Archive for February, 2009
REPENTANCE IS not so much a condition for forgiveness as a consequence of it. We human beings often hold back our forgiveness for some slight or hurt until we at least see signs of contrition. Not so with God: on the cross, the word of forgiveness is spoken first; it gives birth to one felon’s contrite cry. This truth changes the equation of salvation. When will we learn that we do not repent in order to find pardon? We repent because we discover how deeply we have been pardoned – how much we have been forgiven.
- Peter Storey
Listening at Golgotha: Jesus’ Words from the Cross
Wow . . . I’m speechless. Nothing much to say. But thank you . . .
The Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) welcomes the confirmation by the Government of Malaysia that the word “Allah” may be used by a religion other than Islam. This is implicit in the Internal Security (Prohibition On Use of Specific Words on Document and Publication) Order 2009, (“Order”) made pursuant to Section 22(1)(c) of the Internal Security Act 1960 which reads as follows:-
“2.(1) The printing, publication, sale, issue, circulation and possession of any document and publication relating to Christianity containing the words “Allah”, “Kaabah”, “Baitullah” and “Solat” are prohibited unless on the front cover of the document and publication are written with the words “FOR CHRISTIANITY”.
(2) The words “FOR CHRISTIANITY” referred to in subparagraph (1) shall be written clearly in font type Arial of size 16 in bold.
This Order, which is dated 21 January 2009, came into operation on 16 February 2009.
However the wording of the order causes great concern and gives rise to several questions. Firstly, why is there a specific Order in relation only to the Christian religion? The Sikh religion, for example, also refers to “Allah” in their sacred texts. By virtue of the wording of this Order, they will still be prohibited from using the word “Allah”.
Secondly, all of a sudden, people in possession of such documents and publications are now in a position of being in possession of a prohibited document unless they take action to ensure that the words “UNTUK AGAMA KRISTIAN” or “FOR CHRISTIANITY” in font type Arial of size 16 in bold are placed on its front cover. This is an unfair imposition and an unwarranted restriction on the practice of the Christian religion in this country. By making prohibited something which was hitherto not prohibited, the Order constitutes retrospective penal legislation that violates Article 7 of the Federal Constitution. Under Section 44A of the Internal Security Act 1960,
“Any person guilty of an offence against this Part for which no special penalty is provided shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.”
Thirdly, the introduction of conditions as a pre-requisite to the use of the aforementioned words still constitutes a limitation on the freedom of religion as guaranteed by Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. This situation is unacceptable.
We regret that the Government of Malaysia did not see fit to engage with us before introducing this Order.
We call on the Government of Malaysia to accept that the use of the term “Allah” is a heritage that belongs not just to one religion. We further urge the Government of Malaysia not to attempt to regulate or circumscribe its use through the introduction of pre-conditions and by punitive criminal legislation.
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri
General Secretary
Council of Churches of Malaysia
27th February 2009
(via The Micah Mandate)
I liked what Richard said about the three ways of “de-centralizing the self” and also the focus on inner patterns which detract us from our centering process. I will be following his weekly Lenten guide here.
Fasting, along with prayer and almsgiving, are the three spiritual disciplines that are taught in all of the monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jesus himself repeats these in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:1-18. They are three ways of "de-centralizing the self": Prayer de-centralizes my mind, almsgiving de-centralizes my heart, and fasting de-centralizes my body. (Almost enneagramatic!)
Fasting seems to be the one discipline that has been most neglected as a strong tradition in Christianity, whereas Moslems would still practice it quite seriously during all of Ramadan, and Jews on special high holy days. For us, it is largely forgotten before Eucharist, in Lent, and even on the two "required" days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Maybe that is partly because we trivialized it in terms of "giving up" candy or dessert during Lent. The negative "giving up" notion lost any positive meaning-like seeking God or solidarity with others.
What we hope to do this Lent is to try to work together in a more positive form of fasting. Each week of Lent, we will consciously try to let go of INNER PATTERNS that keep us in our wrong head, our small heart, and outside of our bodies. The notion is not "sacrifice" as if this, of itself, somehow pleases God, but rather consciously letting go of ATTITUDES and BEHAVIORS that are in the way, that keep me from loving God, loving one another, and loving my own dignity. We invite you to join us on this journey.
THE GOAL OF LENT is not to make a plan for change and follow it to the letter. Rather, the goal is to make a change that sinks deeply into life, drawing us closer to self, others, and God. Lent is about intentionally opening ourselves, preparing to receive God’s goodness.
- Sarah Parsons
A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent
It’s raining cats and dogs right now. Nice and cooling though. Just the right temperature for the 3pm prayer everyday.
Today, I will simply enjoy the silence and the round of the rain drops. Our denomination came out with this simple Lenten Guide. It’s simple enough. My prayer is that especially for beginners they will find it easier to enter in this Lenten season and encounter Jesus. For oldies, they will renew their love for Christ beyond any cause no matter how legitimate it may be.
THE SEASON OF LENT invites us to focus on the condition of our hearts. We have many options when our physical hearts deteriorate – repair, bypass surgery, transplants, medication. However, God is interested in our whole person, our whole being, expressed in Hebrew Scriptures as our heart.
It does not take long on our Lenten journey to discover that we cannot repair some parts of our “heart” – we need a new heart altogether. In God’s mercy, God promises us a new heart. The prophet Jeremiah first made the promise to a people in trouble, a people separated from their first love and loyalty to God by their behaviors of indifference, callousness, and loving other seducers (Jeremiah 31:31, 33). Yet God still loves those people called by God’s name and wants to make it possible for humans – individually and as a community – to reciprocate that love. God promises a new covenant so that those who have lost their way of loving will have a new heart.
- Elizabeth Nordquist
The Upper Room Disciplines 1997
The Scripture for today is Psalm 32:5
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD."
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
The focus is on Repentance.
And where else can we start but ourselves. This is a time to examine oneself, and begin confessing any hidden sins.
I wonder how many prayed with me at 3pm?
A voice cutting through the rhythm of the rain.
“You, Follow me”
THE ASH WEDNESDAY shadow on the wall, cast by my own solidity blocking light, generates deep penitence and at the same time a yearning for the “new and right spirit” that God gives. We do not search out our sinfulness in order to indulge in feeling bad but to set ourselves on the path of return. Like the lovable character in the movie E. T., who pointed a glowing finger toward his planet as he uttered his plaintive cry, “Home,” we were created with a deep sense of where we belong. Often alienated, sometimes far away, we find the warmth of the God in whose image we have been made touches us; and our hearts respond with desire for homecoming. Always we find a place set for us at the welcoming banquet table.
- Elizabeth J. Canham
Heart Whispers
The images, pictures or metaphors we use show us our underlying assumptions (often hidden from us) which drive our religion. Okay, some of us don’t like to use the word “religion”, but that’s essentially what we are practicing, if our complaints about God revolve around unhappy observance of rituals (ranging everything from personal devotions to the Mass). It’s “religion” if our gripes are about getting our belief systems picture perfect, or how we don’t seem to be getting it right (including everything from our strict interpretation of certain passages of scripture to our frustrating attempts to makes sense of “God”.) It’s “religion” when our frustrations with ourselves tend towards the poles of guilt or shame (this happens when we keep on trying and trying but don’t seem to get “it” – whatever “it” is)
We had Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonheoffer over for pizza in the last Church History class. I found their unpacking on “religion” quite helpful.
Karl Barth highlights . important distinctions with emphasis on revelation, faith and God.
“. . .religion is the contradiction of revelation. That which pleases God is not human religiosity but faith in response to divine revelation; revelation that proceeds only and directly from the triune God”
Bonhoeffer sheds more light . . . not the religious act but the way of Jesus.
“It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life, . . . [we] are to be caught up into the way of Jesus Christ, thus fulfilling Isaiah 53.”
One of the author’s that I surprisingly came across since embarking on my less conventional journey in my Christian walk is Robert Farrar Capon. He has a way with phrasing. I think his relevance is most potent to English speaking Christians or even seekers of truth who stuck with seeing Christianity as “religion”.
“For some time now, we’ve been treated to a good deal of heavy breathing and earnest thumbsucking about the plight of the Christian religion and the problems of the institutional church. Almost all of it is wildly off the mark. While it is true that our present dishevelment may well be one of the larger crises (or opportunities) the church has bumped into over its long career, our real difficulty is something else: we have an almost continuous track record of hitting the Christian nail squarely on the thumb. All our noisy hammering to the contrary, the problem is not that we need to get back to the truth of our religion or to get on to some better version of the ecclesiastical institution; rather we need nothing so much as to stop acting as if we’re either a religion or an institution at all.
To begin with, Christianity is not a religion; it’s the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. The Gospel, however – the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. It is the bizarre proclamation that religion is over, period.
All the efforts of the human race to straighten up the mess of history by plausible religious devices – all the chicken sacrifices, all the fasts, all the mysticism, all the moral exhortations, all the threats – have been canceled by God for lack of saving interest. More astonishingly still, their purpose has been fulfilled, once for all and free for nothing, by the totally non-religious death and resurrection of a Galilean nobody.
Admittedly, Christians may use the forms of religion – but only because the church is the sign to the world of God’s accomplishment of what religion tried (and failed) to do, not because any of the church’s devices can actually get the job done. The church, therefore, must always be on its guard against giving the impression that its rites, ceremonies, and requirements have any religious efficacy in and of themselves. All such things are simply sacraments – real presences under particular signs – of the indiscriminate gift of grace that God in Christ has given everybody.”
- Robert Farrar Capon, The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-Found of Church History. 1996. p. 1-2
“What role have I left for religion? None. And I have left none because the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ leaves none. Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement of the end of religion. Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshipping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God. About those things, Christianity has only two comments to make. The first is that none of them ever had the least chance of doing the trick: the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (see Hebrews), and no effort of ours to keep the law of God can ever succeed (see Romans). The second is that everything that religion tried (and failed) to do has been perfectly done, once and for all, by Jesus in His death and resurrection. Therefore, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up and forgotten. The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiastical turkeys throughout two thousand years who have acted as if religion was their stock in trade. The church, instead, is in the Gospel proclaiming business. It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly”. It is here in short, for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free Grace.” (The Parables of Grace, Eerdmans, Michigan: 2000 p.100)
I could almost see the hands raised, the frowns on the eyebrows, the movement of discomfort on the chairs. “But, Sivin, What about holiness? What about spiritual formation? What about . . . (all the usual stuff we associate with being a Christian)?
Well, starting points are most important, and for me, starting doesn’t mean stopping there. But for many they start and then stop with “religion”. No wonder, following Jesus becomes such a chore. Wait . . . maybe we aren’t necessarily following Jesus when we get our “religion” right or claim to possess the “right religion.”?
Hold on. I’m not saying that obedience and faithfulness is not part of the journey. But the starting point, oh the starting point. Then nothing can really stop us can it? The law and judgment we encounter smacks us in the face all the time. After we are awakened form our slumber or lostness (cf. Luke 15), when the Gospel of grace grabs us afresh, then all this talk on obedience and faithfulness is linked to the origins and orientation around grace and faith. It all sounds like reworking on the sentence structures, but perhaps, the language of faith needs a reordering so we can be truly free?
Our response is always the second step. Second steps are steps where “We do not search out our sinfulness in order to indulge in feeling bad but to set ourselves on the path of return.” The path of return is part of the way of Jesus.
Walking with Jesus is bound to include some chore-like elements, routines, the mundane. When we discover the message of the dream of God, our hearts are ignited with a cause worth living for, and aligning ourselves to. But deep down, the season of Lent reminds me again and again, a season when we we hear the call to come “home” to all that’s important. Our “versions” of Christianity that we try to live out gets rearranged in it’s proper order. It is not about “religion” but about “Christ”. The chores and causes no matter how helpful (sometimes can be harmful depending) fall second or third, it all focused Christ as the center. That is where we belong, that center – the person is whose we belong to. The behaving and believing is still integrated without being thrown out. In fact, both becomes even more focused, fruitful and faithful because it’s an overflow out of the abundance of revelation, grace and faith.
Just in case we forgot, the ashes on our foreheads – a sign pointing to death, reminding us of our mortality, is a sign ultimately reminds us of our baptism where we received (at least in my heritage) the sign of the cross on our foreheads- the sign of new life, the sign of belonging to Christ and his body, the sign of enrolment to the reign of God and the future that has invaded our present.
“Receive the sign of the cross, you belong to Christ!”
We have so much fear in all of us.
In the secret places of our hearts,
Only God and we know what is going on there.
Sometimes, we don’t even know ourselves
But we only know fear.
The fear of sin taking over our lives.
The fear of death and the unknown.
The fear of a future which looks dark and dim.
The fear of evil and wicked forces pounding us again and again.
We can’t run away from facing all these fears,
But we hear a call to walk – walk by faith.
Faith in someone who sees us just as we are,
and promises to lead us where we should really be.
He’s done it before, and he’s still doing it today.
Join me to walk with Jesus the next 40 days,
together we can hear him say again,
“Do not Be afraid . . .
. . . you are free!
You can be free in me
You can be free through me!”
I thought the relation between anger and depression was insightful.
The bottom line is that the catalyst for both anger and depression is often the hurts we experience at a very deep level…experiencing feelings of being misunderstood, rejected, unimportant, powerless, and even unlovable. Out of those feelings (and the thoughts that led to them) we can lash out at someone else, get upset with ourselves, withdraw from others in isolation, or try to avoid the hurts altogether with some compulsive behaviors that only complicate our situations.
We’re using our own simple 40day guide provided by the denomination, which I had some fingerprints in terms how it turned out. 
These extras are great.
(Part of) why I like the liturgical calendar
I see the liturgical calendar as way of shaping the way I experience time, and allow the themes from the calendar from the life of Jesus to reorder my scattered thoughts.
I would argue (in addition to Michael’s points) that how we celebrate time deeply shapes us as people, and increasingly, American holidays are shaping us as sentimental consumers, and the Christian year shapes us around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Case in point, Spencer points out that no church he was part of when he was younger ever chose Pentecost over Mother’s Day. To put it baldly, we exalt the nuclear family over the Holy Spirit’s work in the church, and part of the reason is that, for most evangelical Christians, Mother’s Day is an obligatory holiday and Pentecost feels optional.
Book Discussion: "Seeking the Identity of Jesus"
The season of Lent has always been a season when I revisit Jesus identity again . and also what it means for me and our world. Pause and slowly revisit the following 9 propositions
1. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew.
2. The identity of Jesus is reliably attested and known in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
3. The entirety of the canonical witness is indispensable to a faithful rendering of the figure of Jesus.
4. In order to understand the identity of Jesus rightly, the church must constatly engage in in the practice of deep, sustained reading of these texts.
5. To come to grips with the identity of Jesus, we must know him as he is presented to us through the medium of narrative.
6. The trajectory begun with the the NT of interpreting Jesus’ identity in and for the church has continued through Christian history.
7. Because Jesus remains a living presence, he can be encounterd in the community of his people,the body of Christ.
8. Jesus is a disturbing, destabilizing figure.
9. The identity of Jesus is something that must be learned through long-term discipline.
A hybrid Malaysian taking preparatory steps for this year.
2009 Global Mission Lenten Series
This looks really good.
It wasn’t long after I arrived in Senegal 15 years ago, that I began to have new experiences that have shaped my understanding of Lent today. For example, learning Pulaar, (spoken by the Fulani), I was introduced to the daily ritual of greetings. How are you? How is your day, or morning, or evening? How is your health? How is your tiredness? How is your family? How are your children? How are your parents? How are the people of your village? How is your work going? After a few months, just as I was getting used to these questions and various responses, I heard something I hadn’t heard before, “Mbad-daa e Korka?” What did that mean? So I asked, and I learned that this was a greeting used during the month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, and it meant “How are you doing with your fast?” It seemed to me that everyone was asking everyone that question, and so I started to include it in my greetings. When I did, sometimes instead of getting the regular “Peace only” response, people asked me “Ada hoora?” – Are you fasting? Hmm? Scratch my head. No. Immediately, the arguments against fasting came to my rescue, but God saved me from foisting on my Muslim friends all the reasons why I wasn’t fasting and made me realize that all the question demanded was a yes or no answer.
I love doing these interviews and introducing people to agents of change. So I’m glad this one I did with Steven Sim last year finally sees the light!
Of course, there’s more updated stuff on The Micah Mandate please read on.
Some days it’s tough to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Some days it’s tough to care.
Here in Malaysia, we have to come to terms with the horrendous injustice of a political leader driven out of public office because an ex-boyfriend releases nude pictures that he took of her while she was sleeping. While followers of Jesus may not agree with her sexual ethics, we are angered to see politicians using this gross betrayal of personal privacy to destroy an opponent’s political career, and doing it from a posture of moral superiority. Makes me sick.
We must acknowledge one sided reports on both sides. And perhaps probe deeper, what is the purpose or underlying assumptions which drive the one-sidedness. Having said that, one must ask why do people like Awad writes the way he writes as a committed Christian who is committed to Christ, and the Scriptures. I don’t think it’s so simple as labeling those like him as anti-Israel. Is being critical of the church being anti-church? Is being critical of Chinese who have rigid parochial attitudes anti-Chinese? Is being critical of the myself being anti-self? (to push it further) The list goes on. Obviously, No.
Then, it’s about raising important questions where we may be blinded because of our understandings of the role of Israel in God’s plan and purpose for the world which in many cases is part of a dispensationalist reading of the Bible – while has it’s merits – but is not the only way to read the Bible. And I would suggest, a more Christ-centred approach is more helpful especially in these matters.
We need to heed a reminder from the late great church statesman and mission theologian Leslie Newbigin – - Christians ought to be “the strength of every good movement of social and political effort.” Bishop Newbigin’s insight is a timely challenge as well as invitation to us all in every sphere of influence we are engaged in.
When I first met Steven Sim at the “Moorthy” candlelight vigil in front of the high court organized by the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) and supported by civil society groups, I had already sensed he was responding to that call to be “the strength” Newbigin talked about. I was intrigued by his willingness to move to Penang from Klang Valley for work as well as to be with family, which later with the change of Penang state government openned up further opportunities for him to contribute towards the good of society
How wonderful to have a heavenly Father who listens, understands and answers our cries. However, sometimes, in his love and for our own good his answer is “not yet” or “no”
Peter’s Pithy Pointers have now been in existence for one year (March 2008 to February 2009). God willing, fifty PPPs and the Weekly Bible Challenges will be printed in booklet form within 3 months. Let us conclude the first year in a humuorous vein.
1) DIPLOMA
Which is the most popular game being played by Malaysian politicians?
a) Monopoly
b) Scrabble
c) Hide-and-Seek
d) Leap-frog
e) Happy Families
Actually, I’m rather curious as to why the Sultan did not just dissolve the state assembly when requested. All this party-hopping business was reeking havoc on the public’s faith in the democratic system.
GRANT ME GRACE this day
to rest and remember
that there is nothing I have to do,
nothing I have to buy or sell,
nothing I have to produce or consume
in order to become who I already am:
your beloved creation.
May your overworked creation
and those who cannot rest today
come to know the liberation of your sabbath.- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation
Sitting silently as Gareth and Elysia drifts to sleep is a very restful experience. When they are wide awake, full of energy, that’s a different story. It’s the same for Ewan But now, the stillness is a gift. The Time to rest and remember is precious.
The afternoon nap was a blessing today. Of course, it was after a good time of gathering to worship with the BLC family in the morning. Said another good bye today, prayed another prayer of blessing for the Danish couple who have been joining us the last months. It’s a great encouragement to see them whenever they are with us. It was short but sweet. Especially considering for most Europeans a regular participation at a Sunday Worship Service has become an anomaly. My prayer is their journey with BLC has enriched them in their walk as Christians. My only regret is that I did not manage to sing a Danish Christian song before they left today. We will have lots of time to do that in eternity.
Which leads me back to now. While I strongly believe in the earthy use of our life as Christ-followers, the eternal perspective of a kind of life beyond death, beyond the evil and suffering we experience today, does bring a deeper dimension in how we live on earth. I’ve long given up on the “pie in the sky” kind of Christianity, and yet, I’m not satisfied with “it’s all about us here and now” kind of faith either.
I wonder how the “Sabbath” relates to all this since, it was the God who created the world, and the history in which we are engaged in the journey today who was the first who rested after 6 days of creation as recorded in the book of Beginnings – Genesis. And we use the word “eternal rest” for those who have closed their chapters here on earth. So, in between the “Sabbath” in Genesis, and the “Sabbath” after the book of Revelation in the New testament, here we are catching a glimpse of it whenever we can in our mini-foretaste “Sabbaths” to rest and remember.
This rest and remember is more than catching up on our sleep. And for some catching up on house chores, or shopping, or entertainment, or whatever. When the dust settles even for those good things, we need to do. It’s about remembering who we are, and who makes us what we are. God’s beloved creation living in this overworked creation.
That’s one message of liberation which needs to be heard today.
He and she who has ears, let them hear.
Gareth and Elysia are fast asleep now. My breathing has slowed down. And this meditation will be drawn to a close. As it’s evening and morning (soon), Epiphany is drawing to a close with Transfiguration Sunday, Ash Wednesday is coming. I’d like to start the week on Sunday evening before the clock strikes 12 midnight preparing for Lent earlier, and say it’s good . a pretty good day.
It’s been a long time since I’ve changed the theme for this blog. I’m happy to focus on the content Once a while it’s good to have a change.
Thanks to Bob K who is my current tech guru and the one that helps me out since I’m technologically challenged when it comes to details for my blogs, he’s installed a few themes which I can choose from.
The current theme for Sivin Kit’s Garden uses Inanis Glass 1.3 by Inanis
I just discovered you can change the theme at will by the blog reader. Hope you like it.
The Options are:
Void – default
Life (which has a nice natural green look)
Earth (with rocks and all)
Wind (with nice clouds in a blue sky)
Water (with bubbles)
Fire (blazing hot)
Light (basically white and ultra minimalist)
