SPOTTED: LOVE IS ALL AROUND

Good thing I found a little window of time to write my thoughts down before LIFE PURSUITS Conference begins in three hours.

As I was having lunch at Virramall a while ago. As I waited for food to be served, I found myself in the middle of a section comprising five tables, mine being at the very center. All four tables on my both sides were occupied by dating couples! It felt a wee bit weird for a time because I thought any one can spot obvious the difference! And so, I figured it wasn’t a big deal that I was eating alone in what seemed to be a couples only section, I observed. I observed love.

There is no doubt that many of us could provide a working definition of love. We would say something about being selfless, we might describe a feeling, we might even say something of a romantic nature if we’re talking about our partner. Maybe, someone would quote a scripture verse or two about God’s love and love for neighbor. 

I always believed that the best way to know what someone believes about love is to watch that person love. If you spend some time around a couple you begin to understand something about the nature of their love, or lack thereof. Watch parents with their child and you will have a sense of the quality of their love. If you spend enough time with two friends you will know intuitively whether love exists in their relationship or if their bond is about something else.

Observing love may be a limited way of defining the nature of love. After all, a couple may act differently around others than they do when their alone. In some sense, that’s good. We might say that emotions aren’t always observable. We cannot determine what someone is feeling generally by observing them occasionally. Furthermore, some people can fake it really well. But when we really spend enough time around someone we can begin to determine something of the nature of their relationships and commitments. In other words, if you want to know what someone believes or values watch them love.

I love to see love all around. But like they say, “there’s more to life than just watching people live it!”

THOUGHTS IN THE WEE HOURS

It’s been two hours since I arrived home from a concert and late dinner. Over dinner, I began to feel so sleepy– my eyelids were way heavier than they normally felt and chewing was interrupted occasionally by embarassingly big yawns! My day had been quite full, and I figured that I am no longer accustomed to spending more than an hour in a cab on heavily trafficked roads on the way to one of the busiest sections of the city. I must say however that the amazing choral music at the concert made my evening (Boublil and Schonberg’s One Day More keeps ringing in my head)!

I hate it when it’s past 12 midnight and I am still not asleep. And so, for no other reason aside from merely wanting to doze off  to the sound of a bunch of Britons conversing with their cute English accent, I’m watching, yet again, Pride and Prejudice! Watching it always makes me sleepy…well, it should, and I’m wondering why the chick flick’s magic of making me fall asleep isn’t working!

 

Anyway, just a thought I feel I have to write down.

Over the last several days, I have been learning a truth someone I know dreaded to come face to face with. Truth is something we all need to face no matter how dreadful they may be. Embracing truth unlocks the doorway to a life expressed in joy and profound gratitude despite the obstacles that confront us.

How do we finally come to acknowledge this? We reach a point when we can no longer pray with words because we get lost in them. But through the Spirit’s inward intercession with sighs too deep for words, He gives us peace. If we allow ourselves, we can receive this great gift of God in which His Spirit is that one interceding for us.

PREACHING IN CHAPEL

It isn’t very often that I get to be invited to speak at my alma maters’ chapel services.

A couple of years ago at the university where I studied, I delivered a sermonette followed by a silent meditation at the Chapel of St. Andrew to a group of students of liturgics and some seminarians at a solemn evensong in the Anglican tradition where I had to wear an alb. The songs were sung in the tradition of high church Anglican chants that made me have goosebumps; the worship mood was so solemn that I felt like I was talking to myself. Good thing the students came up to me at the cloister coffee time to say they were blessed, otherwise…

A few weeks later, I was asked to preach in community chapel in Bible College. Speaking on The Burden of Nehemiah, the energetic Wesleyan-Methodist chapel service was invigorating to say the least- perhaps because it was closer to my Baptist tradition.  

On Thursday, I will yet again deliver a message in chapel at the behest of the Bible College chaplain. The chaplain sent me a text message asking if I could preach on “Don’t Just Do it” (giving your best in doing your homework). Firstly, students don’t need to be told that- that’s a given! A student is supposed to study just as a burger is supposed to be eaten! (I have no idea why I used burger as an analogy to students–I don’t even think they’re analogous), but you get the point! Second, I think that kind of a  sermon topic is more of a rebuke than an encouragement to them. I don’t want to stress them out in chapel! Chapel services in Bible college are supposed to be times of refreshing for students. But then, the Word of God is “inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

We’ll see what happens as I prepare.

I’m off to the University of the Philippines to watch a concert!

…PANTS ON FIRE

Busyness has kept me from blogging! Each time I feel driven to write, something important comes up. I even worked during the holiday and dragged four people with me! I totally forgot about my little fern plant sitting on my balcony, now half of its leaves are brown!

Anyway, now I have time to write. Lately, I have been faced on all sides about “truth that matters.” Beginning last Monday to today.

On Monday, prior to my all-day meeting with the Worship Planning Team, I was met with the Executive Pastors at church with the Rev. Ben Brown, Pastor of the International Baptist Church of Singapore who shared a personal story about his church’s ministry involvement of distributing Bibles in a communist country At first he sounded like he was condoning the communist party’s action on banning the importation of Bibles printed in foreign countries into their land. But he also mentioned that the governement of that country is gracious in that it allows Bibles to be printed within the country if requested! He says that it’s just the same as the US Immigration does not allow individuals to bring in fresh animal meat products into US ports of entry. The problem with other groups is that they illegally import Bibles into communist soil and engage in lying when the communist allows its printing within their territory!

He also mentioned about the miracle that took place when they were distributing Bibles. Their group brought into a town boxes containing 342 Bibles. He looked at the large crowd of 600 people excited to get their BiblesHe then looked at the boxes and was afraid of disappointing a couple of hundreds who won’t get a Bible that day, but his group went on. One by one, individuals came. Dr. Brown personally handed them their copies. After an hour, there were about two hundred people left standing in line. Do the math, my friends!! He looked at the boxes again and saw that there were only boxes each containing 45 Bibles- again do the math! After a Bible to the last man in the line, Dr. Brown had a copy left in his hands! With tears in his eyes he looked up and said, “God, did you just perfom a miracle? If you did, why do I still have one Bible left?” As soon as prayed that a woman who was guarding the door ran to him and asked for a Bible.  

Four people from his team from IBC Singapore witnessed that miracle. In another town a couple of days later, the same miracle happened, but this time, everyone in the team witnessed it- 300 Bibles, 600 people, and everyone got a copy! When they had given away Bibles to everyone, he had four Bibles left in his hands. Ben Brown asked God, “What will we do with what’s left?” As soon as he said that he heard a pastor ask one of his teammates, “Do you have four extra Bibles I can give to my non-Christian neighbors?” They did not distribute Bibles illegally and they witnessed a miracle! But then I was confronted with another question- are those that distribute Bibles illegally committing a sin?

On the other hand…

I was reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor who in late 1943, started working on essay titled “What does ‘Telling the Truth’ mean?” He was involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. In Bonhoeffer’s particular context, telling the truth- “we want Hitler dead!” might be the right thing to do in principle, but principles alone weren’t going to stop the murder of over 6 million innocent people. You see, if he told about his designs for Hitler’s death, Bonhoeffer would certainly be killed; if he didn’t then maybe he and his compatriots might have another chance to stop the senseless killings. His context required that nothing – not even the truth – could be taken for granted.

 Eventually, Bonhoeffer was executed for his role in the plot against Hitler, and he never would finish his essay on truth. But what we have of it is more than enough to provoke the mind and heart. In the essay, Bonhoeffer considers the case of a young boy who is asked by his teacher, in front of his classmates, “Is it true that your father often comes home drunk?” The boy indeed had numerous recollections of his father’s drunken state, but under the watchful gaze of his classmates, and the accusatory manner of his teacher, the boy denies his father’s drunkenness. Bonhoeffer goes on to comment, “One could call the child’s answer a lie; all the same, this lie contains more truth – it corresponds more closely to the truth – than if the child had revealed his father’s weakness before the class…It is the teacher alone who is guilty of the lie.”[1]

Bonhoeffer reaches this surprising conclusion because, he argues, truth is not an objective utterance that can be judged right or wrong; rather, truth exists in a web, in a context of relationship, which is guided by things larger than mere principles: by love, care, respect and honor. The young boy Bonhoeffer describes must also answer the question of his father’s weakness in a specific context – the context of love, care, respect and honor of his father. It is true that his father drinks excessively, but the father is more than just a drunk; he is the boy’s dad. The teacher has failed to recognize this context, and has thus crossed a boundary by using truth as a weapon to harm and shame. He creates a situation that would destroy relationship rather than foster it. Thus, Bonhoeffer concludes that the boy answers truthfully because he chose to honor context and relationship by disobeying principle.[2]

And in my quiet time I read about…

The story of the birth of one Hebrew boy at a time when the king ordered the murder of every Hebrew boy at birth. He is not killed as was required by royal decree; instead his mother and sister plot to save his life. They’re cunning and brilliant; manipulative and heroic. They place the baby in a basket, and set it down the river Nile in the direction of the palace where Pharaoh’s daughter lives. Apparently, the baby’s sister had access to the princess, and when the child is brought to the princess his sister is there to advocate for him. She suggests a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, which just happens to be the child’s mother. Thus, the Moses is saved, the family unit is preserved, and in time another Hebrew boy, like their ancestor Joseph, will dwell once more within the home of Pharaoh himself. Now you tell me, did this mother and daughter act untruthfully? Because of their courageous actions Moses will grow up in the household and under the protection of the very man who ordered his death at birth, and under Pharaoh’s patronage and tutelage he will grow to be the great liberator of his people. The irony of it all! [3]

These are incredible stories, all of which serve to expand our understanding of the value of relationships, of the nature of truth, and of the character of God. They are unpredictable and unsettling. They pose important ethical conundrums. Is it any wonder that Paul wrote: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are God’s judgments and how inscrutable God’s ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord (Rom11:34)?” [4]

The God we worship isn’t bound. Who has known the mind of God? How unsearchable and inscrutable are God’s ways!

___________________________

1 Rev. Jose Viera, Truth That Matters CCNYC 081708

2 Ibid

3 Ibid

4 NIV Bible

SUNDAY WORSHIP: CAPTURED BY GRACE

While I giving some encouragement to the Chancel Choir before their rehearsals this afternoon, a thought came to mind- the unique role of musicians in scripture, and the role of music in our life as individuals and together as the people of God! I found it a bit hard to thank them for their ministry without breaking.

This morning (and tonight), they sang (will sing) a beautiful anthem titled “Were It Not for Grace” which they have done a number of times before. I knew they were rehearsing a different song for today’s services, but about two weeks ago as I met with the Worship Creative Planning Team to design the service, the Lord directed us to asking the Choir to sing this amazing song from the cantata, “My Redeemer Lives.” Today’s sermon title is Blinded to See the Light- the Conversion of Saul (Acts 9)- thus, we thematically developed the worship service with God’s amazing grace as a focal point, and there isn’t a more approriate anthem to support the preaching than that song.

Since I lead normally worship every second and third Sundays of each month, the other Sundays in which my other worship leaders are assigned, I dedicate to either my regular oversight of the services and ministries, or taking opportunities to minister some place else. Today, I sat in the congregation. During the offetory, Willie Co and the Choir sang the anthem- I was so moved I felt a drop of tear run down my right cheek. After the song, I looked around and saw that I wasn’t the only one reaching for a hankie. There wasn’t a dry eye in the 2100-seat room. By the time Dr. Ben Brown, pastor of International Baptist Singapore (guest speaker) preached everyone already heard a sermon in a song. But his preaching gave more substance to an amazing spiritual meal. Everyone was reminded beautifully of God’s powerful grace that captured us.

A couple of weeks ago, Joey, our Worship Service Stage Manager and I were having coffee in between services when he asked, “Pastor, what would you be doing if God did not call you?” I answered, “I know where I’d be…wandering down some pointless road to nowhere…I know how that would go…forever running but losing the race, were it not for grace.” He said, “Hey, isn’t that a song?” I said, “Yes, and that basically sums up my story…and yours.”

It is always good to be reminded afresh, day by day, of God’s grace. It keeps our feet on the ground, and not take pride of the accomplishes God has so graciously allowed for us to experience. It propels us to share our knowledge of God’s grace with others who like us equally need it.

Yesterday, I met a college guy in a Christian gathering. Within 10 minutes since I met him, he started trying to impress me (us) with his knowledge of a particular subject, and eventually confound me (us) with the vastness of his acumen. Not longer than 30 minutes into the meeting, while we talked about giving away Starbucks gift certificates as prizes to some attendees to an event we were planning, he said, “Not everyone likes Starbucks…I know I don’t.” Another guy retorted, “Well, you shouldn’t assume that you’ll get a prize.” I was so repelled by what I believed to be his sheer self-centeredness I no longer wanted to hear anything he had to say. All through the meeting and into lunch, I didn’t talk to him. But as I ate, I was reminded, “Where would I be if God was repelled by the pride I possess.” After lunch, I reached out to him, shook his hand and pronounced a well-meant “the Lord graciously bless you.”

As the people of God, we are called to the Ministry of Reconciliation- the message that God is calling people unto Himself through Christ, and all humanity to reconciliation with one another. As part of that which has already been reconciled to God, the worship and glory of God is now our highest calling and priority. The Ministry of Recociliation is the message we proclaim in order that all people might come to a point of knowing Christ, being reconciled to God and live their lives for Him in worship.

…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

the old has gone, the new has come!

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,

not counting men’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,

as though God were making his appeal through us.

We implore you on Christ’s behalf:

Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

 

I would have made it better in school if only I had a smarter seatmate!

Eleven years is a long time, don’t you think? Take a moment and think about it. The year was 1997. Where were you were ten years ago? Where were you living? Working? Who were you dating? Who were your friends? Are they still around? What have been the gains and losses during those eleven years?

I would have made it better in school if only I had a smarter seatmate!

Unfortunately, I did not learn everything I needed to learn in life in school. No matter how smart the folks I hung out with or sat beside back in the day, there are things I never really learned. I wish that seminaries and Bible colleges will include “Business Administration,” ”Accounting” and “Management“ courses in their curriculum, because now I’m forced to do things related to such subjects in the context of ministry, and I feel so inadequate because I never had the slightest exposure to them. What can I do? All of them come with job description! Regardless of the fact that prior to my Theology and Ministry degrees, I majored in journalism- thus, my love for writing, and took a course in Worship/Liturgical Composition. It doesn’t take a genious to figure out that those concentrations ever came under the shadow of business administration.

Everyone is a life-long learner, and I have no problems with learning new things. In fact, not very long ago I realized that I can open a print advertising firm with my five-year-old young knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. I’ve started making videos using a plain Windows Movie Maker program, as I am learning in the process of learning the more complex and professional-grade Adobe Premier Film/Video Editing system. Anyway, that’s not really the issue.

In mid-June eleven years back.

I opened an envelop containing a letter from New York City informing me that I had been selected to participate in an international exchange program. It told me to pack my stuff, prepare my passport, and be ready to be received by the host university around this time of the year eleven years ago. Leaving a pretty girlfriend behind, a family that was just beginning to recover from a mother’s death, and a church I so loved, I was in the dorm at 5AM, August 22, ready for a new school year, a new exchange program, unaware that much of what I have yet to learn would be some of the major stuff that God would want for me to learn for ministry and life.

The housemother coming out of my room excited to explore the unfamiliar university campus, meet new people and check out some churches I can visit while I was there. The Rev. Pearl, an Anglican priestess clearly told me to go to bed because I just had a long trip and needed a rest before the evening’s welcome gala. I was like,”The Gala isn’t happening til after 13 hours!?” I snuck out and explored.

There was an instance in the middle of the program when certain things that happened in the past began to sink in- homesickness, my mother’s death from which I never really recovered til that time, a heart-wrenching break up followed by an almost whirlwind romance turned sour as quickly as it took form, questions concerning the validity of my faith and everything I’ve always believed to be true. I began to feel insecure in the middle of what may seem to many as otherwise- a scholarship, an exchange program, new friends, a bright future.

It was in a beautiful sanctuary of a church called “Knox” on Caroline Street where I felt that somehow, in the deep resources of my heart and mind, I believed that, God was taking me- one step at a time, one day at a time, with new horizons waiting for me and divine possibilities that I could not even imagine. I just knew that, one day, my life would be better.

How good it was to stand on that holy ground one more time! The experience was as life-giving – life-changing – as before. People started to walk into my life and our lives begin to interweave. Their struggle was my struggle. My pain, their pain. Their hope our hope. They were for me, God making Himself tangible for me. 

with Anna Gille (US) and Siswinanto (Indonesia)

One thing seems certain: Jesus is forever showing up in places and circumstances that seem dead and hopeless. He is forever bringing new life and new possibilities into the lives of people who cry out for him. And, I am convinced that God is in that place and God is where we are now - ushering us into something better. Making the world just a little more whole.

It would be good to think back once more over the past eleven years to where you were in 1997. Remember all those persons whose loving touch helped you on your way, helped you to arrive at this point: those friends, neighbors, siblings, parents, co-workers, children. And, remember those whose lives you touched. Perhaps more than you can count. More than you will ever know. Doesn’t it feel good? Doesn’t it feel good? My soul says, “Yes! it feels God’s goodness.”

Thank God for amazing and smart seatmates who make this life journey better!

International Partnership Scholars 1997

Hosts: Trinity University (PH), University of Waterloo (CN), American College India (Madras), Central Philippine University (PH), Pacific Lutheran (WA), Drake University (IA), , Tokyo Women’s (JP), Satya Wacana University (IN)

Top (L-R): Dantes Tan (PH), Priscilla (IND), Vinoo Gladstone (IND),

Jon Las (PH), Jeff Cornelius (IND), Aiko (JP), Dharish David (IND), Jen Baumgarten (US), Josy (US), Kyung Won Baik (KOR),

Middle: Jeyadev (IND), O’Hara (CN), Pante (PH), Andi Swanson (US), Yuuka Shiomura (JP), Siswinanto (IN), Anne Gille (US), Marj (Taiwan), Inah (PH), Nadja (MAL), teacher, Bonifas (IN)

Bottom: Selva Meenkshi (IND), Fan Kit Yan (HK), Arvin (PH), Loretta Ho (HK), Sayaka Nishikawa (JP), Noemi (PH), Kinuko Fukami (JP), Wiwilai Sangsuwon (THA), Petra Williams (US), Obungen (PH) Rhee Min Hee (KOR), Ramil (PH)   

Not in photo: Mariel Picardal (US), Amy Mack (US), Sasha Rickard (US), Jonah (US), Troy (US), Kasanun Sangthong (TH), Amy Lewis (US), Tina Dulay (US) 

GOD WINKS WHEN NOTHING’S LEFT BUT BANANAS

I love my days off. I get to go back to bed and sleep ’til around 11AM after doing my devotions and morning prayer around 6!

Waking up late in the morning, I walked to my fridge to find out that there’s nothing in it but bananas, milk, orange juice, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, a box of Chinese green tea, a bag of chili powder and cheese…oh, and a bag of un-ground coffee beans, among other stuff with questionable nutrition content! There’s no real food but bananas! Bananas and orange juice for lunch isn’t all that bad…It’s even healthy, I guess! For some reason, I’ve been having this unusual craving for bananas lately. Maybe I’ll have chili powder for dinner? I guess that’s all a part of the exciting life of a single– so many things happen like ending up eating chili powder!

I just finished stuffing a plastic bag with the week’s laundry which I’m bringing down to the mat later. I have a meeting at four with the Worship Creative Planning Team (on my day off!). I might have dinner and watch a movie at Eastwood later tonight with my amusing artekulet (yeah, I spelled that right!) friends (one is wondering lately why she isn’t in a relationship yet, the other has been nursing a wounded heart for the last three hundred years– seems like).

That’s pretty much my day! Unless God winks and sends in a great surprise, an amusing situation, a blessed appointment! He does that. Some people just can’t see it because they choose some other vantage point.

I’m the type who loves and thrives in routine. But there are times when I choose to take a different direction to break it. That helps me from keeping my head down and hustle, and hustle, and look up one day and wonder, “How did I even get here?” It’s keeping my head up and staying on the lookout for God’s hand at work, or His appointment just around the corner. Otherwise, I will have trouble realizing it immediately.

And when there aren’t any signs of God-winks anywhere, we are not without hope. In fact, that’s all we need to keep our heads up and eyes open. “All I have left is Hope.”

On Monday, I was having coffee at the Promenade at the end of the day- a holiday. I saw a friend four years my senior who, back in the day (about eight years ago) seemed to have the perfect life: a beautiful, successful wife; a cute little baby; a lovely house in a nice subdivision; financial success; and a strong faith. Regrettably, life had drastically changed. The marriage had ended; he rarely saw his kid; he lives alone in a studio; and he is still financially strong, but without they are “money without meaning,” so he says. The only thing that seemed to remain constant was his strong faith. He tells me that when opens his fridge all he finds are bananas, and is satisfied. “All I have left is Hope” says he.

That simple comment is a testament to faith, although I have to admit that I used to dismiss it as naïveté or denial. I was frustrated by what seemed like a cliché use of faith. It’s what old maids say about their future romantic life. It’s what people say to convince themselves out of their pathetic life and feel better. “All I have left is Hope.”

Hoping and wishing are two different enterprises. While we often speak of them synonymously, theologically speaking they are quite different. We tend to use the word or concept of hope to describe what we want for ourselves or for others. “I hope Heather calls.” “I hope I win the lottery.” “I hope he doesn’t get hurt.” “I really hope I get this job.” You see, our use or understanding of hope tends to be pedestrian; not unimportant, but pedestrian nonetheless.

Yet theologically, Hope is something altogether different. Hope is an act of faith; it isn’t something that simply happens to us or for which we cross our fingers and close our eyes. Hope is the determination to act and to live, expecting that God’s will be done. Hope is often that which is contrary to our instincts or inclinations, perhaps even difficult. Yet, as my friend  would say, there comes a time when all you can do is to live Hopefully.

I marvel at people who have the courage to live this way- hopefully, and I wonder what it will take for me to follow their example and thus be the bearer of God’s Hope in this world. What will take for you? Imagine what you know of your tomorrow (actually why wait for tomorrow?) and ask yourself “How can I be the bearer of God’s Hope right now, right here?”

SUNDAY BAPTISM & MONDAY REST

Sunday. I had a rather emotional morning baptizing six young people, the last of whom in the batch is a real good friend- Justine, a girl I’ve known since she was five, now a bright-eyed beautiful twelve-year-old. She’s a daughter of one of our volunteers worship leaders, Kit, editor of a business newspaper whose wife Ruth, is a member of our Worship Creative Planning Team. I don’t get to baptize often because as worship pastor, my presence is needed in the new worship center. Incidentally, I was asled to baptize last Sunday, the same day Justine is scheduled to be baptized. 

Baptism was set to happen after the preaching in relation to the topic based on Acts 8 where Philip the Evangelist explained the Gospel with the Ethiopian Eunuch. Baptisms take place in our old worship center where the baptismal pool is, and the ceremony is fed via a closed-circuit television system.

While we waited for the Director’s queu from the new worship center, I gave some thoughts to the kids about our view of baptism and gave final instructions, and just had sheer fun spending time while we waited for the queu. Noticing that one of the kids, a 13-year-old, stood four inches taller than I am (I’m 5’8.4″). I asked if I could actually do a “practice” baptism with him in the pool. He agreed.

Finally, our queu came. The kids one-by-one came, each shared a brief testimony and was baptized. Then it came down to Justine, my 12-year-old friend. As she walked down the steps into the pool to join me in the water as I called her name, memories of her as a little kid who used to sit on my lap and ask for a story, who used to sit beside me as I practice piano in the choir room, who used to sit with me on the floor while we made art stuff in between services- now going public with her faith and willing to be baptized. In my wallet is a little piece of art work she made for me when she was six.

She read her testimony. I lifted my hand and as I pronounced the baptismal formula (“…I baptize you in the name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit“), my voice cracked a bit, and I had to pause, overcame by emotion.

After the service, all her godparents (at her dedication as a baby) who sat around the baptismal pool earlier brought some goodies and food in celebration of her baptism which we shared at the Fellowship Hall. Justine walked to me and asked, “Why did you pause?” I told her, “I paused because I didn’t want to cry infront of 2000 people!”

Monday. A holiday- Ninoy Aquino Day! I slept almost through the day- something I have not done in quite a while! I always knew I needed that but never had the chance until today! 

Sleeping hours were interspersed with two movies, and a short paper work.

Ninoy Aquino. Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was a Philippine senator and a leading oppositionist to the autocratic rule of Ferdinand Marcos. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor) upon returning home from exile in the United States. His death catapulted his widow, Corazon Aquino, to the limelight and subsequently to the presidency, replacing the 20-year-old Marcos regime.

The following is an interview by Pat Robertson of Ninoy Aquino in the 700 Club.

 

CALLING WORSHIP MUSICIANS!!!

Many congregations use the piano in worship to accompany songs. Traditional churches use it only to provide variety and to give the organist a break. Others have consciously decided to use the piano instead of the organ on a regular basis. They have discovered that piano accompaniment is not only suitable but preferable to organ music for their style of worship. I do not remember going to Sunday worship where the piano was never played.

At GCF, the piano has been the primary instrument used in our worship celebrations, usually partnered with a syntheziser. Old hymns, modern praise and worship songs, anthems and instrumental offertories were accompanied by the piano and synthesizer. Until about six years ago, GCF never had a regular band in worship!

I remember volunteering in the worship and music ministry as a Bible college student and was designated Worship Leader for Wednesday Service, the Sunday 3PM and 6PM services. A couple of months later, my status changed from volunteer to full-time staff, with primary concentration on Designing and Planning Services and leading Sunday Worship!

The worship staff figured that since a younger fellow has taken the baton in worship leadership, it was time to “upgrade!” I remember coming to work one morning excited with the coming of the new musical instruments we purchased! It was an amazing feeling! The first Sunday we used the instruments in worship may be characterized as a disaster! We groped in the dark. Our instrumentalists were mostly amateur and belonged to different bands, which added to the already unfamiliar situation. Some older folks didn’t like it. But we knew that the Lord was leading us toward that direction, we just needed to get our acts together. We found ourselves taking baby steps and occasional leaps and bounds! We lost a couple of families to a more traditional church and didn’t like the direction GCF Worship was headed.

We held the first “Instruments of Praise” – an all-day event where we invited everyone who played an instrument in a praise jamming session with famous artists who attend GCF. The event doubled as a recruitment program for new musicians! Out of that event, we recruited dozens of musicians who now comprise our regular worship band!

From a time when all we had were a piano and a synthesizer, we now cannot even imagine our worship gatherings without a complete band accompanying our songs!

We have a number of committed musicians whose lives are a total blessing to the church. But over the years, we have also lost a few of these people mostly to lucrative job offers abroad and individual personal issues they felt they needed to address that made them decide to stop playing for a time, while some simply are tired and in need of rest.

I’m on the verge of planning another “Instruments of Praise.” But I’m bent on giving it a different name.

A church our size needs more musicians than we can get. I hope I don’t sound selfish, but our church is in great need, and I’m praying for more and more musicians to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who will commit their skills to Him for His glory.

We need people who listen to the voice of God; people who want to sing to Him; people with sacrifices of praise to give to Him; willing to take the direction He wants us to go.

We can worship without a band, even without a piano. But we want to praise God with what He has given us even as we seek a transformative space that allows for the King of Kings to make his dwelling amongst us in worship (Ps 22:3). Whenever God touches down in a place, amazing things happen.

Pray with me for more musicians!

If you’re a Christian musician living in Metro Manila with a total heart for worship looking for a church in which to serve, send me a note: jon.las@gcf.org.ph

THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM

This Sunday, we will baptize fifteen people. At GCF, we celebrate Baptism every third Sunday of the month, and Communion every second Sunday.

I love how we incorporate the Christian ordinances (sacraments), particularly, baptism, in our worship celebrations because the congregation gets to witness the powerful and moving testimonies and the outward symbol of following Christ altogether. In turn, the congregation is encouraged to see others coming to faith in Christ, join them in celebrating their new life in Him and be able to reflect on their on experience of baptism. An additional benefit to such a practice is that people who are have not yet made a decision to follow Christ in baptism get encouraged to take a step of faith in going “public” with their faith!

Baptism is an ordinance given by Christ to the Church be done to people who have decided Him. While there are a number of modes (manner) espoused by different Christian denominations, GCF, as a Baptist congregation practices full immersion because the word baptizo means “to dip.” Baptists believe that baptism is only for those who can understand and profess their faith, and is an external symbol of an inward reality. This is called believer’s baptism.

However, I remember a couple of instances when the baptismal candidates were too sick to be immersed- and I’m not talking about flu or cold, but really sick, with open wounds and tubes sticking out of their bodies- so the Senior Pastor opted to perform a “waterless baptism!” In a friendly theological discussion some of the other pastors, myself included, mentioned that we were him, we would have have performed aspersion or sprinkling on the forehead! So, if you’re smart, in that statement, you SHOULD have figured out my personal view on the modes of baptism! 

In the Orthodox and Catholic tradition, baptism is believed to have salvific (saving) effect.

In Reformed/Presbyterian churches, baptism is the visible sign of entrance into the New Covenant and therefore may be administered individually to new believers making a public profession of faith. Babies are baptized in this tradition with the understanding that baptism extends the Covenant to the households of believers which typically would include children, or individually to children or infants of believing parents. In this view, baptism is thus seen as the functional replacement and sacramental equivalent of the Abrahamic rite of circumcision and symbolizes the internal cleansing from sin, among other things.

Romans 6:4 tells us that baptism expresses our faith in the working of God to raise Jesus from the dead. We believe that Christ died on the cross, buried and rose from the grave and reigning today at the Father’s right hand in heaven from which he will come again in power and glory. And that faith in God’s working – God’s glory as Paul calls it – is how we share in the newness of life that Christ has in himself. In baptism, we profess that we join in the life of Christ.

Baptism portrays what happened to us when we became Christians. This is what happened to us: we were united to Christ. His death became our death. We died with him. And in the same instant, his life became our life. We are now living out the life of Christ in us. And all this is experienced through faith.

This is what it means to be a Christian – to live in the reality of what our baptism portrays: day by day we look away from ourselves to God and say, “Because of Christ, your Son, I come to you. In him I belong to you. I am at home with you. He is my only hope of acceptance with you. I receive that acceptance anew every day. My hope is based on his death for me and my death in him. My life in him is a life of faith in you, Father. Because of him I trust your working in me and for me. The same power and glory that you used to raise him from the dead you will use to help me. In that promise of future grace I believe, and in that I hope. That is what makes my life new. O Christ, how I glory in what my baptism portrays! Thank you for dying my death for me and giving new life to me. Amen.”