How does a Chrisan Suffer?

This is just some random thought for your consideration. It has been bugging me lately, the issue of 'it is better to suffer for righteousness, we don't have to speak up'. Although that is a noble thought and it depicts a pious attitude is it somewhat 'biblical'?

I would reply by saying that it is half 'biblical' truth. So you might be saying that i am proposing that we retaliate and have fights? No, not at all.

To me, there is something that is lost in understanding how a Christian should carry himself/herself in public. This has been a dilemma in my culture. Christians are depicted as 'nice' people. Sure, nice is a good depiction in some sense, but it should not be that overall depiction of a Christian. To tell you the truth, its a hoax if we subscribe to this world view of being a Christian.

In the context that i am in (Malaysia-Sarawak-Miri-SIB to be frank) a depiction of suffering as a Christian is at most in the context of eating up everything that comes in our way. Say for example being ripped off of ones rights, the way the Christian reacts is they give in, say nothing and say 'it is better to suffer for righteousness'. This is somewhat pathetic to say the very least.

Suffering is always depicted as non-retaliation. Sure i understand that but the non-retaliation is not the same as speaking up if we have valid things to say, be it harsh in a sense that we don't us swear words. What is wrong with that?

I was reading this in 1 Peter 3:17 'It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.' It says what it says when we read it but what goes up in the mind when a person influenced by my cultural context reads it? This is how the person reads it "It is better, because it is always God's will, to suffer for being nice in a way that we don't say out a single thing because if we do so we are fighting , than for us to do evil".

I don't know if you agree with me on this or not but i find it to be prevalent in my culture (for those who happen to read this and is not from Malaysia-Sarawak-Miri-SIB). I mean we have to really read and understand what the WORD is trying to communicate to us. There are instances when we read in Acts where Paul speaks up. When i say speak up what i mean is, there are times when we have to argue our case. Read Acts. There was an instance where Paul was about to be flogged and he spoke up that he was a Roman citizen and they didn't even give him a chance for trial yet. Please understand that when i say speak up i don't mean you just rant violently and hurl abusive words. I would explain these cases here as instances where it is not God's will for the person to suffer in his body yet. Because in 1 Peter above it says 'if it is God's will'. Following that one does not have to suffer on all occasions. There are some specific occasions when suffering is God's will.

The other thing that we don't really get is in understanding 'good'. To take 1 Peter again 'to suffer for doing good...'. We read it as 'suffer for being nice'. The verse explains that it is better to suffer for doing good- that would mean a course of action that is depicted as good. Lets get some explanation in some of the things that we define as good. Say we help people. That is good. Lets move on further and define help. We help people as in those who are homeless o beggars on the streets. So we might help them in ways like helping them look for work and stuff like that. But say that these beggars are somewhat controlled by some ring leader who uses them to get money. Sort of the thing we watch in the TV. Because of that we are going against something in society. Say for example this ring leader has associations with those in authority like the police or some politician. I don't have to spell the outcome to you. You will get persecuted for doing good. So i would term good here as in actions that is separate from the bad practices. Remember it says 'suffer for doing good' not being good or nice. There is actions involved!

Let me show you again in Acts 19:23ff. There was some sort of ripple in how the gospel was effecting the society in Ephesus. The gospel that Paul was bringing was making those people who made idols loose business. And because of that they were angry with Paul. There was an ugly uproar in the city. So we simply cannot say that Paul was just being good and nice and all of a sudden people hated him. That is so stupid. To get this kind of reaction from people Paul had to do something good.

Well, i can go on and on on this issue but i think my reflection will be too long and people will not read it if it gets too long. Hope that we be Christians that are not mindless people offering their bodies to be persecuted without knowing if it is actually God's will!

THE GODS AREN'T ANGRY

I just have to share this with you guys. This is another brilliant DVD (p.s. its not some sort of movie or concert, it's sort of something of an 'in between', that is something between teaching and preaching), clocking about 1 hour 29 mins. There are amazing stuff in there to say the least but i just dig every second of it.

I liked where he explained that the cultures during OT period (specifically Abraham's culture) had this sort of conception of god. That there is simply no standard to know how much offering that one has to offer to appease the gods.

Say for example a person offers his produce to the gods and in the process he gets like more then what he offered. The person is faced with a dilemma. Does he give the same amount that he gave before? Well that would be some sort of mockery to the gods. You ought to give more in accordance to what had been given. Just to make it rather absurd, the gods keep on blessing the person and his offerings are 'mountaining' up. This might sound and look crazy but there was nothing to measure what amount was there to please the gods.

Another scenario is a drought occurs or someone gets sick or a plague hits a village. So people go to the altar and give some sort of offering. But the bad omens still persists. So people have to still give more and more and more until they have to part with something that is very valuable. That is what culture or people in those days cut themselves, offered their babies, you name it, just to appease the gods. But the thing is no one knew the standard. The mentality was people had to give.

But there was some sort of enlightening taking place. Here was Abraham. His story where God told him to go and sacrifice his son, the son in whom he loved. So taking into consideration that the culture during those days understood this as devotion to a deity, Abraham went along with it, no questions asked. But just as he is about to do that God said don't do it. And he provides a ram for the purpose of sacrifice. There, during that period Abraham got this revelation of God, that this God provides and thus shatters the concept of people bringing their sacrifices to the gods. But for Abraham this God is the one who initiates the sacrifice. Amazing.

There are a lot of other things but all in all this is amazing to say the least!

You cannot ask questions...Period!

There is this sort of complexity hovering especially in my culture. It pains me to think about it because you are accused of being angry, ranting baseless views, creating distentions and a lot of things. The thing about the culture that i am living in is that one simply cannot ask questions.

Hard questions, inquiry questions, wanting answer questions, wanting clarification questions, you name it, there is no room for questioning. Not to mention if you are young. OK, that does not really qualify too much but at some points it applies in some cases like if someone is young and has no status (meaning is not a figure, no major qualifications, no money etc...) then the more it validates the issue of the person is not in the position to ask questions.

Wow. That seem like very primitive culture. I guess Malaysians cannot handle questionings. To us it seems like opposition. That is in the political scene. I won't surge in that direction though.

It also applies to Church, which make sit bad for some reason. Questions are supposed to be a good thing. Something that is valid because one wants answers, just some sort of clarification. At some points some questions are somewhat harsh, but non the less are still questions, minus the curse words.

What is wrong with this kind of attitude? Well for one thing, it creates some sort of oppression. That turns to a feeling that there is some sort of conspiracy happening and taking place. Well sometimes there is that kind of feeling. Another thing that might crop up is the feeling that it is not safe to ask. And that will really create robotic kind of attitude. When this happens this kind of attitude will eventually burst, something like the MATRIX movie, where the truth is finally realized.

Questions are important. They open up the mind for both the one asking and the one answering. It also corrects and creates a better way.

Sometimes a simple question may save a movement.

Words that make my stomach sick

Lately there have been some words that have been getting on my nerves. I love these words actually and constantly use them but lately the words have been somewhat 'abused' and now they don't have the same impact that they used to have on me. Here they are:

1. Vision
2. 'Market-place'
3. New Sanctuary
4. Dynamic
5. Impact
6. Cultural transformation
7. Natives as opposed to Chinese culture

Oh well, it's just that the words have a bad taste to my taste buds already. YUCK! I love them but its just the way some people use them. It just makes me sick!

Questions...

My cousin just passed away yesterday and the whole things just is a shock to everyone in the family. I just couldn't believe my ear when i heard about the news because, i guess because he is family. Today i just feel numb, same as when i got the call. I just feel lost at the moment. Why and how can this happen, it all seems unfair!!! Why God...

Is this the end...? What will courage accomplish

Just to get a head start in news to those who are readers of my blog (maybe a few :) ) i just did something sort of putting my job jeopardy. No, it's not some sort of sin. It has more to do with justice (ouch that word carries a lot of weight).

I don't really know how to explain about the whole issue as of now, but i am waiting for what will happen this week or these few days. I have written a letter and sent it via e-mail to that someone putting my name on the typed letter.

Honestly, i am sort of scared at what is going to happen. But i just can't ;et this thing prolong on and on and on. What will happen to the church and those working in the future. And i do it for justice. This is by far my first take at reforming.

What will happen?

Lets fake it...let God know but wear a mask infront of people

This is the dilemma that we face in church sometimes. How much of our disappointments can they handle. Worst still if you are a leader in that particular church. This is the whole hoax that people feel being a christian is. We call ourselves a community but deny that we can feel like crap and we tell each other to suck it up and just keep quiet about it. I really feel a bit annoyed at this attitude.

Just this once, i tell those in prayer meeting i felt lousy and of all the time i faked it from January until now, what do i get???? "You are not supposed to do that." Wow. That really kills my openness. That literally killed of any desire to open up in the future.

Come on, are leaders always to feel strong, know where they are going, know what to do? Sometimes when we wear the mask too much it really sucks. This generation now want authenticity. They want honesty. The dangerous sense of being community and not a performance Christianity.

So much for opening up. I just feel crappy now. No wonder no one went in to pray for me. I guess God is the one and only one who should lift me up. Honestly i wouldn't do that in the main service, i know better. But this is prayer meeting, with the usual people and they are those people who pray and want to pray for people. But this is some sort of lesson i learnt from church, a church that says to us "Fake it".

It is not that i hate church, but now i just feel church has lost the sense that it or she is a community as well, not just a religious institution that has to fight with organizations and culture to be relevant. I fell the church, any church should get back to the roots of community, of being the people of God that loves each other, that doesn't have to worry if their leader feels crappy. If their leader is down the members should be there to encourage him or her. Not tell them to "suck it up".

This is just an added extension of the post as a help for readers because i get misinterpreted at some points. For readers I am voicing out that we are people and we should be real people with real emotions and feelings. The post is to side with Leaders if you read again you will understand, or if you read slowly you will get it. I mean leaders are humans too and there is room for authenticity just like normal people. Just read the last part that i recently HIGHLIGHTED. Please read with an open mind and listen.

I wish...

CAn anyone get this for me...hehe it will help alot.haha. You would do me a great favor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icE0Jgy7ywc

Narrow perspective...tangled and tied down

Some times i feel like Christianity is all tangled up. I'm a Christian and that is how i feel sometimes (maybe on a bad day?). But the thing is, i feel the Christianity that we often project is sort of like kills life, kills fun, kills freedom, kills almost everything.

I'm just telling you that sometimes i feel the good new, the way we project it is like a set of rules and yet we say that it is freedom. That is sort of funny.

How do we change this? How is Christianity like anyway minus our ramblings about don't do this and don't do that. Or this is how one should dress. As if Christianity and believing in Jesus was all about those things.

I feel we have sucked the life out of something so beautiful. Like sucking the life out of following Jesus.

Come to think of it, there is some sort of beauty in that phrase "following Jesus". It has some sort of excitement and the feeling like something is going to happen and your heart races, and you just want to learn from this person.

We have somehow lost this sense of following Jesus. This sens of tailing behind him and being fascinated by following Jesus. The Christianity that we live now feels like we are one step a head of Jesus because we have already felt like we know what is a head. We loose that sense of learning, expectation of being awed by him and all that.

Follow Jesus. We are always one step behind ...always. But none the less headed in the right direction because we see what he is doing and like wise do what he does.

Growing a plant...or anything

This has constantly been on my mind lately...

The issue of how to make things grow? And of course i'm not at all talking about plants. Although the metaphor does imply the complications (or simplicity) of the matter.

Well i have been thinking about the drastic situation that has been thrown on my lap. Of regrouping what once was a growing youth ministry. Well i dont at all mean that the Youth Ministry was failing, or not growing. No not at all. The youth ministry was called to an abrupt end, too soon from what i think.

But yes, that is the situation, whether i like it or not.

Well the thought about what to do, things about planning, forming a team, programs, activities and all that have been on my mind ever since.

I have had some sleepless nights to name a few. But it is not all that bad. Although i do feel a tad upset about the whole scenario. A little frustration here and there.

What should we do? How do we start? Are there proper methods to follow?

Sure all the answers to these questions will help a great deal but, there are some fundamentals that i think we should think about.

-to build community, some sort of community aura.
-to build a come as you are culture, where one feels accepted and can be authentic.
-a place where there is an openness to hard questions
-a place where we learn about faith-Jesus-the bible
-a place we can call our own.

I may be right or these are just some things that i want my mind to absorb at the moment. In a nutshell, i just want the youth ministry to be church, to be a community.

Everything is Spiritual!

Just got this fab DVD titled "Everything is spiritual". It's sort of like a talk...something like that. And no, it's not a movie. It's a guy talking about an hour plus. The name of the speaker is Rob Bell... a pastor (does his name ring a 'bell'?). I should tell you that it is cool and makes you think (please consider thinking and reflecting as something that we Malaysians have to do more, not to mention READING!).

So anyway about the talk...or teaching (in a hip new way)...

He goes on to explain the beginning...(Genesis for that matter), the part where God created. Tell you about some interesting things that we can (or will always miss when we get too familiar with the passage). The information that he fires at you just makes you want to grab a bible and start your own research (either it makes you curious and want to learn more or suspicious on whether there is any credibility in what this guy is saying).

Then he goes on to talk about science, galaxies and physics...to name a few. So much information that it make you wonder (in a good way), wonder about the bigness of God's creation and it truly is baffeling to say the least!

And he goes on to explaina a lot of things and...well i dont want to spoil you on this. You just have to watch it...or better still buy the DVD and experience the surge of knowledge.

Well the point of his talk resounds around the title of the talk- "Evereything is Spiritual". And at the end it does sound pretty convinsing! Get ready for a surge of light bulbs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzR_zKvAik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y133Pc5Wlvw

The gospel of Luke

I want to try out something...

Our young adult cell is doing a book study at the moment focusing on the Gospel of Luke. We are on Chapter 4 at the present moment!

Doing book studies are different. Delving into the text, digging up the historical background and looking at the social context of the book. It just widens the horizon. Let me assure you that you might come out a changed person after studying through.

Reading through it again opens so many things again. I would imagine going through every book in the bible and really studying through them one by one, thoroughly! By thoroughly i mean taking some considerable time on each book. Whoa!

Well, i am planning to do some posts on this, just to help my mind thinking through the book.

How we Transform our Church Culture

(this was a sermon i preached a few Sunday's ago. I'm not completely satisfied but hey, we are supposed to improve from time to time. This was not what i said word for word from the pulpit but this is somewhat a summary. )

Introduction

There are disturbing similarities of the cinema/Cineplex and the church. I remember while watching the movie, everyone in the Cineplex was engaged with the giant screen up in front. Engaged in a sense, when there was a joke people would laugh kind of thing. The crowd was also engaged when there were glitches when the movie was played. Everyone seemed to be engaged for as long as the movie played. And when it was finished everyone rushed back for the fact that we were strangers. We were engaged at one point but were back to normal after that. I feel like it is church all over again. Sometimes I think that kind of thing is not what the church is supposed to be; just a service, just some place we go to on a Sunday morning, just a religious experience.
And that is a way of life that the church in modern times acts. I call this culture. Culture is in a nutshell- a way of life. The church has adopted the cinema’s way of life, that we are mere strangers seeking for the same thing: God. The church has, because of this, lost a very vital thing in the process.
Now a while back pastor talked about transitioning a church culture .It is something that we as a church are somehow working towards. Because we often get preoccupied with the big stuff, all too often, we get lost in the maze of actually doing things that reflect the transition. Today I will talk about how we how we start to change the culture; being cultural creators.
But before we can be people who create culture- what we do in transitioning a church culture we have some sort of model to follow. In this case we look to the one who change a culture- Jesus in the gospels.

The core of Jesus’ vision (what motivated him to change the culture around him)

If we want to know what brought about Jesus’ strong conviction of his mission (how he changed the culture), in reforming Israel (calling them to repentance and follow him), we have to somehow grasp the core of what spurred Jesus to action.
I know we don’t have any particular creed that we ascribe to. ‘Creed’ actually means belief or a set of beliefs. Israel had a creed. It was called the ‘shema’- meaning ‘hear’ (found in Dt 6:4-9) This was a creed that pious Jews repeated twice daily. Some added Dt 11:13-21 & Num 15:37-41. In fact this was the first prayer that young Jewish children were taught to recite and Jesus was no exception to that. There was one rabbi who said that anyone who does not recite this creed twice daily was considered to be those careless people of the land. So for the Jew the ‘shema’ or ‘creed’ was very an important aspect of Jewish life. It was the thing that formed their life through and through.
We might be asking “What is Jesus’ take on this ‘shema’ thing?” Well let’s see by looking at Mark 12:28-33 where Jesus was confronted with a question regarding his understanding on what is the most ultimate commandment of all.
Here we find the ‘shema’ but Jesus adds to the ’shema’. The thing that Jesus added was not something people put to be remembered or recited. According to Jesus there was another thing important when people are devoted to God, which is to love others as well. Jesus’ revision of the ‘shema’ he put loving God and loving people as priority.
This was the creed that Jesus lived by and the core that brought out to change the culture around him.

The story of Jesus and his take on cultural transformation in the form of a fellowship meal

Let us reflect on one of the aspects in Jesus messing around with the present culture of his day. That reflection takes us to a scenario of dining, which is table fellowship.

Background of table fellowship

Among the religious elite during those days, food laws were a central symbol to the Jews.It was in table fellowship that lay, for Jews of those days, a certain vision of Israel. Now it was not enough for the food to be kosher (holy and acceptable) but the fellowship has to be with the right people as well. If you ate with the wrong kind of people, although the food that you ate was kosher (holy) you have defiled yourself, rendering everything unholy. For the Pharisees the “table became a wall between the observant and nonobservant”. It was a vision of “social respectability, religious uprightness, proper covenant behavior, loyalty to the traditions and hence to the aspirations of Israel”. This talks about identity. Basically we can say that the table and fellowship gave meanings of identity. Who was in and who was out.
We can say then that for the Pharisees purity was to mix among themselves and them alone. If others wanted to join them they had to abide by the same rules, otherwise your identity would always be those who we not Israel. This was one of the boundary markers- the table fellowship. To the Jews of the day to the table was a place where you had to be pure to participate in.

Jesus the radical (rascal for the Pharisees and other opposing parties)

Jesus actually posed very negative response from these pious Jews, religious leaders and the likes. What made Jesus a rascal was that he did not mind the company that came to sit and dine with him. This was the problem. (Mt 11:16- 11:19; Mk 2:14 -Mk 2:17)
Here was Jesus, shaped by his belief- Love God, love others, was changing the rules of cultural and social acceptability, thus changing the vision of Israel that the Pharisees had.
Theirs was you had to be pure; Jesus’ was there is purity for those who come and accept.
Theirs looked at your social standing; Jesus’ was one that said everyone was welcomed. Theirs was just to maintain tradition, Jesus’ was that of mission and agenda- there was a purpose. Theirs were mechanical; Jesus’ table fellowship gave life.
I guess when we look at Jesus’ table there was an air of acceptance, of hope, of healing, of joy, of expectation. Jesus didn’t seem to mind the kind of people he was dining with. To him it was not an issue. His issue was to seek and save the lost, to heal the sinner-thus transforming them to follow in his mission. Just check out this story: Lk 19:1 - Lk 19:10
The meal now for Jesus instilled a different meaning altogether. A new kind of Israel. It became a table that heals because those who come to it have the chance to be pure, where sinners found grace and change; a table that envisions because Jesus showed them what Israel was supposed to be as a nation- a boundary breaker and grace giver, thus transforming the person; a table that hopes because it gives a kind of foretaste of what Jesus kingdom will be like for those who follow him. This was one aspect of how Jesus’ life transformed culture around him.

Lessons for us

The lesson for us is simple. Bringing about change to an age old structure spells difficulty. Because of this we will often succumb to the grandness of transforming a church culture. But as we find in Jesus, his vision of transforming the stiff and legalized culture of Israel started in the form of a creed. Thus for us to change the bigger picture we must remember that it stars with us first- in us. And as we slowly believe it and act it out, it will eventually affect everything. To affect big things we have to start small- transforming our church culture starts with us, all of us- Love God, love neighbor.

Will I sink, swim or stay on the brink...and other thoughts parading my mind!

It's hard to figure out at this time whether what i feel is excitement or just fear. It's all mixed up. At the moment I will be handed the responsibility to lead some youths under the moniker 'Youth Pastor'! OMG!

Fro the past few days or so i've been down with a very bad fever and then news that this was brooding up made me have some sleepless nights already. We i just had to ask God, "is this you giving me all the pressure?" Well obviously it's not God so that's why i could get some sleep. I mean would God torture me with those thoughts!

But really I really am scratching my head and thinking what to do. This is sort of like a crisis situation and well I need you to pray with me.

Three Days Grace

It has been a while when i hear a band and sort of resonated with the vibe, lyrics and heavy guitar. Let me introduce you to Three Days Grace. I like the lyrics because they speak about honest reflections of life. It can cause you to think if you use your mind.



For all those seeking 'love' listen and maybe you can see yourself in the song. See if it mirrors you. I resonated because i used to be in those shoes before. Duh!!!