Category: Personal Thoughts

Communion 6-11-11


A couple of months ago, a new monument was opened in Washington DC . It was the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. The sculpture you see is in the memorial centre, and it is the work of a Chinese artist, who comes from Changsha in Hunan – the same town Mao Zedong spent his early days in. Martin Luther King Jr, as most of us know, was a church minister who was better known as a civil rights leader. Other than his “I have a dream” speech, another speech I like is about how people should seek to unite as much as possible, to always seek common ground. An extract of this speech reads like this:

… all life is interrelated, … somehow we’re caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

I have no doubt Dr King’s aspiration for people to work together, was borne out of his knowledge of our God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit as members of our triune God, are in a relationship where each member shares a common purpose with the other two. We are created in the image of God so we too, are to have a relational character which we exercise by sharing a common purpose. We are here every Sunday, to build each other up. Our lives are inter-related and we share mutuality and a common destiny. When one hurts all ought to hurt. When one rejoices, all ought rejoice.  When you are blessed, I am blessed.

Sometimes we hear the saying, “it doesn’t matter what everyone else in church does – we are here to worship God”. That may be true but only in part, and quite often a partial truth can be the worst kind of deception. We do not worship God in isolation. We are in a community of faith – we are one body. What one does or does not do, affects everyone else. We watch out for each other, we come here for each other.  Our plans and activities are always about the wider community of faith, not about us as individuals or even families or groups of individuals. When someone is not here, everyone else should be affected. If we aren’t affected by each other’s absence or pain, I guess we haven’t quite become one body yet. It isn’t just about whether something is good for my personal wellbeing and development or my family relations it is also about whether it is good for the community of faith and whether my plans and activities would benefit this community.

Thus we are not called to remember the holy sacrament just so each of us can individually remember the Lord’s death for us. Often in a communion exhortation, we read 1 Corinthians 11:24 & 25 to remember that it was the Lord’s command for us to commemorate His death that we eat the bread and the cup. The context of this passage however, is one where Paul chastised the believers in Corinth because each person was doing his own thing. It is the body of Christ which is in focus, and we are asked not just to do things which benefit our own walk with the Lord, but also to build each other up.

So this morning as we hold the bread and drink from the cup, can I encourage all of us to consider this fellowship of believers, as one body to whom we are accountable. As a body then let us each the bread together in remembering the death and suffering of our Lord Jesus. (pause). Let us now also drink from the cup together, as a body in common. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, when your Son was on earth, He prayed that all who believed in Him may be one, just as You and Your Son were one. Help us this morning as One Body, to come before You as Our Lord and God. Teach us to love and build each other up. Teach us to think as one, beyond just as individuals or even groups of individuals. Help us to be like you God, and be one. Amen.

Related articles

Cricket’s Abyss


Peter Roebuck is dead? What would a cricket season be like without this venerable source of entertaining commentary? I’d listen to him on ABC every summer and read his columns in the Sydney Morning Herald – and I think I’ve been doing that for maybe 20+ years. In a way, maybe because I read SMH and heard ABC radio commentaries more than followed TV ones, he was an even more omnipresent character than Richie Benaud.

I thought cricket had plumbed the depths after the debacle of Michael Clarke‘s team in the first test in South Africa. Roebuck’s passing feels like cricket would be in an abyss and I have a feeling this summer will be an indeterminably long one.

I was just reading his latest column and he had said a lot can happen in a week. I wonder if he knew just how ominous that sentence could have also sounded.

Rest in peace, Peter Roebuck.

Related articles

Course of Your Life, a fantastic Alpha Course alternative


The Alpha Course is sometimes said to be helpful not just to someone new to Christianity, but also to one who has been a Christian but hasn’t quite gone through the basics of what Christianity entails.

Several months ago, before my local church started another series of Alpha Course, I picked up a copy of an Alpha course publication which has the contents of the course. I thought I needed to be familiar with the contents. It appears to have the basic points but somehow shies away from a narrative of why man needs God and will be condemned (according to the Bible, not me or the church) unless he believes and accepts what Jesus has done on the cross. In this sense, the Alpha Course appears to be a useful introductory material for someone who is searching, but probably short in terms of completing the message. Some form of follow through is essential and this is from the perspective of someone new to Christianity.

For someone who is already a Christian, why does this introductory level material appeal and what learning does this person derive from this course? It would seem the whole event – the meals, camaraderie, spending a weekend away, the open forum for people to speak their minds – is the appeal, not the content proper. In other words, a Christian who finds Alpha beneficial lacked fellowship, more than teaching. It wasnt teaching that attracted, most probably, but the forum for fellowship and interaction generally.

I’m not sure therefore if Alpha should be the vehicle to bring the church together in that sense.

From this perspective, a more substantial and therefore beneficial tool appears to be the “Course of Your Life“, written by Tony Payne of Matthias Media.

Yes, I am very partial to content produced by this mob and I have relied heavily on CD‘s and books from them for my learning, in particular those by Phillip Jensen.

All this should however, be secondary to the consideration of the content and logic of this course. Course of Your Life appears to have all the basic substantive stuff in a narrative which completes the core message of the gospel of God’s plan for salvation – something Alpha Course skirted around at best. It appears also to have the rigours of basic biblical exegesis and a logic to the content organisation and flow which extracts core points to plot what God’s plans for HIs creation (and us) entails. It appears a lot less lazy, and cuts through the soft core approach of alternatives like Alpha. It appears to be well written in an attractive manner, without sacrificing any elements of the message of the bible.

Also, I like the fact that for the equivalent of the weekend away for Alpha, it suggests ways which pre-empts the need to get away on a Sunday. It doesn’t take a believer out of the fellowship of other believers by taking them away in order to find God (or more accurately, the Holy Spirit). It encourages believers to spend time with God’s family, not take them out of such fellowship and time.

In this regard, I have come to view programs and courses which take participants away on a Sunday, with dismay and disappointment. In particular, course, seminars, conferences and programs which take leaders away from their congregations on Sundays. Somehow organisers who think it is acceptable for ministers and leaders to be away from their wards on the ground of personal learning and development, dont rank highly in my esteem. COYL recommends a Fri/Sat get away or even 2 consecutive Saturdays – not a Sunday get away. This ranks highly for me. It shows the writers value the time spent on Sundays between Christians and only exceptional circumstances should take this blessing away.

I am certainly going to look at COYL a lot closer, and see if a group may be interested. At the moment, kudos to Tony Payne and Matthias Media for coming up with another useful tool to make disciples.

Related articles

11-11-11


Tomorrow’s a unique day – 11/11/11. Every year however, I remember 11/11 for another reason – it is the wedding anniversary of an uncle and his wife. I wrote this a few years ago, think I’ll just re-post this:

 

 

Happy Anniversary, 6 Chek and 6 Chim

11 Friday Nov 2005

 

[Edit]

 

My late grandfather (Chye Heng) had 8 children – 2 girls and 6 boys. The eldest was a girl, Swee Lian. Her husband (Teck Jin) was the Uncle I blogged about a couple of months ago (I think) – the one who fell ill. My father was the second child and the first son.

Stephen (Hui Been) was the fourth son and the sixth child. He is the uncle I am closest to. He has a wonderful parental instinct which never seemed to have abated over time.

My father was a trader who had to travel all over Malaysia. In our younger days, when he travelled and my mother followed him, my brother and I would stay over at our grandfather’s house. We grew up in that house. It was in the middle of a rubber estate in the village of Kampung Jawa, about 6-7 miles from Klang. We moved out from that house when we were maybe 5 or 6 years old, to a rented house in Jalan Melawis. We returned to the house however, during my parents’ occasional forays inter-state.

Stephen was the Uncle who took care of us the most whenever we stayed over in that big house. I will try to recollect the ins and outs of that house.

There’s a dirt road that runs for about maybe 100 feet before you come to a tall wiry gate. Past that gate, I see a garden which fronts the house. There’s an unforgettable guava tree at a corner on the left, at the junction between the dirt road and the short driveway to the front porch of the house. Usually there are a few dogs sleeping on the front porch. They get up only when there’s someone cycling or walking on that dirt road.

A large dark-wood front door on the right of the porch takes you into the house. To the left is room used as an office, first by my grandfather and years later, by my father. To the right is a lounge area. Just outside the office is a very old piano, which I played on my own when I am there and have nothing to do. A large dining table is just behind the lounge set. This is a special dining table.

Every Saturday night, my grandfather sat everyone down around that table and convened family worship together. It was the family altar. It was at that table we learned to sing old hymns “Amoy” style – hymns sang in Hokkien using romanised lyrics. Then 1-2 chapters of the Bible would be read out, with each taking a verse around the table. Then grandfather would expound on that text. He had several pages of handwritten notes to refer to from time to time. We then ended with a prayer and supper after that. I think that table was the site many seeds were sown in our hearts. If I tool a quick survey with all the grandchildren, I think many would agree that table could easily be the bedrock of sorts for our spiritual growth!

There’s a wall next to the table, behind which were two toilets and a bathroom. That bathroom had a mini pool which starts from just outside the bathroom and continues into it. Occasionally one of us would do a mini scuba dive in and out of the bathroom through that pool. Just outside that bathroom was a wash basin with a mirror over it. There was a shelf at the bottom of the mirror. Often there would be a bottle of white tablets on that shelf. It was a face powder – I think it is what was called the “bedak sejuk”. One takes a few tables in the palm of one’s hands, wet them and spread the resulting paste on one’s face as a cream. It had a cooling effect.

Directly across the toilets and bathroom was another sort of open area, with a couple of chairs and tables and a long row of cardboard lining the wall to the left, which was the bottom of the staircase. Behind this open areas was the meals area. To the right and back of the other dining table was a door just next to the “pool”, which opens outside. I remember the times when 1 or more of the dogs would wander in to the dining table and grandfather would throw a or more slices of bread (buttered!) for them.

Further behind the tables were two bedrooms. I think Keat Bin, Thomas and Tibby occupied these rooms. Keat was actually Tiat Been, I think. He was older than Stephen. Thomas was Kok Meng and was the second last child. Tibby was Ing Been (“Tibby” came from his initials, “TIB”) and was the last child. He has successfully warded off marriage even till today. I think this is one of grandmother’s remaining concerns …

Keat, Tom and Tib were all educated overseas. Keat and Tom went to the Western Australia Institute of Technology (“WAIT”) and did Engineering and Accountancy respectively. Tib went to the US and I think attended Tennessee Tech and University of Mississippi.

Keat unfortunately had a serious motor accident and remains affected by it. He lives with grandmother now. Tom migrated to Sydney about 20 years ago and now lives there with wife Pauline and daughters Melissa and Sarah. Tib was living with grandmother and Keat in Klang, but has been in Beijing for work for a couple of years now.

Grandfather took care of the children of his elder and younger brothers and treated them as his own. Consequently, we called his brothers’ children as though they were grandfather’s own children. Wei Sheng for example was my grandfather’s elder brother’s son. We called him “Ah Pek”, as though he was my father’s elder brother. Tian Chiok (George) and Tian Hoe (Joseph) were Ah Pek’s 2 children and they have always been first cousins to us. Ah Pek’s father had died early and grandfather brought up Ah Pek as his own son. Ai Meng was grandfather’s second son but became our “3 chek”. “4-chek” (Hoe Peng) was my grandfather’s younger brother. Keat was “5-chek”, Stephen was “6 chek”. Hoe Peng’s younger brother, Chong Peng (Henry) was “7-chek”, Tom was “8 Chek” and Tib was “Beh Chek”). Get it? Phew…

Swee Har was the second daughter and has the same infectious guffaw of a laughter as my grandmother. She has the prettiest face of all grandfather’s children (including “adopted” ones). She and hubby Shu were living in Melbourne for a few years. They are now back in Ipoh but their son David remains here. He was married end of last year. He and Charmaine now live in Hawthorn East.

Actually I started this entry to talk about Stephen. Today is his wedding anniversary. He and 6 chim (Paddy) were married on this day I think in 1979. Their eldest daughter, Ruth is now a medical intern in Canberra and I remember her as a quiet but determined kid, when my mother baby sat her all those years ago in Klang. Joy is their second child and now works in a publishing company (I think) in Singapore. Their youngest is a boy (Caleb) who is sitting for his HSC in Sydney right now. Stephen and Paddy moved to Sydney almost ten years ago and remain there now.

Stephen – used bedak sejuk on us, made us take long afternoon naps in the big house in Kampong Jawa, introduced us (also in that big house) to Kraft cheddar cheese and tomato juice, made us do our homework and challenged us to do better in our school work. All this when he was maybe I don’t know, 20 years old? He was advisor to the church youth group we grew up with and was therefore a spiritual leader to us as well. He worked with a level of energy quite unlike the other uncles I know, and was always determined and positive. He introduced me to my first job in an electrical trading company in Klang (a client of his when he was working in the United Asian Bank, the forerunner of the Bank of Commerce and now known as BCB in Malaysia), after I finished my SPM, while waiting for my results. He helped my father while with the bank by providing overdraft facilities.

Recently he travelled to Klang from Sydney to spend time with grandmother and celebrate her 86th birthday. He then wrote an essay setting out in pretty much her own words, her recollection of her childhood. As I read that account, I could almost hear her saying those things herself.

Stephen was a great example. I must blog properly about him one day. For now though, that has to do. Happy Anniversary, 6 Chek & 6 Chim.

Related articles

pIGs


Silvio’s peccadilloes? No one’s laughing or simply annoyed anymore. Italy‘s sovereign risk issues have triggered a Wall Street bloodbath overnight. Another plunge – this time just over 3% n the Dow and nearly 4 on the Nasdaq – means things continue to look really gloomy, even worse than the storms in Melbourne overnight. I wonder if Europe PIGS scenario can get any worse. I’m really glad I didn’t take the London option back in 2004. What will become of the economic scene, I wonder…

Related articles

Smoking Joe Dies


Joe Frazier – the other half of the Thriller in Manila, has died. Thanks for the memories, Smoking Joe…

Stupid is as BN-UMNO Does


I confess to not having kept up with Malaysian news for a long time now. I thought I should have a peek, seeing my current subscription to Malaysiakini still has a few months to run. I’m contemplating using the money to subscribe to something like the Sydney Institute instead, so it was refreshing to read in Malaysiakini, that more and more people are standing up to the idiotic mob pretending to be the government of Malaysia.

Khaled Nordin is apparently the Malaysian Education Minister. An academic has basically just called him stupid. Maybe it’d take a while before Khaled realises that. Abdul Aziz Bari is the academic and good on him for saying what so many have known for so long – that ministers in the BN-UMNO led sorry bunch that makes up the government, are there only for 1 or 2 reasons. There’re Ministers either because they’re Malays or they know the right Malays, or very likely both. No grey matter or industry required.

But enough of space given to an age old issue which hasn’t changed in over 30 years – Najib Razak and his bunch of intellectually challenged mob are just living up to expectations.

See offending story here:

Aziz Bari slams minister over quit call
S Pathmawathy
12:55PM Nov 7, 2011

Pointing out the law and the constitution to members of the public is not politicking, says law professor Abdul Aziz Bari, lashing out at criticism that he should quit the academia and become a politician.

“I was just talking about the law and the constitution, which is somehow difficult to be disentangled from politics.

“Furthermore, I was talking to the ordinary people, not to an academic audience. I believe they have every right to know about the constitution and how to make it able to deliver,” the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) lecturer added.

Aziz was responding to the call by Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin that Aziz resigns as an academician if he insisted on “taking part in politics”.

Khaled’s statement, widely reported by the Malay language newspapers, came after Aziz took part in ceramah organised by the opposition PKR in the minister’s Pasir Gudang parliamentary constituency over the weekend.

Aziz said Khaled’s comments were in stark contrast to the position taken by Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who constantly encourages tertiary students to be involved in politics, in spite of laws that prohibit them from doing so.

“For one thing, his deputy, Saifuddin, has been saying that it is fine for students to take part in politics. I think academicians have an even greater right, or perhaps duties, to be in politics,” Aziz said.

Noting the Court of Appeal’s declaration last Monday that Section 15 of the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA) was unconstitutional, he added: “He (Khaled) also should be aware that university regulations are not laws, strictly speaking.

“As such, these are subject to the laws of the land, particularly to the constitution as the supreme law of the land.

‘Treat academicians as public intellectuals’

“If that (the talk) is seen as politics, then perhaps we should throw away the constitution and make this country a one-party or an authoritarian one.”

The Court of Appeal in a 2-1 landmark decision declared Section 15(5) (a) of the UUCA, which bars university students from being involved in politics, unconstitutional and as such, null and void.

Article 4 of the constitution states that the constitution is the supreme law of the federation and any law passed after Merdeka Day that is inconsistent with the constitution shall, to the extent of inconsistency, be void.

Rebuking Khaled (right) for his criticism, Aziz said if he had given the speech on an Umno platform, there would not be a problem.

The minister, he added, should explain the government’s stand on cases where academicians have been involved in party politics.

“Some academicians went around – as part of their lobbying for senior posts in the universities – saying publicly that (Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim was guilty of sodomy. This is obviously a crime as the case is still on going in court. It is subjudice.

“What about those senior professors who took part in preparing the draft of the Umno president’s keynote address?

“What about those academicians and professors who have been regular speakers in Biro Tata Negara programmes or Islam Hadhari workshops (this is obviously political, as it is the policy of Umno),” Aziz asked.

Khaled, he added, should be mindful that universities “are not factories or nurseries” and that academicians should be treated as “public intellectuals”.

Related articles

Conrad Murray’s Mahathir Defence


“It was self-inflicted”. Conrad Murray‘s defense came down to a Mahathir-styled joke. Both mad doctors. If the jury fails to convict the doctor for killing Michael Jackson, it’s much more of a la-la land than you’d ever know.

That was the story I caught on the little monitor on the cross-training machine in the gym this morning. It’s good to be back in the gym, after over a week’s break. The niggling purine driven inflammation (yes, gout) was at it all week and it made for a miserable one.

So yesterday arvo I dragged out the juice machine and did some vege stuff, hoping to do something good to this deteriorating body. Partly driven by guilt as a result of feasting on a masala dosa in a new Indian restaurant just a couple of minutes from home, the juice was actually very good. Celery, granny smith and carrots. The juicer will remain on the benchtop for a few weeks yet, I think.

Sort of what’s needed to keep the doctors away. If you know what I mean.

Related articles

Bali Boy Family Cash Grab – What’s Wrong With That?


Family of Bali boy in quick cash grab – headlines to that effect in an online news portal seem to suggest it was a reprehensible act. Somehow, the opportunistic conduct of the family of the teenager arrested for buying drugs in Bali, was thought to be something many would tut-tut about.

It looks like no matter how much the society worships money, it still frowns on conduct which is self serving and opportunistic, especially when the community has backed the family up in providing moral support to the teenager and his family.

I must confess to being apprehensive about this family’s values and conduct. I have been guilty of thinking the parents must have in one way or another been involved in drugs themselves and that the conduct of the 14 year old probably reflects what has been going on in that household. That’s a prejudice one easily slips into, much as I dont want to find any excuse for my thoughts. I’m sure I’m not alone and many would try to rally to this young person’s cause and try and have this boy come home soon, to be spared of the emotional and mental trauma that he must have been going through.

So why then does the news headline imply impudence and invites sneers and even condemnation?

I suspect it is the apparent selfishness of the act – the abandonment of communal values as a price for self advancement and self improvement. Apparent apathy for how that conduct would sit with community expectation is probably what irks many. The world may turn its back on the cross and the selfless interest it represents, but it still wants behaviour which is sacrificial for the sake of upholding common values. I thought that was interesting.

Related articles

Remove the cause early


Reading to discover gems is often fun and stimulating. Sometimes it jolts a realisation of a need for action.

Re-reading early developments of Christology and events surrounding the Nicene and Chalcedonian creeds, Constantine’s statement had this effect on me. He said: “Disorder in the Church, I consider more fearful than any war”.

Like the loaded dog I loathe, I may well be the cause for such disorder – best to remove this cause and the earlier the better. I have drafted the necessary letter to be handed in for the next meeting.

Related articles