Christmas is a time of giving and sharing. It is a great joy for all of us to be in the position to and also willing to share our joy and peace with those loved ones who are around us and abroad, our friends and neighbours, our community, and those who are less fortunate than us. Let us carry on sharing God’s love and blessings with each other and especially those who are in need. Do remember the Anglican Care which is a diocesan caring department which covers a whole range of social services from children homes, food for the hungry, soup kitchens, people with disabilities, people who are visually, physically and mentally challenged, senior citizen homes, etc. Of course, we should not forget the needs of the rural villages and kampungs of the Anglican Village Ministries and the Orang Asli ministry.
We can hear many Malaysians talking about and guessing of the date of the 13th General Election of the nation especially in the kopitiams and after church services and at mamak stalls. Many believe that this GE is a watershed and may mark the transformation of the nation permanently. We wish to pray that the Christmas Joy and Peace shall prevail among the different parties of the nation. Many believe that the Lord has placed our nation in a very special position within the region of South East Asia and beyond for a purpose – a giver of Joy and Peace. We seek your constant prayers. A group of concerned Christians has set aside the 24 – 26 January 2013 as the 3 days of fasting to discern God’s direction for our nation. Let us also bring our nation to God Almighty in prayers.
At the end of July 2012, we have moved into the newly completed Rumah Bishop in Ampang. It is a huge building but there are only two of us while Joshua and Sarah are in Singapore, and Charlotte in Texas. Joshua is presently working as an IT Officer, Sarah is planning for her marriage and not working yet, and Charlotte is doing her final year in Texas. Bisfe Siew Lan is very busy with her Malaysian Indigenous Clinical Pastoral Education (MICPE) and Theological Education by Extension (TEE) courses. I am as usual running around visiting churches and attending diocesan, national and provincial meetings.
The diocese is growing steadily though not without challenges. Praise the Lord for the number of non stipendiary workers and ministers who have answered the Call of God to ministry over the last five years. The number of full-time workers being trained is still coming in slowly. We thank God for the encouraging response of many lay people who have attended the Lay Pastors and Lay Readers Schools. The third stage that the diocese is moving towards is the Discipleship Training. We have begun this year with the Introductory to Discipleship Training and we will bring this Introductory Seminar to the regional level for next year. Hopefully we can begin the full Discipleship Training seminar in 2014 and eventually to see many disciples of Jesus Christ who can transform the church and the nation.
Some people remarked “What is such a big deal over Thanksgiving Sunday?” I hope this is not a rejection or denial of our thanks to Almighty God. We can actually give thanks to God anytime and anywhere we like and wish. In order to give thanks to God collectively as a church and as a gathered people of God is something special and necessary. In fact every Sunday is a thanksgiving and celebrative worship service. It is important for us not to reduce the Sunday thanksgiving and celebrative worship service only into a preaching session or a singspirational session or a fellowshipping session. The 5 dimensional worship appraisal must be fully celebrated and participated, namely, the Ministry of Praise (through songs, music and psalms); the Ministry of the Word (through reading and preaching of the Word); the Ministry of Prayers (through intercession, confession and absolution); the Ministry of Eucharist (through the consecration of the sacrament of Holy Communion and the offering of gifts); the Ministry of Blessings (the blessing of one another through the sharing of peace and the blessing from God).
A Thanksgiving Sunday is purposely designed to magnify the gratitude of hearts and the collective offerings of gifts and expressions to God Almighty. It must be done seriously, celebratively, joyously, willingly, wholeheartedly, reflectively and after close examination of oneself before God. It is at this Annual Thanksgiving Sunday that one normally gives his very best to Almighty God with special efforts. It should be more than the normal Sunday thanksgiving and celebrative service. It is the climax of the usual thanksgiving.
1. Like in the OT, we can give an annual tithe to God for the priests and Levites as an expression for God’s spiritual coverage. (Deut 14:22)
2. Like in the OT, we can give an annual tithe to God for the celebration of God’s people as a redeemed people of God. (Deut 14:24-27) This is over and above the normal tithe.
3. Like in the OT, we can give a tithe once in three years to be distributed to the poor and less fortunate one, thanking God as the Master Designer and Creator of all people and this world. (Deut 14:28-30; 26:12) This is done once in three years which is over and above (1) and (2).[1]
5. To pray and bless all those who bless us and also all those who didn’t bless us, even those who curse us.
[1] I know some people may disagree with this interpretation. Please read the scripture for yourselves and decide. One tithe is already hard to practice, let alone three.
Christ is Risen! The response during Eastertide is “He is Risen indeed!” Often the thought of the presence of the Risen Christ bothers me. Where is the Risen Christ now? This seems to be a silly question – of course, Christ has been ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, as described in Rom 8:34. What I really am interested is ‘Does the Risen Christ have a place in our lives?’
Some of the shocking news in recent headlines is the financial scandals and immorality with church leaders and in churches. Unfortunately, such scandals also exist everywhere both in our own churches as well as in other places. God is very sad and probably regrets in making us. On another note, we are frequently reminded that we are a fallen race and we really and desperately need Christ to save us from the fire and damnation. So then how much are we saved – quarter, half or fully saved. In other words, one can refer this as ‘How much has Christ risen in each of us?’
The Scripture calls this Sanctification. ‘We were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved’ – a famous quote used by many great leaders. Sanctification is a journey or a process; and it starts at the point of salvation (for many do not exactly know where the starting point is) and ends at the time when we meet with Christ face to face. In the process of sanctification, each one of us will still have much vulnerability and can also succumb to temptations (the reason for asking to be led away from temptations in the Lord’s Prayer). All leaders are usually subjected to greater temptations and are main targets of the evil one. Much prayer is needed for them. They are usually in the front-line and are facing the fiery darts directly. Leaders are also frequently subjected to greater and stricter judgment. (James 3:1)
However, Easter should always remind us that we need the Risen Christ to rise from within our lives. He should rise from our inner most thoughts, world view, behavior, habits, manners, secrets, social life, spiritual life, relational life, prayer life, recreational life, time management, mind management, leisure management, health management, etc. From what we can observed, it is not sufficient to score an ‘A’ in our preaching or time management or pastoral skill or theological knowledge and fail in our money management or health management or leisure management or moral management.
Our life is liken to a wooden barrel which made up of many staves. It is not good to be a water holding barrel if one stave is very short while the rest are in full length. It seems rather better to have all the staves at half length equally – in this manner, the barrel can at least hold half barrel full of water. Our aim is to lengthen and strengthen the staves until they reach their maximum length i.e. to have Christ risen in our whole lives.
Asociación de Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria (PAC) is a non gobernmental organization inspired on Christian values. It was funded in 1996 on the interest of various producer groups integrated to food security programs promoted by the Organization World Relief in Nicaragua.