Letter to the Editor

A HYMN FOR THE UNKNOWN.

This week, families and friends will bid their last farewell to a man few knew—EFIS Pastor Tino Sauaga. While stories about our great achievers will fill the front pages of local dailies or weeklies, their accomplishments memorialized in ink, lowly folks like Tino slip away quietly—unsung and unheralded.

After the traditional feasting and gift exchanges, only his beloved wife and family and a few close friends will miss him and the legacy he left behind.

Tino wasn’t a man of national or even local repute. He wasn’t a larger-than-life figure, a celebrated artist, a known rugby player, or a stately orator. No scholar quoted him.

But long after the glorious accolades and colored photos of the known fade, the example of Christ exemplified in the life of this unassuming servant will be remembered—forever. Jesus said as much in Matthew. Those who are blessed by His Father and inherit His kingdom are not the world’s celebrities, but those who fed the hungry, offered the thirsty a cup of water, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and incarcerated.

Tino modelled humility. The church under which he served gave him an allowance to maintain a building—not the sort of work for which people are remembered. But that was one way this pastor served his Master and people—mopping floors and scrubbing toilet bowls.

The only time I know this servant came out forcefully was when he spoke of the state of Christianity in Samoa. Years ago, in an interview, he shared that many Samoans believe the Light has dawned in the islands. He didn’t think so. He believed darkness still prevailed in Samoa. He spoke at length of the yoke of the faa-Samoa (human traditions) and the burden it has placed on struggling families. The faa-Samoa, he also lamented, has succeeded in suppressing Christianity. Many, said he, value traditions over the Gospel.

This wasn’t a wild or off-the-cuff claim. We read it in the writings of liberal theologians and scholars who believe the faa-Samoa and the traditions of the ancestors are divinely-inspired or on a par with Christianity. As proof, they point to Samoan hospitality, grace, love and respect for others, as if Samoans had the monopoly on such. We forget even tax collectors and pagans, as Jesus said, practice the same (Matthew 5:46-47).

Tino maintained Samoans will continue to toil under the yoke of traditions. Only Jesus can lift the burden.  No doubt, some will find the statement controversial—even blasphemous.

In a post-Christian world, where truth is relative or even regarded as evil, it will be! And yet, none can honestly say the faa-Samoa or the god of our ancestors, Tagaloa, has transformed a single life. The truth is, only Jesus transforms—from the inside out. Only He, as Tino rightly noted, can lift the yoke of traditionalism and paganism.

When Jesus called those who labored, He meant the mass who toiled under the heavy yoke of Pharisaic laws, traditions and regulations. There is no rest under such systems. We see evidences of that in present-day “Pagan America”—burdensome laws, increased violent crimes, the killing of babies, drug addictions, domestic abuse, sexual exploitation of women and children and the worship of “Mother Earth” (Gaia) and goddesses.

Occasionally, I hear young people say, “I am proud to be Samoan!” But the same young ones complain bitterly about the burden of faalavelave (a word that literally means “entanglement” or “interruption”).

Were he still around, Tino, I’m sure, would tell them they have an infinitely better identity of which to be proud: that if they believe in Jesus’ name, then Jesus has given them the right to become children of God and they can shout confidently from the rooftops: “I am proud to be a child of God.”

I can’t think of a better hymn than the LMS “Le Aso Fiafia, le Aso Sa lenei” to underscore Tino’s life. Though the English missionaries wrote this hymn specifically for Sunday worship, it could well be a funeral hymn to celebrate a life lived for Christ (like Tino’s). It speaks of Jesus as Sabbath Rest: “Come to Me you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.”

I hope Tino’s wife, family, and close friends can joyfully sing this beautiful hymn knowing Tino believed with all his heart Jesus is his rest. Peace.

Daniel Pouesi