Learning at the Chapel!

Epilogue

2011-01-13T10:56:00.002+08:00

This blog has been discontinued and all comments have been disabled. You are most welcome, though, to browse through the posts. God bless.

The 5Ps' of the Lord's Prayer

2010-06-11T11:04:00.000+08:00

What follows is the 'structure' of the Lord's Prayer shared at a recent Adult Cathecism class. Assuming Jesus taught us to pray thus, it would reflect what God Himself 'looks for' in a prayer (content-wise, at least). I'll also assume the prayer should reflect a sense of priority, completeness and cogency. So here goes:

1. Praise - all due reverence and honour; without privileging any particular 'form' of worship / adoration / practice, it's pertinent that hallowing God's name is a supreme priority

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

2. Praxis - nothing here about believers 'going to heaven', rather it's about us 'bringing heaven down'

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven

3. Provision (both physical as well as spiritual) - it's worth reflecting on the possibility that forgiveness is a form of inter-dependent spiritual nourishment(!)...

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

4. Protection - temptation and evil (all personally- and relationally-destructive forms of anti-life) seem to encompass all we need to be wary of

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

5. Purpose - that which makes sense of and completes all the fore-going i.e. we pray all of this because ultimately it - everything - 'goes back' to He Who is the Source and Lord of it all

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. for ever and ever.

Amen

If the Church were Christian...

2010-04-07T08:12:00.000+08:00

Author Phillip Gully (of the book If the Church were Christian) claims that, well, 'if the Church were Christian,' then:

Jesus Would Be a Model for Living Rather Than an Object of Worship
Affirming Our Potential Would Be More Important Than Condemning Our Brokenness
Reconciliation Would Be Valued over Judgment
Gracious Behavior Would Be More Important Than Right Belief
Inviting Questions Would Be Valued More Than Supplying Answers
Encouraging Personal Exploration Would Be More Important Than Communal Uniformity
Meeting Needs Would Be More Important Than Maintaining Institutions
Peace Would Be More Important Than Power
It Would Care More About Love and Less About Sex
This Life Would Be More Important Than the Afterlife

Do you agree?

The Prodigal Son (Sermon 14/3/10)

2010-03-14T15:17:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

National Postal Bible Quiz (April 10th, 11am)

2010-03-10T10:35:00.000+08:00

Luther House Chapel is glad to be a center for the National Postal Bible Quiz 2010. Below is the invitation letter from SUFES:

Dear friends,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

I think it’s not too late for us to wish you a most blessed and hopeful New Year. Once again we look forward to a meaningful Postal Quiz experience for 2010. We hope that you will continue to encourage your students to study for the SPM Bible Knowledge subject despite the limited number of subjects allowed and also the current uncertainties concerning the SPM BK subject. As for the Postal Quiz project, let it continue to be a catalyst to spur our young people to study God’s Word in depth and develop a sense of belonging as a community of believers as they sit for the Quiz together.

As the Organizer of the Quiz we have been greatly encouraged yearly to see the increase in numbers of centres and participants and to get positive feedback about how the Quiz project has created greater interest in God’s Word. We pray that our partnership in reaching the next generation with God’s Word will continue to bear much fruit to the glory of His name. Let’s have faith that the Quiz is a small step to build up a generation of biblically sound citizens leading the country in every area of government or private enterprise.

Do help us to publicize this Quiz project to others who might have not heard or known about it so that the number of centers and participants will continue to increase. We thank you for being our faithful friends and partners in this project and may God reward each one of you with His presence and love as you serve Him faithfully.

With thanks,
Runa wan Eng (Coordinator for the 11th National Postal Bible Knowledge (BK) Quiz 2010)

Details for the quiz held at Luther House are as follows:

Date / Time : April 10th 2010 (Saturday), 11.00am – 11.45am
Venue : Luther House Chapel, 1st and 2nd Floor
Eligibility : Any one of any age!
Format of Questions : 50 questions (20 fill-in-the-blanks questions and 30 multiple choice questions)
Language Options : English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil and Iban
Bible Passage : Genesis 12-15 and Luke 15:24
Cost : Free!

Participants who score 40% and above will be awarded the MCSC (Malayan Christian Schools’ Council) certificate. The top ten highest scoring participants will be awarded the Rosie Cheah Award (consisting of a medal & entitlement for a free Scripture Union Camp).

For anyone interested (and all are encouraged) please write to Alwyn to register. Closing date for registration is April 4th, 2010.

"I'm a Back-Slider!" (by Greg Boyd)

2010-02-27T00:32:00.000+08:00

Go here for the original blog-post:

I suspect I’m more carnal than most, but I’m stunned at how easy it is for me to “backslide.” I’m not talking about falling into some heinous sin. I just find I gravitate strongly toward an atheistic consciousness. I’ll go for a couple of days easily remaining aware of God’s presence, moment-by-moment, but then I’ll go through a long period of slumber during which my God-awareness is spotty at best. This is how its been with me, more or less, for more than 20 years!

Brother Lawrence, Frank Laubach and Jean de Caussade each speak of experiencing a transformation after which “practicing the presence of God” was as natural to them as breathing. I thought I was getting close to this sort of breakthrough last year when I was writing a book on this discipline (called Present Perfect) but I now suspect this was simply because my mind tends to be totally occupied with whatever I happen to be writing about at the time. This year I’m back to being pretty much the same old atheistic-minded Greg.

One thing I know for sure, however. The question of how successful or unsuccessful I’ve been at staying awake to God’s presence over the last year, or over the last five minutes, is completely worthless. So is the question of when, if ever, I’ll undergo a God-consciousness transformation. God is always in the now, so the only relevant question is: Am I awake to God’s presence now, in this moment?

And now, in this one?

In him we live and move and have our being, Paul says. The challenge is remembering this, moment-by-moment.

Stay awake!

Singapore’s internal security department calls up pastor

2010-02-09T11:59:00.000+08:00

Read full news report here (extract below). What does this tell us about how to speak of other religions and faiths?

"SINGAPORE, Feb 9 — The founder and senior pastor of a Christian church here publicly apologised last night for being “offensive” and “insensitive” after three video clips of him questioning Buddhist and Taoist beliefs sparked outrage among many Singaporeans.

Pastor Rony Tan from Lighthouse Evangelism church posted his apology on the church’s website after being called up by the Internal Security Department (ISD).

The videos showed the pastor addressing two church followers — a former monk and a former nun — in front of his congregation. In the clips, which lasted more than 25 minutes, Tan, who is in his 60s, questioned Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, touching on topics such as Nirvana, reincarnation and Karma. The congregation was heard laughing and clapping at several points. The videos were uploaded on the church’s website.

Last Thursday, the videos were posted on several social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube. They subsequently made their rounds on numerous online forums.

It is understood complaints were made to the Police, ministers and the Presidential Council of Religious Harmony."

Tension

2010-02-09T11:37:00.001+08:00

Original article by Tan Soo-Inn posted here:

Spoke to a group of Anglican youth last Tuesday morning (Feb 2nd). The topic assigned to me was a mouthful --- and important. I was told to speak on "Preparing to live out your faith in a real and broken world" to a group of young people between the ages of 17 and 22. As I looked at the young souls before me, I wanted to say "you must listen to this. This is important. You do not know what a fallen world will throw at you as you grow up!" But I didn't. Most of them had not gone through any life crunching struggles. I could only hope that they would remember the things I shared when they needed to. I could only claim for them the promise that God would not let them be tested beyond what they could bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Still, I tried my best to tell them a few things from my own journey and from the Word. I told them that the world is broken because of sin. (Images from Haiti were still dominating the media.) I told them that God entered human existence in Jesus, and that He knows the human condition firsthand. I told them that Jesus had defeated evil decisively on the Cross, but that the fullness of the restoration must await His return.

I told them that one of the skills they had to learn as they grow up is to be able to live with ambiguity and with tension. In this case, they had to be able to live with the twin truths that the victory over brokenness has already been won at the Cross ("it is finished" John 19:30) while the full experience of that victory awaits the new heaven and the new earth. They had to hold on to both truths. They had to be confident of the victorious power of God when the storms of life hit. They should confidently pray to their Abba Father and expect that Abba will never let them down. In a world that is increasingly secular, I wanted them to be confident of the reality, the character, and the power of the living God.

At the same time I didn't want them to be disillusioned if their prayers didn't get answered in the way they wanted or in their preferred time frame. They had to learn, as all of us have to at some point, about the utter sovereignty of God. He will still do what is best whether we recognise that best or not this side of heaven. I told the young people that there have been times in my life when I was totally perplexed by something that God did or didn't do. But I also told them that I had known God long enough to trust in His character even when I didn't understand His methods.

I wasn't sure if anything I said was getting through. As expected, with a group of young people, there was a lot of teasing and chatting while the talk was going on. I found this very distracting and I gave my usual spiel in such situations, that if the talk was not helpful they could leave the room and I wouldn't hold it against them. That worked for all of fifteen minutes. (Confession: I get stressed out speaking to youth which is why I prefer to speak to groups college aged and older.) I had some break out sessions with small group discussion, which resulted in more interaction --- and more noise. They did give me a thank you card after I finished. The card contained a number of notes which said that they had learned a lot from my talk, and had been inspired. I wanted to believe them.

In any case I closed by saying that there were two things they could do to fortify their faith for whatever lay ahead in their lives. They had to encounter the Lord on a regular basis through reading the Word. And they must have a few close spiritual friends to walk with. I turned to my favourite passage, the Emmaus Road Encounter from Luke 24: 13-49 and pointed that in times when God seems to have failed us, we need a friend to walk with, and we need to let Jesus sear our hearts with the Word. I hoped that if they got nothing from my talk, they would remember these two essentials of following Jesus: Scripture and spiritual friends. I think most of them did. And if they did, they would be prepared to live out their faith in a real and broken world. If they had these two things in place, they would encounter Christ in their brokenness, and in encountering Christ they will find healing, and meaning, and the equipping they needed to help others.

(Was I seventeen once?)

Adult (Video!) Bible Study

2010-02-09T09:49:00.000+08:00

Wanna know what we're doing for Adult Bible Study? We're interacting with Yale Divinity School's Bible study series, on the Gospel of Luke (the below was what we viewed last weekend). Join us!

Jesus and All We Ever Want(ed) (Sermon 7/2/09)

2010-02-08T09:06:00.001+08:00

Jesus and All We Ever Want(ed) on Prezi

Just click on the 'arrow' and wait a while for the file to load (shouldn't take too long).

Did You Know? 4.0

2010-01-29T17:14:00.001+08:00

Is this relevant to the church? How?

"It's Time to put your Sermon Online"

2010-01-20T23:36:00.001+08:00

Kevin Finn from Church Marketing Sucks writes:

"Each week pastors across the world are creating valuable content. They work hard studying, praying and seeking the wisdom of others. They then polish of this all into a sermon that's (typically) delivered on Sunday morning. For years churches have been recording these sermons to CDs or tapes for those who are unable to attend the service. More recently though, some have been publishing their messages online. So is it time for your pastor to go digital?

Let's start by taking a look at the potential benefits posting your sermons online can have:

For members who missed the service. Each week there is a percentage of your congregation that will be unable to attend the service for various reasons. For those people, providing easy access to the sermon online is a great service. This is especially important if your pastor teaches in series.
Spreading the word. Beyond your own congregation, there are people who will benefit from hearing these messages. Posting your sermons online lets people easily share sermons with friends through e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. A timely message may speak to a non-Christian's heart in ways nothing else has.
Easy distribution. Once you put the pieces in place, people can subscribe to your sermons. Each time a new message goes online, they can be notified and in some cases the sermons will automatically be loaded onto their portable players or phones.
Listen again. There are some sermons that are just so rich and deep that it's hard to take it all in Sunday morning. Being able to listen to the sermon again at home, work or in the car can be invaluable.
Promotional purposes. More and more people are searching online to find new churches. Letting people listen to sermons right from your web site gives them get a taste of the church culture, teaching style and the personality of the pastor.
Historical archiving. Remember that sermon from last year's Christmas Eve service? Posting your sermons online gives your members, and your pastor, easy access to all past sermons; just a few clicks away."

Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests (Live Wire News)

2010-01-19T16:13:00.000+08:00

Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing - an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David's reign.

The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.)
Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month.

"It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research," said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text. (Read the full article)

Pat Robertson and Haiti's Deal with the Devil

2010-01-18T17:33:00.000+08:00

Last week, Pat Robertson implied that the January 12 earthquake in Haiti was tied to an 18th century pact with the devil. During the slave rebellion of 1791, Vodou priest Dutty Boukman performed a ceremony at Bois Caïman, apparently making a pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. According to Robertson, "the Devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.'"

To be fair, although Robertson did cross the line in his implication, he seemed to exit that part of the conversation and move on toward rallying people to pray for and give to the people of Haiti. A spokesman for CBN later said that "Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath."

Church Marketing Sucks helpfully reminds that we look really crazy when we, "say things that have no place in the public conversation. It's one thing for Robertson to wrestle with the sovereignty of God. It's quite another to suggest he knows specifics about how the devil or God operates when it comes to natural disasters."

Viewing salvation through what we can buy/sell and profit from

2010-01-18T16:46:00.002+08:00

Kester Brewin writes passionately about what he called 'altruistic capitalism' and he starts out with a commentary on Jesus' conversation with the rich man:

"It’s one of those stories that jumps from the page at you. A man – a good guy by all accounts – comes to Jesus with the blunt question that others had probably been too scared to ask: how do I get eternal life? You can imagine the wry smile breaking across Jesus’ face. ‘It’s simple, isn’t it?’ he says. ‘Just obey the commandments.’ The man is perhaps more relaxed, more confident now, and comes back at him: which ones? To which he gets the obvious reply: don’t kill people, don’t be unfaithful, don’t steal stuff, don’t lie… Yeah, yeah, yeah the man says, cutting Jesus off before he recites the entire list. ‘I’ve done all that…’

And then comes the hit. Jesus turns, fixes him with his gaze and speaks right to the heart of the matter: go and sell all you have, and give the money to the poor. The man turns away sadly and walks away, the camera holding a long shot as he walks off into the distance, slowly and thoughtfully. He is a rich man, gutted."

What I think Jesus meant by his answer was this: you are trying to view your salvation through the eyes of what you can buy and sell and profit from. What you can do. But you need an entirely different economy, a totally different way of ordering your house.

And I think this is utterly pertinent at the current time. When we have profits privatised and losses nationalised, bankers and celebrities raking obscene amounts of money into personal fortunes something is wrong with the world. Especially when they then present themselves as altruists by giving small portions of it away in grand gestures. Or when companies like Starbucks dress our consumption up as ethical action: buy this coffee and save a poor farmer.

And it is particularly pertinent in the aftermath of the horror of the earthquake in Haiti. We see the politicians on both sides of the atlantic with their bleeding-heart messages about the disaster…. when in reality the West has f*cked Haiti over time and time again – preventing proper development, forcing the poor into cities and sweatshops to create cheap clothing for the US, suffering coups supported by the CIA… and now told that they deserved this earthquake because they sold their souls to the devil when they bought themselves out of slavery from France.

Please, please give generously to help Haiti get back on its feet. But in a week or so when the story has gone from our screens, let’s not forget them, and let’s try to get the systemic issues sorted out. They need debt forgiven. They need minimum wage agreements. They need symmetric fair trade agreements. They need to be given a fair chance, especially by the US.

As I say in the post on what looks like being a great conference, Oscar Wilde had it right when he said that the worst slave owners were the ones who were kind to their slaves. Why? Because they prolonged the horrors of an abusive system. And yes, that, on the grand scale, is what altruistic capitalism looks like.

5 Views of Christian Salvation

2010-01-17T09:37:00.000+08:00

Whilst some of the below views are in a clear minority (e.g. Universalism and Restrictivism), it must be emphasized that among their proponents can be found the most committed, God-fearing and world-caring Christians. The point of showing the spectrum is, if nothing else, to open up our perceptions and understanding of the beliefs of our brothers and sisters.

5 Views Salvation

Bishop Lok's Message (Jan 10, 2009)

2010-01-14T11:42:00.000+08:00

The following was presented by the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore, the Rt. Rev. Philip Lok, as the opening comment during a dialogue session held between representatives of the Church in Malaysia with the leadership of the the Pakatan Rakyat coalition held on January 10, 2009 at Luther Centre, Petaling Jaya:

"First, on behalf of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore, I welcome Datuk Seri Anwar, and all other distinguished guests to Luther Centre. How I wished that your first visit to the headquarters of the Lutheran Church is under more pleasant circumstances.

As Christians, we are very saddened and shocked by the terrible events which took placed in our nation during the past 2 days. Our dream for a peaceful and progressive Malaysia was viciously shattered by the petrol bombs. These series of unjustifiable attacks upon churches have shaken the very foundation of our Malaysian society and scarred our common psyche. On a personal level, I am distressed by the fact that one of our oldest Lutheran churches was also attacked yesterday.

Christians are called to be peacemakers. We are entrusted by God to carry out a special task in this world - to be agents of reconciliation. Therefore, in times such as these, the Church is committed to work with any parties that have a genuine burden in the pursuit of peace and stability in our country. In times like these, we need leaders who are confident, and open-minded enough to engage in dialogues to promote understanding and goodwill among the religious groups in our nation.

During the past two days, I have received many emails from churches around the world pledging their prayer support for the church in Malaysia. One of them comes from the Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem, Bishop Munib Younan. Bishop Younan, an Arab Christian, met Datuk Seri last October in a Muslim-Christian dialogue in Georgetown University. In his letter, Bishop Younan argues that the word ‘Allah’ has been freely used by Arab Christians for nearly 2000 years! He further urges Datuk Seri and fellow lawmakers to safeguard the freedom of worship for the Christian community in Malaysia.

While the events of the past 48 hours have cast a dark cloud over our people, yet there are still pockets of hope that shine through. Allow me to share a story which just took place this Sunday morning, and I believe that stories like this must be retold over and over again in our conversations.

One of our churches in Petaling Jaya is located just next to a mosque. Yesterday, just as our worship service was about to start, three Malay gentlemen walked into the church. They identified themselves as leaders from the adjacent mosque, and gave their affirmation to the church of their continual friendship. They further assured the church that it is safe to continue with our services and ministries.

Dear friends, this is the kind of generous spirit which we need to cultivate in all Malaysians. This is the kind of goodwill that must permeate every strata of our society.

In response to such kindness, I also urged our church members to go and do likewise in the course of this week. We must go to our Muslim neighbors, our Muslim colleagues or our Muslim classmates, and affirm our friendship with them. This is the way of peace. This is the Christian way, and the only way we know. We have no other options."

4 Models of the Emerging Church

2010-01-13T10:07:00.000+08:00

Read the full article here:

1. Deconstructionist Model: Probably the most well known group of emerging churches these churches are truly postmodern in just about every sense of the word. These are Christians influenced mainly by deconstruction, a philosophical approach invented on the continent. In their holy readings of philosophical discourse Derrida, Lyotard, Foucault and Caputo would be there. Much of the focus is on adopting postmodernity, and contextualizing the Gospel accordingly. Peter Rollins’ Ikon in Ireland would be a good example of one such group. I think Tony Jones and Brian McLaren would also fall under this category. I would say they are accommodating to postmodern culture, against modernism, and often against the institutional church making them lean towards a sort of non-denominationalism.

2. Pre-modern/Augustinian Model: This model would be the second most influential within the EC, and can be in (friendly) opposition to the first group. Instead of understanding postmodernism in terms of Nietzschean philosophy as group one would do, this model leans more towards a Renaissance styled post-modernism (similar to what is represented in Toulmin’s Cosmopolis). Whether this group is truly early modern or whether it reaches back further to the pre-modern era I am not quite clear on, but St. Augustine and St. Thomas are key figures for this group. This is the where the Radical Orthodoxy of John Milbank, James K. Smith and others would fall. We see some catholics here, as well as other theologians that tend towards placing a higher emphasis on tradition within the overall framework of the Christian faith, rather than simply contextualization. This group would be see history as having shown us a better way, and if we reach back far enough we may be able to find wisdom that will help us in our quest of faith today. They would be more favorable towards institutional church, and have a pretty clear understanding of what kind of church we ought to become, but would also be seen as nostalgic and trying to uphold an institution that has often oppressed and violated those we are called to help.

3. Emerging Peace Church Model (Or Open Anabaptism): This model of the emerging church stresses the non-conformist tendencies of Jesus, and thus the church should follow in his footsteps through non-violence, love of enemy and caring for the poor. This one may be closest to a kind of new monasticism that has so often been written about in recent times. While there are people from the various peace churches involved in this type of church, there are also people from a variety of traditions who are seeking to contextualize the Gospel within our culture. This group does not accept any one style of culture as being good, thus their non-conformist attitude is directed at modernity and postmodernity alike. They see Jesus (and his incarnation) as their primary model for engaging culture. They are influenced by Wittgenstein, Barth, Bonhoeffer, John H. Yoder, McClendon and Nancey Murphy to name a few. In this group you will find people like Jarrod McKenna and the Peace Tree, Shane Claiborne, some Mennonites, Rob Bell’s Mars Hill, Submergent, Jesus Radical and convergent Friends, to name a few. This group is counter any kind of Christendom styled church and thus would be sometimes for and sometimes against institutionalization, and would see contextualization as important only up to the point that it remains ultimately an extension of Jesus’ ministry and message.

4. Foundationalist Model: This model of the emerging church is more conservative in their reading of Scripture and modern approaches to ecclesiology (standard preacher-centered teaching, music for worship, etc) while seeking to be innovative in their approaches to evangelism. This may come in the form of people meeting in pubs, having tatoos, cussing from the pulpit, playing loud rock music for worship and adding a layer of “alternative-ness” to their overall church service. These churches can be found within larger church communities, or can be on their own, sometimes as a large (possibly mega) church. They follow standard Evangelicalism in that they aren’t attach to traditions, and come out politically and theologically conservative, while maintaining a more accomodational stance toward culture in the name of evangelism, they will ultimately look similar to older church communities theologically. This is where I think theologians like Millard J. Erickson or D.A. Carson have a lot of influence. And where practitioners such as Mark Driscoll, Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus and many “emerging services” within mega-church congregations like Willow Creek might be found.

Muslim NGOs' Patrol Church Areas

2010-01-12T17:44:00.002+08:00

Just one of many wonderful outcomes resulting from the chaos of the recent fire-bomb attacks on churches, as reported in the Malaysian Insider yesterday:

"Volunteers from Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have begun patrolling church areas in the Klang Valley. Ten volunteers have begun patrolling from 11pm yesterday in church areas in Kampung Pandan and Brickfields. Deputy chief and working secretary of Kerja Badan Tarbiah Sejagat (Batas) Danny Azar said the patrol schedule was 11pm to 2am and 4am till dawn.“We have started patrolling and we also meet church officials to identify ourselves,” he said. Batas is among 130 NGOs which have committed to be the “eyes and ears” of the government to face any threat to Christian churches.

Good News from John 1 (Sermon 3/1/10)

2010-01-12T17:31:00.002+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Metro Tabernacle Fire-Bombed

2010-01-08T09:45:00.001+08:00

In the wake of today's fire-bomb attack on the Metro Tabernacle church, there is a great urgency to pray.

We must pray that the government take adequate measures to protect non-Islamic religious communties and sanctuaries. We must pray that violence (on any scale) by curbed and stopped. We must pray that the Church looks to God at this time of crisis.

For Us. To The World (Christmas Eve Sermon, 24/12/09)

2009-12-29T08:57:00.000+08:00

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you from our Mighty God and Everlasting Father.
Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ, his only son – born and given to us.
Greetings to you on this night so silent and holy – this Christmas Eve

Tonight we gather together in the darkness of night in an old building at the end of a largely vacant and empty street, seated beside and between friends and family, familiar faces surround us, filling a room that is unfamiliar yet wonderful and new.

Tonight we assemble, we worship for the first time in our new Sanctuary – a sacred space we have created and set apart for the sharing of songs, for the retelling of the soul-shaping stories of our faith, and for experiencing the living Word of God.

Tonight we recall the past, the histories and traditions and encounters that have formed us corporately and individually with an eye to the ways in which we have been prepared for God’s ongoing work in the World.

In short, Tonight we remember and reclaim the story of our Savior’s birth and announce the arrival of a Word both Holy and Good to a World cloaked in the darkness of eternal night.

It is that story that brings us in as a worshipping assembly tonight.
It is that story that propels us out into the streets, the Klang Valley, and all of creation.

It is a story well (or at least partially) known by many, even in a multi-ethnic and religious setting like Malaysia. Through Child Care Christmas Pageants, Sunday School Classes, and Holiday Tunes floating through the air in shopping centers and out of passing car windows, it is a story oft’ repeated and retold within the Church and Global Pop-Culture alike . . .

You know how it goes, right? [If you don’t, please ask someone to share it with you]

In short, there was the Angel and Mary and Joseph and there was a promise of a child and then there was a census and a long donkey ride followed by no room in the inn for an expectant mother ready to deliver. In a little town called Bethlehem and with a star over a stable, Jesus was born. He was laid in a manger, and was surrounded by more animals. Meanwhile, out in the fields, more even more angels burst into the night skies, really startling the snoozing shepherds and sheep by singing loud ‘Alleluias!’ and saying ‘For to you a Savior has been born, he is Christ - the Anointed One, the Messiah, our Savior, our Lord.’ The end.

End of Story. End of Christmas. End of Sermon. End of worship.
Let’s go home and Makan now. Amen. The End.

That is the Message of Christmas, right?

Not quite.

See, in our abbreviated pop-culture rendition of the Christmas Story we obscure the larger ‘reason for the season.’ Yes, we ‘come, all the faithful,’ to retell the story of Christ’s nativity in the ‘little town of Bethlehem’ as ‘Shepherd’s kept their watching o’er silent flocks by night’ – ‘a silent night a holy night’ . . .

But that is most definitely not The End.

It is neither the end for the little babe found wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger nor for those of us who still follow him some 2000 years later.

The danger in this remembering of the Christmas Story of course is that beyond prematurely saying ‘The End’ we relegate the arrival of the Word to the past – We say “There was a census. There was no room in the inn. Jesus was born.”

We make Christ’s unexpected arrival at the end of a darkened street in Bethlehem a one-time event and in so doing we ignore the ongoing in-breaking of the Spirit, the appearing of ‘a great light’ to ‘a people walking in darkness’, the continual coming of Christ, into our lives and our world this very night and in this very place.

Yes, the texts we read from the Bible at Christmastime are all written in the past tense. They do tell of things reported to have happened thousands of years ago. But, while the Bible does record the stories (yes, stories for the different Gospel writers retell the tale differently) of the Nativity of Jesus for the formation of his followers, the Bible is ultimately not a history book and is not focused on the past.

Rather the Bible, the sacred book of Christianity, exists, according to our tradition, to bear Christ into the present world. It is the place in which we as 21st Century citizens encounter Jesus in His entirety, encircled in his mother’s loving arms and embracing us with his own outstretched on a cross.

The Bible is as Martin Luther once put it, “the manger in which the Word of God is laid,” and the place in which Christ is born into the world again and again every time it is opened and shared.

The Word we find at Christmas is not, then, simply an account of an event that happened a long time ago in a land far, far away. It is not simply a text printed on paper or sweet words whispered in a Child’s ear.

Rather, as our Gospel reading for tonight makes plain, the Word we receive in the Christmas Story is the Word made flesh, a physical Word that acts in the World and our lives.

This, then, is the Good News of Christmas Eve - not just that Christ was born, but that He is born, again and again, in our midst.

It is to this Good News that we, as a people of the book and the Body of Christ, must respond by bearing the Living Word into the World.

Tonight we proclaim, ‘He is here!’ “The Word has become flesh. The Word has made his dwelling among us. And we have seen his Glory!’

His coming is a time for celebration and joy indeed, as He fulfills the promises we have been clinging to over the Advent Season and all the darkened days of our lives. Over four long weeks, we reflected on ourselves to be a people in waiting, longing for our Lord’s promised arrival. Now he is here

His coming is full of power and, as we have seen during Advent in our worship and small groups and personal devotion, grace which brings with it the gift new life.

To spark your memory and your theological imagination, let’s turn our attention to the following brief vignettes in which we can see Christ’s continual arrival . . .
As some of you will remember, at a family gathering here in PJ we lit a candle for hope. In their presence I shared the story of a woman in Tanzania, at 103 and widowed she is nearly blind and utterly alone. Into this unexpected place, a mudbrick home of her own making, Jesus comes. Through the compassionate outreach of the Church, she is visited regularly, prayed with, and finds the courage to see the way ahead of her with the clear eyes of faith.

Tonight she celebrates the birth of the Wonderful Counselor that the prophet Isaiah has promised.

For to her a son is given.
For to her a child is born.

In the privacy of my own devotions I lit a candle for peace. I thought of a young man in New Britain, Connecticut - now a member of the church youth group. Coming from a fractured home, marred by neglect, gang violence, and drug abuse in his family, he entered the Church seeking asylum from the streets and found in it the Word, a new identity and a new life in Christ.

Tonight he rests calmly beside the newborn Prince of Peace.

For to him, a son is given.
For to him, a child is born.

Two weeks ago, among those assembled for worship, we lit a candle for joy. In the tropical heat we ruminated on images of cold and ice and longing. We spoke of being individuals and communities imprisoned, in chains, and in need of release. We remembered being Bound. Together. In Christ. with our brothers and sisters in the Cameron Highlands and all around the world. As prayed that we become a people through whom Jesus comes by our consoling and being consoled by one another.

Tonight we let out a loud shout at the arrival of our Savior, our Mighty God, who has come, who does come, and who has promised to come again.

For to us a son is given.
For to us a child is born.

Just a few days ago we lit a candle for love. Pastor Thomas reminded us that we are bound by more than doctrines and creeds, that the strong ties of this faith-family have been forged by love . . . a love that we shared through smile and song as we caroled from house to house this week. . . a love demonstrated by all of the volunteers who have been scrubbing and polishing and tuning and preparing this new space for worship . . . a love evident in your eyes this evening as we proclaim Jesus’ arrival.

Tonight we stand in silent and holy awe at the unconditional love emanating from our Everlasting Father who offers his Son so that all who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For to the world a son is given.
For to the world a child is born.

It is this constant birthing of Christ into the World that we celebrate this and every Christmas. It is in announcing the arrival of the Word into the World that we as Christians find our primary vocation.

Tonight we remember Jesus’ nativity in Bethlehem. [Alleulia!]
Tonight we declare Christ’s arrival in this beautiful Sanctuary. [Alleluia!]
Tonight a great light shines in the darkness of SS4C. [Alleluia!]

Soon we will be lighting candles.
Soon we will be joining our voices in songs of joy.
Soon we will be filling this sacred space with light and warmth and life.

And therein lies our next challenge.

For if our candles are extinguished as we walk out the door
If our voices fall silent as we depart
If we keep this light and warmth and life to ourselves,
All of this will be for naught.

Tonight we celebrate, and this is both right and good.
But it must not stop here.

Tonight the Son of God has come to earth, here in our midst, the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus and found presently in his body the Church.

Let us burst forth through those glass doors like a choir of angels. Let our joy bubble up on the patio and spill over the slate gray steps and out into the streets, ushering in a flood of life that revives and transforms this place.

Let our light shine so bright that it reflects off of the silver letters that will spell Luther House and make our freshly whitewashed exterior a beacon of true hope, of true peace, of true joy and of true love along a row of darkened shoplots.

Let us go out,
For to us, tonight, and to our neighbors and to the world a son is given.
For to us all, a child is born . . . again and again and again . . . and again

Let us respond by singing, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia . . .
. . . and Amen.

Bound Together in Christ (Sermon, 13/12/09)

2009-12-29T08:49:00.000+08:00

My dear brothers and sisters,

Grace and peace and joy to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ, his Son – the One who came, who does come, and who will come again.

Greetings to you in Advent, in this season of expectant waiting. For those of you who were here last Sunday I trust you recall Pastor Thomas’ “Brief” introduction to this liturgical season and the beginning of the new church year. For those of you who weren’t, I’d suggest asking those who are now chuckling all about what you missed. I trust they were all hanging on every word.

Far be it for me, the young intern, to try and improve on the lesson of my gracious master so in regards to Advent all I have to contribute is the fact that it is one of my favorite times of the year.

Please note it is Advent that I love, not the “Pre-Christmas” or “Holiday” Season. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy the non-stop Christmas Songs, the festive-merry-making-spirit, and shiny decorations (including the large number of Santas inexplicably hanging by their necks in Malaysian shopping centers) as much as the next guy, but it pales in comparison (for me at least) to the deeper mysteries and quiet solace of Advent.

Truth be told, the twinkling lights and decked out trees at times feel premature. It is as if we skip right to the big party without preparing, without pausing to fully listen to the promises that come whispering on December winds as we toss and turn in the dark of the night.

Doing so, skipping straight to Christmas, is to our detriment for Advent is a season pregnant with possibility: promising the birth of a Child, the arrival of our Savior, and a renewal of the wellsprings of life.

Admittedly my affinity for Advent has something to do with my personal geography and history as much as anything else. Far away from the constancy of light and warmth found in the tropics, across the Northern regions of America, Europe, and Asia the arrival of Advent coincides with the winter solstice . . . the darkest day and longest night of the year. In the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, where I’ve spent most of my life, it is during this time that you will start to see the first significant snowfall. Indeed as we gather here this morning, my parents back in Milwaukee, WI are digging out from the first blizzard of the season. With the snow comes the bitter cold, car engines are sluggish to start, traffic crawls at a snail’s pace, and seemingly all of life slows down.

The cycle of nature reinforces the symbols of Advent. Gathered together in snow-covered churches and homes people gather together, lighting candles of hope and peace and joy and love against the growing darkness and cold winds.

Some days, under the icy blue of the winter sky, when I lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota I would walk from my apartment through the freshly snow to a park bench overlooking the Mississippi River. Wrapped in a warm coat I’d further take in the witness offered by God’s creation.

Before my eyes the mightiest river in our nation struggled to remain liquid and was slowly succumbing to the natural law that it freeze solid.

Upriver, a tributary stream, Minnehaha creek, would be largely frozen over.

The thundering waterfall that feeds it would already be in the midst of its annual metamorphosis into a solid mass of ice.

Trees up and down the valley would be empty, stripped bare – with the rare exception of a withered leaf still clinging tenaciously to a branch

On this leaf, encased and imprisoned in ice and snow, my eyes rest.

The world snaps into focus and through the poetry of the leaf I find my place in this world . . . a fragile created being, at times just as alone and just as precariously placed, imprisoned not by ice and snow but by forces and situations just as powerful and binding.

This, my brothers and sisters, this is the condition that Advent speaks to. This is the darkness into which Christ, the Light of the World and the Lord of Life comes. It is to the hope for His promised arrival that we hold on to and proclaim in this season of waiting.

Here I make two semi-educated guesses.

The first is that part of the reason we bypass Advent and jump straight to Christmas is the unsettling discomfort that comes with examining our own fragility and frozenness.
The second is that the poetry of the leaf is not only true for me but for us all. Be we saint or sinner or both, we are a bound people – at times seemingly alone, battered by blizzard snows and monsoon winds. We are all in need of the one who is promised to bring release to the captives, to make the rough places smooth, and the crooked ways straight.

Looking around this assembly, we are a captive people:

As individuals, we are bound to broken bodies, old bones that creak with pain, and fevered babies in hospital wards. We are chained to desks and files and reports all demanding our utmost often at the expense of family, friends, and faith. We are pushed and pulled by a web or relationships, some that give support and others that threaten to strip us bare.

Like the leaf, we are a people frozen, imprisoned, and in need of relief.

As a congregation our future has been tethered to this building and our knees, our backs, and all of our strength threaten to give out as we struggle under the burden of preparing it as a place of worship and fellowship. At the same time we are in bondage to our past, paralyzed with remorse over what has been lost, scarred by longstanding conflicts, and held captive by lingering anger over an imposed exile.

An assembly of holy Christian people, we are frozen, imprisoned, and in need of release.

As National and International churches we are tethered to narrow discussions of doctrine and ministry policy. With our vision caught up in our internal life we lose sight of the neighbor and find our denominations increasingly withered and alone.

Called to be God’s Missionary People, we are frozen, imprisoned, and in need of release.

And it is into this bleak landscape that the Word is proclaimed today:

“Sing, O Daughter of Zion,” declares Zephaniah, “shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!”

Elsewhere, Isaiah exclaims, “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

And finally the words of the apostle Paul come ringing across the wilderness of our hearts, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, Rejoice!”

How strange . . . how alien . . . how foreign do these words sound?

To those struggling in the dark night of the soul to simply hold on, how does the word ‘joy’ resonate? Does it ring true? Or, as it is plastered across shop windows and advertisements to lure in holiday shoppers, does it sound hollow and empty?

To those battered by the blizzards and monsoonal rains of life, in what should they rejoice? If they shout aloud or sing for joy will their voices even carry be heard over the howling around them?

Someone slightly more cynical than I might be tempted to simply discard todays readings as nothing more than a set of jingo-istic holiday catch phrases and, worse yet, empty promises.

But those of us who are baptized in Christ, imprisoned at times though we may be, know a secret. We already share in the source of Paul’s Joy. We already share in the promised ‘peace of God which transcends all understanding.’ We already share between us a Word, a Good Word, and we know His promises are true.

We also share with Paul the condition of being held captive. Writing to the church at Philippi from the isolating, cold depths of a Roman prison cell, he wrote as one bound in physical chains to a people (the Philippians and Us) equally bound in chains of a different form. His exhortation to ‘Rejoice’ and to trade anxiety for thanksgiving was written in a time of darkness yet points to and promises a coming kingdom of light.

Paul, God’s apostle, imprisoned, in need of release, and yet rejoicing in Christ.

The joy found in todays texts, the joy of Paul, of Zephaniah, and of Isaiah is not the joy that is found plastered across shop windows or hung up next to Santa in shopping malls. It is not the joy that comes with the exchanging of gifts or singing of carols. Not, it cuts much deeper than that.

Rather, theirs is a the full-bodied shout of one who is bound and chained at the approach of their savior. . . across the ages their voices cry out, “Rejoice in the Lord! The Lord is near!”

To those of us assembled here today, their shout goes forward:

Marked with the cross and baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection

Christ has come. Jesus is here. The Lord is near. Rejoice!

Partaking in bread and wine, broken and shed for you

Christ has come. Jesus is here. The Lord is near. Rejoice!

Through the mutual consolation of the saints and sinners who compose Luther House Chappel

Christ has come. Jesus is here. The Lord is near. Rejoice!

It is on this last point that I’d like to linger as we bring this time of reflection to a close.

As much as I’d like to think my proclamation of Christ’s presence among us causes people to automatically leap with joy or that at the taste of the bread and of the wine people the chains confining people will fall away (praise be to God if that does happen though!) my familiarity with many winters leads me to conclude that, more often than not, the process of thawing, of melting, of living into true joy is a bit more gradual and takes time.

This spiritual and emotional rebirth demands the extended warmth of a community of holy Christian people, a people of deep faith and of deep joy. It is through continually consoling and being consoled by one another that the icy walls of our own prisons melt away and that which was withering buds with new life.

If, as one of your Pastors, I have one prayer for you this Advent season it is this: That we as individuals and as a community confess to our Lord and to one another that which holds us captive, that we declare our continual need for a Savior to come and set us free.

While this corporate confession of our frailty might not be a trait Chinese or Indian or Malaysian cultures., (it certainly isn’t an American one); it is a trait and a mark of the faithful for it is only in this state of shared frailty and mutual consolation that we can bear Christ and the Good News to one another and to our neighbors.

It is only from this humble position: Bound. Together. In Christ. that we can truly lift our voices to join in the chorus of Zephaniah of Isaiah and of Paul shouting “Rejoice! Rejoice!” as the Lord draws near.

This scene of bound-people, gathered together, in Christ is one that we as a community have recently had a brief glimpse of . . .

This Advent, I took another journey into the wilderness. Turning away from the frozen rivers of North America I set my face in a new direction and joined more than fifty of my family and friends on a trek high into the mountains.

In a village hanging precariously on a hillside lived a people seemingly frozen in time, imprisoned by the marginalized status in the larger society, and in need of release from alcoholism, poverty, and despair.

There, among our Orang Asli brothers and sisters – broken, bound, and battered though we all may have been – we celebrated. Together. In Christ.

This Advent, the poetry of the leaf found its counterpoint in:

- The Sharing of Songs and of Dance

- The Breaking of Bread (And Roast Pork)

- The Delight of Children

- And the Reunion of Man and His Best Friends (Among Many Other Things)

All of this because Christ first came to the World in whom our identity is formed.

All of this because Christ continues to come – through word and water, through bread and wine and through his holy Christian people

All of this merely a foretaste of the joyous feast for all when he Christ comes again.

If the cold winds of a northern winter lead us to confession. The life-filled breezes of the highlands kiss us with grace and point us to forgiveness. And both are needed this Advent (and every Advent) as we prepare for the arrival of the Lord.

And He is very near my friends . . . very near. For this ‘We rejoice in the Lord always, my friends, again I say we rejoice!’

Amen

Sermon Feedback Form

2009-12-15T17:38:00.000+08:00

Suggested by Pastor Peter, taken from Luther Seminary. Try it out?

Spending Time in Church: From Enforcement to De-Relativisation (Jason Clark)

2009-12-15T11:09:00.001+08:00

See the full post here:

I know on the one hand I don’t want a church life where everyone is in church meetings, but on the other, as a bunch of missional activists we do expect we do ask a great deal of people. Our community is not a comfortable place to just hang out in, with no demands on your time, energy and money. (NOTICE: This post is not an argument or apologetic for church as sunday services and endless committee meetings. It’s about the challenge of ordering life around faith with others in a liberal secular society).

As I began mulling that over, the main thing that strikes me with regards to time demands in a time poor society, is how we can give ourselves to almost anything, be that sport, music, motorbike riding (my current favourite hobby), any interest at great length and at great cost, with no question.

But when it comes to church, somehow there is something almost obscene and abusive about the giving anywhere near the same commitment, or even the slightest commitments. So how did we get here, and what might be a way to respond?

One of the things that has happened is that church life not just been relativised, it has been demeaned, through a process over time something like this (perhaps):

1. Enforced: Church life at one time was a question of Christendom, with political and cultural participation. By being English you were a Christian, and Christians fought to discover personal faith beyond and within cultural structures. Choosing the nature of your faith was unusual, and difficult.

2. Voluntarism: Then in the 19th century voluntarism explodes on the scene. With the emergence of nation states, capitalist markets, huge increases in income and leisure, the freedom to choose faith arose.

And for many Christians the ability to choose faith, and it’s shape and form was liberating. But by and large these formulations of faith, still ordered the rest of life and leisure.

3. Relativisation: But the freedom to choose soon becomes the freedom to choose anything other than participation in Christian community and mission. There is a direct correlation in the UK with increases in income, leisure and decline of church involvement (things get very different compared to the US with factors of lack of state church, welfare state and republican democracy)

4. De-relativised: Then we arrive where things seem today. Church is not just one choice among many, it is a lesser choice. It’s not even a valid hobby for people. To give time to church is to invite criticism in public by anyone who wants in ways that would never happen about other personal interests.

So how might I respond to this? Perhaps one way would to at least expect that our Christian commitments have the same status of any personal interest, hobby, club and society, and to have at least the same demands on our time as all the other things we organise our lives around.

And maybe we might even get to the place where our faith orders all our other commitments rather than fits around anything that is left over. And of course all this reveals that I think the giving of the best of who we are to our faith, first, best and not the last and for that to take place with others and order every other interest we have is what Christian community is about.

So do Christians spend too much time in Church? Well whose business is it if they do, and who is anyone to question what people give their interests to? Perhaps the problem is not that we give too much, but that we give too little.

If my sons rugby club demands that, surely my faith must demand at least the same. My kids sports and performing arts, demand far more than their church discipleship.Traditioned activities, done with others, at great cost of time, energy and money, that requires the organising of other interests around them.

Divine Light & Love

2009-12-15T10:34:00.001+08:00

Some excerpts below (read the full post here):

The dot of light in the sky that the magi followed from the east to Bethlehem was the dim light of a lamp compared to the greater Light. The arrival of Christ broke through the gloom and dispelled the darkness.

In the high church tradition, four candles are set out the first Sunday of Advent, but only one is lit. Then, each consecutive Sunday, another candle is lit until on Christmas Sunday all four flames shimmer in the front of the church. This is to remember and celebrate the dawning light of Jesus when he entered our world.

Light illuminates and reveals. People who walk in the light can see where they are going (1 Jn. 2:10-11). Light enables us to see things for what they are and enables us to recognize the truth (1 Jn. 1:6-7). Maybe John wanted to leave the door wide open, so that whenever we stood in the sunlight or enjoyed firelight or lamplight, we would be reminded of God. I am sure that John did not have physics in mind, nevertheless, the physical light that shines in our world is not unrelated to God, “for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Mt. 5:45).

If God is Light and God is love, then we can never turn away from light or love, because that would be a turning away from God. Light and love are combined in our life with God, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light (2:10). That is why belief and a religiously moral life are not the essence of Christianity. The active and external part of our life with God is always about “faith working through love” (Ga. 5:6).

Jesus enters our world at Christmas to tell us we are not alone. He tells us of his Father in heaven, and then in the light of his teaching and the love of his actions, he shows us the Father. In Jesus, we get a taste of the world to come.

Top 10 Reasons to celebrate Advent!

2009-12-05T23:45:00.001+08:00

10. You get to start celebrating New Year’s early.

Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year for Christians. [Liturgical -- from liturgy, which means the forms and functions of public worship.] The dates of Advent vary each year, but it always contains the four Sundays before Christmas Day. This year Advent starts on November 29.

9. Christmas Procrastinators Rule!

If you observe Advent, you have a legitimate reason for putting off all sorts of things — decorating, putting up your Christmas tree, buying presents. (Be sure to get your Mom’s present, though …) In the Christian realm, Christmas-celebrating doesn’t start until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But then you have 12 whole days of Christmas afterward! Christmas ends with Epiphany (January 6), the day when we remember the Wise Men arriving to worship the Christ child.

8. Go ahead, all the other Christians are doing it!

Well, OK, not all Christians are observing Advent. (One Christian even asked me if Advent was a Jewish holiday.) But Advent’s been around since the early centuries of Christianity. In recent years, more denominations are starting to observe Advent — kind of recapturing our history.

7. Offers an excellent alternative to decorating with red and green.

The colors of Advent are purple or blue. You may see these colors in your church vestments (the cloths on the altar or podium), in the stoles worn by your pastor or choir, in the color of the candles on the Advent wreath. These are royal colors, calling to mind the Coming of the Son of God.

6. If you LOVE candles, you’ll LOVE Advent!

Lots of folks celebrate Advent by using an Advent wreath. It’s often four candles on a circular wreath signifying the four weeks of Advent. A candle in the center is the Christ candle, lit on Christmas Day and Epiphany. Usually the four candles are purple or blue. If you celebrate Gaudete Sunday on the third week, that candle is pink. (Gaudete means “rejoice” in Latin.) The Christ candle is white.

5. Learn new words to impress your friends.

What more could you ask for? Advent, liturgy, Gaudete, Advent wreath, liturgical season, vestments. You rock, linguistically speaking.

4. Learn new seasonal songs.

When you celebrate Advent, wait until Christmas to sing all those Christmas songs (”Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” and other liturgical favorites). There are TONS of great Advent songs that most people don’t know so well. … Like, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light,” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” You can even sing some Advent texts to Christmas tunes (if you can’t wait to hear them).

3. Because I wrote 2 cool Advent books.

I really wanted this to be the number one reason, but I’m trying to work on my humility. But I DID write a couple of cool Advent books. The new one isThe Uncluttered Heart: Making Room for God during Advent and Christmas. The first one was called Child of the Light: Walking Through Advent and Christmas …

2. Gets you in touch with Jesus’ story.

The whole reason for observing the liturgical seasons is that we get to hear Jesus’ entire life story every year. For those of us humans who tend to forget important things like Love and God and Christ, this is definitely a good idea. During Advent, we remember the events leading up to Jesus’ birth.

1. Great remedy for pre-Christmas stress.

Advent’s primary message is to wait, listen, get in touch with God, and prepare our lives and hearts for Jesus’ coming. For speeded up, stressed out people (that would be most of us), this is an intriguing invitation. Observe Advent — and get more in touch with God.

You’re invited to observe Advent this year. Light the first Advent Candle — and lower your stress — starting November 29, 2009.

Read more from Beth Richardson. What other reasons can you think of? :)

Passion Praise Blog!

2009-12-04T13:45:00.001+08:00

Check out the new PP blog!

Mary's Faith (Sermon, 29/11/09)

2009-11-30T15:10:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

5Ps' of the Lord's Prayer

2009-11-20T00:06:00.001+08:00

What follows is an attempt at 'structuring' the Lord's Prayer. I'm assuming since Jesus taught us to pray thus, it would reflect what God Himself 'looks for' in a prayer (content-wise, at least). I'll also assume the prayer should reflect a sense of priority, completeness and cogency. So here goes:

1. Praise - all due reverence and honour; without privileging any particular 'form' of worship / adoration / practice, it's pertinent that hallowing God's name is a supreme priority

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

2. Praxis - nothing here about believers 'going to heaven', rather it's about us 'bringing heaven down'

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven

3. Provision (both physical as well as spiritual) - it's worth reflecting on the possibility that forgiveness is a form of inter-dependent spiritual nourishment(!)...

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

4. Protection - temptation and evil (all personally- and relationally-destructive forms of anti-life) seem to encompass all we need to be wary of

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

5. Purpose - that which makes sense of and completes all the fore-going i.e. we pray all of this because ultimately it - everything - 'goes back' to He Who is the Source and Lord of it all

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. for ever and ever.

Amen

Marva Dawn on the Sabbath

2009-10-18T01:05:00.001+08:00

Rock, Cloud & Water (Sermon, 20/09/09)

2009-09-20T13:40:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Affirm Challenge #3

2009-09-14T16:05:00.003+08:00

Last week we talked about what God instructed Jonah to do, how Jonah reacted and why he behaved like that. Jonah had a very strong personal reason to not want to heed God's call to preach to the city of Ninevah: he hated them and he didn't want them to experience even the possibility of God's compassion.

Are there people or communities in our lives which elicit a reaction parallel to how Jonah felt?

Do we have certain individuals or groups so badly that we 'run away' from God's command and plans for them?

Can we identify these persons and do something to challenge head-on our stubborn refusal to want God's blessing for them?

Losing More Than We Gain (by Tan Soo-Inn)

2009-09-03T14:59:00.002+08:00

Does your church have a youth service? A number of churches have youth services targeted at the young. These services are different in feel from the "main" services. The worship style is more contemporary, the music modern and louder, and hymns are usually taboo. The rationale for such services --- to reach the young who may be bored by traditional services. Besides, young people like to hang out with their peers and so setting up a peer service seems a logical way to reach young people with the gospel. So what's the problem?

Recently, a church leader told me that his church was having difficulty helping their young people make the transition from the youth service to the main service. The youths were supposed to "graduate" from the youth service to the main service after they finished high school. Many refused to "move up." When told they had to, some left the church all together.
The church had to return to the drawing board. They were looking at how they could do transitions better. Perhaps we should relook at our rationale for having youth services in the first place.

At a very basic level, I think something critical is lost when we have one worship service using mainly newer worship songs, and another using mainly hymns. The older songs are usually more theological, more objective. They declare truths of the faith that are always true irrespective
of the feelings of the individual worshiper on any given Sunday. Hymns help to reinforce the fact that God, not our subjective experiences of Him, is the foundation of our faith. Besides, when we sing hymns, we are reminded that we stand on the shoulders of giants, that we are but the latest generation of many generations of the faithful, many of whom paid dearly for the privilege of following Jesus.

However, the newer music is often more personal. They are much more helpful in expressing our relationship with our Abba father. And they help us celebrate our faith in music that is more accessible to modern ears and hearts. They remind us that God is not locked in the past. He is alive today and He is still working.

It should be apparent that the church is impoverished if we neglect either the hymns or the newer worship songs. The whole church, including the young, need to be enriched and tutored by all types of good worship music. By having two or more types of worship services with different worship styles, we present to the church and to the world, a truncated picture of the church, and of the God we worship.

Indeed, one of the key realities of the living God is that He is one, yet there is diversity in His oneness. God is one yet he is also Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unity with diversity is why God's image is represented by a humanity that is both male and female. Unity with diversity is why the body of Christ, the church, consists of many parts which are different, yet who form one body (1 Corinthians 12: 15-20). Furthermore, church members are also different because they have different contributions to make to the communal life of the church. We need each other.

The young are to learn from those who are older (Hebrews 13:7; Proverbs 1:8). We may the first generation where the young know more than the old because of their access to the internet. But we must not confuse knowledge with wisdom. The young need to be mentored by those who are older. Keeping our young from ongoing meaningful relationships with those who are older, minimizes this.

But the old need to learn from the young as well. Jesus tells us to learn from children (Matthew 18:1-5). And Paul tells Timothy he can be an example to the believers (1 Timothy 4:12). Timothy may be about 30 at that time but the point remains: the old can learn from the example of those who are younger. In the church of Jesus Christ, young and old need each other.

Youth services may have been started with the best of intentions, but I wonder if something intrinsic to the DNA of the church has been violated in the process. I fear that our starting point is pragmatism, the desire to achieve certain results, not the bible. In starting youth services, we may have lapsed into some kind of ecclesiastical consumerism. If we have, then the message we send out is that the "consumer" is king. If this is our message, we should not be surprised that people remain loyal primarily to themselves and not to the whole body of Christ.

I am not arguing for the total abandonment of age group ministries. But I believe young and old alike need to know that unity with diversity is norm, because it is the nature of the God we worship. And if this is true then intergenerational congregations ought to be the norm.

An intergenerational approach to church life will not be easy. Indeed, it will be a key test of our spiritual maturity. Peter tells us that the young should submit to their elders but he also says that all should "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another . . . " (1 Peter 5:5a TNIV).

And the apostle Paul tells us:

[Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1-4 TNIV)]

Somehow, I don't think Paul was thinking of generation specific congregations when he wrote the above. But I can see him writing the above to congregations of people of diverse races, social status, men and women, and yes, people from different age groups.

No, an intergenerational approach to church life will not be easy. It can only be done in the power of the Spirit. But we do it because intergenerational congregations better reflect the nature of the living God. We do it because it is a demonstration of the power of the Cross to bring different people together. And we do it because we need each other.

Affirm Challenge #2

2009-09-03T14:48:00.003+08:00

Read Gen 22 about Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Action: Take something you own which means a lot to you and give it away. Experience the hurt and pain of 'losing' this, and reflect on how Abraham must've felt as it walked up the mountain with his beloved son.

Affirm Challenge #1

2009-09-03T14:43:00.002+08:00

(The Affirm Challenge is a series of questions posed to the students in the Affirmation class as part of the subject; we invite you to share your thoughts and ideas, too)

Why did God not permit Adam and Eve to eat meat in the beginning (Gen 1:29-30)? Why was meat allowed only after Noah's Flood (Gen 9:2-3)? And even then why wasn't Noah & Co. not allowed to meat that had its lifeblood still in it (Gen 9:4)?

Peace in the Face of a Frightening Future

2009-09-03T00:44:00.003+08:00

Something I (Alwyn) penned many years back, which sorta complements the More Than Conquerors message two weeks ago...

Does God give us anything to tackle that element of despair and pessimism in the face of the (even more so nowadays) turbulent and frightening future?

Indeed He does. Even a small handful of verses (out of dozens in Scripture) should more than ease our hearts on this point:

John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid."

John 16:20-24, "...You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy...I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy...Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

John 16:33, "I have told you...so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Phil 4:5-7, "...The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything...by prayer and petition...present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Gal 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is...peace...Against such things there is no law"

2Thess 3:16, "May the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all".

What might one deduce from the above?

Well, certainly that peace is a definite priority on the agenda of God for our lives - this gives us ever more reason to rejoice! Even though the world WILL bring a lot of pain, God is 'over and above' secular society and He promises us peace always as we abide in Him and ESPECIALLY during times of distress and trouble. Peace is also a 'by-product’ manifesting itself in us as we daily ‘walk in step’ with the Spirit (i.e. communicate with Him, obey Him, share Him with others, make decisions with His principles in mind, etc.)

To sharpen up the question above: Why should we feel joyful despite future judgments and trouble? Answer: Because God WANTS us to be! He insists that the reasons to rejoice far outweigh the opposite! And there are more than enough spiritual resources at our disposal to sooth our troubled hearts (e.g. His promises, the rest of His Body, His gifts, His plans, His Word and His very Spirit and Self!)

Peace of heart and mind should be something INDEPENDENT of external trouble (whether present or future!). The source and continuity of peace is found NOT in the absence of suffering, the resolution of intellectual problems/questions or even the occurrence of blessings(!) but rather it derives from the very personal presence of God and our continued indwelling in Him, and Him in us.

And this is why the peace of God transcends all understanding (Phil 4:7), for contrary to all secular expectations, it simply

· can not be ‘manufactured’ (like mind-control, hypnosis, etc.),

· can not be 'linked' to any particular 'success' event or situation (like good exam results, promotion, this girl or guy admiring us!, etc),

· can not be dependent on certain forms of knowledge (special info, higher IQ, etc.)

It comes gently when we trust God for it…nothing more; nothing less. Remember that I'm talking here about the peace of God(!), and not the natural psychological relief of things having gone our way or life being 'good'. We worry about the former, and we won't have to be overly concerned about the latter... ;>)

Small Groups and Transformational Learning

2009-08-31T22:23:00.001+08:00

By Soo-Inn Tan (recommended by Denise Ng)

I have the privilege of teaching a course on Christian Spirituality in a major seminary in town. For three hours every Tuesday, nineteen students and myself grapple with issues that pertain to our relationship with God. The last forty minutes or so of every class, I divide the class into small

groups of three or four. In their small groups, the students share about what was most significant about the lecture they had just heard. One of the group is designated a "reporter." He or she will take notes of the group discussion and report back to the entire class later so that the whole class gets to hear the gist of the discussion of every group. The reports from the various groups become mini case studies and these are discussed on the spot.

I am not sure how the class feels about this weekly exercise. When I was a student in seminary, I remember being more interested in what the professor had to say then in interacting with my peers. I am not sure if my students feel the same. My own reputation is no where near the reputation of the luminaries I studied with so maybe this is a non issue with my present class.

Whatever. I am unrepentant in the use of small groups in my lectures. In fact I incorporate small group activity in most of my public lectures for a reason.

In this day and age, people do not need to come to a class to get content. They can just stay at home and download the best lectures by the best teachers. They can listen to these lectures in the comfort of their own homes or wherever they come online. They do to need to be in the same physical space with other students. When a class assembles, they become a community, with each student (including the teacher) bringing their own unique contributions to the life of the class. It seems such a terrible waste if all the students are passive and the teacher is the only one actively sharing. Learning in a class should seek to liberate all the rich resources present in the class and that means helping every student to see themselves as active participants in the learning process.

I have long practised this approach to teaching. I am also grateful to have discovered the writings of Jane Vella which have helped give voice to what I have been trying to do. In her chapter, "The Learning Task In A Small Group," she describes the four elements in a learning task:

[1. Inductive work

Inductive work connects the leaner to the task by relating the core concepts of the content to the learners' real life, real work . . .

2. Input

New content is presented. "It takes more then experience to create new learning"(Lewin 1951). Substantial and challenging content is presented in a nonstatic way . . .

3. Implementation

Learners are asked to use the new content immediately, right there in the class. They get to touch it and practice it right away . . .

4. Integration

When real learning happens, it can survive outside the classroom incubator. Integration tasks ask learners to move the content into the world and apply it in some way.

(On Teaching and Learning, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2008, 63.)]

I am not trying to downplay the importance of the lecture. As Vella notes, experience alone is not enough. Students need input of fresh and challenging content. But it is in small groups that the learners work at inductive work, implementation, and integration. And shouldn't all Christian education be concerned with helping people connect what they learn with their own journeys, helping them see the implications and applications of what they learn for their lives, and helping people experience change so that they leave the classroom transformed in some way?

I fear that too much of the teaching that goes on in our churches and in our educational institutions is too passive. (Sunday preaching is a major culprit.) Learners are passive recipients of content. The learning experience is one directional, with the preacher/teacher as the expert doling out the truth. The learners' duty is to receive the truth. The experience is also by and large anonymous with minimal personal interaction between the teacher and the learners, and the learners with each other. Where is the space for inductive work, implementation, and integration? Contrast what we often do with Vella's approach to teaching:

[Teaching adults for transformation involves first meeting those adults, learning from them about their present contexts, and shaping content so it is comprehensible and nourishing. It is not to distort the past, or the research, or the textbook. It is to prepare that content in such a way as to connect it to these lives. (On Teaching and Learning, xx.)]

Which was what Jesus did.

Jesus did a lot of public teaching but his primary format for transformational teaching was a small group, the Twelve. He also gave special attention to an even smaller group, Peter, James and John. We see Jesus using questions frequently to draw His disciples into discussion. Rarely did He give abstract timeless truths divorced from life. He saw the Scriptures as authoritative

(Matthew 5:17-20). But He was always helping His learners see how those authoritative truths engage the concrete realities of their lives.

If we are serious about seeing our churches and educational institutions become effective incubators of transformation so that God's people can be agents of transformation in the world, we need to seriously rethink how we do our teaching. We need an approach to teaching that takes seriously, both Scripture and people.

And so I soldier on with my Christian Spirituality class. Afternoons are a very tough time to be lecturing. After lunch, listening to a lecturer in an airconditioned room, well, I am just grateful that there has not been any obvious snoring. I hope that the small group activity helps the students be more engaged. But more than that, I am hoping the small group activity provides a safe context for transformational learning. My hope and my prayer are that at the end of the course, the students will not be saying "what a great class we had" but will be saying "how much I have grown."

More Than Conquerors (Sermon 23/08/09)

2009-08-23T21:02:00.002+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

What are you in Christ?

2009-08-14T19:57:00.002+08:00

Greg Boyd reminds that in Christ we are...

• God’s beloved child (Jn 1:12: Eph 1:5)
• Christ’s dear friend (Jn 15:5)
• Declared perfectly righteous (“justified”) (Rom 5:1)
• Free from condemnation (Rom 8:1; Col 2:14-16)
• United with Christ, “one spirit” with Christ (I Cor 6:17; Eph 5:31)
• A member of Christ’s body (I Cor 6:15/ 12:27)
• The Temple of God (I Cor 6:19)
• Filled with the “fullness of God” (Eph 3:19)
• A “holy one” [saint] (Eph 1:1)
• Blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3)
• Holy and blameless (Eph 1:4)
• Bought with an infinite price and forgiven (I Cor 6: 20; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14)
• Bathed with wisdom and understanding (Eph 1:8)
• The recipient of an eternal, infinitely rich, inheritance (Eph 1:11, 18)
• Possessed with the mind of Christ (I Cor 2:16)
• Inseparable form God’s love (Rom 8:35-39)
• One who will NEVER be abandoned (Mt 28:20)
• The beautiful bride of Christ who “ravishes” the heart of God (Song of Songs, 4:1ff; 6:4ff).
• One over whom the Lord rejoices, sings and claps his hands(Zeph 3:17)
• One for whom the Lord throws a party (Zeph 3:17; Lk 15:7-10)
• A recipient of God’s own peace (Jn 14:27)
• Filled with the peace and joy of God (Rom 14:17)
• One in whom Christ’s joy is fulfilled (Jn 15:11)
• Given direct access to the Father by the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18)
• Seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph 2:6)
• Seated “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” with Christ (Eph 1:21).
• Hid in Christ in heavenly realms (Col 3:1-5)
• Crucified, Buried and Raised with Christ (Rom 6:1-11)
• Made perfect forever (Heb 10:14)
• Made complete in Christ (Col 2:10)
• Indwelled by a fearless Spirit (2 Tim 1:7)
• One of God’s precious works of art (Eph 2:10)
• Indwelt by a spirit of power, love and stability (2 Tim 1:7)
• A citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20)
• Predestined to look like Jesus and see him in his glory (Rom 8:29; I Jn 3:1-5)
• One in whom God is working to bring good out of evil (Rom 8:28)
• Salt of the earth (Mt 5:13)
• A branch chosen to bear fruit (Jn 15:16)
• A co-worker with God (I Cor 3:9)
• An ambassador of Christ and minister of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:17-20)
• A priest of the most high God ( I Pet 2:5-9)
• More than a conqueror in all things (Rom 8:37)
• One who knows Satan is a disarmed laughing stock (Col 2:14-15).
• One who knows the truth and is set free (Jn 8:32).
• One who can do all things in Christ (Phil 4:13)

Boyd encourages us to, "take each truth on this list and not only SAY it throughout the day, but SEE it and HEAR it and LIVE IN it. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).

The Luther House Child Care

2009-08-08T10:40:00.007+08:00

Please click here for the brochure and help us spread the word. If you or anyone are interested, do call Dorine at 03-79559946.

Jesus & Justice (Sermon, 26/07/09)

2009-07-27T13:52:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Second Chance to a Fruitful Life (Sermon, 19/07/09)

2009-07-26T14:09:00.000+08:00

Jer 18 1 6

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Living a Spirit-Filled Life (Sermon, 11/07/09)

2009-07-13T14:23:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Is Michael Jackson in Heaven?

2009-07-10T23:48:00.003+08:00

Read what some pastors are saying. What do you think, and why?

Important side-question: What is 'heaven' from the perspective of Jesus and the New Testament, anyway?

Michael Jackson and Life's Brevity (Sermon 28/06/09)

2009-07-01T14:50:00.001+08:00

View more documents from Alwyn Lau.

Team Hoyt - Fathers, Heroes

2009-06-21T08:41:00.000+08:00

What Sustains Me

2009-06-20T23:33:00.002+08:00

Seventeen activists and church leaders talk about the disciplines that keep them girded for the struggle. by Vincent Harding, Vashti McKenzie, Donald Miller, and others

Let Jesus Love You, by Tony Campolo

I try to start each day by setting aside about 20 minutes for centering prayer. I empty my mind of the 101 things that are apt to start spinning in my head the moment I wake up. Then, focusing on Jesus, I let him love me. I wait to feel myself enveloped by his presence. I silently yield to being saturated by his Spirit. In my morning prayers, I say nothing to God and I hear no words from God. But in these times of “waiting upon the Lord,” my spiritual strength is renewed.

Secondly, at the end of each day I practice the Ignatian prayer of examen. Lying in bed I reflect on all the good and God-honoring things that I did during the day and thank God for allowing me to be an instrument of love and peace. Following Philippians 4:8, I remember whatever I did that was true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Only then, after such affirmation, am I prepared to review the day a second time, recalling everything I said that was hurtful to others and fell short of God’s will. In accord with what I read in 1 John 1:9, I ask not only for God’s forgiveness, but also for God’s cleansing. I ask Christ to reach out from Calvary, across time and space, and absorb out of me the sin and darkness that accumulated within me during the day.

I believe that because the Holy Spirit is holy, the Holy Spirit is frustrated coming to dwell in dirty temples. Thus, Christ’s cleansing of my temple at the end of the day is a requisite for receiving the infilling of Christ’s Spirit during centering prayer the next morning. Without Christ’s Spirit in me, I lose heart and lack the energy to do justice and evangelism.

Tony Campolo, professor emeritus at Eastern University, is founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education.

Open Yourself to Community, by Soong-Chan Rah

When we’re in places of activism, we tend to be unable to look or reflect inward. One practice I’ve really attempted is to be in places of community where I’m challenged not just to think outside of the typical ways of thinking, but where my spiritual life is challenged. I’ve been really blessed to have some mentors in my life who have spoken to me about my intellectual and pastoral development. But what has been most helpful to me is how they’ve addressed my spiritual development. They’ve spoken to me about the ways that the work that I do is also tied into who I am in Christ.

Soong-Chan Rah is assistant professor of church growth and evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Illinois.

Say Thank You, by Vincent Harding

I seek out quiet whenever I can, wherever I am. Another spiritual discipline is to just practice being grateful. I spend a lot of time saying thank you, because my life has been so rich and I know that the richness has been a gift, most often a divine gift through very human beings. I cannot do anything else but say thank you. That’s central to my practice.

Vincent Harding is professor emeritus of religion and social transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

Seek Goodness in All, by Angela Glover Blackwell

I remind myself while spending time with people in the airport or on the bus that at the core, people are always nicer than they seem. It is important to do this because sometimes the problems that we are trying to correct seem overwhelming and the reality that we are trying to create seems out of reach. I am a hopeful person so I try to reinforce for myself that the goodness is there, and it is my job to help people see an issue they haven’t thought about, or see a path they haven’t thought of before. Constantly finding that goodness in people keeps me grounded.

Angela Glover Blackwell is the founder and chief executive officer of PolicyLink.

Schedule God-Time on Your iPhone, by Vicky Beeching

It’s quite hard when you’re on the road a lot to keep that fire burning, but I think God’s made it very clear to me that unless I’m in that secret place with God, knowing God privately, what I do publicly will not be worth anything. So for me it’s just a matter of making the time in my schedule. For example, anybody who has a business meeting would put it in their planner or iPhone (I’m an iPhone geek), and that’s what I do. I have to plan that time with God and not let anything steal it away.

It’s been hard over the last five years. I haven’t managed it every day like I’d like to, but I try to make it a reality every day of my life and lock-in time with God as though I was meeting with President Obama or the Queen of England. We wouldn’t ever blow them off, would we?

Vicky Beeching is a worship leader and songwriter.

Find a Prayer Partner, by Tony Hall

We have a tendency in our lives to think we have the answer, and we never stop to ask God. We go forward and do our own thing, and when we get in trouble, that’s when we ask God to help us out. It’s a little bit late. So I try to bring God into the process early.

I take a prayer partner with me to all of the places I go in the world. If I go to North Korea, or Appalachia, or the Congo, I take a prayer partner. We get up and pray every morning and try to start the day off right, be accountable to one another, and find out what the Lord is telling us to do there.

Former U.S. ambassador Tony Hall was a member of Congress for nearly 24 years.

Stick Your Face in the Bible, by Richard Stearns

One of the things I try to do with regularity is to just stick my face in the Bible and read it, because I think we constantly have to be reminded about what Christ called us to do. He called us to stand up for justice in our world, to care for the downtrodden and the least of these. He called us to a life of generosity and sacrifice on behalf of other people. The more you read scripture, the more you see that it wasn’t supposed to be one big party where we all feel good about being saved and being loved by God, but that we are supposed to pay it forward. The scriptures energize me and help me recommit to the work that I do on behalf of the poor.

Also, when you’re dealing with problems that seem hopeless, prayer can give you a sense of strength that is supernatural. I think it can be discouraging for those of us who take on these lonely social causes, and sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones who care about these issues. We won’t be able to save every vulnerable child on planet earth, unfortunately, but we need to celebrate the lives that we’ve changed because of our actions, our prayers, and our efforts.

Richard Stearns is president of World Vision, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the United States.

Give It Away, by Donald Miller

I’m an artist and so discipline is not my strength. But one of the things that I love to do is to give. I think a lot of young people don’t often give, but a percentage of every dollar that comes in I give to God. And that has done nothing but bless my life! It has just been awesome. There are times when I wonder how I’m going to pay my mortgage next month, but I promise you this, since I’ve given, every year has been a more joyful year. I have friends who are in bondage over money. I see money as an evil that can really entangle you. So being able to give governs the rest of your life.

Giving also affects my work, because now I’m not working for me. Now, I’m working for something else, and it charges my work. It sounds weird and I feel like an old Southern Baptist pastor, but giving is important. When talking about ending poverty, we have to realize we are rich and it’s important to give.

Donald Miller is a New York Times best-selling author in Portland, Oregon.

Allow God to Speak, by Joel Edwards

I’m amazed to have discovered this about myself because I thought I was quite an introverted, contemplative type, but I’m not, actually. I’m an activist. I’ve had to learn how to carry God with me in the rough-and-tumble of all that I’m up to. I like the opportunities I get to sit in one place and have my feet on the ground and find the time to allow God to speak to me personally. I also like the personal discipline of walking gently through the word of God and to let it speak to me in personal places. I believe in accountability and try to make sure I’m at my local church. More recently, I’ve locked myself into monthly meetings with my local pastor who seems to have an ability to know where I am and what I’m doing. I sit with him and we reflect together on the things I’m experiencing that have been difficult.

Joel Edwards is the international director of Micah Challenge.

Feed Yourself, by Vashti McKenzie

One of the first questions I asked my pastor when I acknowledged my call into the ministry was, “Who ministers to the minister?” My pastor said to me, “If you don’t answer that question, then you are in danger of burning out very easily.” So when you are in a position of leadership like I am, you have to be very determined and decided about how you feed yourself, and it comes through prayer and it comes through worship. I’m in a position where I lead worship and where people expect to receive from me, but I have to make a very conscious effort to be in a position where I hear the word of God and allow the word of God to minister to me.

Vashti Murphy McKenzie is the first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Build Community, by Rachel Anderson

There is no such thing as advocacy or activism outside of community. Building community is at the very heart of where we meet with God. At the Faith and Justice Network, we always said that our recognition of our interdependence on one another is a way of reminding us of our dependence of God. I think God calls us into justice work and gifts us with all the diverse gifts and everything we need to do advocacy.

The second thing is the discipline of prayer and discipleship. I find the Anglican tradition and the monastic tradition, the writings of Thomas Merton, life-giving and a space where you can really remember that God is active among us.

Rachel Anderson coordinates faith outreach at the Center for Responsible Lending in Washington, D.C., and was co-founder of the Boston Faith and Justice Network.

Reach Deep, by Alexie Torres-Fleming

I wish I could say I have a very disciplined prayer life, but that comes and goes. But I have a very deep contemplative life. While I may not exercise formal prayer, I constantly feel and know that I am in God’s presence and in communication with God. I love the mystical tradition of the church, so a lot of my prayer includes reading Teresa of Avila or Dorothy Day, who were able to navigate this work but were also able to reach very deep within themselves and understand a very powerful truth—that sometimes it’s not just about God’s word but it’s just about God.

Alexie Torres-Fleming is the founder and executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in the South Bronx.

Stay on Speaking Terms with Jesus, by Frederick Haynes

Prayer is primary. Jesus said pray always, and I try to stay in a constant state of prayer consciousness where the Lord and I are always on speaking terms. I also do all I can to feed my mind in a meditative fashion. I read books that really feed me and show me where God is trying to take me, not to mention the importance of sitting down and reading scripture. I like to go through the book of Psalms, as well as the gospels. Psalms soothe and help my soul to sing. To go through the gospels and walk with Jesus in my quiet moments is grounding, energizing, and replenishes my ministry.

Frederick Haynes is senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.

Practice Sacred Travel, by Eugene Cho

This is not exactly your classic Franciscan discipline, but I’m very intentional about traveling—sometimes just to be alone, and sometimes intentionally placing myself in situations that I feel are really going to stretch me. It’s not your classic grounding discipline, but it’s really important for me because it’s so easy to get consumed by certain perceptions, by Western ideologies of what it means to be a successful pastor. Traveling really helps keep me grounded.

Eugene Cho is founding and lead pastor of Quest Church in Seattle.

Let Yourself Be Known, by John Perkins

I have a small body of people who really know me, because people who really know you help you with your own mood. They can see when you’re dry, when you’re anxious, when you’re mad. I remember the other day I was doing a talk and I got very mad, and my words must have been very tough. As soon as I got home one of my board members called and asked, “What went wrong? You got so angry.” Meaning, I had gotten so angry, I was messing things up, and I had to think about that. So my friends help me.

John Perkins is co-founder of the Christian Community Development Association.

Take a Silent Retreat, by Lisa Sharon Harper

A great mentor of mine once asked me, “How’s your prayer life?” At that point I told him it was not too good. He recommended that I have a daily prayer life. Whenever I find it hard to journal—which is how I pray to God on paper—if I’m too stopped up to pray, I’ll actually grab a lectionary such as The Book of Prayers and I will literally read the prayers of the saints. Those prayers anchor me in times when I just cannot do it.

Another practice of mine is to take retreats of silence. Whenever I have done that, it has ended up being this window that I have forced myself to walk through where God gets permission to speak into my soul. Activists run at 100 miles an hour, 24/7, and when we’re sleeping we’re dreaming about the issues we fight for. In order to get space for God to speak, I have to take a retreat of silence.

Lisa Sharon Harper is co-founder and executive director of New York Faith and Justice.

Practice Public Lament, by Mark Hanson

Because it’s so easy to get isolated in this role and take on the illusion that it all depends upon me, my spiritual practices are most renewing when they are done in community. Those days when I can gather in community to pray morning prayer and sing evensong, to hear the word proclaimed, and to taste the bread and the wine of Christ’s presence, then I am most renewed. I am reminded that this is the community of Christ’s body, not Mark Hanson, bishop, and individual believer in Jesus.

I also try to practice the spiritual discipline of public lament and repentance. Walter Brueggemann says public lament gives social form to our suffering, and as a public leader I often engage in public acts of repentance toward those who are living in poverty and who have so often been scorned and forgotten by those in religious communities. So I’ve publicly washed the feet of those who live in poverty as a public act of repentance. It brings me to tears. It’s a much more honest assessment that I have not been a good steward of my power, and I think it’s a much more Christ-like place to be.

Mark Hanson is the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Kingdom of God (Sermon, 14/6/09)

2009-06-18T12:02:00.000+08:00

View more OpenOffice presentations from Alwyn Lau.

HOME

2009-06-06T23:37:00.003+08:00

"This visually dramatic special illustrates the planet's fragile state entirely from a birds-eye view in stunning high definition. With spectacular aerial views from more than 50 countries, viewers will see the extent of human impact on our landscapes. And not a moment too soon: In the past 50 years --a single lifetime -- the Earth has been more radically changed than by all previous generations of humanity." (from National Geographic)

Watch the full movie here. Consider:

does the church have a role to play in saving / restoring the natural environment?
what can the people of God do?
how is 'salvation' tied to 'creation'?

God SMS-es the 10 Commandments

2009-06-06T15:07:00.001+08:00

from Jamie Quatro

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.

2. dnt wrshp pix/idols

3. no omg's

4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)

5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool

6. dnt kill ppl

7. :-X only w/ m8

8. dnt steal

9. dnt lie re: bf

10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.

ttyl, JHWH.

ps. wwjd?

Women in Ministry

2009-06-03T18:26:00.001+08:00

"Bishop Wright advocates for the full participation of women in the life of the Church. Citing the examples of Junia as an apostle and Phoebe as a deacon in Romans 16, and the commissioning of Mary Magdelene as the first person to announce the resurrection of Jesus in John 20, he believes that the biblical evidence supporting women in leadership is overwhelming."

Top 10 from the Didache

2009-06-03T18:20:00.001+08:00

By Tony Jones:

10. Give to every one who asks you, and don’t ask for it back. The Father wants his blessings shared.

9. Welcome anyone coming in the name of the Lord. Receive everyone who comes in the name of the Lord, but then, test them and use your discretion.

If he who comes is a transient, assist him as far as you are able; but he should not remain with you more than two or three days, if need be.
If he wants to stay with you, and is a craftsman, let him work for his living.
But if he has no trade, use your judgment in providing for him; for a Christian should not live idle in your midst.

8. On the Lord’s day, gather yourselves together and break bread, give thanks, but first confess your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure.

7. Come together often, seeking the things that are good for your souls. A life of faith will not profit you if you are not made perfect at the end of time.

6. The way of life is this:

First, you shall love God who made you.
And second, love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you.

5. My child, flee evil of all kinds, and everything like it.

4. Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there for loving those who love you? Do not the heathens do the same? But you should love those who hate you, and then you shall have no enemies.

3. Hate no one;

correct some, pray for others, and some you should love more than your own life.

2. There are two ways, one of life and one of death!

and there is a great difference between the two ways.

1. For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able, then at least do what you can.

Toxicity to Transformation (Sermon, 30/05/09)

2009-06-02T07:09:00.001+08:00

View more OpenOffice presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Bible Quiz (on the Sermon on the Mount)

2009-05-24T19:18:00.001+08:00

View more OpenOffice presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Jesus vs Mammon (Sermon, 24/05/09)

2009-05-24T19:10:00.002+08:00

I appreciate the feedback from some members of the congregation that the God of Prosperity - at least in some Chinese cultural expressions (e.g. Sam Hui!) - is associated with fairness in business, moderation, hardwork, and overall benevolence towards the community.

These would be the very qualities characteristic of the kingdom of God and it is hoped that Chinese Christians will model these commandments of Jesus towards justice in all things, economical or otherwise.

View more OpenOffice presentations from Alwyn Lau

The Justice Creed (by Brian McLaren)

2009-05-23T07:38:00.002+08:00

We believe that the living God is just

And that the true and living God loves justice.

God delights in just laws and rejoices in just people.

God sides with those who are oppressed by injustice,

And stands against oppressors.

God is grieved by unjust people and the unjust systems they create and sustain.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, and

God's kingdom belongs to those willing to be persecuted for the sake of justice.

To God, justice is a weighty thing which can never be ignored.

We believe that Jesus, the Liberating King, came to free humanity from injustice

And to display the justice of God,

In word and deed, in life, death, and resurrection.

The justice which God desires, Jesus taught, must surpass that of the hypocrites,

For the justice of God is a compassionate justice,

Rich in mercy and abounding in love

For the last, the least, the lost, and the outcast.

On his cross, Jesus drew the injustice of humanity into the light,

And there the heartless injustice of human empire met

The reconciling justice of the kingdom of God.

The resurrection of Jesus proclaims that the true justice of God,

Naked, vulnerable, and scarred by abuse, is stronger

Than the violent injustice of humanity, armed with weapons, conceit,

deceit, and lies.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is here, now,

Convicting the world of sin and justice,

Warning that God's judgment will come on all that is unjust.

We believe that the Kingdom of God is justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Empowered by the Spirit, then, we seek first God's kingdom and God's justice,

For the world as it is has not yet become the world as God desires it to be.

And so we live, and work, and pray,

Until justice rolls down like water,

And flows strong and free like a never-failing stream.

For we believe that the living God is just

And that the true and living God loves justice.

Amen.

The Anonymous Benefactor (Sermon, 17/05/09)

2009-05-18T16:02:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

3 Views of Church & Politics

2009-05-16T15:25:00.004+08:00

Below are three 'models' of the church and politics that I (Alwyn) have constructed based on conversations with friends and activists alike. Whilst this may be over-simplifying, it could be said that the Christians in Malaysia have:

spent the first few decades of its existence in ‘Model A’ (understandable, given its relative infancy and the struggle to grow)
only in recent years grown to appreciate and embody ‘Model B’ (especially the Web 2.0 generation being empowered by real-time social networking, coupled with stark exposés of the murky side of Malaysian politics)
almost no familiarity with ‘Model C’ (except through history books?)

The following chart is thus presented in the hope that Christians will understand each other more, seek to appreciate the good in the other perspective and in so doing ‘sharpen’ one another (as iron and iron does).

How can the model be improved? Can we add another row? Another column?!

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Illustrations & Maps peacemaking Malaysia

What about free / open theology courses?

2009-05-11T00:18:00.002+08:00

Open Culture, which seeks to highlight ‘the best free cultural and educational media on the web’ has recently (April 29, 2009) posted ‘The Big List of OpenCourseWare Resources’ which lists 500+ courses offered through universities and colleges.

I’m sure there is a range of quality represented in this list but some prestigious universities such as Harvard, MIT and Yale appear and there are sufficient comments and ratings to assist in an initial quality sort.

Free Bible/Theology Courses
I note that the religion section is rather slim or have I missed some?

There is a Podcast of the Historical Jesus from Standford and a highly commendedIntroduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) is one of the 250+ courses that Yale offers.

For some light relief Ricky Gervais (of the Office) Does Biblical Creation Stand-Up.

What other acknowledged courses might you add to this assortment of audio and video resources?

Why aren’t there more open courses available and what are the barriers to making these possible?

The comments beneath some of the postings suggest there are a lot of people who enjoy listening to courses while they mow the lawn, go for a walk or commute to work. Hopefully when some of these courses can be done for credit (as one of the comments suggests) they will become even more popular but the list is a reminder of the value of study in aiding education even when no diploma or degree comes at the end.

Dr Geoff Pound (from Theologians Without Borders)

"You boleh simpan la" (Sermon, 10/05/09)

2009-05-10T23:52:00.005+08:00

Pastor Pax Tan's Mothers' Day sermon was humorous, story-filled and a good reminder to:

be authentic and full-hearted in our show of love
avoid the trivialisation of our gratitude (reflected in such terms as, "Everyday is Mothers' Day"!)

Pastor Tan also quoted from 1 John 4:7-11,

"My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

"My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!"

Pastor Pax mentioned that if even our mums' are fully aware whenever we express half-hearted affection, then imagine what God knows about our love.

So a genuine expression of our Christian faith is 100% all-out all-sincere love towards our brother, failing which God may be saying to us, "You boleh simpan la!"

Good News (Sermon, 25/04/09)

2009-04-28T13:43:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

For Us OUR Debts

2009-04-28T09:11:00.001+08:00

A short article by the Bishop of Durham:

At a Presbyterian conference recently I was reminded that a good slice of Protestantism still prays, day by day, 'forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' -- and that that is of course a perfectly good translation of what Jesus said. Forgiveness is written in to the gospel from top to bottom; indeed, without it there wouldn't BE a gospel. And to make 'forgiveness' cover only 'sins', and not other things, is of course to collude with the Enlightenment dualism, the split-level world so many of us are firmly reacting against (though without always getting the fresh integration really sorted out).

Anyway: if the only people one could help were the squeaky-clean, I suspect that wouldn't be very many. It's a murky world out there and all sorts of complicated things have gone on which even most of the bankers and investment 'experts' themselves only partly seem to understand. The trouble is that it often isn't them that are really hurt: it's the classic 'little guy' who has done what seemed right at the time and now finds himself (or herself) homeless, jobless, without savings/pension/tuition fees for kids etc etc. But this simply mirrors, close up, the situation that several third world countries have been in for DECADES, and despite massive campaigning we still haven't managed to do very much to help them.

OK, we've remitted some debts; notably, for instance, in Tanzania, where it has made a huge difference. But with many other countries we've done nothing of note (Philippines, Bangladesh, etc.). And the usual right-wing excuse ("They have to learn to pay their debts; It was all done by corrupt people; If we bale them out the wrong people will get hold of it and spend it all again") is now the cause of long, loud, hollow laughter -- because of course that's exactly what's happening with the banks. They got it wrong, big-time; some of them really should go to jail or at least be made to pay back, slowly and painfully, what they took over many years for themselves; and yet we are baling them out and they are STILL paying themselves huge salaries and big bonuses. This is obscene. The very rich are doing for the very rich what they have refused to do for the very poor.

Of course, I know that if the banks fail then millions of 'little guys' get hurt once again as well. But the 'big guys' ought to be made to pay for what they did that was deeply reprehensible and got us into this mess. Otherwise the next generation of bankers will think, "Well, that lot got away with it, more or less, so it doesn't matter that much." Read J. K. Galbraith's book on the 1929 crash for some eye-opening stuff down this line.

So: the ancient Israelite command to have a 'jubilee year' when debts were forgiven makes a whole lot of sense. A lot more than what we've been working with. And anyone who says it doesn't, have a look at your investment portfolio and see where your vested (or invested) interests lie. And the point of forgiveness is, yes, that you may have got it wrong but it's time for a clean start. And if you look at Luke 19 you'll see that when rich tricksters get a fresh start they know they have to make substantial repayments to those they've defrauded.

Obviously lots more could be said about this, but this is for starters. Anyone who wants to see more can look at my speech in the House of Lords on December 8.

Missional 101 to 501

2009-04-28T08:43:00.002+08:00

Read the full article by Brad McCracken

Missional 101: The Church Does Not Exist For Itself
Most definitions of what it means to be “missional” start with the basic premise that the church is not primarily about us, but about God’s mission in the world.

Originating from the Latin phrase missio dei — which means “the sending of God” — “missional” conceives of the church as a primarily movement-oriented body that was not created for itself, but for the glorification of God through the spreading of his gospel to others. Our God is a God who sends. He sent Jesus to earth, who said in John 20:21 that “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” As followers of Christ, we exist in this sending tradition.

Missional 201: Missional in Historical Context
But why now? Why is the missional movement gaining momentum at this point in history, and what is it reacting against?

The missional movement comes out of the desire to rebuild the credibility of the church by engaging and serving the culture, McIntosh believes. It’s about looking at the church with a broader “kingdom” lens, as informed by diversity, tolerance and global awareness.
This broader lens turns “missions” into a more all-encompassing idea that informs every activity of the Christian life, situated not primarily in parachurch organizations but in churches themselves and every individual Christian life.

Missional 301: Missional in Practice
Being missional is about seeing the church for the global, diverse, interconnected thing that it is. Its emphasis on church planting, networking, partnerships and communal action stands in contrast to the “my church is bigger than yours” mentality of competition and proprietary individualism.

In the missional age, the thinking is, “We’re all in this together.”

Missional 401: The Church, the Kingdom
The missional movement asserts that the church is and always has been an apostolic action first and an institution second, serving its function by extending itself in motion between the kingdom and the world.

This idea that we are to be for the world undergirds the core of the missional movement, spawning a newfound passion for social justice, community service and earth-based mission-mindedness.

Missional 501: Some Reservations
Though more and more churches and Christian leaders are getting on board with the missional movement, many still express reservations about whether “missional” will inhibit or deemphasize evangelism and the proclamation of the gospel in its push towards service and demonstration of the gospel.

For younger generations of Christians, the “evangelism versus social gospel” dichotomy is not that much of a dichotomy at all, says Murray Decker, associate professor of intercultural studies at Biola. Decker suggests that the question this generation asks is “Why do we have to choose between ‘Do we win ’em’ or ‘Do we feed ’em’?” For them, it’s natural that the church must be about both.

FAITH 5!

2009-04-28T08:41:00.002+08:00

More at Rev. Sivin Kit's blog.

The Cross as Preparatory Step?

2009-04-28T08:35:00.001+08:00

He may have over-stated it, but this is still a helpfully provocative post:

Because the cross of Jesus is so central to our faith, we often have a hard time reframing it as a preparatory step in fulfilling God’s dream. God ’s dream is to have a multinational community of voluntary lovers who are engaged in God’s mission for this planet. The life of Jesus, and his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension were all preparatory in fulfilling God’s dream. Pentecost launched God’s dream in human history. The Story moves from a uninational (Israel) to a multinational (church) community empowered by the Spirit to be God’s “new humanity” on earth. A new humanity with a mission…announcing and living cosmic redemption of “all things” under the lordship of Jesus the Messiah (see Colossians 1).

Jesus was promised (OT texts)

Jesus was born and lived some 33 years.

Jesus died.

Jesus was buried.

Jesus rose from the dead into a new dimension of life.

Jesus appeared for 40 days and ascended to God’s right hand.

ALL PREPARATORY. For what?

Jesus and the Father poured out the Spirit on all flesh.

The new covenant community is launched, wobbling along at first and then taking off.

God’s dream is being realized…all nations blessed and one and with access to the Father through his Son Jesus Christ.

Pentecost Sunday, May 31, is coming. Celebrate!

Are you part of the dream?

Chicken a la Carte

2009-04-21T20:19:00.001+08:00

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Instilling Missional Habits

2009-03-30T16:36:00.002+08:00

David Fitch shares his thoughts about leading a church congregation to engage mission as a way of life:

1.) Kindly Reject doing Outreach Events. Instead direct imagination towards ways of connecting with people where they are. Outreach events take up much time, planning and enormous “congregational capital” (if I may put it that way). In post Christendom outreach events rarely “work.” And you simply cannot compete with the local Park District or Megachurch event planning neutral site events. Instead, with little effort or cost, direct the people’s imagination towards seeing the ways you can connect with people in their everyday situations by going to the same place at the same time every week. Stoke imagination for the way ordinary life is the stage of God’s working. Visit the same places at the same time every week (this is easy for me because I am pathetically boring and love doing the same thing everyday). This has revolutionized my missional life with not a single ounce of extra-expended energy spent on my part. I believe the same could be true for every member of our church Body. Thanks to Alan Hirsch for teaching me about this.

2.) Kindly Reject evangelism as a one time hit on a target with a preconceived outcome. Kindle imagination toward seeing mission as part of regular daily, weekly and monthly life rhythms where out or regular life God works to use your life to impact people for the gospel in unforeseen ways. There is no precision strike technique, instead we need to train our eyes to pay attention to our life rhythms and be ready to minister out of everyday life, where God is already working to bring people to Christ.

3.) Kindly reject building multiple use buildings as if by building a gymnasium on the church campus we can bring people into the orbit of the church. Instead stoke imagination for what can happen when we go inhabit the gyms already in the neighborhoods. We should build less third spaces, and inhabit more the ones already there.

4.) Kindly reject one-on-one evangelism and the techniques associated with such apologetic persuasion. Instead direct imagination for inhabiting places in two’s or three’s or more. Hospitals, PADS Centers, the school systems, the park districts and places of hurt and pain too numerous to mention are all places where there are forces at work that can take under any one isolated saint. But two or three Christians together become an undeniable force for the kingdom under the Lordship of Christ.

5.) Kindly reject the Sunday morning gathering as an evangelistic event for it cannot be that in the new post Christendom cultures. Instead fire up imagination for the formation that comes from a communal encounter with the living God in Jesus Christ. As we hover around the altar, in silence, in prayers of submission, in affirmation, in confession, in healing prayers, in the hearing of the Word, and the Table, as we sing in praise and thanksgiving at what He has done, and then as we are sent out by God in the Benedictory challenge, we are shaped for His Life in Mission. It is simple, organic, takes a lot less planning than a mega show, and alot less money. And if any non-believers do happen to come, they won’t confuse this with a Tony Robbins event.

6.) Kindly reject coercive persuasion and argument in our witness. Instead stoke the imagination of your people for seeking “one person of peace” (Luke 10) among the lost of their neighborhoods. Look for that one who, though never having heard the gospel, is dispositionally ready (been readied by God) to receive. (Thanks to Mike Breen at the EcclesiaNet conference this past week for this idea).

7.) Kindly reject presumptuous postures of power as we live our lives among those who do not know Christ yet. Instead direct the imagination towards the way Christ always enters the human situation in humility. So don’t come to your neighbors as the one with the answer, but as the one searching for the answers that always point you towards Christ. Come to your neighbors humbly and in need. Instead of offering them a meal, find ways to participate in a meal with them. If you’re in the suburbs ask them if you can borrow their lawnmower.

8.) Kindly Reject Surveying the neighborhood - Direct the imagination toward exegeting the neighborhood. Surveying looks at the neighborhood as a place to market our church, find out what they are looking for and appeal to it so that they are attracted to the idea of coming to church. Exegeting a neighborhood requires inhabiting the neighborhood, seeing the neighborhood as a place for redemption, discovering where the hurting are and the unjust structures are. See the possibilities for ministering the gospel to those who are lost and through the gospel (over time) seeing that very culture transformed.

9.) Kindly Reject problem solving - instead direct the imagination towards “appreciative inquiry.” We often approach church through problem solving. What is wrong with our programs? What needs are we not meeting? What needs to be tweaked? What are we not doing right? This is negative, mechanical and lifeless. Instead, let’s direct our community’s imagination to noticing where God is working among us and around us, to recognize it, praise God for it and participate in it through the gifts we have been given. Thanks to Mark Lau Branson for this insight.

Dying to Self (Sermon, 29 Mar 2009)

2009-03-30T16:31:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

The Bronze Serpent (Sermon, 22 Mar 09)

2009-03-30T16:27:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Deductive & Inductive

2009-03-27T11:27:00.001+08:00

Which kind of thinking do we use more often in church and theology? How do we develop a better mix?

"Thank you for the Cross"

2009-03-23T14:18:00.004+08:00

What 'happened' on the Cross? We all know Jesus 'died and gave His life for us', but how does the Cross do that? Our Affirmation kids present some Biblical metaphors of the atonement in colour:

Can you think of other metaphors to 'explain' what happened on Calvary?

An Evangelical View of Purgatory?

2009-03-18T11:17:00.002+08:00

Greg Boyd offers an argument worth looking at:

A while back a Christian lady I knew took her own life. A friend of the family remarked that the pain in her life had become unbearable and “she just wanted to go to a better place.” If you reject (as I do) the old Catholic teaching that people who commit suicide automatically go to hell, this course of action doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable. As a despondent young man said to me recently, “When life’s just one f**king bout of pain after another and heaven is just one relatively painless act away, why would anyone think suicide an outlandish possibility?”

One of course might (and should) point out that suicide is murder and that our lives are not ours to take. If the person believes murder is forgivable, however, this might not deter them. One might (and should) also point out that suicide is profoundly selfish. But if the person is sufficiently despondent and/or doesn’t feel anyone loves them, this also might not deter them.

There are other considerations one could (and should) offer someone contemplating suicide, but in my opinion the best argument against suicide is that it’s simply not a short cut to heaven. As I said in response to the despondent young man mentioned above, “While your faith in Jesus in principle reconciles you to God, your character has to be refined before you enter heaven. It’s like Christ’s death on the cross let’s you out of prison but you still need to have your criminal character reformed before you are fit for the heavenly society. And there’s simply no short cut to this process of character reformation.”

The trouble is that, like most evangelicals, this young man held the view that our character is magically made perfect the moment we die. Sanctification may be hard during this life, this view holds, but if you’re “saved” you’re perfected and all struggles cease the moment you die.

Tragically, this belief not only encourages suicide for people who are desperately tired of the struggle, but it also seems to make sanctification in this life optional. Many wonder why they should go through all the hard work of character refinement in this life if they’re going to instantly be made perfect the moment after they take their last breath? I’m convinced this belief, together with the common “legal” view of “justification,” is largely behind the epidemic apathy toward Christ-like holiness that characterizes the modern western church.

As widespread as this “instantly-made-perfect-at-death” belief is today, it’s worth noting that it’s not the traditional view of the church. Throughout most of Church history Christians have believed that between death and heaven is a stage of purging during which the process of sanctification is completed. This came to be called “purgatory” (a title I avoid because of its negative associations). Unfortunately, over time purgatory came to be viewed as a place where you pay for your sins, as though Christ’s atoning work on the cross was insufficient. To make matters worse, during the late Middle Ages the Catholic Church began selling “indulgences,” claiming that a person could buy time off of purgatory for themselves or loved ones by donating money to the Church (arguably the most ingenious money-making scheme any religion has ever concocted!). This was the primary teaching Luther originally protested against when he birthed the Protestant (“protesting”) movement in the early 16th century.

The conviction that all believers are magically made perfect at the moment of death can be traced back Luther’s original protest. The concept of purgatory had become so fused with the idea of paying for your own sins and with the grotesque practice of selling indulgences that Luther and other Protestants ended up rejecting the concept of post-mortem sanctification (”purgatory”) altogether.

So far as I can see, the early Protestants threw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. While Scripture is admittedly scant on details of the next life, I find hints that suggest that there’s some sort of refining process that believers must go through on their way to their eternal home.

For example, in Matthew 5 Jesus says;

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny” (Mt. 5:25-26).

Notice that Jesus says the person will eventually get out of prison, which tells us he’s not talking about an eternal punishment. This person is clearly “saved.” Yet, there’s a punishment this person must undergo before they are released from prison. In light of Christ’s atoning death I think we have to interpret this punishment in a pedagogical instead of a retributive sense. It’s not a matter of a person paying for their own sins. It’s rather a matter of a person learning what they have to learn. Jesus is teaching us that we either learn to be reconciled with our adversaries now or we’ll have to learn this later – and it’s apparently in our own interest to learn this now.

There are no shortcuts.

Along similar lines, in Luke 12 Jesus taught:

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked ” (Lk 12:47-48).

Here again it’s important to notice that for both servants the punishment comes to an end, which tells us Jesus isn’t talking about a permanent punishment. Yet the punishments vary depending on severity of the servants’ crime. The servant who knew his master’s will and intentionally disobeyed will experience harsher punishment than the servant who didn’t, presumably because intentional disobedience reflects a more hardened character that requires harsher disciplinary measures to be reformed.

Finally, Paul explicitly teaches that every disciple of Jesus must go through a “fire” that “will test the quality of each person’s work” (I Cor. 3:14). This fire refines everything that is built on the foundation of Christ but burns up everything that is not (I Cor. 3:11-15). In my view, this refining fire (or “prison,” or “beatings”) takes place at the “judgment seat of Christ” that all believers must face (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10). The judgment is not about whether or not a believer belongs to God. It’s about a believer receiving whatever punishment they need and whatever reward they deserve as a prelude to their life in the heavenly society.

To sum it all up, while believers are justified by faith alone in the atoning work of Christ, we are nevertheless called to yield to God’s Spirit within us as we “work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Compelled by the love of God (2 Cor. 5:14), we are called to “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting (or “completing”, teleo) holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1). This purification is to take place in the community of disciples who constitute the bride that is making herself ready for the return of her groom (Rev. 19:7) which is why Peter says that “judgment begins with God’s household” (1 Pet 4:17).

What I’ve tried to show in this post is that this purification is not optional and this judgment is not avoidable. Whatever is not completed now will have to be completed at the judgment seat of Christ – but again, it’s in our best interest to complete this process now.

We are all in training for the eternal Kingdom. Life is the school that prepares us for heaven. And, like it or not, we will not enter our eternal Sabbath rest until we’re ready to graduate. There simply are no short cuts, so we might as well start to enjoy the learning process.

Best wishes as you continue on in the school of Christ-like purification.

Your Timothy, Your Protege

2009-03-17T11:47:00.001+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Tom Peters on Education

2009-03-17T11:45:00.001+08:00

The following video was shown as part of the "Who's Your Timothy?" presentation at the YAFI:

Do you agree with Peters? (That we should never hire people scoring all As'?!)

Your Jonathan, Your True Friend

2009-03-12T14:18:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Podcast Messages from Truett Theological

2009-03-04T09:51:00.000+08:00

A wealth of resources!

3 Types of People (Sermon, 1/3/09

2009-03-02T13:43:00.000+08:00

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Your Nathan, Your Editor

2009-03-01T21:44:00.001+08:00

On Friday evening, the YAFI continued their study of Leonard Sweet's 11 Indispensable Relationships:

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Jesus' Temptations (Sermon, 22/02/09)

2009-02-23T11:48:00.000+08:00

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What is Your "Spiritual Style"?

2009-02-19T16:38:00.001+08:00

Take the test!

Explaining Emergent Churches (Peter Rollins)

2009-02-17T15:25:00.002+08:00

Explaining Emergent Churches - Inner Compass from Calvin College on Vimeo.

I at least enjoyed the Peter's irish accent!

Books White Bread for the Mind?

2009-02-16T13:16:00.000+08:00

At least that's what Clark Aldrich is saying:

We are very proud of books. Many have a religious zeal about them, especially those old enough to remember when they were scarce, or with strong connections to people who did. We all have books that transformed our view of the world, and influenced moral and career decisions. There is no better way of transferring someone else’s internal monologue than a good book. They teach us empathy and respect. We can also get facts, allowing us to make more informed decisions.

Books are also a great example of mature technology. They are cheap to produce, easy to store, and require no energy or other supporting infrastructure. The only access barrier is literacy. Libraries are filled with them. And yet, as we try to take what we have read and apply it to real situations in an attempt to get a desired result, we are starting to have our own Atkins “aha’s.”

We become increasingly aware of what they don’t contain, such as a focus on actions, and the impact of rigorous systems including the emergent actions of units, as much as what they do contain.

We love the buzz of a good book, like a good vacation, but hate the transition back to our world.

Stewardship of Character (Sermon, 15/02/09)

2009-02-14T11:26:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Remember Your Baptism?

2009-02-14T09:09:00.002+08:00

In troubling times, Martin Luther once said to, "Remember your baptism."

What do you think he meant? What would it mean to "remember our baptism" today?

Our Manifold With-Ness

2009-02-14T09:04:00.003+08:00

11 Relationships (Intro)

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1. If we have all the best people, would we have the best ideas or best outcomes? Why or why not?

Rev. Sivin Kit the Pastor for Palestine

2009-02-13T16:59:00.004+08:00

Read the full interview.

"Generally, I get the sense that most peace-loving Christians are troubled by the violence and war. But they do not know enough to get their mind around the complexities of the politics surrounding the Middle East, and therefore keep their opinions mostly to themselves.

But there is also a particular interpretation of the meaning of Israel as the "chosen people" derived from the Old Testament, which is linked with narrower teachings on the End Times. Due to this, some Christians are not willing to be critical towards the current Israeli government lest we move out of God's will for the last days.

I have heard a number of Christians operate more out of a "just war" theory or their own political analysis. They put blame on both sides of the conflict; in some cases more on Hamas' firing of rockets than on the Israeli government's military operation."

What God Has to Say About Perak (Bob Teoh), Pt. II

2009-02-12T15:38:00.001+08:00

Part 1 below

1 Peter 2: 13-15 Respecting People in Authority

For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king. (Holy Bible - New Living Translation)

Although Romans 13 has often been used as prescribed Scripture for church-state relationship, more often than not it tends to be used out of context. This simply because we try to squeeze the text into out own predetermined position in situations such as the current constitutional crisis in Perak.

I am also not neutral in this. Neither would I encourage you to be a fence-sitter. Having no position is indeed a position itself, although a double-minded one. We are privileged to be guided by Holy Scriptures to enable us to arrive at a considered decision instead of a simplistic or speculative one. We thank God for Holy Scriptures preserved for our benefit.

The Apostle Paul in Romans 13:1 speaks of submission to governing authorities, and the Apostle Peter talks about respecting all human authority (1 Peter 2:1).

The context, therefore, is clear. At every level of human society, not just church-state relationship, Paul says all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

Even as human society is fallen and marred by sin, God’s redemptive purpose is one borne of law and orderliness; of justice and righteousness. Therefore everyone must submit to and respect all authorities, including the institution of the family, religious authorities and, yes, even the income tax department, if we are relying on Romans 13.

The state, or the governing authorities, sits at the apex of our society as it were - Whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed, as Peter points out.

There are a variety of governing authorities among the more than 200 countries in the world. constitutional monarchy, presidential democracy, communism, and dictatorship, are some of them. However, not all may conform to the model envisaged by God.
Peter alludes to the delegation of authority in a constitutional monarchy when he refers to the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed.

God would expect righteousness as a cornerstone undoubtedly in any governing authority. It’s interesting that Peter outline the order of rendering respect or submission as respecting everyone first, fearing God, and then respecting the king (1 Pe 2:17). This prioritisation of submission is instructive.

The biblical model outlined by Paul is one arising from a willing heart and of mutual and reciprocal considerations of submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21).

So it is clear that we are not called to blindly or slavishly submit to governing authorities. My own understanding is that it is our duty not only to respect or submit but also to ensure that such authorities are imbued with a sense of respect for the people and are God-fearing, undergirded by an acute sense of justice and righteousness. No one would have any problem of respecting or submitting to such governing authorities.

But what happens if there are no viable government authorities, the Marcos dictatorship, being a case in point?

I was fortunate enough to be an eye-witness in Manila to the last days leading to the fall of the corrupt Marcos regime. The fact is that Marcos had rigged the elections and had won by fraud and his opponent, Aquino, was assassinated by the Marcos mafia. All law and order had broken down.

There was abundant empirical evidence that the Philippines, at that juncture, had no viable governing authorities. Far from being righteous, the regime was corrupt and murderous to the core. The Catholic Church, far from calling for its parishioners to submit, called for a peaceful overthrow of a rogue government. As well all now know, the truth prevailed and the devil had to flee. We re not called to submit to anarchy but ot law and order.How do we assess the situation in Perak?

It is a hung assembly – or governing authorities. Both sides of the bench have an equal number of seats 28:28 with three assemblymen who had resigned from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to be independent lawmakers but have declared they will throw in their lot with the Barisan. It is a constitutional crisis, whichever way you may want to see it.

To resolve this, the Menteri Besar Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin petitioned Sultan Azlan Shah to dissolve the assembly to pave the way for fresh elections for a fresh mandate from the people as provided for in the State Constitution.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak as head of Perak Umno, went to see the Sultan to claim that Umno now commands the majority support in the state assembly on the basis of the three who had switched party and declared they will support Umno even remaining as independent assemblymen.

The Sultan in his wisdom decided to believe Najib. Nizar, who had been appointed by the Sultan is now duly disappointed. The Sultan then picked Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir from Umno to be the new MB in preference to dissolving the assembly or waiting for a vote of no confidence to be moved in the assembly. But Nizar refused to step down. His supporters tried to prevent the swearing in of the new MB. Perak thus, now have two MB’s, further compounding the crisis.
Did the Sultan do the right thing? Again it depends on who you talk to. Some argue that the Ruler’s decision cannot be challenged in court. But that does not tell us whether he did the right thing. And we need to know that. One thing is clear, in Malaysia, God has allowed the governing authorities model to be that of constitutional monarchy. Whether this is his preferred choice, we have no way of knowing till we get to heaven.

By no stretch of imagination can we conclude that the Sultan’s wisdom is always right and that his prerogative is absolute. Only the King of kings is absolute and perfect in truth.

So is there redemption in Perak? Yes. Firstly, the political system in Perak, and by extension, in the country, is maturing into a true two-party parliamentary democracy - 28:28, plus three crossover artistes, holding all and sundry to ransom.

We must remember that the Sultan himself derives his authority from the Perak State Constitution. It is said kings reign but the people rule through governing authorities. Now that the legislative and executive, and the monarchy have triangulated themselves into a stalemate, the ball it at the judiciary’s court to dispense justice with the wisdom of Solomon and with righteousness. Will our judges have the courage and wisdom? If it fails to play it’s God-given role, then the constitutional crisis in Perak will surely descend into chaos. In that event, there will be no prevailing governing authorities to respect or to submit to. In that case all the legislative, executive and the sultan, have no choice but to submit to the will of the people by going back to the ballot box.

According to Romans 13: 1 Everyone must submit to the governing authorities: “For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.”
And in 2 Peter 1:17, the principle is Respect everyone, fear God, and respect the king. The people comes first. Respect must be earned, not bought, stolen, switched or commanded. We can only submit to governing authorities if they are viable authorities. Thus, our duty is to ensure that the governing authorities in Perak are viable in the first place.

In your reflection, you may consider the Micah Mandate: “…the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (NLT)

Never in our history have both the monarchy and executive been so publicly outraged by the fury of the people. On the day the royal convoy, including that of the Raja Muda and the deputy prime minister, was making its way into the Istana for the controversial swearing in of the Mentri Besar, it was momentarily blocked by protestors and pelted with stones. Later that evening, Najib had to skip a Chinese New Year party for security reasons. Two wrongs do not make a right but the writing is on the wall. He who can read, let him read.

We are reminded by Paul:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 1-2 NLT)

Amen.

What God Has to Say About Perak (Bob Teoh)

2009-02-12T15:35:00.002+08:00

Here is Part 1 (Part 2 above)

Romans 13: 1-7 Respect for Authority

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. (Holy Bible - New Living Translation)

More than we will ever realise, the presence of God is ever so pervasive, even in times such as this. The current political developments in Perak seemed to be chaotic. But make no mistakes about it. The God of the Bible is a God of order from the book of Genesis to Revelation, therefore, He is fully in control and sovereign all things, even the intriques and conspiracies in Perak. This passage is only one of the many that tells us God is interested in our affairs, even in deciding who should form the government in Perak.

You mean God is interested in Perak? In the politics of Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional? The answer is an unqualified yes. You mean God puts Sultan Azlan Shah in the Istana in Kuala Kangsar to make the crucial decision at a most critical juncture in the history of Perak? Yes again. You mean God allowed the lawmaker from Umno to defect twice and to collect twice –once from each party? Surely yes. You mean God allowed the two lawmakers currently under corruption charges to make the switch? Yes. You mean God allowed the sole woman lawmaker to let down her own party? Yes, of course. You mean God allowed the 59-seat Perak State Assembly to hang 28:28 with the three who have just switched sides to hold everyone to ransom? Yes, of course.

What sort of God is this who would tolerate Judas and Brutus? An awesome one. A very awesome one. Of all the over six and a half billion people on this planet, this God watches over us and all those in Perak.
The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go both now and forever. (Psalm 121:7-8)

We must remember God even allowed His own Son to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. For a purpose. His purpose. This is not the same as saying God condoned all this. No, He doesn’t. He just allowed it to happen. Why? I don’t know. I only know He’s the Sovereign LORD. The LORD God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth.
In the light of all this, we are left with one thing to do: “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.”

Of course, God is also giving us a choice whether to submit to the decision of Sultan Azlan Shah or otherwise. But remember, we and only we bear this responsibility of making the choice. Just don’t draw God into the folly of choices.
And just what would Jesus say?

“God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” (Mathhew 5:9).

May the peace of the Lord be with you.Pray for Sultan Azlan Shah and all the Perak State Asemblymen and all and those in positions of authority (who) have been placed there by God.

Amen.

Moses' Striking the Rock (Sermon, 8/2/09)

2009-02-12T15:27:00.004+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

One important highlight of the sermon is the importance of managing our anger. How do you personally calm yourself in the midst of a raging emotional storm? What good Biblical examples can you think of relating to 'anger management'? Most importantly, how can we balance of godly forms/expressions of anger (e.g. Jesus's Temple-action) with destructive ones?

A Lutheran Response to Christian Zionism

2009-02-04T09:14:00.000+08:00

Smith (2008) - Toward a Lutheran Response to Christian Zionism

Publish at Scribd or explore others: zionism smith

The Body of Christ (Sermon 31/01/09)

2009-02-03T13:08:00.000+08:00

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Kaka

2009-01-23T13:53:00.002+08:00

Blogpastor writes:

He does not smoke nor drink. He is polite and courteous. He was a virgin until he married his wife. He said, “The Bible teaches that true love waits until marriage. If our life today is so beautiful, I think it is because we waited.”

I am referring to Kaka the famous Brazilian footballer of AC Milan, now a target of megarich Manchester City, which is prepared to pay mind-boggling tranfer fees and salary to get this player.

“I am a radical,” he said. “In fact, I’m very radical. I have my life, I have my values. And, compared to much of society, especially football, that is radical.”

The Times, London, reported that “Kaká, a devout evangelical Christian, sticks to his faith in a secular world. And that, he says, is what makes him a radical, a non- conformist, a man who walks in his own religious bubble, respecting the choices of others but keeping them at arm’s length. “I isolate myself from such things,” he said. “And people still accept me.

“As for others, I respect them and their right to choose to do other things. I don’t judge them. If you can do that, it’s not hard to be a Christian in a less than Christian world.”

Wow, isn’t that wonderfully inspiring!

Equally encouraging are news that quite a number of local television celebrities have become Christians in the recent one to two years.

Chew Chor Ming is one of them and it was reported in the Straits Times.

Jacelyn Tay had her testimony published in IMPACT magazine. (I wish I had a soft copy so I could put it on my blog.)

Chen Li Ping (Ah Yo Yo) and husband Rayson Tan, who were devout Buddhists have turned to Christ.

So have Jack Neo, who now attends City Harvest Church.

What is God doing in our midst?

10 Steps to a Brilliant Career in Theology

2009-01-21T16:00:00.000+08:00

The post is written in jest, but I guess that makes it more fun. Check it out.

Mission vs. Missions

2009-01-21T15:58:00.000+08:00

"Mission must be understood not just as something the church does (as missions, or more accurately witness or evangelism), but as an inherent aspect of the very nature of the church. The critical issue relative to ecclesiology is to understand that the missionary nature of the church has an impact on all of the functions of the church.

As the church engages in worship, education, fellowship, service, and witness, it does so with the sense that its very presence in the world is an act of mission on the part of God to offer redemption to a lost and broken world. This understanding shifts the focus from a “theology of missions” to a “mission theology” and from “church-shaped missions” to a “mission-shaped church.”

Rethinking Ministry: From Church-Shaped Missions to a Mission-Shaped Church, published by Christian Reformed Home Missions

Obama's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-21T15:22:00.002+08:00

Taken from the BBC website. What in the speech can/should the church identify with? What lessons can we learn about the kingdom of God, about our faith, our mission, etc.?

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.

At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

Serious challenges

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

Nation of 'risk-takers'

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

'Remaking America'

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Restoring trust

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

'Ready to lead'

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

'Era of peace'

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Duties

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

'Gift of Freedom'

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Stories from Rev. Augustin's Sermon

2009-01-21T15:08:00.002+08:00

Two stories I remembered from Rev. Augustin's sermon last Sunday:

1. The guy who tried to smuggle in a blender by disassembling it and packing the various parts into his family's luggage. It's interesting how, of all parts, he put the blades into his carry-on luggage. I felt this greatly shows how God will definitely find a way to expose our misdeeds, especially those we commit with 'eyes wide open'.

One 'epilogue' I would recommend to this story (and I don't mean to sound fatalistic, but) : Even if the guy had packed the blades into the check-in luggage, God would still get to him somehow. (E.g. it may end up spoilt upon arrival, he may cut his hand, the first outcome would be bad, etc, etc.)

2. Rev. Augustin's two sons 'pakat' and refused to say who's guilty for not cleaning the bathroom well, and how this interestingly must reflect unity in the Body of Christ.

3. Be bold. Amen!

What other highlights can you recall?

Discipline of Divine Disturbance (Sermon, 11/01/09)

2009-01-13T17:40:00.001+08:00

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Neither Christian nor non-Christian

2009-01-09T15:25:00.002+08:00

Peter Rollins attempts to paraphrase the Apostle Paul to describe the reality of being 'in Christ Jesus':

"You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither high church nor low church, Fox nor CNN, citizen nor alien, capitalist nor communist, gay nor straight, beautiful nor ugly, East nor West, theist nor atheist, Israel nor Palestine, hawk nor dove, American nor Iraqi, married nor divorced, uptown nor downtown, terrorist nor freedom fighter, paedophile nor loving parent, priest nor prophet, fame nor obscurity, Christian nor non-Christian, for all are made one in Christ Jesus."

Would you agree? What are your thoughts on this? How do you think Paul would respond?

Study Theme of the Week: Peace-Making

2009-01-09T10:55:00.001+08:00

1. What is the role of the Church and Christians in peace-making (locally, in the office, internationally, etc.)?

2. How can peace-making be a more regular aspect in Christian worship? Should it be incorporate into worship somehow? If yes, how? If not, why not?

3. What Biblical examples of peace-making can you think of and what does that tell you about God, about life and how you should live it, etc.? What about Christian but non-Biblical examples?