Ceasing Productivity and Accomplishment

Just when I'm feeling guilty about my post-exam unproductive life, I read this from Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting

Setting aside a Holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways.

I desperately need to keep Sabbaths faithfully so that this attitude can increasingly pervade the rest of my days; I still get too easily frustrated if I think I have not accomplished enough in a day. During the times when I am not able to do very much, I forget that more important things are happening in me as God works to change my character and transform me into his likeness. If I am so worried about my productivity, I usually miss the lessons he is allowing me to experience so that I can be changed.

...

Too often we failed to appreciate others because they don't meet our expectations, because they are not as good as us at certain things, or because they don't measure up to the world's standard for usefulness. It seems to me that the Church could take the lead in suggesting other values by which to cherish individuals. Certainly the One who created and formed us made each of us a unique individual with special attributes. If we can give up our need to produce and to judge others similarly by their accomplishments, we can be freed to value those particular gifts that others bring into the world. Thus our Sabbath ceasing from productivity can bring great healing into our lives as well as into the lives of those around us.

Obviously, one of the Sabbath practices that supports this ceasing from productivity is the intentional choice to use time simply to be with people. The point is not necessarily to do anything-- perhaps to play, perhaps to share a needed time of gentle affection, but above all simply to be together. We can help each other learn not to find a person's value in his or her accomplishment. Accordingly, one of the greatest gifts of the Christian community can be this nurturing of a better sense of ourselves, a sense not tied in with our usefulness and success. I speak idealistically, of course. It grieves me that our Christian communities get tied into the world's value system and forget this constant message of the Scriptures: that we are worthy because we are loved by God. I hope that you who are reading this book can take your lead in your parishes to cease using productivity as the yardstick by which the value of others is measured.

Security, work, God

Matthew 6
[24] "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
[26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
[27] And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?
[28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin;
[29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?
[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?'
[32] For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
[33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
[34] "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

This is the Bible passage for the sermon today. Ever since, I have passed my exams, everyone's been asking me about my plans for the future. Plans to further my career.

With so many people asking, I can't help thinking about the plans, what I should/should not do...

Do not serve two masters. The reason we can't do it is the lack of security without money/career/whatever, we have to read the passage as a whole, when Jesus told us not to serve mammon, we should remember God will take care of us.

And we should be serving God only.

It's not some radical new message, but a timely reminder for me to remember again whom I should be serving.

From Marva Dawn's Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting (I have just started reading it today)

The Sabbath is a day to abstain totally from whatever is our work at the time. Jacques Ellul declares that the emphasis on the Sabbath in the Old Testament "shows that work is not after all so excellent or desirable a thing as people often tell us". In our culture, which attaches such a grand importance to work and productivity, our weekly ceasing reminds us that the value of work lies not in itself nor in the worth it gives us, but in the worship of God that takes place in it. The Sabbath, then, is a sign of liberation, Ellul asserts. Jesus never calls anyone to work.

The man beside the Bethesda pool

I went to the service at CrossCulture Church of Christ when I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago. On that day, the daughter of the minister was baptised, and she was baptised by another pastor who was a "very" pregnant lady... I don't think I'll ever see something like this in Hong Kong...

Anyway, back to the point, the Bible passage for the sermon that week is identical with the one I heard the next week after I came back to Hong Kong. I think it must a reminder from God...

John.5
[1] After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[2] Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes.
[3] In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.
[5] One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"
[7] The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me."
[8] Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
[9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath.
[10] So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet."
[11] But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.'"
[12] They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk'?"
[13] Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
[14] Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you."
[15] The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Here's the summary of the message from the church in Melbourne.



Most of the time we don't want to get well. The paralysed guy had been lying there for years, presumably got his money from begging/charity/family. No need to work, a bit inconvenienced. It may be difficult for us to imagine him not wanting to get well.

However, that's what we're doing (pr what I'm doing). I have to say most of the time I don't want to "get well". I just wanted to maintain the status quo.

"Yeah, my spiritual life is bad, but am I praying really hard/reading the Bible a lot to make it better? No!" "Yeah, it's bad to be addicted to TV, but do I wanna quit? Hmm..." "I know it's bad to just want to get more money. Hey, the stock market just dropped again!!! What??!!"

How can I make myself want to get healed??

NT Wright on the Colbert Report

I can't imagine any religious leaders/scholars appearing in this kind of talk show... =P haha!!

Sichuan Earthquake

I didn't do anything until 10 minutes ago.

It was so unlike me, almost every time this sort of disaster happened, I donated money immediately and then sent emails to my friends asking them to do the same.

This time, the devastation is so great, other than shedding my own share of tears while reading/watching the latest news, I didn't do anything.

I thought about what I could do to make a difference. Even if I gave half of all my money, (EVEN IF, not that I'm this generous), it might only be enough to build a few cottages at most. (I think the construction fee there should be quite cheap, right?) However, it is still nothing compared to the scope of destruction.

I thought about going to Sichuan to help, if not for the coming examination next week. That might be able to make a little bit of a difference. Unfortunately, exam is coming in the next two weeks.

When people feel helpless, they turn to prayers. I have received numerous requests to pray for these people in the past few days. However, I don't know what to pray about, and I am simply tired of prayers like these though. (I agree with what littleho said in his blogpost.)

Today, I went to a church near my home, not my own church. And surprisingly, I found some pretty good prayers that I could say to God from my heart.

(You can click on the photo and then the magnifying glass to get a bigger version.)





(Sorry for the poor quality, I just took them with my camera, too lazy to scan them =P)

I like the way these prayers dealt with suffering, not just by saying let these people become Christians, and shouting stuff like "oh God heal them". One of the best way of dealing with suffering is through Jesus' own suffering. And in the third prayer to the Holy Spirit, there is a line about identifying the calling from God (on how to help these people), this is something I've never thought about in the past few days.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:35)

(FYI, I made a donation online just before I started writing this.)

Summer courses of CGST

The list of summer courses... I intend to take the two courses of Dr. Stephen Lee, and also the one on Spiritual Tradition, I also want to take the one on Greek, but I don't think I can arrange so many nights off for all these courses... all in July and August... sigh...

Kingdom of God, Heaven, and Books...

Today, I couldn't sing this song during the service... The image presented seems so wrong... I know I shouldn't live for stuff in this world (like money), but I don't think I believe in the picture portrayed by this song anymore...

This world is not my home
This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

I think I'll be buying the latest book from NT Wright and I'll read it after my exams... If you have read/watch (the video on) my previous post, you may know what the book is about, it is about the misconception we have about "Heaven".



Just read the review from Internet Monk about the book,

It has occurred to me this week that fundamentalism’s appeal within my own tradition has a great deal to do with anti-intellectualism and accessibility. A fundamentalist preacher can confidently haul out the certainties of creationism and make every student in my school who is failing biology feel that he knows more than a professor at Yale. Watch a few hours of Hovind/Hamm videos and you are ready to trounce any Biology professor at Oxford or Cambridge. Fundamentalism is about creating that kind of confidence out of the shallowest, cheapest materials.

This kind of Bible-waving simpleton-ism models everything that is wrong with the Christian approach to intellectual and academic issues. Armed with blatant misunderstandings of the Bible, the fundamentalist isn’t just competent to say the wise of this world may miss the truth of the Gospel (which is absolutely true); he/she’s also competent to make pronouncements on every subject, preach distortions and outright falsehoods as facts and drag whatever audience is available to believe what amounts to mythology as Biblical fact.

Wright is another approach. He is deeply prepared. He knows his history, Bible, languages and theology. He also knows the errors and minefields on the subject, but instead of coming off as an arrogant ass, he shows his readers what it looks like to approach Christian belief with critical seriousness, humility, and the courage to say, “…or maybe not.” He offers up a highly original alternative way of reading the Bible, one that has stimulated many of us toward the Bible in ways no other writer has- often because we’re convinced he’s made a wrong turn.

Frankly, I am sick of the type of simplistic Christianity we have, sick of reading about how fundamentalists arrange tours in museums to tell children how wrong the scientists are about evolution, and stuff like that.

Read more about the book in this article Bishop Wright wrote himself. Here's a tiny bit from it... (It's tiny, coz the article is 4 pages long, haha!)

When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world—not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety...

When Paul speaks in Philippians 3 of being "citizens of heaven," he doesn't mean that we shall retire there when we have finished our work here. He says in the next line that Jesus will come from heaven in order to transform the present humble body into a glorious body like his own. Jesus will do this by the power through which he makes all things subject to himself. This little statement contains in a nutshell more or less all Paul's thought on the subject. The risen Jesus is both the model for the Christian's future body and the means by which it comes...

The mission of the church is nothing more or less than the outworking, in the power of the Spirit, of Jesus' bodily resurrection. It is the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and rule over the redeemed world he has made...

If that is so, mission must urgently recover from its long-term schizophrenia. The split between saving souls and doing good in the world is not a product of the Bible or the gospel, but of the cultural captivity of both...

If it is true, as I have argued, that the whole world is now God's holy land, we must not rest as long as that land is spoiled and defaced. This is not an extra to the church's mission. It is central.

I bought a book yesterday. I can't resist it after reading a bit of it in the bookstore, that part was about a worker who helped people with AIDS in Africa telling the pastors how they made things worse. =P I know I am supposed to be studying. It is Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. I was hoping to find some more examples on what we can do if the Kingdom of God is here, when we pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." What should we be doing?? I was running out of examples last time I tried to teach on the Gospel of Mark on the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is so NOT about heaven (or at least the image we got about heaven.) Here is a part from the first chapter:

Why do we need to have singular and firm opinion on the protection of the unborn, but not about how to help poor people and how to avoid killing people and how to avoid killing people labeled enemies who are already born? Or why are we so concerned about the legitimacy of homosexual marriage but not about the legitimacy of fossil fuels or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction? (and in particular, our weapons as opposed to theirs)? Or why are so many religious people arguing about the origin of species but so few are concerned about the extinction of species? Then I'd wonder, if we religious people have seized on a couple of hot-button issues, what other questions should we be thinking about that nobody's asking??

What should we be doing instead? What can I do?

Thinking whether I should go... hmm...

Suffering and Heaven

Found these thro littleho's blog

Dr Milton Wan 溫偉耀博士 has often mentioned his daughter who had mental retardation. in his sermons. She just passed away recently.
Dr. Milton Wan's sharing on his daughter

He said she is one of the three most important theologians for him. Read the article to know more on how God can use "suffering". What is the purpose of life when one is just born to suffer?

And then on NT Wright, another theologian whose view has changed my understanding on my own religion.

His article about his new book

An interview with ABC


Another interview on the Time magazine

Sufferings

苦難能把宗教真正的力量牽發出來，需要掙扎求存的條件越苛刻，無關重要的宗教枝葉就愈被剝落，真正的宗教核心就愈被顯露。

---from 楊牧谷 《從哀傷到歡呼 詩篇與人生》

We have often ignored the importance of sufferings in our faith. Maybe we should stop praying for God to remove/solve whatever problems we're facing, and face them head on.

This is the only way to get to the bottom of our true faith, so that Christianity stops merely being our religion.

I heard something profound in a sermon about Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane today. Prayer in the end is something you do alone. In that time of His sufferings, in spite of the presence of the disciples, Jesus was in that alone.