Christmas Reflections 2009

This year, I have decided to do something different.

I went without internet for the Christmas Day :) (It is a very special thing for an internet/Facebook/email addict like me... haha!) I remember a couple of months ago, I read this article about taking a Sabbath on the internet. After thinking about it for some time, I have decided to do it on Christmas Day.

I just took a rest, watched some TV (what? watch TV?? I seldom really sit down and watch TV, usually I surf the net while the TV is on...) and read BOOKS!! haha! I really love reading, but now most of the stuff I read is from the internet browser... :P or ebook reader...

As a result, I had a lot of catching up to do today, so many emails/ news/messages from Facebook/Google Reader/Plurk/Fan Forums...

Read a lot of Christmas related posts today from the blogs I'm following. I have been telling different people to separate consumerism from Festival Celebrations. (Not just Christmas actually... it's such an unhealthy thing to do for ourselves and the earth itself. I know it's hard to resist, because of the various sales promotion... I bought something in Christmas as well...)

Some people suggested we should separate Christ from Christmas. (Don't get crazy when you read this sentence, I think their logic is pretty sound.)

John Stackhouse: Happy Holidays will do nicely
安於沒有聖誕的聖誕節

And some thinks we should rethink Christmas. It's not a celebration of the birthday of baby Jesus. I agree.

Once Again: Christmas is NOT Jesus’ Birthday

In case you miss the point in the article above, here's a quote from the article itself.

"The theological and spiritual dangers of trivializing and sentimentalizing the incarnation—and Jesus—are far greater than any supposed benefits of further including children and making them feel part of the celebration."

What is Christmas for you? Whether you are a Christian or not, I think it's sad if it's merely a shopping season for you. If you are not a Christian, it should be a time for being with family and friends, showing your love, instead of just about shopping for Christmas gifts.

紀念日 (A non-Christian related Christmas post)
聖誕節送大禮

I didn't even go Christmas carolling this year, many people asked me why. I'm beginning to wonder, whether Christians really go Christmas carolling to spread the good news (even if I disregard the fact that good news is very much distorted these days...), or if they go because of the need to feel the festivities without feeling guilty about it (by celebrating in some non-Christian ways)??

And for me (like some others), Christmas is not as peaceful as it is often portrayed. With so many disasters (human and non-human), Christmas represents Jesus' coming into this world, and our hope for God's intervention in the world, His justice and will on earth as it is in heaven.
不安夜
《十月圍城》

Christmas

I found THE best Christmas post I have ever read, I think...

This is what I think we should do to tell people about the Gospel. And also what we should not do.

Basically the whole thing is good, I don't want to copy everything here.

"In the Christian family itself, the prosperity gospel makes a mockery of the very savior it claims to proclaim. Western Christians plunge into the pagan celebration, spending thousands on themselves and their children. We spend enough on our lights to save thousands upon thousands of lives. But those lives are in the darkness of Advent’s waiting. Our “lights” are nothing more than an extension of that darkness. They have nothing to do with the true light that comes to the world...

Ironically, after 2,000 years of offering our Savior to others, we- Christians- need one more than ever. When we mark ourselves has “having” Christ more than “needing” Christ, we miss the Spirit of the Advent season."

Read the whole article to find out how we're missing the true Spirit of Advent.

Really need time to reflect on this in this Christmas.

Calling

Read this here on iQuest today

「召命（calling）就是你最深情的喜悅與世界最深切的需要交會之處，這交會處有一個精彩的故事。」

Sounds so good, prompted me to think about it for about 5 seconds, about my own calling...

Then suddenly remember what I heard in today's class of Old Testament Theology (last class today, this course is great and I have a lot of questions in my mind now, but no time to think about it, because I still haven't finished my homework, and the upcoming exam yet, anyway, back to the point)--> our true calling doesn't necessarily make us happy, just look at Jeremiah

The Prayer of Oscar Romero (1917-80)

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about,
we plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
In realizing that. This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
But it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
Between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

7 Nov 2009

From one of the sharings from the morning assembly from CGST, the teacher talked about what being a fan is like. You'll go and share his work with people and admire his work (even though everyone looks at the same thing, you see them differently.) hahaha!! :) For a crazy fan like me, I hope one day I'll feel the same towards the Gospel. However, during this week I do think God uses me in different and unexpected ways, even through my addiction, hahahahaha!!

Psalms 4:4
When you are disturbed (or angry), do no sin, ponder it on your beds, and be silent.

God, help me remember this.

From the book Sacred Rhythm,
Intercessory prayer is not primarily about believing we know what someone else needs
and then trying to tell God what the answer is. It is not about wrestling some result from God. Intercessory prayer is more about recognising that we do not know how to pray for others-- or ourselves for that matter-- but the Holy Spirit knows.

Be not righteous overmuch

Ecclesiastes Chapter 7
[15]In my vain life I have seen everything; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing.
[16] Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself?
[17] Be not wicked overmuch, neither be a fool; why should you die before your time?
[18] It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth from them all.

Where is the line drawn in being righteous overmuch?? I think if there is such a line, I may have crossed it sometimes...

When should I insist that something should/should not be done...

Gospel without boundaries

A few months ago I went to South America, and I was partly stunned and also admired the ingenuity of Jesuit missionaries in fusing traditional Incan religion with Catholicism. Throughout the whole trip, I thought about what is acceptable in spreading Christianity, where the line should be drawn in mixing “pagan” religious customs with Christianity. (I am well aware that our own brand of “Christianity” is already a mixture of multiple pagan traditions, just that most of us don’t even realize it.)

We often set boundaries on what is or is not acceptable in Christians. Last night during the missions class, the example the teacher shared was about a polygamist in Africa. He was not accepted in church because he was a polygamist. He refused to disobey Jesus (by divorcing his wives) to become a member of the church. His argument was that polygamy was not explicitly forbidden by Jesus, but divorce was.

Rather than the boundaries we have presumed, we should do it by a “centred” approach, not looking at things through the actions themselves, but by the purpose of the actions, or where the direction of the action is centred. (I seemed to explain it inadequately without the diagram from the lecture notes.)

The Spirit safeguards the universalism in God, where Jesus represents the uniqueness of God. And the work of the Spirit precedes evangelism.

Salvation analogy exist in many cultures, they may represent revelation of God in some of the traditional customs or folklore, an example the teacher used was a tribe that was waiting for their "saviour" which was just like the missionaries who came.

Mission is not only to evangelize, but also to know God better, in the ways through which He reveals himself.

We should open our minds to observe and listen, and recognize the local traditions/customs that direct people towards Christ’s particularity. The church can also broaden its knowledge on God in the process, and we can recognize the universality in revelation.

Apart from people from another culture, she also talked about different people in our own community.

If there were no young people in church, we would have done a lot to recruit more, but then how come we don’t ask why there are no/few disabled people in our church? Is it really because there are none in our district? Or because of the physical constraints that they cannot come?

The concept of the disabled God has been proposed, Jesus still carried the marks from the crucifixion after resurrection. Hence, despite the impairment, the disabled are still made in God’s image. The cause of their suffering may be due to isolation or exclusion rather than the physical disability itself. Rather than healing the physical problem, the church should heal their social dysfunction. (She gave an example of a charismatic church that had no idea what to do about a disabled kid, after failing to "heal" her after repeated prayers.)

And we are interdependent with the disabled, they are not subjects of our assistance/pity alone.

Apart from the physically disabled, what about ex-drug addicts, and those suffering from mental illness?

Recognise our calling in our own community, and do not just focus in spreading the Gospel in our own social circle.

(Since this is derived from my notes, so may be a bit brief and difficult to understand... hmm...)

Notes on Sermon about Psalms Chapter 1

Ps.1
[1] Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[3] He is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

v1 walk-> stand -> sit
This is an unconscious process (to sin/to become wicked)

counsel/plan: isolated
way: life direction
seat= assembly: become one of them

v2 "in the Lord's law delight, in the Lord's law meditates"
This is written in contrast within "not in" for v1
The time is day and nite!

v3 In Palestinian wilderness, trees grow only next to streams. Growing of fruit takes time.

Computer/TV (vs Bible/sermon) make us experts in wasting time, they also make us more self-centred, just do according to what one likes (e.g. remotes control)
Now we tend to receive the messages that we like, rather than according to whether they are true or not.
Efficiency becomes the utmost important.
However, we forget a lot of things need time: our 修養, relationships

The time we give to others are usually less than what we require of ourselves.
Jesus' parable on 70x7 time, it's about the one who is doing the forgiving.

What we reap depends on what we invest.

v4 The ungodly are like chaff. Chaff and tree--> both plants, but tree has life and roots.
We don't usually see the roots of the trees, but they are very important.
Chaff moves, only because it was moved, not because it has life.

Time, investment, where you’re immersed in--> what you reaps
Everything needs time, but the world tell us: we have no time to wait for the fruits.

Learning the lesson--> I'm way too addicted to the computer world.

We are Ready to Listen

Healing, sovereign God,
overmatch our resistant ears
with your transforming speech.
Penetrate our jadeness and fatigue.
Touch our yearnings by your words.
Through your out-loudness, draw us closer to you.
We are ready to listen.
Amen.

Walter Brueggemann, from Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth

Another prayer from Walter Brueggemann

You are the God who is simple, direct, clear with us and for us.
You have committed yourself to us.
You have said yes to us in creation,
yes to us in our birth,
yes to us in our baptism,
yes to us in our awakening this day.

But we are of another kind,
more accustomed to “perhaps, maybe, we’ll see,’
left in wonderment and ambiguity.

We live our lives not back to your yes,
but out of our endless “perhaps.”


So we pray for your mercy this day that we may live yes back to you,
yes with our time,
yes with our money,
yes with our sexuality,
yes with our strength and with our weakness,
yes to our neighbor,
yes and no long “perhaps.”

In the name of your enfleshed yes to us,
even Jesus who is our yes into your future. Amen.


From Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Walter Brueggemann