration of our beloved church, the CMCC.
