Sivin Kit’s Garden

We’ll probably be stopping in one of the Auto Bahn (motorway) resting places like the one where I took the picture above on Monday. Need to make sure all toilet business is settled before one goes because it’s minimum 50cents Euro per entry phew!

Begining to feel and think about more and more of the “situation” I’ll be returning to in Malaysia. The ministries lined up, relationships to get “reconnected”, new developments too … it’s kind of a strange feeling … on one hand, really want to go home, on the other a little fearful and unsure of what to expect (even though getting some hints here and there).

We talked about a re-entering home country “culture shock” for long term missionaries overseas during one of our sessions in the first week. Hmmm … any “mini-culture shockss” on the way? Dr. Philip’s tip on “Learning by Puzzlement” is going to come in handy here.
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I’ll probably be unable to get online (at least for free) the next few days. Much of me wants to go home but the final installatio of our programme begins tomorrow morning with our visit to the important Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the Bible into German. Then we’ll go to Erfurt and stay at the Augusinerkloster.

Then on Thursday, we’ll be off to Erfurt Cathedral and later pay a visit to the Augustinian Monastry where Luther became a Monk. Later after lunch there’ll be a special visit to the concentration camp of Buchenwald where we’ll get some better understanding of this world war two tragedy.

On Friday, it’ll be where Luther lived and died in Eisleben and we’ll finish by reaching the Leipzig Mission House before leaving for Wittenburg the next day.

The whole saturday will be in Wittenburg where Luther served as the professor of theology and where much of his adventures began and happened. Then sunday it will be interesting because we plan to attend Sunday service at the church where Bach served as a musician. And before going back to our “home” in Neuendettelsau, we’ll have the chance to visit the former border between East and West germany in Modlareuth.

More thoughts and proper links once I return.

This is the cross and backgound at the chapel on the highest floor at the Evangelical Church in Bavaria (ELCB) Headquarters in Munich.

I was really reflecting on my visit to a local congregation condition the last couple of days. It was good also to have some time to just talk to Dr. Philip Hauenstein about this during our journey to Munich. This kind of conversations is so crucial for clarification and sharpening one’s opinions.

One key insight I’m juggling with right now is that it’s most definately basic that the discipleship base or core of a local church is a must, and yet the most strategic person to engage with is actually the pastor or key leader (depending on context). It’s got to work in parallel …

So often, people in the pew have a desire to move with God’s agenda but are stuck somehow. And in other cases, pastors are drawn to advance but feel held back. When both are “open” to the Spirit, and also one another while having a good dose of humility and clear thinking, all this with a sense of history and forward looking-ness, WOW … we can have confidence once again for a better tomorrow.
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when I heard my mainland China friends’ son speak to his father as he was using his webcam, it really made me miss home … and miss the voices of those whom I love and treasure.

I’ll probably be more “disconnected” from Wednesday onward as we’ll be off to the Luther sites and I’m not sure about internet access (which has helped us to be a little bit more in touch.)

I really do hope and will plan to take May Chin and Gareth either for a local trip (more affortable) or an overseas trip (if possible) when I return. The time here so far has been good but it would have been even greater if we could have experienced many of the moments together (of course the official stuff like Summer School probably is more for me personally)

Judith (wife of he German theological consultant) bought this heart shaped “biscuit” for me (or more for May Chin) and Wolgang explained that it means “For my little sparrow”. And it’s great right now that I finally “caught” May Chin on Yahoo Messenger and we can chat a little … looking forward to fly around with her bringing Gareth along for not only adventures in terms of traveling but more so with life in all it’s fulness!

It’s been sometime since Todd Hunter has been sharing his insights through blogging I’m quite curious to see what’s coming up at http://www.toddhunter.org/

God is a God of surprises (I love this phrase and believe it!)… Since Friday until today it’s been non-stop suprises. One of them is the chance to participate in an ecumenical Roman Catholic and Lutheran Open Air Sunday Service in the heart of town during their summer fest (the timing was just right for our visit!).
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Thanks Prodigal Kiwi for these three helpful questions and a quote from Rowan Williams.

After these two weeks of intensive “reflecting” and “learning”, I realize more and more that people like tend to want “answers” quickly (usually from others) when the formulation of “good” questions actually helps us to discover the answers better for our own context, so here goes:
___________________________

(a)What course of action more fully seems to resonate with the kind of life Christ lived and lives?

(c)What opens rather than closes doors for God’s healing, forgiving, reconciling, and creating work to go on?

“There is no guarantee that in any situation there will be only one clear and compelling answer. In the process of asking these questions, in the very process of reflecting and discerning we are making space in ourselves for the life of Christ and the creative movement of God…”

______________________

In the evening it was a different kind of joy! first, it was a special service organized by FFB Lutheran Church just because we were around. I was quite impressed and suprised to listen to a “German Gospel Choir” - “Sing and Pray”. And I don’t think that is common at least from my limited experience with the Lutheran Church in Bavaria! They sang quite a number of songs throughout the service and involved the congregation in two .
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It looks tempting doesn’t it, especially for a Butcher’s descendant (me!). But in reality .. we shared this amongst 5 of us. Marcus and Karen our hosts from Fürstenfeldbruck . I agree with Marcus on his observation about all the people around us including ourselves. Everyone was happy, chatting loudly, some even howling with laughter .. all this at the Andechs Monastry of the Benedictine order famous for “Ora Et Labora” (i.e. work is prayer, prayer is work). I guess when we really “pray and work” the whole as aspect of “play” gets included as well …
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David Hu from Taiwan who sat next to me took this picture with his mini-webcam. It’s always funny and ticklish when he sings with “falsetto” on and off. I was giving a toast - “Yam Sing” (in Cantonese) with my coffee!

It’s nice that the pace of the summer school has slowed down especially for the working groups and lectures part. And I’m looking forward to the “Life abundantly - a Lutheran approach” lecture and with that I think I’ll be able to step in and out of all the topics we’ve covered so far and come to some conclusions and directions I’d like to take.
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