Sivin Kit's Garden

1 Corinthians 13 (Missionary Version)

This version of 1 Corinthians 13 really puts things in perspective and priority.

I may be able to speak fluently the language of my chosen field
and even understand its culture,
but if I have no love, the impact of my speech is no more for Christ
than that of a businessman who comes to exploit the people.

I may have the gift of contextualizing God's word when I deliver it to my hearers,
I may have all knowledge about their customs,
I may have the faith needed to combat witchcraft,
but if I have no love, I am nothing.

I may give everything I have to the poor, to the hungry in the favelas,
I may even give my life for them,
but if I have no love, this does no good.

Love is. . .

thinking in their thought patterns
caring enough to understand their world view,
listening to their questions,
feeling their burdens,
respecting them,
identifying with them in their need,
belonging to them.

Love is eternal.
Cultures pass away.
Dynamic equivalents will change because cultures change.
Patterns of worship and church administration will need revision.
Languages will be altered over time.
Institutions will be replaced.
. . . Because they are not reality.

Since I am finite, I can only study how to express the Message cross-culturally,
trying to free it from my cultural bias.
I am able to do this only in a limited way,
but I pray that the Spirit will use my life to show Christ to those with whom I work.
Meanwhile these remain . . .
Identification,
Contextualization
and
Love,
BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.

Evangelical Missions Quarterly Treasures

I was just checking out for a Vinoth Ramachandra article which I found a pretty good one here, The honor of listening: indispensable for mission.

and then I went nuts browsing through and then printing a load of stuff to read in the near future form the Evangelical Missions Quarterly Archives, I'll just pick out some that struck my attention (of course there are others too *grin*)

A love affair that must be cultivated three ways
how can genuine partnership between local churches, missionaries, and their mission agencies.work? I'm pretty excited to an invite to have lunch with George Verwer a coupld of weeks time :-)

The missionary's role in developing indigenous Christian Theology
My German friend might be interested in this. He's been very encouraging!

Postmodernism, the Western Church and Missions
wow! This article was written in 1999 - 6 years ago!

Postmodernism: An evangelical blind spot?
Ah .. that pomo word again.

Postmodernism: Ripe for a Global Harvest—But is the Church Ready?
with a sentence like this, "Postmodernity may be one of the greatest blessings to the Western church, ..." this is sure to be a fascinating read. :-)

Post Missionary Asia: One Size Doesn't Fit All, India reveals the challenges and the opportunities.
I haven't been to India yet ...

What Can Missionaries Learn From Postwar Shifts in Anthropology?
what a closing paragraph ... phew ...

"We do not go as owners of the truth. We go as those who live the only truth that belongs to all humanity—that God has made us and longs for us to live in harmony with him and with each other. We do not go as technical experts, but as incarnations of God's love, living witnesses to the unity of the human family. We go, and live, and work not because we have something they do not have, but because it is the way of Christ to establish bonds of love across whatever divides there may be. Thus, our presence among those with whom we differ can become a living witness to the truth that transcends the divisions that anthropology sees so clearly and so hopelessly."

Are we a threat to the Gospel?

Andrew Jones updates us by saying here at Are We A Threat to the Gospel? (Restored) "This is getting a little unwieldy. Can we keep in mind that this is not a matter of baptist church VS emerging church but rather Mohler VS McLaren. And remember that Mohler does not speak for all Baptists, just as McLaren does not speak for all in the emerging church."

Now, I hope we don't import any "battles" here to Malaysia. I see Brian as a friend (long before he was a big deal) and a voice worth listening to and engaging from a worldwide point of view - kind of a in between scholar and lay person way. To be honest I never heard of Mohler until this year (opps!), I suppose I'm more familiar with Lutheran giants then Baptist giants. Or maybe I've just been hanging out with Lutheran and Baptist misfits :-) I have heard Don Carson in a Bible Exposition context in Malaysia, and from the response there is an obvious hunger for what he shared during that time. I'm also more aware of a growing interest and alignment with more "reformed"-"calvinist" theology in my personal contacts. More than one I've met probably might be called post-pentecostals or post-charismatics (for lack of better terminology). So, i read it as a kind of pendulum swing for some. I suppose I was swinging there as well but had a more Arminian-Methodist theology lecturer who was also frustrated with the "captivity of ecumenical and evangelical Asian theology to enlightenment and modern categories" and a wonderful Christian Spirituality lecturer that introduced "the best of Roman Catholic contemplative traditions". And maybe in my subconscious hidden Lutheran mind somewhere, I've always been biased when it comes to Calvin and his decendants. But then again, I love to quote Calvin's "The human mind is an Idol Factory".

Of course, my deeper hope is that we in Malaysia (and Asia) will enourage more of our own to speak up and allow our voices to be heard and in the process mutually learn from the best that the east and west, north and south have to offer - we may be post-western in the words of prof. Lammen Sanneh but we are not anti-western. I know this sounds idealistic ... but there's a whole lot of realism that goes with that hope.

Whatever it's worth, Thanks TallskinnyKiwi for another alternative voice ... I was pretty fascinated also by how emerging southen baptist church leaders wrestle with this here. I find myself eavesdropping in the discussion but cautiously refraining from getting sucked into any "battles". Need the energy to "construct."

an introduction to emergent (malaysia)

here's from the point of a first time new comer to our conversation last Saturday,
"an introduction to emergent", I manage to put in some comments to encourage further conversation. Ah .. that word again, I was reminded by what Brian McLaren said some time ago .. and I agree with him especially in our context here in Malaysia, "Right now, Emergent is a conversation, not a movement,We don't have a program. We don't have a model. I think we must begin as a conversation, then grow as a friendship, and see if a movement comes of it."

___________________________________________________________________

an introduction to emergent I was at CPK's place for a church camp committee meeting on Saturday. Over satay and pizza, I posed this question to him, "How would you describe the Emergent movement in a simple concise sentence?"

Seeking clarity as to what Emergent is all about is a pretty futile attempt. Brian McLaren, the author of the book A New Kind of Christian, resists calling Emergent a "movement". "Right now, Emergent is a conversation, not a movement," he says. "We don't have a program. We don't have a model. I think we must begin as a conversation, then grow as a friendship, and see if a movement comes of it." [1]

Despite its seeming lack of structure (at least not one that we normally associate with), Emergent does seem to thrive in exactly what is missing. The absence of formal boundaries does make way for open, honest conversations between fellow believers and friends about the various issues pertaining to the Christian church today.

I had the privilege of participating in one such "conversation" last Saturday at Bangsar Lutheran Church. After breakfast at Taman Tun post-Kiara, we found ourselves drawn to the informal meeting that we had heard about over the grapevine...dirty, sweaty bodies and all. Hopefully they'll welcome us in, just as Jesus welcomed even the lepers...heheh

After a brief welcoming address by Sivin Kit, the man I understand to be the main contact for Emergent Malaysia, this guy, Kia Meng shared his story and the lessons about his faith that he had picked up along the way. Later, we broke into smaller groups of 3 - 4 to share our respective stories, with the question "What Does it Mean to be a Christian in Malaysia Today?" providing some direction.

Looking around, it certainly looked like many interesting conversations were happening in the various groups. Keith and I were in the same group, together an Ipoh lass going by the name, Wan Ching (Ipoh gals seem to be EVERYWHERE these days!). Coincidently, we all share the commonality of being involved in youth ministry. With that common ground, we shared our concern in seeing the youth in our churches growing up all groomed to be "cultural Christians" (not a term that anyone mentioned that day, but one that I feel encapsulates the idea of being moulded by our surroundings and circumstances), yet not engaging in a real relationship with God.

We also heard some of the other groups share their stories at the end of the session. I think the general consensus was that the world is changing i.e. "the modern, colonial world is coming undone and a new postmodern, postcolonial world is emerging". [2] The challenge today is for the gospel of Christ to remain relevant to a generation that carries very different beliefs and values, and which requires different approaches, as compared to the generation that lived say, 20 years ago.

To quote McLaren, "Can I still call myself a Christian if I don't buy the whole package of what many call Christianity today, which includes a lot of modernity and has little to do with authentic Christianity?" [3]

Still, the waters should be tread carefully. I'd better be praying about this.

***

References

[1] Andy Crouch, "The Emergent Mystique", Christianity Today, November 2004, Vol. 48, No. 11, p. 36.

[2] Emergent Village, http://www.emergentvillage.com.

[3] Glenn T. Stanton, "The Postmodern Moment", Christianity Today, June 2002, Vol. 46, No. 7, p. 53.

jv. made his mark here @ 6:25 PM

Random Thoughts while eating Oreo

These OREO cookies are pretty good. I'm going for another packet!

It's good to get back to rhythm a little ... especially as I felt a little "off rhythm" since the arrival of Elysia. Her eyes seemed to be wide open for a couple of nights.

some one asked me to put more personal stuff on the blog. let's see what I can juggle ... I don't mind sharing ... but there's also a big part of me that want to point people to other people rather than to me :-) (thus the random links)

Gareth has "matured" a bit more the past weeks since Elysia came. There have been hard times too ... I love it when he get's into his "Bono-mode" and want to put on some shades (photo below)

Suddenly, I've been in the mood of reading some books I've read before of haven't finish reading. And as usual, there's another new one waiting. So much to process ...

It's also a good week to get ready for the next season of what's going to happen in my personal and family life as well as church and ministry life. It's been quite an interesting development thus far. Oh yeah, havent' started much work on the Masters yet .. opps.

Happy to feel more "settled" after knowing what's next in regards to where we're staying, so, that's good.

I was a little suprised with a "resignation" I heard lately. I think it's for the better.

May Chin and I watched a DVD sent to us before dinner yesterday ... we were kind of "entertained" by what we saw and yet ... felt uncomfortable if this is the kind of diet fed to our churches here (or at least seen as the ideal) Lord have mercy.

I'm pretty excited to read and connect with some fellow Lutherans in the USA who seem to be moving forward rather than just being stuck! I cheer them on!

I'm going for another OREO this is my third small packet. Yummy ...

Finished a questionaire a while ago. Strange questions ... just try to answer lah.

Oh yeah .. I got another invitation to speak in a family camp. And through the phone conversations it's facinating how I felt "some how a bit more prepared" for this ... and what's going on.

There's a few appointments that didn't materialize but hope to get going soon. But there's similar themes revolving around the faith quest of youth and young adults, church, world and leadership. I'm still trying to piece the puzzle together.

Hope to have a series on "confessional style" blogs soon ... or at least something more organized.

Well ... I think I've got some pretty random thoughts posted now ... it's just freewheeling ... and now the OREO.

Emergent - Lutherans?

Emerging Leaders Network
so this is what fellow Lutheran Karen Ward is up to with her friends! We're pretty aware of the spirit of Luther, "here we stand!" then "Now it's time to walk ahead together" Here's what they are up to:

"ELN seeks to be a community of friendship, discernment and theological conversation among emerging Lutheran leaders.

ELN connects leaders who are currious about and committed to sharing principles, practices and imagination for mission and ministry in the emerging cultures.

We seek to explore faith and life in our times, not within the familiar strictures of a modernist "organization," but within an organic and networked community of missional friendship and spiritual discernment, rooted in the lutheran theological tradition.

This site itself will be a 'living active and breathing thing...' a breeding ground which will follow, explore, and possibly lead the church into the emerging future."

Lutheran - Emergent: What can one say to the other?
I must say there's a lot worth checking out inside that cowboy hat! My "intuitive" feel is that there maybe some untapped perspectives that can be gained from how the Early German Pietist sought to bring renewal within the post-Luther-Melancthon heavily Scholastic Lutheranism ...

Here's some things I could relate to ... even though we're miles apart,

"Lutherans also have a hard time in how congregations relate to one another. We tend to be either lone rangers (as churches and as pastors) or part of/ reacting against a hierarchical, top-down driven model of denominationalism (that is thoroughly modern and business-llike, even if the model is one that is "baptized" by liturgical theology). Emergents could teach us a lot about mutual accountability, non-hierarchical networks, and "organizing from below" in ways that maintain responsibility and authority but are also extremely responsive to local conditions and promote leadership that is servant-like and committed to resourcing and supporting mission more than preserving a denominational organization (which is precisely where the ELCA is right now)."

I found Eric's comments in an earlier post, simply "captivating" ...

"One of the things that fascinates me about the "emerging church conversation" is that it shares with Lutheranism an attempt to articulate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and call people to faith in him, in ways that explode the prevailing intellectual/ theological frameworks of church life in their respective days. For Luther, it was the medieval scholatic/ Aristotelian world. For Emergent, it's modernism. In both cases, the power of the Bible's witness is seen as blunted and even twisted by the background assumptions made as it is read by the dominant expression of the church. Luther would get enraged at how his opponents would use biblical words and concepts, but in a philosophical framework that had nothing to do with the biblical narrative. Medieval philosophy had hijacked the conversation. Luther saw the eschatalogical, relational, and dialectical (law-gospel, diagnosis-prognosis, or threat-promise) aspects of the Bible's witness that were ignored by theologians of his day. Emergent folks see the consumerist, individualist, "faith as right doctrine not as right relationships vertically and horizontally" (as opposed to "right doctrine as guide to right relationship"), and the serious constraints put on the meaning of "truth" (what I like to call "truth is only what you can see on a National Geographic documentary or prove on a math class blackboard") in modernity as problematic."

The Radical Evangelical

Long before reading Brian McLaren's A Generous OrthodoxyI found this little book at the STM library in Seremban (SPCK books are hard to find here) and Dr. Nigel G. Wright rocked me pretty hard (for which I'm grateful). I thought of borrowing the book again to see how I'd react to it now after 4 years.

Here's what it's about:
"The gospel we profess is the most radical power on earth, reaching to the depths of our personal, social and political existence. It needs a radical people to embody and proclaim it. This book examines the nature of evangelical theology, dealing with areas of persistent disagreement and controversy, such as the status of the Bible, the nature of Christ's achievement on the cross, the meaning of 'hell', and offers a new way forward which remains committed to the fundamentals of faith, while retaining a flexible response to the challenges of the future."

Learning in Story

My friend AL has a way with words(and we always have fun how we use terms and phrases) and I appreciate how he captures our Emergent Malaysia gathering last Saturday in his own words. I fully agree with him that "Christianity is not just good for dying" ... it's good for living! Timely during this Easter Season!
________________________________________________________________

Read on in Learning in Story

If there’s something new (therefore refreshing) yet ancient (therefore less dubious than one might initially expect), it’s the phenomenon of story.

At the third Malaysian Emergent gathering (what a mouthful, eh?) at BLC last weekend, it was great to see, yet again, stories taking centre stage.

The Emergent Church Movement (ECM) advocates the patient listening and validating of people’s stories. Conversation needs to take place. We must hear people out and ‘suspend judgment’ on ideas our theological systems may reject, no matter how ‘awfully false’. What for? Because there may be no other way to learn from them, to give people space to voice their doubts and experiences, to minister to them. In a word, to connect. Without genuine listening, there may be no genuine relationship.

Kia Meng’s personal story (the first story of the day) was insightful as to how multi-dimensional and wavy and fluctuating real Christian experience is. How often do you hear, within a space of ten minutes names like Francis Schaeffer, NT Wright, John Piper, Brian McLaren and Menno Simmons all juxtaposed as part of a holistic experience?

He shared how he started with (and felt disillusioned by) popular Pentecostal ‘power’ theology, particularly the view that if healing did not come to a person, it’s likely due to that person’s lack of faith. He then found some measure of theological solace in Reformed theology, with its pantheon of certainties, foundations, creeds and so on. I must say I found this rare: A Pentecostal ‘converting’ to Calvinism?

But this is life, this is real, this is as candid as candid can get. No one’s trying to fit anything into some piously acceptable and politically right scheme here. If nothing else, perhaps the ECM could be seen as a return to honesty: honest doubt, honest stories, honest fears, honest pain, honest questions.

Kia Meng has – and this is where I envy him tremendously, *grin* - personally met up with both N.T. Wright and Brian McLaren, two ‘giants’ of the faith in quite different ways. Wright is a British theologian cum historian who’s presently redefining the landscape of ‘Historical Jesus’ and New Testament studies. “If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not” – this was the phrase (what Wright believes accurately summarizes the early Christians’ “politics”) which, according to Kia Meng, reminded him of the power and need of the gospel to transform the world not just ‘spiritually’ but in socially redeeming ways.

As per Dallas Willard, Christians need more than 'bar-code' faith.

Brian McLaren, on the other hand, is an American pastor who’s postmodern innovativeness and deep compassion for people gradually led to the creation of the ECM. It seems he, McLaren, approached Kia Meng and Yew Khuen, wanting to know more about them, their culture and even their dialects(!).

I think McLaren’s actions in doing so i.e. in reaching out to, and being genuinely interested in, those (like him) who may be ‘minorities’ (in some sense at least) spoke more than many a theological treatise or sermon. Maybe this was a snapshot of God’s goodness expressed unexpectedly through a person.

(Incidentally, McLaren has been getting some bad press of late. His book, A Generous Orthodoxy, has stirred up more than a little fury among, primarily, Reformed evangelicals for being theologically 'corrosive' and obscure. Propositional clarity, in their view, decide the value of theological discourse. It's therefore nice to see a conservative like Craig Blomberg classifying McLaren's work as helpful to those keen on "developing the kind of community in the church of Jesus Christ that our Lord himself seems to have desired." i.e. community-building and relationships determine the value of God-talk.)

For Kia Meng, perhaps, the encounter with McLaren possibly reaffirmed his conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ involved the ‘radical inclusion’ of those our ‘natural’ selves wouldn’t rush to accept as part of the community. Instead of 'Vampire Christianity' (Willard again, highlighting the bite-and-leave evangelistic tendencies of many Christians), we perhaps should pursue 'Guide Dog Christianity' i.e. a stay-and-care (and listen carefully!) kind of faith.
For his openness and observations and intellectual giving, I thank Kia Meng. I was reminded, brother, that Christianity isn't only 'good for dying' (smile).

Posted at 02:17 pm by alwynlau

Blink

I really enjoyed the Tipping Point. That's the main reason I just went ahead and picked up Blink yesterday.

I read this interesting exchange between two authors here, "Blink and The Wisdom of Crowds: How to improve the decision-making environment.", first. so I might get the other book. Apart from more theological, pastoral, and spirituality related stuff. I enjoy books on leadership, learning and thinking - in short stuff about our humanity!

So far the Intro is pretty captivating, such as the following:

"We believe that we are always better off gathering as much information as possible and spending as much time as possible in deliberation. We really only trust conscious decision making. But there are moments, particularly in times of stress, when haste does not make waste, when our snap judgements and first impressions can offer a much better means of making sense of the world."(p.14)

My mind was thrown into multiple flashbacks after reading this and just having a fresh look and some of the decisions I made - from buying books to major transitional decisions. I landed up falling asleep and had a nap. But, it was an insightful exercise!

"When our powers of rapid cognition go awry, they go awry for a very specific and consistent set of reasons, and those reasons can be identified and understood." (p.15)

I couldn't help but think of one case where I had an "intuitive" feel that something was amiss. But then rationally, I justified in making a decision or at least enter into so called "analysis" that at the end was wrong. Hmm.... can we really indentify and understand the set of reasons that caused this mistake? will read on and see.

"When it comes to the task of understanding ourselves and our world, I think we pay too much attention to those grand themes and too little to the participation of those fleeting moments. But what would happen if we took our instincts more seriously? What if we stopped scaning the horizon with our binoculars and began instead examining our own decision making and behaviour through the most powerful of mircroscopes? I think that would change the way was are fought, the kinds of products we see on the shelves, the kinds of movies that get made, the way police officers are trained, the way couples are counseled, the way job interviews are conducted, and on and on. And if we were able to combine all of those little changes, we would end up with a different and better world."(p.16-17)

I think it's a parallel process - i.e. the grand thems and the fleeting moments. But, anything that gives value to little changes, the so called mundane, or the micro aspects of our lives helps me to keep things personal and not jump off into impersonal sounding ramblings on big picture concepts and ideas and thus lose the important concrete stuff right before my eyes.

So, for now .. at least. This book brings some balance. At least another perspective and in good Malcolm Gladwell style some interesting new language to use to process ideas. It does open up possibilities - I like possibilities!

Links with the E buzz word

Lutheran - Emergent? Shared Realities
I'm reading this because I'm connected to both.

Church in a multicultural society
-- Emerging church in multicultural society 2
-- Emerging church and multicultural society 3
I need some stretching ... and listening to one who's on the groundmakes a whole lot of difference.

Twist of Faith: Emergent churches attract worshippers with alternative religious experiences
wow! more press coverage with what's happening in the west. It's interesting to see the variety especially when it comes to forms and yet an underlying ned to connect the past, future and present in a meaningful way.

Resurrection

since we had "altar decorators" as part of including more people to participate in the worship gathering. I'm often surprised by the creativity that comes with this "open space" we created. :-)

Here's two quotes from two of my favorite authors (via CT reflections)

"DEATH is the ultimate weapon of the tyrant; resurrection does not make a covenant with death, it overthrows it. The Resurrection, in the full Jewish and early Christian sense, is the ultimate affirmation that creation matters, that embodied human beings matter." ~ N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God

"THE RESURRECTION is God's way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost—not even our mortal bodies." ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen, Our Greatest Gift

Emergent Malaysia conversations on Holy Saturday

"Emergent is a growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Our dream is to join in the activity of God in the world wherever we are able, so that God’s dreams for our world come true. In the process, the world can be healed and changed, and so can we." ~ Emergent Village Website

To be honest, every time we manage to organize a meeting inviting friends to come and participate it's hard to know what to expect. And then there will always be a surprise or two.

With a special "peace offering" from Jade - i.e. "Yau Cha Guai" (in Cantonese) and other goodies on the table, we stared introducing ourselves and telling in a sentence or two how did we land up here ... a couple actually said they didn't know :-), most of the others because we knew someone (or someone who knew someone), many of us are concerned with the changes that's happening in our churches as well as personal Christian lives in Malaysia, a lot of us are already on the emergentmalaysia Yahoo! group , of course there were returnees from our previous Christmas party and/or the kind of maiden meeting in 2004 last year.

It's quite amazing how it just started with 3 guys sitting in a room talking about some common concerns and the authors we've been reading (of course a number of emails to and fro). But, everything has got to start somewhere right. We honour small beginnings.

"Emergent seeks to create space where people who might not ordinarily interact with each other can gather and engage each other in areas related to theology, practices, culture and how churches and organizations engage missionally for the sake of the world. In order to do this we must assume a posture of openness, humility and desire. We must believe the best of one another. It's not that we won't or don't disagree (often vigorously) but rather we maintain the Spirit of Christ as we do so." ~ Emergent Village: Conversation

Some of us had a chance to share our stories in last years meetings, and last Christmas we brainstormed a sampling of what we thought were important to us. This round we started with Kia Meng ("our resident philosopher") to share his story and some insights he's picked up about his faith (especially the transitions, people and church communities that impacted him). When you have words like "Charismatic", "miracles on demand", "personal struggle", "questions", "losing my faith", "language to express my angst ", “Vampire Christianity”, “Barcode Faith” , etc combined with names like "Francis Schaeffer","John Piper", "Vineyard", "George Ladd", "Dallas Willard", "Brian McLaren", "Jason Clark", "Big Kahuna", "NT Wright", ""Mennonites", etc all in one interview (which I just prompted). This is one story worth listening (and still very much in the making - unfinished yet!) I think it was Nouwen who highlighted, "what's most personal is most universal" (something like that! *grin)

I was glad Liz with her advanced typing skills could record a kind of draft transcript of the interview and a number of "open" questions and interactions that emerged (*smile*) from his sharing. Once our emergent Malaysia website is ready hopefully we could post it up!

One close to heart concern was "evangelism" and how that really works out in a variety of circumstance (e.g. for "our neighbors", "children", those with disabilities, ect). This little interaction even strengthened my resolve to work on what I learnt 5 years ago from William J. Abraham, author of the Logic of Evangelism when he said, "The great need in evangelism is not for some new program, not for a fresh wave of activism, but for a renewal of theological vision and a reworking of our basic conceptuality" My intuitive sense behind the practical aspects of "evangelism" highlighted was this need that Prof. Abraham tallks about!

Later, I passed around this Missional Evangelism Booklet from another interesting similar kind of "network" the ekklesia project to a number of people (I still had some copies around). More stuff in there.

Then we broke into smaller groups to share our stories - with Yew Khuen giving us a simple framework from listening to practicing and then listening again (the cycle goes on)

Being the "facilitator" I had the freedom to eavesdrop and interuppt different groups and it was pretty facinating how these dynamics work.
Each group of at least three and not more than 4 (to facilitate closer conversations) and one person who tries (I repeat try) to be the scribe capture the conversations on paper.

After we drew the "conversations" to a close, we opened it up again just to listen to three groups share a sampling of their conversations. This included issues relating to "youth" growing up in a so called "Christian subculture" and then once "set free" (usually after going overseas for studies) realize that the faith they were brought up had no connection with their everyday life in the world.

BTW, there was limited use of lingo like "postmodernism", "postcolonialism", etc. Only a number of times with qualifiers. Due to the variety of individuals present from me as a pastor, to an "ordinary" lay person (which I think coming to a meeting like this is not ordinary!) as well as small groups leaders, worship leaders, Christian fellowship leaders and potential leaders, I strongly felt we needed to try our best to "include" all present as much as we could.

Another interesting thing is to take note of the Christian traditions kind of represented there today. We had for lack of better labels (or just using common labels) - Brethrens (which was a delightful surprise!), Lutherans, Methodists, Charismatics, Reformed, ... etc. Someone cheekily said, "semi-Lutheran", another quiped, "I'm a hybrid." And then all of us laughed because we are all pretty "Rojak" in a way (To our English speaking Global friends: Rojak is a kind of mixed vege & fruit dish). Indeed these labels carry less meaning nowadays. But it did help for humor at times.

having some form of record was very important, so we could go deeper beyond our last conversation and also trust that the time spend would somehow "change" us for the better.

I just took note in the booklet I mentioned above (which I gave a few copies out) comments on "Faithful conversation":

"Faithful conversation is multi-layered dialogue. As such it involves self-respect: a knowledge of and respect for one's own beliefs and positions, and self-exposure: an acknowledgement of and openness to the other as other, as distinct and different. And perhaps most important, a willingness to get caught up in the to-and-fro of the dialogue that participants may be profoundly changed in the midst of the process."

There's more and I think I learnt that today as I tried to discern the "language" that each person used to express themselves (I'm thinking about myself as well). The following is worth considering:

"... faithful conversation does not depend upon all members of the congregation (note: in our case participants in today's meeting and beyond) speaking the same language (whether ethnic, professional, cultural, or theological), but upon their openness to the koinonia of the Holy Spirit active and present in their midst."

I believe this happened today in many ways. And I'm thankful also for the post-meeting lunch conversations as well. Oh yes, I did manage to do my very best in describing what we're trying to do "Malaysian style" summarizing the info (and contextualizing it a bit)

like unpacking "growing generative friendship among missional Christian leaders" as well as what probably can be called the emergent order or commitments so we can move together locally as well as globally with friends on a similar journey.

On this Holy Saturday, as I remember that we're in between the Cross of Good Friday and the empty tomb of Easter Sunday, in this space of silence between two significant events of our lives, we gave ourselves to listen to one another and in the process I pray we heard God's voice for us in our time and context here and now in Malaysia. I loved what I read yesterday and I think the phrase itself is enough to energize me...

'It Is Finished' But It Is Not Over"

Crucifixion

These are some reflections I chose From Christianity Today to put in the booklet we used for the Stations of the Cross on Monday-Wednesay and tonight.

We have become insensitive to the infinite tension which is implied in the words of the Apostles' Creed: "suffered … was crucified, dead, and buried … rose again from the dead." We already know, when we hear the first words, what the ending will be: "rose again," and for many people it is no more than the inevitable "happy ending." … But the answer of Easter had become possible precisely because the Christ has been buried. The new life would not really be new life if it did not come from the complete end of the old life. ~ Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations

Whoever heard of a suffering God? The idea is plain daft. God is up in heaven, and there he will stay. But wouldn't it be wonderful if it were true? If God came to visit us, like a great king visiting his subjects? Or, even better, if he came among us as one of us, sharing our way of life, with all its tragedy, sorrows and grief?
~ Alister E. McGrath, What Was God Doing on the Cross?

The crucified is God's chosen: it is with the victim, the condemned, that God identifies, and it is in the company of the victim, so to speak, that God is to be found, and nowhere else . …Jesus is judge because he is victim; and that very fact means that he is a judge who will not condemn.
~ Rowan Williams, Resurrection

Random Links 29

Writing the Message
I quickly downloaded the MP3s to hear what went behind the scenes in Eugene Petersons' effort to produde the Message.

emerAnt: The Skinny on the Global Emerging Church
All in one page links and still being updated. Facinating stuff.

Rick Warren on Larry King Live
Quick bedtime reading for tonight. Wow! He get's a one to one interview!

Weary ... and a bit on Generous Orthodoxy
Messy Christian does it again ... getting loads of comments (she's got a gift for that *grin*). But, it's even more interesting that her thoughts made way to a Grace@work e-commentary. And the phrase Generous Orthodoxy actually made me pick out a Stanley Grenz book I didn't finish (whcih I should re-start).

A friendly critique of Emergent No
I'm still amazed by the amount of energy in the Emergent No website. Then again this friendly critique is so needed.

humans are not ants
It's hard to sleep with such quality blogging! Thanks Maggi ...

Churches worth staying in

From Mark Greer

Stuart shared the following vision of characteristics that might help churches become a church that people want to stay in rather than leave:

* Churches where God is at the centre, rather than the minister, programme or growth targets.
* Churches that nurture authentic friendships rather than insipid 'fellowship' or institutional belonging.
* Churches that are self-critical, alert to destructive inter-personal dynamics and that are working towards healthy community practises.
* Churches that treat adults as adults and encourage spiritual development rather than spoon-feeding their members.
* Churches that foster dialogue rather than monologue and participation rather than performance.
* Churches that welcome questions, eschew simplistic answers and affirm the dimension of mystery in authentic spirituality.
* Churches that encourage expressions of doubt, anger and lament as well as joyful certainty.
* Churches that are alert to the pressures of daily life and do not place unrealistic demands on their members.
* Churches that engage creatively and sensitively with contemporary culture and social issues.
* Churches that equip members for the world of work and discipleship beyond the congregation.
* Churches that embrace a holistic understanding of mission and have realistic expectations as marginal communities in post-Christendom.

A Psalm for Maundy Thursday

…A Psalm for Maundy Thursday:
(via Wes Roberts)
Tonight
Lord Jesus Christ
You sat at supper
with your friends.
It was a simple meal
that final one
of lamb
unleavened bread
and wine.
Afterward
You went out to die.
How many other meals You shared
beside the lake
fried fish and toasted bread
at Simon's banquet hall a feast
at Lazarus' home in Bethany
the meal that Martha cooked
on mountain slope
where You fed hungry crowd
at close of tiring day.
Please sit with us tonight
at our small meal
of soup and rolls and tea.
Then go with us
to feast of bread and wine
that You provide
because afterward
You went out to die.

…by Joseph Bayly
…from “Psalms of My Life”

Here's a basic outline we did tonight (based on the Maundy Thursday liturgy here)

_________________________________________________________________

The Christian Passover Meal
Maundy Thursday 2005

GATHERING
Welcome
Song: A New commandment
A new commandment I give unto you
That you love one another as I have loved you
That you love one another as I have loved you

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples
If you have love one for another

Scripture Reading:
John 13:1-15
Washing of Feet

WORD

Scripture Reading:
Exodus: 12:21-36

A Responsive Lesson
The Father prays while breaking the unleavened bread:

Thank you, Lord God, for rescuing your people and bringing them out of slavery. Thank you, Loving Father, for rescuing us from the slavery of sin and through the death and resurrection of Jesus bringing us to fullness of life in your Kingdom. Amen

The Father explains that we are about to eat a special meal. Set before the Father is: salt water, bitter herbs (celery and parsley), flat bread, egg, and roast lamb.
Child: Why are we eating this special food?
Father: We are eating this special food to help us remember. The salt water reminds us of the tears the Israelites shed when they were slaves. The bitter herbs remind us of the bitterness of slavery and of our slavery to sin. The flat bread, made without any yeast, is a reminder of the bread the Jewish mothers baked to take into the desert. In the same way that this bread is free of yeast, let us thank God that through Jesus we can be free of sin.
The egg is a symbol of life. The eldest sons of the Israelites were glad to be alive. It reminds us that Jesus died so that we who believe in him can live with him forever.
Child: What is the meaning of the roast lamb?
Father: The roast lamb reminds us of the lambs whose blood saved the first born of the Israelites. It also is a reminder of Jesus, whose death on the cross saved us from our sins. He called himself 'the Lamb of God'.

Sharing: Making a connection from the Passover meal to the 1st Holy Communion

MEAL
The host of the house offered a prayer of thanks giving.
Special adapted 4 fold toast:
- for Christ's forgiveness of sins
- for Christ dilevering us from the fear of death
- for Christ's victory on the cross over the forces of darkness, evil and Satan
- for looking forward to Christ's final coming when there will be no more tears.

SENDING
Song: Seek Ye First
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness

And all these things shall be added unto you
Allelu, alleluia

Man does not live by bread alone
But by every word
That proceeds from the mouth of God
Allelu, alleluia

Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you
Allelu, alleluia

Short explanation fo children's coloring booklet on "Tell us about the Passover Meal" (with a link to the Holy communion and Christ's work on the Cross)

Prayer
Almighty God,
we receive new life
from the supper your Son gave us in this world.
May we find full contentment
in the meal we hope to share
in your eternal kingdom.
Father, we offer ourselves as to you
as a living sacrifice through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit,
to live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

Blessing
__________________________________________________________________

Emergent Msia 1st Open Meeting 2005

Well our so called emergent malaysia Christmas party was fun last year and a good opener. But we needed to get some focus. And I suppose after a few months, some of us have a better sense on how we can move forward. Anyway, if anyone in Malaysia or more precisely Kuala Lumpur or klang Valley area please feel free to pop by.

We're using a simple "title" to get us going: "Vertigo: What does it mean to be a Christian in Malaysia today?"

26th March 2005, Saturday 10am
at The Father's House,
23, Jalan Abdullah off Jalan Bangsar.

Here's a map and contact.

Random Links 28

HARD TALKING JESUIT PRIEST
when we were discussing on the emergentmalaysia yahoogroup who are the people we see as the most influential Christians in Malaysia. This priest's name came up.

Criticism of Emergent
Tony Jones has done it again ... loads of comments here ... I need to leave one there too. Slowly ... after reading the rest first. :-)

I've been reading Andrew Jones blog old and new since I got internet access. And he's got a fascinating way for broadening and deepening the discussion. I'm looking forward to have the all the posts once it's kind of completed. He's always insightful and a number of radical ideas thrown in.

Resonate
I like what they say here, "As one worldview transitions into another, we realize that we are living in an exciting but challenging time. This transition has had a lot of labels stuck on it, postmodern, emerging church, and a bunch of other labels and clichés. Around here, we aren't big on labels but we do agree that the world is changing and like any time of transition, courageous people respond to the call to move forward in faith. We are a network of sojourners responding to that call together across Canada." three cheers for the Canadians!

Comment Spam no more?!

To all who visit this blog ... I've been comment spammed until my face is blue. But thanks to my webhosting friend. He put in a simple password process easy enough for humans to still comment - it just takes a little extra effort. I'm sure you don't mind. It saves me a load of time deleting spam in my gmail account as well as blog. :-) Let's declare together - "comment spam no more!"

Random Thoughts after a while

it's been some time since I've "serious" sat down and blogged some thoughts bubbling in me. At this point, it's still adjusting to a two kid family!

Some recent email conversations on a partcular name for a website really made me think about the importance of names for a group who wishes to move together, and of course, the whole process of selecting a name, and how that process stirs up important questions about what we value, our identity and how to move forward. I gained much from these interactions.

It's amazing how my Holy Week evening started last night, not with contemplation but some confusion and cluttered last minute activity. Thankfully, it somehow settled down. And having a chance to listen to another made me "pause".

I wonder why does it always rain (I think most of the time) during Holy Week at least in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Hmmm ...

Finished one article, got another to go for the church easter edition newsletter, and a long awaited one for an overseas publication (which I hope they still bear with my procrastination) .. it's been quite a month. I find it strange that whenever there's opportunities to be productive, there's also "unforeseen" bumps here and there.

This week is a full week with the Stations of the Cross, Maundy Thursday meal, and Good Friday nightly 8pm. And just before Easter Sunday, Emergent Malaysia is having our 1st 2005 open meeting this Saturday 10am. So, everyday something is happening a full 7 days. Actually, even without these meetings something is happening if I were to have eyes to see them. But, it's nice to have something "special" to make life more colorful.

Journey to the Cross 2005

I'm delighted that the children of BLC can have a chance to put up one station this year. Wow! we've been doing this for at least 3 years!! We're using Journey to the Cross by Faith Bosland as a basic guide. But, I could see that lots of creativity went into how the stations were set up. This year we also had previous years "stuff" we could re-use.

For a sneak preview of two other stations check here and here (of course, the excited members pretty much blocked the view!)

You can have a look at what we did last year here (click stations of the cross).

We will start tonight Monday 8-10pm at the Father's House (people can come anytime during this time frame), continue opening the place Tuesday and Wednesday. We take a break on Thursday - and then return for Good Friday Worship Gathering.

My prayer is all who "walk this journey" would find our hearts and lives open to the gentle voice of God.

Elysia's Day Out

This is a picture I took on Saturday and wow! she's already 11 days old.

Today, May Chin "moved out of the box" of common Chinese practice and decided to come for Sunday Worship with Elysia. (In most cases, even for Chinese Christians - mothers after giving birth would stay at home for at least a one month "confinement".)

Personally, I'd like to see these two months more like "nourishment" than "confinement" for May Chin. I think there's value in the rest and adjustment time. But we felt that a strictly "cannot get out of the house" rule is too "legalistic :-)

I was delighted to have Elysia join us for Palm Sunday worship today.

Handling two kids now is indeed a challenge - with Gareth turning three in October and the new born. We're learning day and night how all this can work out. Everyday there are new lessons to ponder and fresh discoveries.

On my personal end, I totally agree with those who've gone before me and gave me sincere words of advice or preparation. This is especially true on the amount of energy that's needed from a one child family to a two child family. I appreciate their wisdom, in fact it does help.

I'm also glad the last Sunday and next Sunday the timing is good for me as I managed to get two guest speakers for the Sunday Worship Gatherings. I'm looking forward for the Holy Week where I find myself able to just "freeze" my time for more personal contemplation. Now with this major adjustment, spirituality really takes on a fresh look with very human needs in front of me daily.

Well, it's already coming to 12 days .. and it's still a long way to go.

An Interview with BRIAN McLAREN

Well .. I suppose we better let him speak for himself. And he does so very well anyway. It's nice of White Horse Inn to give away free this complete interview with Brian. Listen and decide for yourself.

Random Links 26

Communality: an emerging church
It's not really about being hip isn't it? Anyway, this is a pretty good snapshot of a local expression of what "emerging church" means in a particular context. :-)

Deconstructing Hell: Has Our Obsession with Hell Distorted the Gospel?
Spoilers ahead ... but then again. I'll probably still get a hold of the book. This is a very very relevant topic to wrestle with.

Worship, Art. Liturgy, & Preaching in the emerging culture
This is another event I would have loved to go, learn and interact with the speakers as well as participants. Maggi Dawn (She's a plenary speaker .. cool!) , Jason Clark (doing a workshop on preaching!) is going to be there and others like Robert Webber, Sally Morgenthaler and Brian McLaren (plus many others) :-P well it's a little too far away, but then again we might be able to do a Malaysian flavored version here someday. I think we need it.

Blessings

I love this photo, it's going to be a personal favorite.

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace

Every Sunday, one of my favorite moments is the blessing or benediction as the Worship Gathering in a sense ends (to me it's more of transitions us back to our worlds). I find the traditional blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 to be increasingly meaningful and to me its never a ritualistic practice devoid of meaning. To be honest, I truly believe in the one who blesses us. And indeed We're full of gratitute how's our life journey thus far. There have been struggles and it's still there, we have our own share of failures, pains and disappointments. But somehow, the light always pierces the darkness in some way. And we're always surprised again and again how things will turn out.

I know there are other more "contextualized" blessings. One of my favorites is the Old Irish Blessing ... I learnt a song based on it in Germany last year. Of course, it carried much meaning as many of us who gathered at the summer school would find it rare to meet again on this side of heaven. But I think, it's also still relevant for our short "separations" from each other. I think of Seng Joo who will be leaving our BLC community and Malaysia for Australia in a weeks time. I think of Dr. Stan Grenz who's returned to the Lord. I think of every person I meet whether weekly for corporate worship or LiFe Groups, or I think of old friends as well as new ones. Godsons, godaughters, family .... Truly, God hold us in the palm of His hand. And before I sleep, we hear this Irish blessing.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Random Links 25

FROM SCRIPTURE TO DOCTRINE
I met Dr. Vic once in Sabah Theological Seminary for a Christiani Spirituality course. We had some nice personal conversations and I enjoyed his down to earth openness and in depth scholarship.

The Biblical Basis for Women's Service in the Church
Listen to an eight minute excerpt from NT Wright's message. This short intro has includes stuff that's helpful for other areas of dicussion. Worth a quick listen.

What Is Practical Theology? An Interdisciplinary Intermezzo
looks good .. interesting links in there. Will spend some time checking them out. Nice to see how others are working out their learning

A whole new world

well I'm sure it's a whole new world to Elysia after spending months in mummy's tummy. And yet, it's also a "whole new world" for Gareth to a new person in the home. Daily there's new lessons to learn. He's doing better most of the time. BUt it's still adjustments. I found it helpful to talk with him and listen to him. He's got more and more new vocabs as the days pass by. I totally enjoy watching Blues' clues with him this morning. It sparks lots of conversations and we learnt some american sign language together (I've always wanted to learn sign language somehow it moves me). so there is an element of a lot of mutual learning these days.

I wanna go home!

Well after two nights in the Special Care Nursery "under the lights" the doctor said the level is ok. So it's good to have you back home Elysia. Big Bro Gareth and Papa had two wonderful nights of bonding. You look a little different ... and I like your fuzzy hair :-)

Tonight we'll continue our "adjustment" to sleep ... It's always a pleasure to see her sleep ...

welcome home again!

Reading the Bible for the Love of God

I stumbled upon this in Glad Sounds Resource Center where I always pop by since it's 2 minutes walk from my home :-) It's at a special price of RM29.90 so that's a good buy since most books are expensive. But it's a gem ...

As I was flipping through the pages, the following paragraph caught my eyes under the heading "Relativity and Relationship,

"... To say that all knowledge is relative may not be so far from saying that all knowledge is relational... To say that all knowledge is relative is not to say that there are no absolutes, but only to accept that we do not have absolute knowledge of the absolutes. We are not infallible, collectively or individually. In fact, "relativism" is often defined as the belief that all knowledge is relational."

now that's really thought provoking ... but before one dismisses the book as some liberal garbage which it is not, The Discerning Reader calls it "An excellent, balanced book that corrects two extreme views about Bible reading. Refreshingly original, this is a must read."

TheoCenTriC BooKShoP highlights the following about the book,
"It is possible to "believe the facts but miss the meaning" of the Bible. The purpose of the Bible is not to communicate scientific facts or objective history. Its purpose is to communicate the message of God to us in order that we might know God experientially through the Bible. "Words seek to communicate, to relate. God, through his Word, seeks a relationship with us" (p. 41). If the Bible is treated as a therapeutic textbook or science manual, it is being misused. The Bible shows us God's heart by showing us Jesus and calls us to respond with personal loving trust in a personal God who personally speaks a message of good news to us through its pages. Reynolds book is a nice reminder of the importance of viewing Scripture as a means rather than an end - the difference between bibliolatry and knowing God!"

Random Links 24

Beware of D.A. Carson
Though this can be a serious matter, I found it a little humorous. Then maybe it's because I lack sleep.

EPIC centre
For Leonard Sweet Fans!

"Getting to Know Bill Easum"
Interesing .. there's a "sweet" bonus at the end.

Directions for finding God
wow!

Reading the Bible Together: Toward Getting the Questions Right
Quality again from Odyssey .. I'm find it hard to catch up ... hmm.. thinking of some solutions!

Random Links 23

Brian McLaren Remembers Stan Grenz
A deeply moving and meaningful eulogy. I wish I could have met Stanley in person, the personal aspects of this eulogy really touched me. The person behind the words we read is so much more than we could imagine. I guess we'll just have to wait ... we will meet on that day.

Stan Grenz: Tributes and Memorials
Very often during memorial and funeral services it's the tributes and memorials that connect with me and brings me back to what's important in life.

The Futures of Evangelicalism
I like the word "futures", it reminds me of an emo album a younger friend of mine bought sometime ago and his comment that it's not one future but many futures. Hm.... food for tought. (via Prodigal Kiwi)

Quarks + Creation
I read a couple of articles by John Polkinghorne - there's a book hidden in MPH 1 Utama that I might get later. I think "chaos theory" is more than how my members know who to pass the communion little plastic cups to because we don't have any appointed people to collect them (via Doug Pagitt)

"Separated" for a while ...

Elysia is admitted today for jaundice (nothing serious just that the level is a bit high) and mummy is with her now (for breastfeeding and hopefull some rest). Gareth is asleep after I took the above picture. Parenthood is quite a responsibility and we willingly embrace our children from the one who's entrusted them to us. It's amazing how as parents there's a surge of extra energy when we need it.

It was quite a smooth process to put Gareth to sleep tonight. He's pretty tired. We spent some time talking and singing. The contents of the conversation included how come baby sister Elysia and mummy is missing tonight. We sang John 3:16 in Mandarin together. I always find "the kit boys time together" always very special.

Both May Chin & I were hoping that Elysia didn't need to be admitted. But the doctor advised it's best to put her "under the light". It's pretty common nowadays ... and even though we know it's going to be ok and it's part of the process but it doesn't make it "easier".

I managed to do a "talk" today at a music school with a bunch of teachers and staff there. It was interesting and slightly interactive. But, I would have prefered to have my mind fully focused on family matters. I felt I "should have" given myself more "space" in my schedule than agreeing to the talk after Elysia was born (initially I actually declined citing May Chin was due anytime).

Overall, it still turned out well (I was very open to take the talk because it gave me a chance to connect with those who are not Christians or unchurched plus it was kind of a favour for an old friend) ... God is gracious in spite of our fumblings and stumblings. All of us somehow managed ... whether it's Gareth, May Chin or me. We just look forward to have Elysia back home soon. Take care young one ... "The Lord be with you ..."

Stanley J. Grenz 1950-2005

From here

"As some of you have already learned, our brother Stan went home this morning at around 4:00 am. There are hardly words to express the heartache and shock his loss brings. As a community, and as individuals who have been deeply touched by his brilliance and kindness, we will grieve this tragic event, and celebrate the life he lived for many years.

Please keep his wife, Edna, and his children Joel and Corina, and his granddaughter, Anika, in your prayers as the weight of their loss becomes more real in the days ahead."

I've never met him personally. But his books and articles - quite a number of them had a personal impact in me. From what I've read from Jason Clark and read from other blogs his impact goes beyond his writings.

A lot of what he said kind of resonated with the journey I was in especially since 2000 till today ...

Concerns of a Pietist with a Ph.D
The value of both head and heart matters came across strongly for me here. This article excited me even though I'm not a Ph.D. I googled this link while I was searching for stuff for my ordination paper on "Pietism".

"Seven Questions"--An Interview with John O'Keefe of ginkworld.net

Christian Faith in a Postmodern Society
The above two links helped me see his approach in engaging his context ... which served as a model on how I could engage mine in Malaysia specifically and Asia in general.

(Pop) Culture: Playground of the Spirit or Diabolical Device?
He was one of the few who really engaged with the subject of pop culture. I was a youth pastor before I stumbled into what I'm doing now and pop culture was very much part and parcel of what I was trying to understand and even use to connect with the youth I was leading. Of course, what's said here is not just for youth pastors ... it's part of a bigger picture.

Community & Relationships: A Theological Take
I found his emphasis on community and relationships really resonating with where I was heading since leaving seminary.

Random Links 21

Politics and the Christian Faith
So who's left, right, or center? interesting chart.

Michael Polanyi: Towards a Transpropositional Mode of Leadership Development and Spiritual Formation
The first time I heard the name Michael Polanyi was in my theology classes ... this "personal knowledge" idea totally resonates with me. and to see it applied to leadership and spirituality is hmm ... fascinating.

Women in the New Testament: A middle eastern cultural view
The first time I heard Kenneth Bailey's name was related to the Parables - totally insightful... looking forward to check this out.

Bloggers 7 Deadly Sins
It's good to keep ourselves in check.

Global Thoughts from U2s Frontman
Is it true he might be the head of World Bank? hmm.... let's see what he has to say (or sing) (via templa la vida)

The Great Gift of Parenthood

"Children are their parents' guests. They come into the space that has been created for them, stay for a while - fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years - and leave again to create their own space. Although parents speak about "our son" and "our daughter," their children are not their property. In many ways children are strangers. Parents have to come to know them, discover their strengths and their weaknesses, and guide them to maturity, allowing them to make their own decisions.

The greatest gift parents can give their children is their love for each other. Through that love they create an anxiety-free place for their children to grow, encouraging them to develop confidence in themselves and find the freedom to choose their own ways in life."

I guess this picture kind of connects ... with what Nouwen says above ...

Towards a Nonjudgmental life

This is such a challenge these days ... but there's a gentle nudge towrda this direction. I believe it's the Spirit at work.

"One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there.

Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear."

Random Links 20

The Center for the Theology of Childhood
When I first came across this site, I went "wow! lots of hard work and thinking has gone into this..." I'm planning to read the following research papers tonight.

Children & Mature Spirituality
The last few weeks have been good for my own soul just learning to teach BLC children. I suppose mature spirituality is more than just a head load of scripture verses but actually immersing oneself in God's story.

Playful Orthodoxy
can these two words actually be together? I love the title!

*note* - having one's own kids does create a greater urgency. That's just reality. And they say when you have two it's going to be a big difference ... so we need all the help we can get :-) so i guess it's not surprising the last three links have a similar theme. *grin*

Random Links 19

Alpha and The Emerging Church – Oil and Water?
It's not uncommon for me to hear someone rushing to church for an Alpha course after work, or a fellow pastor conducting the course in his church nowadays. I've been to the Malaysian conference last year, and before Todd became Alpha USA president interacted quite a bit for a while.

Take Time to Look at Your Life
Some pretty good questions for personal reflection that I'm also posting on BLC's community blog

Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons
Any thing by Eugene Peterson is a must read. This one especially.

I'm home ...

Her chinese name Kye has the picture of Chinese caligraphy in mind and generally gives the idea of "upright" - Xin simply means "heart".

the meanings surrounding the name "Elysia" = sweetly blissful - completely happy and contented - latin origin - blessed home ...

as far as popularity is concerned :-) According to Think! Baby Names --> The name Elysia was not ranked among 4275 first names for females of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. The name Elysia was not ranked among 88799 surnames for males and females of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. We've never been too worried about the value of being popular *grin* . When was Gareth or Sivin a popular name? hehhehehe ...

Terima Kasih

many thanks to all who managed to pop by the hospital and say hello.

many thanks to all who SMSed us and/or gave us a phone call.

many thanks to all who posted comments on the previous Elysia Kit blog post and also some who actually posted congrats in their own blogs. Great to have old as well as new friends drop a note ...

A Big "Terima Kasih" from all of us - thank you in Malay or more accurately translated literally - "receive our love".

Of course, Gareth now is big bro ... and he's doing pretty well in his "learning curve" to welcome Elysia. That's just the beginning ... :-) a beginning of how we can learn as a family of four to grow in our humanity, ongoing spiritual formation and fulfilling our calling as individuals as well as a family. So, Gareth is not alone in his learning. None of us are.

Elysia Kit Kye Xin

Well, when we said ready? Both of the girls were ready. Get set ... Mummy was all packed up and kind of started feeling the contractions more this morning. We had a great time at the park this morning as a family - all four of us. A good lunch ... in the afternoon. And then off we go to the hospital ...

May Chin has my vote for amazing mum ... ok I'm biased. :-)

And it was just fabulous to see how our daughter became so still and silent once she was at mummy's side hearing her heartbeat, listening to the soothing voice, and welcomed into this world with a sense of security that one is loved.

Indeed you are ... loved. Welcome, Elysia Kit Kye Xin. We love you.

Many thanks to all who showed their love and support through prayer and "cheers" in all sorts of ways. And we give thanks ultimately to the Father, Son and Spirt - who creates, redeems and shapes us.

We all can love because God has first loved us.

Ready? Set ... Go!

My lovely wife May Chin seems pretty cool about it (it's all over her face!) ... my fun loving son Gareth is trying to "comprehend" what's about to happen (as you can see!). We appreciate your prayers and we're looking forward to welcome a new member to the family.

Looks like anything else is going to be put on hold for now.

Random Thoughts Return

I've been posting a lot of random link (with some random thoughts with them) but less "Random Thoughts" post partly because there's so much going on and I haven't really slowed down enough to actually allow the "random thoughts" to even settle.

I enjoyed a chance to facilitate the PJ Parish Pastors Meeting today - only 7 of us turned up (I expected more maybe 12). Basically I took a "minimalist" approach - 2 songs (no song sheets sung from memory)- silence - 1 more song (a simple "hallelujah"), another pastor shared briefly and then I was hoping people could share using a set of questions I provided. I found how everyone shared to be very interesting. What is focused on? or what is said plus what is not said? Non-verbals? reactions? responses? questions? the tone of voice? etc.

We'll be seeing the doctor tomorrow to see how baby no.2 is doing. May Chin seems ready to pop. We need to get ready ... are we ever ready? :-)

The last two weeks have been very full weeks and it really challenges my desire to learn what "Margin" means and how it can be practiced (more later on the book - excellent stuff)

I'm delighted to serve on a Board of Pastoral Accountability for a ministry. It's an honour and privilege. I'm still wondering whether I'm still on another board (because there's not much contact and connection for sometime). For me it's not just having my name listed, it's having a relationship with the people in the minstry and believing in them and God's calling upon their life and ministry. I never imagined this would happen 5 years ago. Then a lot has happened since I "migrated" from my previous position as youth/young adult/worship pastor from my previous church.

Grace .. oh! God's grace is enough for today. It's been a pretty long day. But it's good to have some random thoughts settle down. Hmmm ... it's slowing me down. That's what I need ...

Following Jesus/Shaping the World

Here's the N. T. Wright Expositions from Following Christ 1998, listen, learn and live!

"Jesus and the Kingdom"
(December 30, 1998)

"Jesus and the Cross"
(December 31, 1998)

"Jesus and God"
(January 1, 1999)

"Jesus as the World's True Light"
(January 2, 1999)

Random Links 18

Gospels of Failure
I just couldn't resist the title since what's more popular would probably be the Gospel of Success. (via Jordon Cooper)

New Theology
I reviewed the book before. I recall how the quote in p.65 was liberating. I still think it's one of the better books on "church" I've read for a long time. In fact, one of the best I've read so far.

Friend
I think there's a difference between being a fan or being a friend. Friends give each other space to clarify uncertainties, raise questions, offer corrections, encourage each other ... and of course prayer support.

A Generous Orthodoxy
I'm hoping to get my book back from a friend in a couple of weeks time share more details on where I resonate with McLaren and where I'm puzzled or at least lead to ponder further where I stand. 2 excellenet points in this link about "propositional truth" and "concerns and issues that matter".

A Growing Hunger for Honesty and Authenticity
A snapshot of Emergent in USA? (one point of view)

Movable Theoblogical: Church of the Saviour Archives
Loads of goodies here. Lots to learn.

Radical Newness: The Essence of Being Church

I read the previous Pdf file which I can't recall where I saved it. But Radical Newness: The Essence of Being Church is a must read (via Aaron Klinefelter).

Consider the following insights from Gordon Cosby:
________________________________________________________________

... From the beginning of time, God has longed for change. God's very nature is that which produces newness. Along the way God did a radically new thing and produced us, new persons building with God a new society where love reigns.

... Most of us today are living, to some degree, as addicted persons, striving anxiously after power and money and prestige and relevance, trapped in the turbulence of wanting more. These addictions are so subtle for most of us that we have the illusion of being free people when in actuality we are immersed in society's expectations. We have given ourselves to God, but who decides what we do with our lives? Usually, we do. We are subtle control freaks, truly believing we are turning our lives over to God but demanding a minimum of comforts, whether it be good health or a secure home or caring friends. We are addicted to having more and more comfort, which society says we deserve.

... Think of those initial followers of Jesus. They each made that radical first decision to follow Jesus, which meant also a commitment to a little group of 11 others who hung in there together, struggling to understand what Jesus was sharing with them. It was all so alien to their understanding of life, but something -- the very Being of God in their midst -- kept drawing them. After three years of being constantly together, after watching their beloved friend die in love for them, and after meeting him in his resurrected Being and having the Holy Spirit fall on them, only then did they grasp at a new level what they had said yes to. When we say yes to Christ's invitation and then commit to stay with it within the bonds of intimate, stressful, joyful, growing community, we find ourselves freed by love to become literally the Body of Christ, in service to the world.

... Our lack of rest and stillness is not just a personal affliction; it affects the way we listen for God's voice, the way we are in community, the way we respond to suffering. The creation of the Sabbath shows us that even God cannot be fully who God is intended to be without incorporating rest into the rhythm of the created order.

... When we see the culture as it really is, with its empty, illusory promises of success and power; when we plant ourselves into the common life of a small group of people intent on listening to Jesus and following wherever he leads; when we rest -- pulling away from the important activities of our days in order just to hang out with the One who loves us beyond all measure; when we begin to live this way, we will find our hearts flowering, opening to the needs of the afflicted, the oppressed, the poor.

________________________________________________________________

Ah .. I need to read the whole piece again.

Random Links 17

Adbusters: The big ideas of 2005 - #57 Jan/Feb 2005
The beauty or peril about ideas is that we can have some "space" in our minds to explore them, understand them, refine them, be changed by them, .... and then we choose to do something about it or decide other wise.

TRUTH AND AUTHENTIC HUMANITY
So what does Dr. Carver Yu have to say on this. I recall our coffee time together to be extremely stimulating.

What is expected of a Senior Pastor to replace Brian Mclaren?
I found the references pretty cool ...
Please supply us with six references:
A. Someone you have helped spiritually.
B. Someone who has been a mentor/example to you.
C. Someone who has been critical of you or an antagonist toward your leadership.
D. A peer or colleague.
E. Someone to whom you reported and who had professional oversight for you.
F. A friend or neighbor who does not regularly attend church.

Whats does an emergentYS convention look like?
What if we managed to pull something like this off but with a mix of our own Malaysian sages with friends and wise women/men from overseas together? Nice brochure :-) The learning communities look fantastic and from what I heard/read ... they were.