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We hold this treasure in earthen vessels

(2 Cor 4:7)

           As we celebrate the Fifth Anniversary of the CFC Jakarta Expatriate Chapter, Jean and I, as well as our youngest son, Jonjon, wish to bid you farewell, our dear brothers and sisters in the community of Couples for Christ and its Family Ministries in Indonesia. Although my term at the ASEAN Secretariat has been extended I have decided not to complete it. We are convinced that it is now time for us to go back home and join our three sons, Joubert, Joel and Jenner. We will leave behind with you, and in your care, our daughter, Joyce, and son-in-law, Mickey, and our two grandchildren, Miko and Mita.

            At about the same time last year, on the occasion of our Fourth Anniversary, I wrote to you about how the Lord called us into the CFC community. I also described how God called us, shortly thereafter, to come to Jakarta to help establish the CFC expatriate community (see Chapter 29). This community, I am happy to report, has grown from only 12 persons in September 1993 to 370 persons at present comprising of 13 nationalities. In addition, there are 135 once active members of the community who completed the Christian Life Program in Jakarta but have since returned home or moved to other countries. We have never imagined that the Lord would be this generous!

            We will cherish very fond memories of the past six years. Without a bit of exaggeration, these have been the happiest years of our life. We have felt the Lord’s loving presence in the community. We have heard his gentle voice in all the prayer meetings, teachings and retreats. We have experienced his love directly and through the many brothers and sisters in the community who have touched our lives. The community has helped us grow in our personal relationship with Jesus. We have also been privileged to encounter the Blessed Mother through our pilgrimages to Lourdes, Sendang Sono, Bannuex and Fatima during these past years.

    During the past six years our life revolved around Couples for Christ. All our other activities were planned around the activities of the community – even my attendance to meetings related to my work at the ASEAN Secretariat. Couples for Christ was the reason for our being in Jakarta and its activities had first priority.

    When we came to Jakarta in 1993, we came for a very definite purpose. We were certain that the Lord had called us to help establish the CFC expatriate community. We were “spiritual babies” but were full of enthusiasm for evangelization and fired-up with the Spirit. But our first two years were trying and difficult. The Lord made us pass through the furnace of suffering to purify and strengthen us. Jean and I spent countless evenings reflecting and talking about our difficulties, about the things being said regarding us, about the complaints being aired against us. Jean was brought to tears on many occasions. But we bore these silently. We were so sure about God’s will and his task for us that we just carried on and willingly carried our cross. We had peace in our minds and joy in our hearts because we were confident that we were doing God’s work. And we always felt strongly the presence of God!

            But God never allows periods of desolation to stay too long. The past three years have been heaven on earth for us. We feel the very warm love and deep respect of all our brothers and sisters in the community. At the same time, we are overjoyed that God has allowed new servant-leaders to develop and emerge. And we have heard the Lord saying that it is time for us to go. The Lord wants the new servant-leaders that he has raised to lead the community. The Lord wants them to assist the Indonesian community to the extent and in a manner that Jean and I can never do since we do not speak the language.

            As we leave, the Lord is entrusting the leadership of the Jakarta Expatriate Chapter to Bro Bert and Sis Ditas Lara, as the new Chapter Leaders. We are spinning off the unit under Bro Bonnie to form a new chapter, the CFC South Jakarta Chapter, to be headed by Bro Bonnie and Sis Linda Blando, as Chapter Leaders. Since our family ministries have also grown tremendously, particularly the Singles for Christ, we are also forming separate Jakarta Family Ministries to be headed by Bro Alex and Sis Connie Nartates, as Jakarta Head of Ministries. The Family Ministries (Singles for Christ and Youth for Christ) will also have their own monthly assembly. We believe that a major factor in the evangelization of Indonesia will be the SFC community. The Lord has called (80 percent of our SFC are Indonesians) and will continue to call many young, English-speaking, Indonesian singles into SFC. The future of CFC in Indonesia is now being shaped in our SFC community.

            My brothers and sisters, the Lord has a message for all of you, especially the servant-leaders. We ask you to keep these words to heart, guiding your plans, decisions, thinking, behavior and attitude. For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ. But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us  (2 Cor 4:5-7).

     Paul is responding here to the charges of his detractors who claim that he is too weak and unimpressive to qualify as an apostle of Christ. To this Paul responds, “Yes, I may indeed be weak but I do not preach myself. I preach Jesus Christ who is strong. My companion and I are mere slaves of Christ, but Jesus whom we proclaim is Lord of lords and King of kings.”

            Remember these words. We do not preach ourselves. We preach Jesus Christ. We might be weak, but we do not preach based on our weakness but on the strength of Christ. There is another aspect to this. Since we do not preach ourselves but Christ, let no one then have any personal ambition or motive other than making known to others our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Let no one seek honor, popularity and reward other than that of knowing Christ. Let no one say I belong to Bro Bert, or I belong to Bro Bonnie, or I belong to Bro Alex. But let everyone say I belong to Christ. And let everyone be united under the banner of Christ!

            God has given to our community a special treasure – the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ. But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels – us. Although renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit, although enjoying a close personal relationship with Jesus, we remain weak, fragile vessels of God’s graces. God has chosen it to be that way so that we may not commit the sin of the angels, so that we may acknowledge that all that we are able to do, all that we are able to accomplish come from the power of God.

            Recognizing that we are but vessels of clay, we must pray for strength and perseverance. And if we break, we must ask God to mold us once more and shape us into worthy vessels of his graces. Blessed Josemaria Escriva once said, “What is most important in the Church is not how we humans react but how God acts. This is what the Church is: Christ present in our midst, God coming toward men in order to save them, calling us with his revelation, sanctifying us with his grace, maintaining us with his constant help, in the great and small battles of our daily life.” My brothers and sisters, the vessel is not the most important. What it contains is.

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