A Final Farewell to My Friend Ko Ye Myint

The last time I saw him was on the 6th of June, 2011. According to him he had forced my family, my wife and my two daughters, to visit him for he couldn’t come to see us, due to his terminal illness. To be exact, he had been suffering from intestinal cancer, which had spread throughout his body. He had a bout with it for about the past two and a half years, which was treated but had a recurrence a year later. But I and my family were more than willing to pay him a visit.

During our visit of around two hours, we talked about our relation, which had begun for three decades and his treatment situation. I must say that he looked alert and strong for a man, who had been on medication and tube-feeding for a few months, apart from the devastating chemotherapy that he had gone through. He told me that this had ruined his liver and had led to kidney failure.

But little that I know that it would be our last meeting. He looked sad, when we hugged and said good-bye. For he definitely knew that this encounter would be the last, but wouldn't give us a hint. Even in his final hours, he didn’t want to burden us with sorrow and instead kept it to himself until the end. He was such a fine gentleman.

On the 24th of June, I received a phone call from a friend in Cologne that Ko Ye Myint passed away at 04:45 a.m. Although this didn’t surprise me, due to the given circumstances and nature of his illness, still a wave of sadness and sorrow swept all over me. I was thinking he would survive for another few more months to give alms to a monk highly respected by him together with all of us, which was his sole wish uttered to me at the last meeting.

It is a great loss to lose such a fine gentleman and a devoted friend. He had been a dedicated and farsighted Burma activist, who never fails to adhere to the big picture of “equality, democracy and human rights” in all aspects.

While he had made numerous contributions to the cause during his time as a Burma activist, two struck me as outstanding ones, which will serve as reminders for the rest of my life.

One was the Berlin Conference on Burma in 1993, where representatives of Mon, Karen, Kachin, Shan and Arakanese among others participated, where non-Burman ethnics’ grievances and hopes were spelled out for the first time in unison to the world. Ever since, the non-Burman ethnics have been thankful and consciously indebted to Ko Ye Myint’s and his comrades for facilitating this opportunity to make their voice heard, the world over.

Come Ye Thankful People, Come, Spiritual Living, Christian Faith

When Henry Alford was only sixteen years old, he wrote a statement of faith in the front of his Bible: "I do this day, in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies."

Alford was born in London, England, on Oct. 7, 1810.  He was nurtured by Christian parents and greatly influenced by a grandfather and father who were Anglican clergyman. Their example guided him into a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.

Upon graduation from Trinity College, Cambridge, he began his public ministry in London as theologian, poet and musician. The statement of faith written in his Bible when he was a young man of sixteen was joyfully fulfilled during his life of service.

Dr. Alford was eventually appointed Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, known as the "mother-church" of England. That prestigious position gave him a place where he could resist the high church movement of the Anglican Church. His death in 1871 at age sixty-one left a void in the hearts of many people whom God had touched through his ministry.  But the world was also left with one of its most memorable hymns of thanksgiving in beautiful words that he composed: " Come Ye Thankful People, Come ."

It was written to celebrate the beautiful days of harvest festival in the English countryside.

The glory of creation is breathtaking and everyone is invited to join the festivities in loving response to a faithful God:

A thankful heart is pleasing to God. Since the beginning of America's history, governors and presidents have declared the necessity of a special day to give thanks. But a specific day was not officially set until 1941, when Congress voted that each fourth Thursday in November would be an official holiday of Thanksgiving.

Let us rejoice and sing praises.  Psalm 100  proclaims, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord all ye lands... Enter His gates with thanksgiving."

O God, we enter into a covenant of praise and thanksgiving for the glories of our Lord and Savior Jesus, Christ. There is no greater praise we can offer than the thankfulness that He has come into our hearts. As Christians, we feast on that First Love. All other blessings are dim in comparison. From that relationship flow the blessings of earthly love. In the powerful  name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.

Lucy Adams is the author of  52 Hymn Story Devotions . She may be reached for comment at lucya424@aol.