Harvest Festival

We are about to enter the 4th lockdown in 16 months, and yesterday's Sunday service was especially special. It was also the Harvest Festival for the majority tribe in Sabah and I was extremely proud to lead the prayers for the salvation of the indigenous peoples of the land and prayed that those who had believed would not fall away. It has been an incredible three months of church activities since the last lockdown and I was pleased that my photo album collection increased with hardly any photos for February but more than 60 photos were taken in church this May.

For the first time I wore the Kadazan Dusun traditional attire in church on a Sunday as I was not letting the opportunity to rejoice before the Lord and the indigneous community that I had served for nearly 27 years. Some church members were still reticent in wearing their traditional dress as it reminds them of their pagan past which they had left behind. I only mentioned in passing last Sunday that I would be donning the attire, the first time since my wedding in Tambunan, a strong hold of Dusun culture from where their paramount leader (Huguan Siou) originated. He is now 80 years old and there was talk of the next paramount leader for their community. During the Dusun song (God's goodness) I had a double vision of leading a traditional dance in the largest hall of the State and ironically the youth leader shouted to me as I ascended to the pulpit after the sermon - "pastor menari!" (pastor pls dance) and I smiled and later told the youth leader that perhaps next year I would be taking up the challenge, like David who danced with all his might before the Lord and how the Lord blessed the nation through a leader who worships God with abandon and great exuberance.