PASSION-PRAISE

Prayer: A Whole New World

2010-09-19T22:35:00.000+08:00

What is prayer like? Well, it's kinda like love. Comparing prayer to the characteristics of love as per 1 Cor 13:4-8:

Prayer is about being patient in waiting for God to act; it's an act of kindness and protection to those we pray for; there can hardly be any envy or boasting or pride whilst praying; prayers really shouldn't be all about ourselves (although this is probably the biggest failure here) and even less should it be a recounting of all the wrong done to us; prayers are about God's truth and hence must never encourage evil; ultimately, someone who prays often would put himself in a position of trust and hope, a stance which must be persevered at.

Of course, the prayers of a righteous shall never fail, at least in no final sense of the word. God vindicates His people in the end, with their prayers as a major vehicle of said victory.

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Hannah Yeoh on Rebuilding Malaysia

2010-09-06T06:27:00.001+08:00

It was a pleasure and inspiration to listen to Hannah Yeoh's address on Christians and the Church's role in Nation-Building. It isn't every Sunday the congregation at Luther House Chapel is treated to (or challenged by?) stories, pleas and exhortations to take up the mantle of re-building this precious concept, idea, thing, place but also home we call Malaysia, a country wrecked, according to Yeoh (although one could hardly doubt this), indifference, materialism, corruption and immorality.

Inspiring blushes and giggles, Yeoh worked the crowd by pointing out the all-too-familiar advice by Chinese parents to their children to ignore politics, play it safe, and focus on wallet-building and, if possible, get the heck out of the country. She said whilst this mentality was understandable, it nevertheless represented the 'Run Away' course of action and compared it to abandoning a marriage should the relationship ever be on the rocks. She pushed instead for Malaysians to select the 'Re-Build' option, the one where we STOP complaining (a constant theme in her talk), roll up our sleeves and start working for the good of the community.

Specifically, this could mean helping out in community projects like removing Ah Long stickers, replanting trees, helping to build police pondoks, taking disabled folks for a once-a-year outing at the local mall, etc. It also means educating the younger generation by, e.g., not offering to bribe policemen whilst your kids are in your car(!), speaking up at your children's school's PTA on the need for transparency and merit-based promotions (Yeoh highlighted a Feb 2010 circular from the Ministry of Education instructing schools to not teach children democracy but banning head-prefect elections and implementing leadership by appointment instead).

Nation-building also means being informed of the plight of groups we'd care less about. E.g., Yeoh mentioned how the average policemen only gets at most RM1,500 a month to feed a family of (usually) three or four and how she's been fighting for higher-pay for our law enforcers against the objections of folks from other parties. She also lamented about receiving emails from USJ residents who told her to stop Bangladeshi workers from harassing them in their houses. When she asked what they meant by harassment, the reply received was, "They were asking for a glass of water" (after working for hours in the sun). It was absolutely refreshing, in this sense, to hear a State Assemblyman juxtapose compassion for the underprivileged with one's socio-political responsibility. To this effect, Yeoh even quoted the Old Testament's injunction for God's people to care for the 'alien' among them.

Ultimately, Yeoh emphasized that nation-building certainly means casting a vote (or registering to vote if we haven't done so). I liked her simplicity: If we don't like what the politicians are doing, we should run for elections ourselves.

To be sure, whilst Yeoh is a member (and increasingly popular personality) within the Democratic Action Party, her talk focused less on the merits of the party itself and more on the need for action, for being informed, for acting as responsible citizens.

I've left out much else she spoke about (and I'm hoping others can fill in with their thoughts and reflections - and promises to action?). But it was a blessing for her to be with us. To use a quote currently being made popular by my colleague, Yeoh's message was clear and strong. Re-build our broken nation, don't run away, don't complain, don't do nothing. Act and God will bless us.

It's not about winning elections; it's about working for the community. It's not about being partisan; it's about being a participant. It's not about exposing the wrong deeds of the "other" side; it's about doing more good deeds ourselves.

(This was written by Alwyn Lau, and doesn't necessarily reflect the views of Luther House Chapel).

Jacob Wrestling God

2010-08-02T14:52:00.003+08:00

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The discussion was more or less preceded by the following video:

Of Struggles and Comfort (Gina Phan)

2010-07-21T07:27:00.002+08:00

Struggle and Comfort

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"I Have Called You Friends" (Thomas Low)

2010-07-20T09:09:00.001+08:00

"I Have Called You My Friends"

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Belly Button vs The World (Peter Harrits)

2010-07-08T12:22:00.001+08:00

Belly Button vs. The World!

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5Ps' of the Lord's Prayer

2010-06-11T11:05:00.001+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

On Conversations

2010-06-06T22:50:00.002+08:00

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Jesus as a Product?

2010-05-18T09:36:00.000+08:00

(Written by Brett Borders)

In a world full of Snuggies, Bumpits and Nickelback, it’s easy to understand why many followers of Jesus are offended by the idea of him as a product. I understand. What could be more wrong than putting our savior in the same category as a shiny new iPad. Or a device that scrambles an egg inside its shell.

Here’s the thing, though: if you feel that way, it’s because you already know him. He’s transformed your life and the lives of your friends and family. The Holy Spirit has entered your life story. He’s opened your heart. Emptied you of your pride. And given you eternal life.

But for those who don’t know Jesus, he is just another product. One that sits there in the Great Spiritual Salad Bar along with Budda, Humanism, Materialism, Good Person-ism and a lot of other things. A recent stay at a Portland hotel confirmed this for me when, next to the list of cable TV channels and mini bar inventory sat a “spiritual menu” for guests. (“One $8 can of salted almonds and a Bhagavad Gita, please.”)

As a guy who’s spent almost 20 years in the ad business, I think this is good news. Because once we make the leap, once we get over the trivializing notion of Product Jesus, we can market him more effectively--by producing powerful, compelling branding and advertising for him and his church.

Some think good advertising is about manipulation and creating false desire. But it’s not. Americans are assaulted with more than 3,000 messages every day. Good advertising breaks through. It connects with people using laughter, tears and honesty in exchange for a few precious seconds of their time when they let down their guard to briefly consider what you’re selling.

Let’s not get hung up on the concept of Jesus as a commodity. Instead, let’s embrace it so we can leverage the craft of good advertising in order to make sure our message is the one people hear. Not one of the 3,000 that gets shut out. Our product is way too important to let that happen.

Tyndale Tech

2010-05-18T09:31:00.000+08:00

Cool new Bible software from Tyndale.

The Good Life!?

2010-05-02T23:00:00.000+08:00

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Life in 5 Chapters

2010-04-29T03:17:00.002+08:00

My Life in Five Chapters (by Portia Nelson@Jim's blog):
Chapter One
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost…I am hopeless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I’m in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in…it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter Five
I walk down another street.

Our Mission to join God's Mission

2010-04-07T08:10:00.000+08:00

A quote from John Stott:

The primal mission is God’s, for it is he who sent his prophets, his Son, his Spirit. Of these missions the mission of the Son is central, for it was the culmination of the ministry of the prophets, and it embraced within itself as its climax the sending of the Spirit. And now the Son sends [us] as he himself was sent.

The crucial form in which the Great Commission has been handed down to us (though it is the most neglected because it is the most costly) is the Johannine. Jesus had anticipated it in his prayer in the upper room which he said to the Father: “As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

Now, probably in the same upper room but after his death and resurrection, he turned his prayer-statement into a commission and said: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21).

In both of these statements Jesus did more than draw a vague parallel between his mission and ours. Deliberately and precisely he made his mission the model of ours, saying “as the Father sent me, soI send you.” Therefore our understanding of the church’s mission must be deduced from our understanding of the Son’s.

(From Stott's book, Christian Mission in the Modern World)

Resurrection Song

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

The 4 Loves

2010-03-22T08:44:00.002+08:00

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

2010-03-10T10:35:00.001+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.

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.

Jesus Through the Eyes of Chinese New Year

2010-02-23T09:35:00.000+08:00

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Tension (for Youths) - by Tan Soo Inn

2010-02-09T11:36:00.000+08:00

Original article 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?)

Bible Study on Sundays

2010-02-09T09:50:00.001+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!

Boundin'

2010-02-07T23:10:00.003+08:00

Did You Know? 4.0

2010-01-29T17:08:00.002+08:00

Is this relevant to the church? How?

Many Haitians' religious faith unshaken by earthquake (CNN)

2010-01-18T21:02:00.000+08:00

"In parks and backyards, anywhere a group gathers, the prayers of the Haitians can be heard. Last week, the call-and-response chanting and clapping that accompany those prayers pierced the darkness of night and the pre-dawn hours -- sometimes as early as 4 a.m. The singing and praying was particularly intense in Champs de Mars plaza, where hundreds of people have taken refuge. But the scene was repeated throughout the city, with preachers on megaphones exhorting the faithful, who responded with lyrics like "O Lord, keep me close to you" and "Forgive me, Jesus."

Many preachers are telling followers not to lose faith, that God remains with them regardless of what's happened.

Most Haitians don't feel abandoned, Bailey said."People don't blame Jesus for all these things," she said. "They have faith. They believe that Jesus saved them and are thankful for that."

Read the full article.

Denzel Washington in "Book of Eli"

2010-01-18T17:25:00.000+08:00

Denzel Washington is one of Hollywood's most successful and respected actors. But the two-time Academy Award winner (for 1989's Glory and 2001's Training Day) is also one of Hollywood's highest profile Christians.

The son of a Pentecostal preacher from Mount Vernon, New York, Washington, 55, has been an active member of West Angeles Church of God in Christ for nearly 30 years, reads his Bible every morning, and always chooses roles that he can "bend" in the direction of a positive message or a reflection of his deep personal faith.

Faith is everywhere in Washington's new post-apocalyptic film, The Book of Eli, which opens Friday and is being marketed with "B-ELI-EVE" and "D-ELI-VER US" billboards. In the movie, Washington plays a mysterious machete-wielding traveler named Eli, directed by God to protect the earth's last remaining copy of the Bible—that's right, the Bible—and to take it "out West" for safekeeping while villains seek to take it by force and use it as a "weapon" of control.

To Hell with Altruistic Capitalism! (Kester Brewin)

2010-01-18T16:45:00.001+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.

Martin Luther Rap

2010-01-18T11:56:00.003+08:00

An old video, but still enjoyable...

What Would Jesus Say to those who Fire-Bombed the Churches?

2010-01-18T09:25:00.000+08:00

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4 Models of the Emerging Church

2010-01-13T10:06:00.000+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.

Church Attacked

2010-01-08T09:44:00.000+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.

'Feliz Navidad' or 'Merry Christmas in Malaysia'

2009-12-26T00:28:00.001+08:00

Hey, check out this video of PASSION-PRAISE's church's Caroling Team that shared the Joy of Christmas to many homes and touched the lives of many: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTNDnxquA0E. Thanks Peter for the video! It's awesome!

Ancient Practices 4 New Hearts

2009-12-21T01:55:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

Review the slides and ask yourself:

what skill have I spent (or will spend) 10,000 hours on?
how can I make the Christian faith a 'way of life' for me?

Do a brief "spiritual check-up" by scoring yourself against a list of 10 spiritual practices. Remember : Commit yourself to working on one practice within each category (of Burn, Build & Eat). If this is too difficult, then at the very least commit yourself to attending to at least one practice out of the ten.

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

2009-12-15T11:09:00.000+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.

New Kind of Stained Glass

2009-12-14T17:25:00.002+08:00

Churced - DeChurched - UnChurched

2009-12-14T11:33:00.000+08:00

This church in North-East London developed a post-card with three designs to introduce itself to people:

Churched - welcome to St. Luke’s on the high street, your local Anglican church.
Dechurched - disillusioned with church? You’re not alone
Unchurched - not interested in church? Neither are we in the ways you are probably thinking about church…”

Read the full post here and how do you think it applies to the Malaysian community?

Divine Light & Love - an Advent Reflection by Chuck Smith

2009-12-14T11:27:00.001+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.

6/12 pics!

2009-12-09T16:38:00.000+08:00

H2O, Baptism and New Creation

2009-12-09T16:16:00.002+08:00

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Music From Heaven: The DUMC Experience

2009-12-08T09:43:00.002+08:00

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!

2009-12-08T09:42:00.000+08:00

Top 10 Reasons to celebrate Advent!

2009-12-05T23:46:00.002+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? :)

Mary's Faith

2009-11-30T15:10:00.000+08:00

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5Ps' of the Lord's Prayer

2009-11-20T00:07:00.002+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

What if Jesus Meant All That Stuff? (by Shane Clairborne)

2009-11-19T23:32:00.001+08:00

To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, "I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ." A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That's the ugly stuff. And that's why I begin by saying that I'm sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God's Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." On earth.

One of Jesus' most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church).

And then comes the Samaritan... you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I'm sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine... but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David... at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you." And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about "dirty theology" — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man's eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay "out there" but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, "Nothing good could come." It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society's rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is.

Your brother,

Shane

Passion-Praise is Born!

2009-11-14T01:49:00.003+08:00

Jeff Han on TED

2009-11-04T11:11:00.002+08:00

Jeff Han's amazing screen was part of TED Talk's Top 10 videos in 2008. How should the Church and technology relate to each other? What does God have to do with the iPod (and vice-versa)?

Rock, Cloud & Water

2009-11-03T15:15:00.000+08:00

View more presentations from Alwyn Lau.

What kind of contexts is appropriate for which kind of logic? When must the Church use each kind?

How to Deconstruct Your Church

2009-10-31T11:50:00.000+08:00

Don't worry about what 'deconstruction' means - what do you think of the following 10 ideas (from David Hayward) for doing church:

Determine in your heart that you will do all things out of love, compassion and patience.
Make sure this is what you want no matter what the cost (because often the cost is high).
Are there any leaders or elders who are in agreement with you and will endure with you for the long haul?
Start speaking honestly about what you are feeling and thinking. Begin with your closest group and move out to the whole community.
Allow people to see you at your weakest. Then allow them to reveal themselves at their weakest.
Let things die that require coercion, manipulation, begging or controlling others in order to live and continue on.
Welcome diversity in belief, thought and lifestyle (they are already diverse, you are just welcoming its open expression).
Change the teaching/ preaching time to a shorter teaching time with discussion following. This is scary at first, but you’ll get used to it and eventually prefer it. This levels the playing field really fast.
Challenge only those who are judging, abusing, and controlling others.
If people decide this is not for them, bless them as they go (because they will eventually go).

Which do you agree or disagree with? Why or why not?

Sucked into Life's Crap? (by Jim Palmer)

2009-10-28T10:58:00.000+08:00

Truth always sounds good when sipping a White Mocha at Starbucks, but does it hold up when the shit hits the fan in life? Hmm…maybe this is the perfect time to live what’s true and real.

Maybe the crap has hit the fan in your life. Are you fighting it or reacting against it on the surface? Fighting fire with fire? Or are you aware of another nature deep below that is undisturbed and responds differently? From a Christian perspective you might think of that nature as the Christ-nature or the Spirit. Is that another ‘you’ twenty thousand leagues under the sea? Could we be helping each other by pointing to and affirming that nature within each of us? It’s easy for that reactionary-you to be hooked by the crap that hits the fan. Can you learn to create a space between you and the situation in order to find, connect with, and respond from that deeper nature?

Read more from Jim's blog.

The Gospel According to U2

2009-10-28T10:39:00.000+08:00

Description

“Who among us has not experienced hearing a song that moved us deeply, that spoke to us in a truly spiritual way? Millions of fans around the world have found that inspiration in the music of U2, arguably the biggest band in the world today. Now, on the heels of their latest studio album No Line on the Horizon, comes this engaging and informative examination of the spirituality that drives the band and its music.

The author, who interviewed the fledgling band on their second U.S. tour, takes us from their upbringing in Ireland, to their dominance over the music scene in the early 1990s, and then to their role as spiritual ambassadors to post-9/11 America. Throughout we get a picture of the spirituality that flows out of U2's music and how their influence has spread beyond music into issues such as AIDS activism, debt relief for developing nations, and the crisis in Darfur.”

"U2's private practice and public presentation of Jesus' good news are often discussed, but almost never are they subject to sound critical and theological analysis. In this book, Greg Garrett has corrected that situation handsomely. Bringing to his task the tools of both musical and ecclesiological scholarship, Garrett also writes with the humility of genuine affection and gratitude. If you care at all about the role of music in western Christianity today, you'll want to read this book." - Phyllis Tickle, author of the Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why...”

Emerging City Innovation

2009-10-28T10:35:00.000+08:00

What does the church have to do with the city? What can new humanity say to old urbanity? What steps can we take to bring the City of God to the city?