6/12 pics!

H2O, Baptism and New Creation

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Music From Heaven: The DUMC Experience

Last month, my mum-in-law shared an incredible experience she had at DUMC.

It was a choral session after the Chinese worship service on Sunday. The instructor was teaching my mum-in-law (together with about 50 other people) how to sing 'spiritual songs', which took the form of chanting "Hallelujah-Hallelujah-Hallelujah" over and over again in a melodious manner. Not quite a mantra but not exactly a hymn either.

(Nothing particularly bizarre about this practice, IMO, as one could see it meditatively focusing on God, with the quasi-chant as a kind of psychological 'cursor'; it helps to channel the mind.)

Then something strange happened. According to my mum-in-law, they were singing, humming and crooning until at one point they stopped - but the sound of singing continued!

It was sense-surround, everywhere. My mum-in-law said it was the most beautiful singing (sans words) she had ever heard. Everyone else in the room heard it.

After a few minutes, the instructor explained that it was the singing of angels (see Rev 5:9-11, 14:2-3). Two words: Awe-Some!

No, I'm sure it wasn't a hoax (I know there'd be more than a few DUMC-ers who would've exposed it by now). This wasn't a pre-recorded CD somewhere (but even if it was, I reckon my mum-in-law wouldn't mind purchasing the track!).

No, this wouldn't count as a hallucination because - as Christian apologists are fond of pointing out apropos the Resurrection - mass hallucinations are non-existent unless all of them have been given a certain drug (in which case it'd be mass-drugging).

No, it isn't a (gimme a break) "natural phenomenon of sound" which results from a group of senior (non-professional singers!) singing a single word.

So what was it? Was it really angels?

Frankly, until I hear it myself, I can't be sure if angels were actually singing in the 'vicinity' of my mum-in-law. But I can be sure that the sound brought joy to my mum-in-law; I can be sure there was no strong/direct contradiction with Scripture (I mean, it's not as if the angelic choir began telling the group to buy Genting shares...); I can be sure that the hearts of the people in the session were in the right place (or rather, I have no reason to suspect otherwise).

So as far as I'm concerned, I have little reason to doubt that it was an angelic cum kingdom effect the group experienced. A touch of God in a special way. A group of people were blessed deeply by a Biblical-oriented spiritual experience of some kind. And if we can't live with that, what can we live with, right? (smile)

HopenHagen - I'm a HOPE-timist!

Top 10 Reasons to celebrate Advent!

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? :)

Mary's Faith

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5Ps' of the Lord's Prayer

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