Monday, April 30, 2007

Getting the answer before asking

While I was thinking and thinking and thinking about the problem last night, I remembered one thing.

haha! It's funny how God answered my question BEFORE I asked it.

I've heard the same/similar things 3 times in the past 3 days... Once from the book Down-to-earth Spirituality, once from an sermon on the web, then from the lectures...

From Down-to-earth Spirituality,
Maturity is not something that can be obtained through self-help books. high-powered seminars and consumer-orientated religion. It comes only in the long, thick experiences of life, seasoned by some of the hardest and most disappointing experiences, which if directed Godward, become the crucible for faith formation and true holiness.

From the sermon,
We are used to very fast paces in our lives, e.g. we cannot stand waiting for the computer for a little more time. This makes us impatient. We forget when God plants something, it takes time for it to grow, maybe 1cm/1mm per year. We need time to grow in God as well.

From the second lecture on Biblical poetry,
When we read poems in the Bible, we often see a repetition. This forces us to ponder on the problems for a longer period of time, these problems are usually things we don't want to face. When we get sick, we would just ask God to make us feel better, if we don't feel better, we start to question why God makes us suffer like this.

In other words, wait. Things doesn't happen quickly. And for God, even a period of one thousand years is just a very short time. Be patient. (Yeah, next time someone tells me what I'm going to teach is too difficult, I'm going to TRY to be patient...)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Back from the last lecture

Just came back from the last lecture in BU.

I am feeling kinda emotional right now, still organising my thoughts on this.

I am just SO angry because of the sheer depth of Christianity is so often ignored by most of the Christians. When will this type of teachings of our Bible in depth be commonplace?

What can I do on this? When most Christians/pastors still think people need simple stuff? Gospel is so often rendered into a few "rules" or points. God loves you, you have sinned, you need to believe in God to get eternal life. (Not that it's not true, don't get me wrong, but this is NOT what all believing in Christ in about.) The result is Christianity is despised by some so-called "intellectuals" as simple and some Christians cannot find the solution to their problem in these simple rules and left. (I know there are still people who need simple rules, but many people whom I know are not like that.)

God, how can I help you on this? Or is this feeling from you? I am mad + upset right now. (For people who know, you'll know I've always felt this way, but the feeling is very intense right now.)

Friday, April 27, 2007

Baptist University Talk 舊約敘事文學與生命的定向

Just came back from the BU talk delivered by Dr. Stephen Lee 李思敬博士 on Biblical narrative literature. Wow! It was too difficult for people who do not have at least an university education (he's even worse than me in mixing Chinese and English, worse in the sense he did it far more often with no attempt to explain the slightly difficult terms, not that it's a problem for me, but I think most HKers have trouble understanding many of those words) or those who have never heard him speak before. e.g. my mom and the woman sitting next to my mom who fell asleep soon after the start of the lecture (She has just became Christian shortly before, and I really do NOT understand why someone would tell her to go to this talk.)

It is difficult to summarise the talk, and I'm not going to try. The lecture content is too too deep and broad to be briefly summarised into a few paragraphs. He condensed a lot of stuff into 1 hour of lecture, if I have never listened to his talks/sermons before, I am sure I will not be able to understand.

In the question & answers session, as always, he showed his great sense of humour and depth. Lots of interesting remarks. Someone questioned him on the need to make these Biblical characters so complicated and deep. "Do we need to make ourselves so complicated in order to read the Bible?"

"It's not whether we need to make ourselves complicated. It's whether we're going to admit that we're THAT complicated." And our lives are not predestined. Not in horoscopes, palmistry, nor (to wake us all up) in enneagram! LOL!

Continuing on the journey with Jacob

Last week, while we were discussing on the preparations for our short mission trip to China in early June, I suggested that we could use Jacob for Sunday school material in an illustration for work-place theology. One of my friends did not like the idea, "Jacob, no...". Jacob is traditionally considered "bad" in Christianity. As I have mentioned before, I have always liked Jacob ever since I was a kid.

In an angel-soaked world, life itself is a spiritual discipline... What Jacob experienced as a fleeting, extraordinary encounter under the older covenant becomes a window on the permanent, continuous and universal inheritance of those who follow Jesus...

Angela help us to distinguish between the spiritual life and the "spiritualized life". Spiritualized life is an add-on: God talk, religious activity, a pious veneer and theological prattle-- talking about God, as Job's friends did. But spiritual life is God-inundated life in which people like Job-- who spoke well of God (Job 42:7) by speaking to God-- tell it all to God with holy boldness, communicating with God in the thick of life. This Jacob did. There is more to Jacob than mere deceit.

You can SEE Jacob experienced God in his life. Which more than some seemingly "pious" Christians or even pastors. You can see him grow in God. You can see God does not just love a "good" person. What he wanted is what we want-- to grab the control of our own life, even though things often escalate and get out of our control.

Maturity is not something that can be obtained through self-help books. high-powered seminars and consumer-orientated religion. It comes only in the long, thick experiences of life, seasoned by some of the hardest and most disappointing experiences, which if directed Godward, become the crucible for faith formation and true holiness. This can happen in our marriages (or singleness); it can also happen in the workplace.

Our God is not Wong Tai Sin. We do not believe in Him just because we are blessed. We learn to trust God in the hardest experiences. Jessel Takover, a Jew wrote this prayer while preparing for pogram,

I believe in you, God of Israel even if you have tried your best to dissuade me to believe in you... I die in peace but not appeased, embittered but not cynical, a believer but not pleading, a man who loves God but does not say Amen to everything... All this will do you no good. You have done everything to destroy my faith, yet I am dying precisely as I have lived, saying, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, one Lord. Into your hands, O God, I commit my spirit."

(Again the excerpts in purple are from the book Down-to-earth Spirituality, a book I've been sharing here with you.
Related sharings:
Eating- the Story of Esau
Faith)

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The ark of convenant (1 Chronicles 13) & David

Many people have often questioned why God in the Old Testament seemed so cruel, their favourite example is the killing of Uzzah on the incident of touching the Ark of Convenant.

I have listened to a VERY good sermon from Dr. Wong Ka Leung. (Listen here. It's in Cantonese.) A kinda new perspective on this incident.

Instead of concentrating on the killing of Uzzah, he asked what David was doing in this case.

David attempted to move the ark back to Jerusalem in order to make Jerusalem the worship centre of Israel. This was still the early days of his reign and he still needed to establish more power.

And he started out seemingly in the right way, he asked "if it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God". In the end, "the whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people." What about God?

This is like what we normally do. "If this is YOUR will, please give THAT thing to me." Not this, but THAT thing. Are we really leaving everything to God? When we need to compromise something, the first thing we compromise is GOD! This is because we don't believe NOT doing things in God's way have ANY serious consequence (e.g. death), or maybe we do believe, but God is so good to us, He'll forgive us when we pray for forgiveness.

This was not a correct way of moving the ark, if you have checked with Numbers/ever heard an explanation on this, you probably already knew.

Why they did move the ark in this way? Were they this ignorant? The ark was moved by Philistines in exactly the same way. It is possible that they knew both ways, and Philistines did it this way and was successful, that is why they did it the same way.

Modern churches often do things in the modern way. (just like business organisations) e.g. the method of worship, the structure of our church, or EVEN the number of people in our church! (Is it that important??! Numbers have never been an important thing for God, e.g. Gideon's 300 people army)

In the original Hebrew Bible, it is not just "the ark" like the Chinese Union Version. It is "the ark of God" except where Uzzah touched "the ark" (not of God here.) We talk about the work of God, until it fails, then oh, we try to rescue OUR work! When it fails, "God we're just trying to doing things for you, why did you kill me?" You weren't doing things in God's way in the beginning. And our concern is for OUR work not for God in the end.

When we ask for God's will, it's not that we don't know what the right way is, we often know the way to do things, but we don't want to do things in that way, that is why we ask.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Updated list of Dr. Stephen Lee's 李思敬博士 recordings/writings/interviews on the web

This list is the same as the previous one, with two new items (marked with asterisks) at the end.

箴言析讀
列王紀析讀
風波裡的信徒
箴言
迎向廿一世紀文字工作者的使命
滄海中開道路
回到聖經裡的神學--專訪李思敬(續篇)
趕上另一個黃金十年--專訪李思敬
但以理書的市井神學

北京之行
「以便以謝」的里程碑
Training Spiritual Leaders for 21st Century China
Marketplace Theology in the Book of Daniel
**West Toronto Christian Community Church sermon archive
**快樂家庭
Updated 12/6/07: The last two links doesn't seem to be working anymore... hmm...
And here's one more link provided by anonymous
「由南亞海嘯到賬災狂潮」講座

Fine Line

Remember I talked about getting tickets for a talk that will be delivered by Dr. Stephen Lee 李思敬博士 some time ago?

HAHA! Just read this article someone wrote on this weird phenomenon on the Christian Times! (The article is in Chinese)

I have to admit there's really ONLY a very very fine line between pop idol and this whole thing... I remember I used to wonder if this is the reason why God had to send Dr. Lee to Canada.

And I have always thanked God for his teachings, because they helped me through a lot of problems and spiritual revivals, and God revealed his plans to me through them.

I think this is the way to differentiate this-- to remember God is the one behind all these.

btw, I just realised there're two different events (at least) where he'll speak during this trip. (One is already over... the other one is coming next week...)

Faith

When you trust someone, you either wait for their response or you give something for them to keep for you.

As I continued to read the book Down-to-earth Spirituality, I thought about Abraham. He could give his son on the altar to God, he could leave his homeland for God, yet he could not wait for God to give him Issac.

After thinking about the stuff that happened in my life, I concluded that relinquishing something you got to God is easier than waiting for God's response.

I can think of two reasons,
1. When you can give something up, that means you already have something in your own hands to give up.
2. When you wait for things to happen, the time period is indefinite. It can be 1 day, 1 year or 100 years. It may not even happen in your own lifetime.

Walter Bruggemann sums up the matter:
There are no natural guarantees for the future and no way to secure the inheritance of the family. It must trust only to the power of God... Promise requires an end to grasping and certitude and an embrace of precariousness. It is only God who gives life. Any pretense that the future is secured by rights or claims of the family is a deception.


Sunday, April 22, 2007

Eating - the Story of Esau

As I have promised, here's an excerpt from Down-to-earth Spirituality.

But the real meaning of addiction is that it is an alternative god- people are using a substance or an experience to fill the God-shaped vacuum of the soul. Gerard May deals with this perspective.

...Thus the more we become accustomed to seeking spiritual satisfaction through things other than God, the more abnormal and stressful it becomes to look for God directly.

Essentially, addictive behavior is a failure in imagination, being unable to envision what it will be like after the fix has worn off... and the remorse when one considers the implications of what one has done. But as I have said, it is also a failure in faith.

How can one differentiate escape from addiction?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Down-To-Earth Spirituality: Encountering God in the Ordinary, Boring Stuff of Life

I picked this book up a few weeks ago in a bookstore because of the title. I have always said it's stupid to say "I don't have time for praying/reading the Bible recently, that is why my spiritual life is poor."



The introduction of this book on the back cover echoes exactly what I think. Not to mention it's about my fav Bible character (don't EVER mention this in the fellowship, PLEASE, thanks! I am sure those in my fellowship understand what I mean...) And I have finally bought it today after borrowing the discount card from S. I'll share more about this book later, just started reading the first few pages.

This is the intro on the back cover.

Most books on spirituality focus on disciplines like prayer and Bible study. But this can mislead us into thinking that God can only be experienced when we are doing something "spiritual." Apart from private devotional times or church on Sundays, God may seem distant and even irrelevant to our daily lives. R. Paul Stevens has a radically different view of Christian spirituality. True spirituality, he says, is down-to-earth--we encounter God in the ordinary, common stuff of everyday life. Taking his cue from the biblical story of Jacob, Stevens explores the Genesis narrative and uncovers how ordinary moments are made extraordinary, transformed by the presence of God in the midst of the mundane.Dreamer, schemer, worker and entrepreneur, Jacob embodies a multifaceted life of earthy passion and gritty spirituality. Jacob encounters the sacred not only through visions of ladders to heaven and mysterious wrestling matches with angles. Jacob also meets God at home and at work, at meals and in sleep, in solitude and in relationships. From birth to death, through every passage of life, Jacob sees God in the routine details of his everyday experience."Everyday life is the spiritual discipline in which God continuously and graciously meets us," Stevens writes. And in this book, Stevens helps us see that what appears commonplace on the surface actually has great spiritual significance. When we least expect it, God surprises us by re-enchanting our daily experience and making every moment an opportunity to experience his blessing.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Students turn to God in wake of Virginia shooting

Read this article on Reuters. And pray for the victims, their families and the students and the United States.

May God turn this tragedy into blessings.

And if you haven't been to my other blog, pls also read this post about the Virginia Tech tragedy. I can't imagine something like this on the news ever in Hong Kong. On why God allow this to happen.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Franklin Graham Festival qualified as HKSAR establishment celebration programme

This is forwarded to me by my church's pastor.

For Christians in Hong Kong this year is an important year. Since the year 2007 not only mark the 200th anniversary of Robert Morrison's visit to China but also the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong. So Christian churches in Hong Kong work together to organise the Franklin Graham Festival. The festival office submitted the application for qualifying the festival as a celebration programme for 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong Special Administration Region Establishment.

Thank God! The government informed the festival office by writing on 23rd March, the festival was qualified. It is our honour since non-Christian authority recognises our hard work, and we can also take part in celebrating the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong.

Please lead the people to the festival for receiving good news from our Lord and entering the eternal life.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Holiness

Just listened to a CD recorded years ago-- a sermon delivered by Rev. Yeung Mook-Kuk on the subject holiness.

A question he raised: when we seek God's will on a certain matter, are we doing this in order to please him or just to avoid wasting our life/having a miserable life? The example he used was on searching for your mate. Do you pray for a husband/wife who'll please God or someone who doesn't make a bad spouse for yourself?

Really true and insightful!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Psalm 137

Psalm 137 (NIV)

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,

3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .

6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
"Tear it down," they cried,
"tear it down to its foundations!"

8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-

9 he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Cross

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Resurrection

Poster

Reading & Listening

I read about this research from littleho's blog here
(in fact the source of material of the previous two posts are also from his blog)

It is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you in the written and spoken form at the same time.

It also questions the wisdom of centuries-old habits, such as reading along with Bible passages, at the same time they are being read aloud in church. More of the passages would be understood and retained, the researchers suggest, if heard or read separately.

"The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster," Professor Sweller said. "It should be ditched."

I agree with the Bible reading part, if you have ever paid attention, I never read Bible passages during Sunday services when I am asked to do so, I find reading it ruins my concentration.

However, for the powerpoint part, I'm not sure if I agree, I think if powerpoint is being used wisely, it can enhance memory. Maybe it's just for me, I can learn by visualising things. Also powerpoint can help by showing the important points, of course it's bad to read everything from the powerpoint, but this study helps reminding me next time when I try to teach the Bible with powerpoint, use it wisely.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Letters from Leavers

This is a thought-provoking site launched by students from the Fuller Seminary for research.

There are letters from people who has left different churches and their reasons behind...

Wonder if I can find one similar to the situation in my church =P

Another website: Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation
I found this from this second website... you know why I quote this if you're from my church... sigh...

Dear Church, How come we spend our money on heating church buildings rather than feeding the poor and outcast? May we live out James 1:27 which reads "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." May we also love out Isaiah 1:17. It says "learn to do right! "Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." May we love the poor, the widows, and the orphans. Jesus called us to love and take care of them. May we, the representation of Christ to the world, show the world's outcast love.

On a related theme here... 12 Shocking Facts about the church
(not sure how true the stats are, the website doesn't sound really trustworthy... =P but I think they must be at least partly true. sigh... how I wished these are not true...)

-the total cost of Christian outreach averages $330,000 for each and every newly baptised person.

-Many denominations have a huge backdoor. NZ Baptist churches, for example, are baptising the equivalent of nearly 10% of adult church members each year, yet there is little overall growth in the denomination.

-The local church of 70 adults 10 years ago is still the local church of about 70 adults. In 10 years of hard work, prayer, programmes, and planning there has been little overall change.

-Historically, the Church has taken the lead in areas such as the value of human life, education, and the abolition of slavery. Now we are behind in other important areas we should be leading, such as gender equality, ecology and the “green” movement, world justice and the elimination of poverty.

-Church has some theology, values, structures and practices that don’t reflect New Testament priorities.

- Western Christians and churches control trillions of dollars in assets and income, while 850 million people, including 200 million Christians, are currently starving.

- If Western Christians gave just 5% of their income towards this, it would solve the problem totally.

- the combined personal income of church members is $15 trillion a year while each member spends on average $7.80 a year on foreign missions or about one one-thousandth of their income.

- Preaching in the Bible is always in the context of evangelism, whereas we typically preach to the converted (week after week for the rest of their lives).

- The Church is often focused on building itself, rather than building the Kingdom.

Really thought-provoking, huh?



Believing without belonging

Is this still believing?? I strongly doubt this... This is a report from BBC.

"People are used to instant gratification, they are used to having what they want, when they want and without putting in too much effort. Some view religion in the same way."

Having a connection with Christianity is not a problem for most people, it's when something is asked of them that they start to struggle, she says.

Some sort of "vague Christianity" acts as a way for people to keep their options open, they don't have to think too hard about life and aren't pushed outside their comfort zone, says philosopher Dr Julian Baggini.

"It's easier than going in the other two directions. If you take religion fully on board you have to believe some strange things. Discarding it totally means you have to really think through the consequences, that death really is the end and many people find that worrying."

But it is possible to do away with the middleman, not attend church and still be a Christian, he says.

"Often the key messages in religion are social, like loving your neighbour. You don't have to go to church to be nice to people and help them."

And it goes on with a church like this... (would you consider "going" to such a church?)

St Pixels is an internet church, which offers prayers, daily Bible readings and a chat room to its online congregation. The fact its on the net does not make it any less valid than attending a church made of bricks and mortar, says Simon Jenkins, its co-founder.

"St Pixels may fall outside of what is traditional but we still consider it a genuine church. It is a real parish of real people who don't stop being members when they log off. It is not a second-class experience, just a different one. The site appeals to a whole spectrum of people, ultimately we are hoping to encourage faith."

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Loving God

I have been listening to John Piper's sermon from my mp3 player today. He kept on emphasizing that if someone loves God, the love should be started with the re-born life. We don't need to do anything. An example he used: it's like putting sugar on your tongue, if you don't have taste buds, no matter what you do, you won't know the sweetness.

I have some reservations on this.

I think love is not JUST a warm and fuzzy feeling, not for God, not for your family, not EVEN for your lover. Sometimes, it's an obligation.

Over-emphasizing on "feeling" is unhealthy.

Obligation? Love?

Monday, April 02, 2007

Death is GAIN!

Don't Waste Your Life - Risk



Learn more here.

One of my Bible passages (from Romans Chapter 8).
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Writing blogs

I have never had the problem of having something to write about, but can't write... until recently...

So many things happened recently, I don't even know how to write about it... partly because many people involved or not involved are reading my blog... haha!!

I need more patience and wisdom... and serenity to accept things I cannot change, and trust God to do the right thing.

I am so sad that the sermon seemed to be turned into a war zone today... Just how far one can go to criticize their "enemy"... (there's no relationship on what he said with the background of the Bible passage he used... the whole background was substituted by something else.) so many people are filled with hatred/despise/misunderstanding... it's just plain sad...