It was a foretaste of heaven.
Magnificent floral displays filled the park in Chiang Mai. I could hear marching bands in the street outside, the drum beats getting louder the closer they came. I would go out to enjoy the festivities when they arrived. Inside the park, music played through loudspeakers inserted in fake tree trunks, interspersed with announcements in Thai, English and Chinese. Excited people photographed one another in front of beautiful floral arrangements.
I, however, had another goal. You see, I’m part of a walking group, and each week we have a theme. My aim was to take photographs relating to the triple theme of #numbers, #celebration and #to_life (as in ‘enjoy life’, like the theme song from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’). The Chiang Mai Flower Festival ticked all the boxes.
Of course, I found myself with far too many photographs to use, but had an absolutely wonderful morning wandering about the festivities with my camera.
It was a prompt for a ‘photo walk challenge’ and not a ‘writing challenge’. However, I can’t resist putting words to some of my favourite photographs from the walk.
Hence this blog post.
#Celebration
It’s time to celebrate!
Old and young, men and women, visitors and locals, we all lined the streets as the parades, including colourful floats, made their way to the park.
Various businesses, schools, bands, special interest groups and more marched around the city. Some of the floats were ornate, while others were simple. People representing various ethnicities and regions radiated joy as they celebrated their identity. Young people represented groups such as a ‘go-cart club’, and parents walked to the side beaming with pride and occasionally ducking into the parade to hand-feed their young family members a piece of fruit or a sip of a drink. Men from around Asia who were participating in the ‘Mr Global’ competition paraded too. They were handsome and they knew it.
Pride, joy and excitement pervaded the atmosphere.
I wonder if this is something like the vision that the apostle John was given?
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.
Revelation 21:23-24 NIV (my emphasis, obviously)
#to_life
The past three years have been difficult for the city of Chiang Mai, known as ‘the rose of the north’. It relies heavily on the tourist industry, including people who come here for medical treatment, to meet with colleagues and who want a good rest. Last year, they didn’t even hold the ‘Flower Festival’ due to pandemic management restrictions. In a ‘touristy cooking class’ I took a couple of weeks ago, a teacher explained, “We all went home to our villages. We were given 800 baht a month (AU$35) to help us pay the bills, but that wasn’t enough.”
But now we’re back … ‘we’ being the tourists, and the business that we generate. And the ‘Rose of the North’ is getting back to enjoying life again.
I’m reminded of another passage of Scripture as I watch people stream towards the gate of the city and then to the park. It’s an ancient prophecy about another city and another time; a setting in which the nations will stream towards the city of God.
In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
Isaiah 2:2 NIV (again, my emphasis)
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
#Numbers
But … there is a significant reason why few of those dear souls so proudly parading their best in the city today will be part of that crowd in the age to come, representing the nations, pouring into the city of God.
Very few Thai people follow Jesus as Lord. Thai government data from the 2018 census suggests that about 1.13% of Thai people are Christians. The Thai church, however, says that the portion of Christians here is only about 0.75%. (I think that they’re only considering Protestants, but I’m not sure.) What’s more, most of those Christians are concentrated in the north-west of the country, with very few elsewhere.
There is a Thai church here and of course they should be at the forefront of outreach to their own people. But is there a place for people like myself who are followers of Jesus but from places far from here?
I would fervently and passionately say ‘YES’! Of course outsiders should work under (or at the very least alongside) the Thai church wherever possible.
These days, there is a shift in emphasis in many cross-cultural mission agencies to focus less on sending people to other places and more on people from around the world who are now living in the neighbourhoods of our passport countries. I agree that this is a very good avenue of service for people such as myself who have lived cross-culturally for a long time and now, for different reasons, find ourselves ‘at home’.
However, when you stand as part of a crowd at a celebration such as the Flower Festival today and see precious souls all around you who, statistically, are unlikely to know the Saviour, reality hits home. Some of us surely can and should relocate from our passport countries such as Australia, where 43.9% of the population identified as Christians in the 2021 census. Thailand welcomes foreigners in a variety of capacities – as retirees, in our professions, and even in certain Christian ministry roles. We can find a place for ourselves in Thai communities.
And so….
I think of my Saviour’s words:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
Yes, I know that grammatically, in the original language, the emphasis is on ‘making disciples’. This would perhaps have been better translated, “… as you go, make disciples ….”
But the ‘all nations’ part is clear. Jesus’ heart is that representatives of all nations will be part of his kingdom.
And so, as I visit this very beautiful part of the world at a particularly festive time of year, I find myself challenged afresh.
#celebrate #to_life #numbers
Bring on that day when we stream into our heavenly home in the ultimate celebration of eternal life, amongst the numbers of God’s people with people from all over the world.