This is my story - 15

15 – Ancestor worship

The Lord has a wonderful way of preparing his servants for service in His Kingdom. In an earlier chapter, I mentioned the fact that my mother inherited the religious icons from her mother. I can still picture right in our sitting room facing the front door was the Christian altar with the cross of Jesus Christ and the candlesticks. Of course there was also the picture of Mary the Mother of Jesus. We all adored her and never failed to cry out “Hail Mary.” Neighbours passing our flat would know we were a Christian family.

This was during the Japanese occupation (1942-45) when our family attended the Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul at Queen Street. Our knowledge of the Christian faith was very limited and we still practised ancestor worship. (The Salvation Army was proscribed during this period)

In our Lorong Limau flat, in the kitchen at the back, the family still kept the ancestral tablets, plus the kitchen god whom we feared and revered. Every year just before Chinese New Year, like many Chinese families we would offer the sticky sweet cakes called “ti kway” to give the kitchen god a good send off on his way to report to the god of heaven! The report of the kitchen god to the god of heaven on the individual family is generally believed to have much to do with family fortunes for the next year.

My mother became a Christian, but in her spiritual immaturity, she still revered and worshipped our dead ancestors. She wanted to remain filial to both her parents! Mother did not let the priest know we still retained and worshipped the ancestral tablets and kitchen god.

Like all ancestor worshippers, Mother believed life in the other world parallels life on earth. The departed still live in the same way as we do and have the same needs, therefore filial descendents must continue to provide the deceased with their needs – food, clothing etc. Failure to do so will leave them in want. The ancestral tablet is carefully kept and worshipped. As a child, I was taught to hold joss sticks and pray to my ancestors. On special days food was offered so that the souls of our ancestors would not go hungry. In gratitude and in respect, even the poor will scrape together enough money to offer a chicken, some fruit or wine to their ancestors on auspicious occasions.

As Christians we know the state of the dead is not a continuation of this life neither is it the same as life on earth like having physical needs for food, clothing, money, and so on.

As I grew grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, I learned to reject the beliefs which contradict Scripture. Filial duty is a virtue we all need to practise, but we should worship only God who is sovereign. “And God spoke all these words, ‘I am the LORD your God….you shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20: 1-3)

In my last chapter I mentioned the incident of the lady who came with the request that her ancestral tablets and idols be removed. Because of my background and with divine guidance I was able to act in a very sensitive manner, removing the religious icons, placing them neatly in a pile, saying a prayer before burning them. Then we returned to the house to give thanks to the Father and to pray that prayer of cleansing and purifying the home of our sister and her family.

Most of the folk attending our Malacca Salvation Army Church were very simple kampong folk with very limited understanding of the Christian faith. It was a big challenge for me in my first appointment to guide these in their Christian faith. Those days in Malacca, stationed alone were very challenging days.

Thank God, we know Jesus Christ came to earth, died on the cross and on the third day rose again. Thus He has abolished death and those who believe in Him and accept Him as Saviour has eternal life. When we leave this world of sin, we go immediately to be with Him.