Fr. Shazz's Podcast: Recent Episodes
Fr. Shazz Turnquest
Fr. Shazz Turnquest is the Chaplain at St. Paul's College, an all boys Anglican High School, in Hong Kong. His weekly podcast incorporates one of the scripture readings for the week and is intended to be uplifting and motivational.
It is Written
In the gospel reading for today we find Jesus out in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil. He is at a low point, isolated from other human contact, he is hungry, cold, lonely and uncomfortable. In this vulnerable state his accuser and tempter is hoping that he has softened him up enough and now he moves in for the kill like a prize champion fighter. The three temptations of Jesus represent the fundamental weaknesses of all of us as human beings. There is a desire for physical gratification, a desire for human power and adoration and finally a deep desire to be able to dare to be like God.
In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the basic needs of all humans are physical ones. The Devil starts off with an easy one. We all need air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, somewhere to sleep, clothes to wear and other basic human desires. Jesus is famished, he needs something to eat. He is, after all, the Son of God, the second part of the Trinity, God made man existing in the world surely he has the power to make these rocks turn into the most delicious bread ever with just a word. Jesus stops his accuser with the power of the written word – ‘It is written…’ Written where? In Deuteronomy 8:3 we read ‘3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.’ Why doesn’t Jesus just give in and make the stones into bread? If he did, he would undermine the entire purpose of his earthly existence. If he was truly a 100% human being he would not have this kind of power. If he was not fully human then how could he save or rescue us from our sinful nature? The plan of salvation would have been ruined from the start. All of us sin. We sin every day, many times a day whether we are aware of it or not. In the world of science we have a theory, if the hypothesis for an experiment is proven to be true for even one example then by definition that premise is true. For example, if we set as a premise – all taxis in HK are red then this statement is proven to be true as long as no other colour taxi exists. However as soon as we see a blue or a green or a taxi of any other colour than red then our initial premise has been proven to be false. All taxis in HK are in fact not red. For the plan of salvation to work, Jesus must navigate this world as a human being and not succumb to the temptation to sin.
Amen.
What is Lent all about?
Lent is one of the liturgical seasons of the church’s year. According to Wikipedia, Lent is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry. Lent is observed in many of the traditional churches of the world. In most churches Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later; depending on the Christian denomination and local custom.
Lent is a period of solemn reflection that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. In our school we have our annual Easter Service to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (this is what Easter is all about). The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, subduing the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, simple living, and self-denial. In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in imitation of Jesus Christ's sacrifice during his journey into the desert for 40 days. Many Lent-observing Christians also add a Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar, to draw themselves near to God. In most Lent-observing denominations, the last week of Lent coincides with Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday. Following the New Testament narrative, Jesus' crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, and at the beginning of the next week the joyful celebration of Easter Sunday, the start of the Easter season, which recalls the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The day before Lent begins, the day before Ash Wednesday is traditionally known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. This year, in partnership with St. Stephen’s Church next door some of our teachers and students will participate in a pancake making competition to prepare for the beginning of Lent. Pancakes are associated with Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding Lent, because they are a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. It is intended to be a form of merriment before the solemn season of Lent begins. May the best pancake win.
Amen.
What’s My Mission
Do you know what your divine mission in this life is? What does God have you and me here to do while we are alive? If you do know what your purpose is then that is a great achievement. If you don’t I would like to suggest three steps for you and I to consider using characters from the bible to help us to make sense out of life.
STEP 1
The Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mom, had it easy – God just sent someone to tell her. You are going to have this baby boy and he will do x, y and z. He will be great, called the son of the most-high, but at the end of it all a sword will pierce your heart. For the rest of us, the message is not as clear. Pray to God and ask him to reveal to you in a way that you and I can understand what it is that he needs us to do each and every day. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, didn’t know what the big picture for his life was either. God probably won’t show us the big picture right at the beginning but more and more as we journey along and look back at where we came from the unfolding becomes clearer.
STEP 2
Don’t expect the mission to be accomplished easily. Our part might only be one part of the overall task. In 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 the apostle Paul writes 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. But if you and I don’t play our parts then we make life harder for others to do their part. God has his part to play and so do we.
STEP 3
The journey is only one part of the mission. When Joseph got the opportunity to interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh, it was then that he got his opportunity. When Esther found favour with the King she was able to be in position to thwart the plan of evil people who were determined to harm her people. She got her opportunity. The final part of the mission is to do the good that God is counting on us to do to positively impact the lives of as many people as possible for the betterment of the Kingdom of God.
God has a job for me and you to do, are you ready to do it?
Amen.
Be A Wise Man
This week in the church’s calendar we celebrated the giving of the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus by the wise men from the East. What does it take to be a wise man? Were they born that way or did they have to study really hard to achieve that title? The bible is full of wisdom that people over many thousands of years have stopped to take the time to think about and then write down. Some of the books of the bible are actually called the wisdom literature books. Those three books are Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. There are many other ancient books not found in the bible that are also full of wisdom written by famous people who might be considered wise men and women. The message from the story in the bible about the three kings looking for Jesus though gives us a clue as to what wisdom is. Wisdom is the searching for something. Many philosophers spend their whole lives searching for something called ‘the truth’. What exactly is that? In simplest form the truth is the point of the beginning. For example, many scientists believe that the beginning of all things is the point in time called the Big Bang. For many people that is the starting point of all things. But others would argue, and quite rightly so, what existed before the Big Bang? Is the Big Bang an explosion of some ancient gases that existed in the Universe before then? Who provided the spark to ignite the gases? If you think about trying to light a camp fire in the woods to keep warm, somebody had to provide the match to light the wood, or in the old days somebody had to rub the sticks together to get the flame. So, in reality, seeking the truth can be a very long exercise because there is always a layer that can be unwrapped that asks another question to a perceived answer. For us as religious people we attempt to define the truth point as God. God is the beginning. God created himself (I don’t know how) but because He is an all powerful being He has the power to create time, space and himself out of nothing. Believing that God is the truth point makes life simpler. And so as we continue another week of exams here at our school, let us adopt a page from the book of the wise men and continue to study hard. A tip that I have found useful is to always start revising from the beginning of the text book or our notes. Think of it as practicing a piece of music on the piano or any other instrument that you play, the more you start from the beginning the easier it will be to learn the song. Our school’s motto – The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. Be a wise man, find the truth today.
Amen.
How To Pass Your Exams
Happy New Year to everyone and welcome back to school. I pray for a successful 2023 for all of us as we strive to do our best each and every day to achieve our goals in life. I hope everyone had a warm and refreshing Christmas holiday and was able to catch up with family and friends to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ into the world. Well, exam time has come around again as it does every year. I know many of you have been studying really hard over the Christmas break and now it is time to put all of that hard studying into action. Everybody goes through tests throughout their lives. For some people life provides more challenges than others. Even Jesus had to go through a time of testing before he began his ministry in the world. In fact, the scriptures tell us that Jesus was driven out into the desert to be tested, I don’t think he wanted to sit exams either.
The story of his testing tells us that he had not eaten for 40 days and was alone in the wilderness and so physically and emotionally he was vulnerable. The devil (his examiner) shows up and probes him at his weakest points. In the first test the devil plays on Jesus’ need for the basic necessity of life – food. Jesus tells him that the answer to his question is found in the bible. Similarly, for students, most, if not all of the answers for your exam that you are looking for are found in your notes and in your textbooks. You have to read them. Did you take good notes in class? Do you understand what it is that you are reading? If not, did you ask a friend to help you? This is one of the basics.
In the second test, Jesus is taken to a high place and shown all the kingdoms of the world and is promised their glory and fame if he would worship the devil and not God. This of course is a lie. Eve made the same error in the Garden of Eden by listening to the devil and this caused her and Adam to be banished from the garden forever and forced to work hard. This test is a test of distraction. Did anything distract you during your study time? Were you glued to your phone, or video games or the TV when you should have been studying? It is important to have time for relaxation but when it becomes a distraction from study time it can cause us not to perform at our best. To overcome this sometimes we need a timetable for our day so that we can schedule when we will have a break and when we will study.
In the final test, Jesus is taken to the top of the temple and instructed to command God to save him from falling to the ground and being killed. In this test Jesus reminds the devil that we as created beings should not put God to the test. Sometimes when we pray to God in desperation, He is under no obligation to help us. If we didn’t put in the effort and try to rely our own strength, maybe like relying on our memory for all of the answers we might get a shock surprise on test day. Nothing in life comes easy. Success is a hard-fought battle. I want to encourage you though to continue to try to do your best. You are all excellent students. If you were not, you would not be here at this great school. I know that you are all capable and I wish you every success as you excel in your exams over the next few days and reap the rewards of all of your labour.
Amen.
Ask for Help.
In the Christmas story the wise men are looking for the baby Jesus by following a star in the sky. In their effort to find him, they stop and ask for directions at the palace of King Herod. King Herod is not very happy that a new king is being born and he really doesn’t help the wise men out at all. In fact, he asks the wise men to tell him the location of Jesus after they find him so that he could in fact have him killed and his throne kept secure. The wise men are warned in a dream by God not to return to Herod because Herod’s intentions are not good. Herod in his anger at being deceived by the wise men actually has every baby boy under the age of 2 killed in Bethlehem so that any threat to his throne is eliminated. Unknown to him though Jesus is on his way to Egypt, again through a message of God in a dream to his parents. Herod is not stupid enough to challenge the authority of the Pharaoh of Egypt and so Jesus has a chance at staying alive to achieve his purpose in life.
What can we learn from this story? The answer is God is always willing help even if we do not reach out to him at first. Many spiritual people believe that God sends messages to them in dreams and not everything that is written in the bible is pure fairytale. Why isn’t God able to communicate through dreams? Just because we might not be able to as humans doesn’t mean that he isn’t able. In an article in Psychology Today written by Preston NI in October 2020 he explains the nature of different types of dreams. Two of the seven types that stand out to me are ‘Supernatural’ dreams and ‘Creative or Problem Solving’ dreams. Did you know that Paul McCartney, the Beetles singer and song writer dreamed of a melody which became the song “Yesterday”, and Nobel Prize laureate James Watson had a dream about snakes which led to devising the structure of DNA? I didn’t know either. These are two famous examples of creative dreams.
Supernatural dreams take a different format. Some examples are premonition dreams where the dreamer has a vision of a future event which later becomes true. Then there are telepathic dreams when the dreamer receives communication about a person or an event occurring elsewhere without the dreamer’s waking knowledge. After the dreamer awakes, details of the dream are verified to be true. Another popular one is visitation dreams in which a recently deceased family, friend, partner, or pet appear. Have any of these ever happened to you? I am interested to hear about them.
As exam time rolls around again why not add an extra study weapon to your arsenal. Why not pray to God and ask him to help you to understand a difficult concept or to help you with your exam anxiety or to motivate a friend to study together with you? Maybe he will send the answer, solution or instruction in a dream.
Amen.
Message of Joy
This week is the third week of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for celebrating the coming of Jesus as a baby at Christmas time. Christmas time is always a festive time for people all over the world. Presents have to be bought, meals have to be prepared, decorations have to be put up, Christmas cards have to be sent out and so many other things. Preparation takes time. John the Baptist is an important character in the scripture readings for the third week of Advent. He is the one saying to the people to repent and to turn from their evil ways because there is a time of reckoning that is coming. Jesus is coming to teach them a new way to live so that when the challenges of life get too heavy they will be able to cope.
If we make a parallel to our school life we note a number of things. Exams are coming, they are right around the corner. In fact many of you have said that you intend to spend most of your Christmas holiday studying. What are you doing to prepare? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating well? What about long hours on your phone or playing video games? Are you managing your time well? All of these factors play a part in preparation for your future. As the term draws near to a close have you completed all of your assignments? Are all of your notes in order? Do you listen while the teacher is teaching or are you too busy playing video games on your IPAD during class time? Preparation requires discipline. School is a time of preparation for life in general. The skills you learn here will assist you in your journey to success long after you would have left the halls of our beloved school.
Everybody wants to do well in their exams. Nobody likes getting bad news, we all want to hear good news. Just like John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, they both came to bring good news to the people of their time. What good news are you going to be able to give to your parents when your report card day comes around? Will they react with joy or will they be sad and disappointed? Its up to you and your performance to determine that. Don’t allow the time and opportunity to prepare to pass you by. Take advantage of it and don’t squander it.
Max Brooks, the author of The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead sums up my point beautifully.
“If you believe you can accomplish everything by "cramming" at the eleventh hour, by all means, don't lift a finger now. But you may think twice about beginning to build your ark once it has already started raining”
Amen
Diet, Exercise and Sleep
Your body is a fascinating machine. Your brain is more powerful than all of the super computers of the world put together. The body can actually heal itself after it becomes injured, not only the body but the mind also. There are three components necessary to operating a healthy body at its optimum efficiency and performance. They are: diet, exercise and sleep.
In today’s world all of the yummy, good tasting food seems to be very bad for our health. It is either high in sodium content or high in sugar or high in fat or high in cholesterol. I guess all of these things make it taste so good. Young people have never been big fans of eating salad. We like to eat hamburgers and French fries and fried chicken and pizza. While these things may not be the healthiest option they are often easily accessible and readily available. In order to be fit and healthy well into our senior years we can treat ourselves to some of these foods once in a while , maybe a treat on the weekend, but we can’t eat these things every day. Trust me, I would love to but then my clothes would not fit properly and my body would become unhealthy. A clever way that I have found to introduce more vegetables into my diet is to drink vegetable juice. For some reason I have become particularly food of carrot juice. Read the labels and watch out for the sugar content. Who knows I might try broccoli juice next.
The body has a sewage system called the lymph system. I was never good at Biology so I cannot really tell you how it works but I know that it is there. In many of the articles I read about health the writers tout the benefit of exercise as being very good for our health. My favourite form of exercise is walking. I was never good at sports and running isn’t my thing. Hong Kong reminds me so much of San Francisco with its steep hills. Just walking to and from lunch can be a workout if there is a steep hill involved. Some people prefer to go to the gym or to lift weights or ride a bike. Whatever you enjoy the most it is important to remember to simply keep moving. Your body will thank you for it. Did you know that if a shark stops moving it will die? Be a shark – keep moving.
Finally, sleep is so very important. It breaks my heart to see so many people falling asleep on the buses either coming to work or coming to school in the morning. I will never forget the pained look and the tears streaming down the face of a little boy on his way to primary school early one morning. He just didn’t have enough sleep the night before and his mom was marching him off to his school for the day. The body needs at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Your brain needs it to be able to dump all the junk files from the day before and make space for the new day ahead. Think of your cell phone or computer when the memory space is running out. The device gets slow and apps stop working. The same happens to our brains. We make simple mistakes on tests, we can’t concentrate in class and completely misunderstand a new concept. I know you have to study for exams and quizzes but life is all about balance, maybe if you got enough sleep your grades would be better? Why not give it a try and see what happens.
Jesus loved to eat. I am sure he ate healthy too. There wasn’t any McDonalds in his day. He walked everywhere he went and he was always encouraging his disciples to take a rest. There is even a story of him falling asleep in a boat in the midst of a storm. If he could do it then why not you?
What’s Life All About?
In a TED Talk I listened to a few days ago the presenter told the story about a conversation he had with a friend of his. Let’s call that friend Tim. Tim had gone to visit one of his friends who happened to be bed ridden with a disease for many years and was about to die. Let’s call that friend Tom. Tim asked Tom a simple question. “Tom if you could have your health back for just one day and you could get up out of this bed and do anything you wanted to do how would you spend your day?” Tom thought about it for a little while and gave a response that caught Tim off guard. He said “If I had my health back I would have a big breakfast, go for a walk on the beach, hang out with a few select friends, have a great lunch and then watch the sun set in the evening.” Tim thought Tom would have said something more exciting than just mundane every day tasks. He thought he would have said something exciting like jumping out of plane or going bungee jumping or something similar. But he didn’t. Sometimes in life it is the little every day things that bring comfort and satisfaction to us. Many of us live that way but quite a few of us also feel unsettled with life and have to chase after the next big thing or rush after an adrenaline rush in order to feel accomplished. Have you ever thought about life in this way? If you only had one more day to live what would you do? How would you spend those 24 hours? Would you have a nice meal? Where would you go? Who would you spend time with? I remember many years ago I visited a young woman in the hospital who was dying of cancer. There was nothing left for the doctors to do. They were trying to keep her as comfortable as possible in her last few days on earth. I remember sitting with her in the hospital and after saying a short prayer and chatting for a few minutes she said ‘My favourite game show is coming on TV now and I would really like to watch it.’ And so we sat and watched The Price is Right for a while. We could have talked about the deep questions of life and done a lot of soul searching and done a lot of other things but at that moment the best thing to do was to sit and watch TV and enjoy the moment with someone who just wanted to get some simple pleasure and satisfaction out of life. Sometimes it is important to take a time out from the hustle and bustle of life and stop and smell the roses. Find that thing or things that you are grateful for and make it one of your goals to enjoy life.
I Believe in God
The second part of the conversation about believing in the existence of God involves a conversation I had with a junior school student not too long ago. When asked if he believed that God existed he said something interesting. He said that he used to believe in God but that he doesn’t anymore. I found this response to be interesting so I asked him why didn’t he believe anymore. He said that he was going through some challenges in life at the time and he prayed to God for help but God didn’t help him. He didn’t answer his prayer and as such he had no need for him anymore. Children have such an honesty about them. The reality is that he is absolutely right to feel that way. Many adults give up on God when he doesn’t do what we ask of him in our prayers. So, I set myself a challenge. How do I go about getting this young man to believe in the existence of God again and to appreciate that God does in fact hear all of our prayers and he answers them all? His answer sometimes may not be quite what we had in mind but he does answer none the less. It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or not all religions incorporate prayer as a part of their structure.
So then, where do we start with this proof? There are only two answers to the question – does God exist? Its either yes or no. Interestingly enough the boy said that he used to believe in God. I forgot to ask him what rationale did he use initially to justify his belief. Maybe God answered a prayer request of his the first time around and that caused him to believe. Maybe it was something else. Nevertheless, it is the episode of the unanswered prayer that has relegated God to the rubbish bin for him.
So let us start with the premise that an all powerful deity does not exist at all. We are born, we live and then at some point we die. The good that happens to us is because of our abilities, our stroke of luck in our daily undertakings, the providence and generosity of others, everything to do with the system of the created order; nothing to do with the action of a supernatural entity. I think to be able to exist within the envelope of creation is to exist within a frame higher than the human plane. Somebody or something had to have created life, I am pretty sure no human being did. If God does not exist but this system called life does, what are the rules of engagement for successfully navigating this system. Why do some people excel while others are overwhelmed with the challenges that life throws at them? Is there a secret code that we don’t know about? Philosophers have been trying to figure life out for as long as humans have existed. At the end of the day most of their attempts have only resulted in more unanswered questions. But, to their credit many simply end up at a belief point that they end up being famous for. Carl Sagan, one of the great intellectuals of our time, an astrophysicist, cosmologist, believer in inter-terrestrial existence probably sums things up the best ‘'You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe.” What do you believe?
Do you know who St. Paul was?
Our school, and quite a few others here in Hong Kong, is named after a very important person in the Christian world. Paul was a Christian apostle who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD.
Wikipedia tells us of him as being a member of a strict Jewish sect called the Pharisees. He participated in the persecution of early disciples of Jesus sometimes personally overseeing their execution, quite famously one of the early apostles Stephen who was stoned to death. Some time after having approved of the execution of Stephen, Paul was traveling on the road to Damascus so that he might find any Christians there and bring them "bound to Jerusalem." At midday, a light brighter than the sun shone around both him and those with him, causing all to fall to the ground, with the risen Christ verbally addressing Paul regarding his persecution. Having been made blind, along with being commanded to enter the city, his sight was restored three days later by Ananias of Damascus. After these events, Paul was baptized, beginning immediately to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and the Son of God.
Paul was a prolific writer and a brilliant scholar. He debated frequently with the religious persons of his day to convince them to believe in the resurrection of Jesus and to accept that he was in fact the Messiah promised by God. The whole point of his conversion is that he used all of his wisdom and energy to defend Jesus rather than to deny him as he previously used to and to persecute those who chose to believe in him.
Conversion normally involves seeing things from another perspective. For example, you might think Ginger Ale soda is the worst possible soda in the world. How did you get to this conclusion? Perhaps your parent or a trusted adult hated Ginger Ale soda and so you grew up believing that it was the worst drink even though you might have never tasted it. Why did they hate it? Who knows? And so one hot summer day after a long game of basketball with your friends you are thirsty and have nothing to drink. You go to the nearest corner shop to buy something to drink and the only thing they have is Ginger Ale. You need something to drink and so grudgingly you buy one and taste it. You come to realize that its not that bad. It might not be your favourite but it isn’t as bad as you were told it would be. That is what happened to Paul. He grew up being taught that Jesus was bad, a fraud, a fake and a thousand different reasons why people should not believe in him. It wasn’t until he encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus that he had no choice to believe in him. Many people do not believe in Jesus or anything spiritual for whatever reason. Sometimes in order to believe or to change your perspective you have to experience things on a personal level.
Amen
Does God exist? Part 1
Over the next few weeks the theme of my podcast will seek to provide a plausible answer to the question of does God exist or not. As an exercise I asked my students, in no less than 50 words, to write down firstly if they thought God existed yes or no and then to provide an explanation for their answer. One young man said ‘I don’t believe in God because I cannot see Him.’ This is a common reason why many people adults included are not convinced that God exists. We had a discussion about it and I asked him if he liked science. He enthusiastically said yes. If my memory serves me correctly I think he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. We then talked about the basic building block of all matter, the atom. He was able to accurately describe how the atom is made with the protons and neutrons in the nucleus and the electron orbiting around it. So I asked him if he had ever seen any one of these particles. He said no. I then said that to the best of my knowledge no one has ever seen any of them and yet all scientists accept and believe that they exist. It is one of the fundamental theories of science. Quite a few scientists actually believe in the existence of God. Science and religion are not enemies. Science tries to provide a rational response and explanation for how the universe works. Just as there are thousands of trees and flowers in the Amazon that have yet to be discovered and classified does not mean that they do not exist, we just haven’t found them yet. The dad of a buddy of mine from my university days in the UK many moons ago actually, is a professor of entomology (the study of insects). He has two beetles named after him after he discovered these new species somewhere in his travels many years ago, I think it was in the Amazon area. I think the evidence for the existence of God as the supreme creator exists all around us. He exists in the rustling of the leaves on the trees, in the beauty and fragrance of the flowers, in the delicate fabric of the wings of a butterfly, in the intricate design of each of the billions of snowflakes and so on. He is all around us, maybe we actually look like Him in our own separate ways all 8 billion of us. I am pretty sure no human being made it all the way out to Saturn to put the rings around it. I believe God exists, His proof is everywhere. Do you?
Amen.
The Trinity
The most complicated topic within the realm of Christian theology is the Trinity. There have been thousands of books written on the topic over the past 2000 plus years. We human beings can only use the skills that we have to try to make sense of God. One of those skills is language. God is a complicated construct. The concept of the Trinity claims that God is male, part human and part spirit. He consists of at least three parts – The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. There may be many more parts to God than just three parts because the Hebrew word that best approximates to the Trinity is Elohim which means ‘gods’ but it can also mean ‘one god’ as well. Will there ever be enough words available to completely describe God? Probably not.
Concepts like the Trinity remind us, searchers of the truth, of just how many philosophical doors we have to unlock and then pass through in order to get a deeper and truer understanding of the entity we call God, the creator of all things. I met a young man not too long ago who shared with me his reasoning for wanting to learn more about God and to deepen his faith. As a child growing up he felt as though religion was something that he was forced to participate in. It didn’t make much sense to him and he really didn’t see the purpose for it. However, with age comes wisdom and insight. As he grew older he began contemplating some of the deeper questions of life. What am I here for? What is my purpose? Where is my life going? All very difficult questions that we all answer at some point in our lives. For him, he decided that the best way to find the answer to those questions was to embark on a journey of faith and to seek for answers along the way. To truly understand the Trinity you and I must engage on a journey of discovery. Will we ever get to the answer? Only God knows. Will we learn more about it and other complicated constructs of life along the path? Perhaps. Will the journey be worth it in the end? Most definitely. The unknown writer of the Taoist proverb states, and I believe it, ‘The journey is the reward.’
Amen.
I met a young man the other day who helped me to look at life from a different perspective. This is sometimes a good thing. Some people appear to be more goal oriented than others. Are the ones that aren’t as goal oriented lazy or are they just different? Is life always about the climb up or is it more about the cruise at a level altitude?
During our school years the goal is a multifaceted one. Not only are academic results important but also the development of the whole person is essential. This happens through the adoption of a value system. Values are intrinsic, they become a part of us. The best approximation I can think of is a code of living. In our school we have a number of values that all of us here as members of the St. Paul’s College community strive to live by. Some of the words might sound familiar to you like integrity, hope, and respect among others. These are heavy words. They mean a lot of different things. Many of us will interpret them in collectively similar ways but some of us will put our own twist on what the words actually mean.
Values help to develop your attitude. There is an old proverb that states ‘Attitude determines your altitude.’ You can be the brightest person in the world but lack a value system. That is not a good thing. Lacking values and not developing a holistic attitude to life limits, in my opinion, how high your end goal will be and how easily and quickly you attain it.
Living life without goals is like putting to sea in a ship and not knowing where you are going. Not only will you waste a lot of fuel and energy sailing aimlessly in what could be rough seas from time to time but at some point, you will run out of fuel and end up in the middle of nowhere. The satisfaction of achieving your goals is a wonderful feeling. You have a sense of accomplishment that boosts your mood and for most of us it brings us joy and happiness.
So, good luck to each and every one of us in this new academic year as we set our goals and then strive successfully to achieve them.
Amen.
“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.” Ecclesiastes 3:12
The beauty of having a summer break is to be able to rest, relax and reflect for a while. In the scriptures we are told in numerous locations that Jesus took time out to rest, to be alone, to sleep, to go walking in the hills, to go sailing on a boat, to eat good food and more importantly to pray and meditate. In Mark 6:31 we are told ‘Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat (the disciples), he (Jesus) said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’”
After we rest, then comes the hard work. Working in a school is hard work. We may not be laboring in the sun all day building roads or sweeping streets but we do work very hard here doing our best to mold and shape the lives of the young men committed to our care. Being a teacher is very rewarding. It truly is a calling. Jesus was a teacher too – perhaps the best ever. Every life event was a teachable moment for his followers. Every day, life paints a different scene for us as its actors. Some days are good days while other days are horrible ones. That’s just the way it is. What can we learn from the good experiences? What about the bad ones? There is always something to learn.
After we work and before we rest again comes the time of balance. Thomas Merton – an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar once said ‘Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.’ In our quest for balance we find happiness – or is it the other way around – in our quest for happiness we find balance. What do you do that makes you happy? Having a coffee with friends, reading a book, watching Netflix, going for a hike, enjoying a meal at a new restaurant, chatting to a relative on the telephone for hours – does it make you feel happy? Be intentional, carve time out of your very busy schedule every day if possible to do something that brings happiness to your soul. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes where we get our theme for the year was a teacher, and a wise one at that. He did his research and crunched his numbers, he watched people at work and at play and could rightly say what he did. And so, I challenge you and I challenge myself during this new school year to bring happiness into our school, into our work, into our lives, because truly there is nothing better than for us as humans but to be happy and do good while we live.
Amen.
Don’t Quit
When I was getting off the bus this morning I saw a little boy, dressed in his school uniform, he was a primary school student, struggling to come to grips with the fact that another Monday morning had happened again. His mother was fussing over him to put his back pack on, his eyes were tightly shut and I could almost see a tear squeezing out of the corner of one eye. I could almost hear him sigh ‘Why Monday, why do you have to be so cruel?’ We are into the second week of exams now. All of the revising is over for some subjects. There are only a few more subjects to go. Do we have the strength to make it to the finish line? Of course we do! But just to give you a little bit of encouragement, here is a classic poem by Edgar Albert Guest entitled – Don’t Quit!
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit –
rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about
when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow –
you may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
it seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
when he might have captured the victor's cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out –
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit –
it's when things seem worst, you must not quit.
Monday
When I was getting off the bus this morning I saw a little boy, dressed in his school uniform, he was a primary school student, struggling to come to grips with the fact that another Monday morning had happened again. His mother was fussing over him to put his back pack on, his eyes were tightly shut and I could almost see a tear squeezing out of the corner of one eye. I could almost hear him sigh ‘Why Monday, why do you have to be so cruel?’ Many of us adults struggle with Mondays especially after a long holiday weekend. And with the end of term squarely in our sights we can almost see the end of the marking, and report cards and grade entering and all other forms of end of term procedures. Do we have the strength to make it to the finish line? Of course we do! But just to give you a little bit of encouragement, here is a classic poem by Edgar Albert Guest entitled – Don’t Quit!
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
when the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
when the funds are low and the debts are high,
and you want to smile but you have to sigh,
when care is pressing you down a bit –
rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about
when he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow –
you may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
it seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
when he might have captured the victor's cup;
and he learned too late when the night came down,
how close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out –
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit –
it's when things seem worst, you must not quit.
Exams are stressful times for students. After all the studying has been completed and the day of the test has arrived the only thing you can do now is to face the music. It doesn’t hurt to say a short prayer before a test so that God can help you. Why not use the words of this short prayer from living-prayers.com every day before your exams. Good luck.
Heavenly Father, Only your peace can sustain me through the anxiety and stresses of exam nerves. Your peace surpasses all understanding. I ask for this gift and choose to lean upon you at this time. Lord, come and remind me of your unfailing love. Remind me that you hold me safe, you understand me, and you cherish me. I lay down my fears before you. I leave them at the foot of the cross, for you have overcome the world. I choose to give you all my concerns, worries and fears of failure. I trust that your loving hand will hold me through these exams and lead into a bright future. Amen.
Teachers
By Kevin William Huff
"Teachers paint their minds,
And guide their thoughts,
Share their achievements,
And advise their faults.
Inspire a love,
Of knowledge and truth,
As you light the path,
Which leads our youth.
For our future brightens,
With each lesson you teach,
Each smile you lengthen,
Each goal you help reach.
For the dawn of each poet,
Each philosopher and king,
Begins with a Teacher,
And the wisdom they bring."
EXAM TIME
Just about every young person anywhere in the world when exam time rolls around will wrestle with a thought in their mind that sound similar to the following question: ‘After I leave school will I every use any of this information I have been taught for the past year ever again?’ ‘Will I have to find the integral of an equation? Or ‘Will I ever have to use the equations of motion during my interview for a job?’ Or ‘Is all of this memorizing of the different redox reactions in Chemistry really going to applicable in the real world?’ The answer is probably not but learning about them is still very important. Not only is acquiring knowledge important, the application of the acquired knowledge is equally as important. I like to use the analogy of going to school as taking your mind to the gym. Sometimes you have to flex those mental muscles so that you gain the skills necessary to be able to navigate through this jungle that we call life. Much of the science and math based subjects are all about problem solving. This is a very important skill set to have as a citizen of the world. History based subjects allow us to peer into the lives of civilizations of the past. What can we learn from them? What mistakes did they make? How did they recover from them? What successes did they have? How can I apply those successes to my life today? Arts based subjects and languages help us to communicate with each other, to be able to make new friends with people from all over the world, to learn from each other. So school is very important, the things that you learn prepare you for life.
So why do I have to sit exams? Why do I need to be assessed on this knowledge that I am gaining? That is a really good question. The best answer I can give is life puts us to the test every day. Some days the tests are harder than others but there is no escaping them. Let me give you an example. You have a big presentation to make at work today. You have been preparing for it all for three weeks. There is still some minor tweaking to do but you hope to get in to the office early so that you can finish everything off. After a restless night sleep because you are so hyped you get up early to get ready to go to work. You leave home on time and head to the bus stop. After 20 minutes no buses come along and you start to get nervous. What do I do? Do I wait for a little while longer or catch a cab? Unknown to you there is a massive traffic jam affecting all traffic into your area. No cars, taxis or buses can get through because the road is closed off. The walk to the MTR station will take you at least 30 minutes and it is hot and humid outside. What do you do? If you walk you will be dripping with sweat when you get there. The trains will probably be full. What do you do? How do you solve this problem? This is how life is sometimes. You have to be able to think on your feet. School prepares you for moments like this. You have to be able to pass the test.
So good luck boys. Study hard. Get a good night’s rest before your exam. Eat a good breakfast and simply do your best. Even if you don’t do as well as you would have wished, don’t worry there will be another test around the corner for you to try again on. Amen.
BURNOUT
This week my focus is on a very important topic that affects all of us from time to time. Burnout is real and it is draining. The Harvard Business Review posted an excellent article about burnout that clearly defines what it is and some of the factors we should look out for and what should we do to build back up from it. In an article written by Monique Valcour she says ‘Stress is a fact of professional life, but extreme and unrelenting pressures can lead to the debilitating state we call burnout. Three symptoms characterize burnout: exhaustion; cynicism, or distancing oneself from work; and inefficacy, or feelings of incompetence and lack of achievement.’
Have you been working too hard for the past few months? Does it feel like the assignments and quizzes never ends? Do you feel tired all the time? Does it feel as though you just can’t get out of bed in the mornings? Are you getting enough sleep? If you answer yes to any of these questions then you can probably tick box number one.
Normally at this time of the school year with exams just around the corner students get tired. You have been pushing really hard throughout the school year trying to make sure that you stay on top of your work. There have been quizzes to study for. Homework to do. Extra classes to attend. Extra-curricular activities to be a part of. The finish line is not too far away and it is the last few miles of the marathon that are really the hardest.
Cynicism is also an indicator of burnout. Are all of your assignments done? Are you up to date with your work? There are subjects that you like and those that you do not like, are you giving them all enough attention? Are you developing a sense of distance from your work? It is a natural human reaction when we are on the road to burnout. It is not that we are lazy or uncommitted we just need to take a break from it and come back to it a little bit later.
The final indicator is the sense of not being good enough. Did you not get the grade you were hoping for in your last test? Are things becoming a bit too much for you right now? Did you do your best? In reality we did our best with what we had at the time. And there is nothing wrong with that. You can only do your best you can’t do more than that.
So then, supposed we have ticked all three boxes and we are in a state of burnout. What should we do to fix it?
There are four suggestions from the article:
Prioritize self care, Shift your perspective, Reduce exposure to stressors and Seek out connections.
Self care means what it says. You have to take care of yourself first. You have to rest, eat well, get enough sleep and do things that make you happy and you have fun doing. Maybe its playing basketball with some friends or going to get your favourite fast food. Forget about the calories. Did it make you feel good? Savour the feeling. Build your soul back up. In my next post I will expand on the other three remedies. But for today, be encouraged, you are a good student and you should be proud of yourself.
Amen.
BURNOUT
This week my focus is on a very important topic that affects all of us from time to time. Burnout is real and it is draining. The Harvard Business Review posted an excellent article about burnout that clearly defines what it is and some of the factors we should look out for and what should we do to build back up from it. In an article written by Monique Valcour she says ‘Stress is a fact of professional life, but extreme and unrelenting pressures can lead to the debilitating state we call burnout. Three symptoms characterize burnout: exhaustion; cynicism, or distancing oneself from work; and inefficacy, or feelings of incompetence and lack of achievement.’
Have you been working too hard for the past few months? Does it feel like the marking never ends? Do you feel tired all the time? Does it feel as though you just can’t get out of bed in the mornings? Are you getting enough sleep? If you answer yes to any of these questions then you can probably tick box number one.
Normally at this time of the school year with exams just around the corner teachers get tired. We have been pushing really hard throughout the school year trying to make sure that we cover all of the curriculum content, dealing with online learning and more. There have been quizzes to set and mark. Homework to collect and mark. Meetings to attend and a whole host of other things. We know that the finish line is not too far away and it is the last few miles of the marathon that are really the hardest.
Cynicism is also an indicator of burnout. Have the papers been piling up on your desk for a while? You just don’t have the energy or desire to mark them? Is your TO DO list getting longer and longer by the day? If so you might be developing a sense of distance from your work. It is a natural human reaction when we are on the road to burnout. It is not that we are lazy or uncommitted we just need to take a break from it and come back to it a little bit later.
The final indicator is the sense of not being good enough. Teaching is perhaps one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It requires a lot of giving all the time. We pour into the lives of our students every day and sometimes there isn’t much innovate and creativity in the tank left. Sometimes we feel as though our students could have done better or we could have done better in teaching them. In reality we did our best with what we had at the time. And there is nothing wrong with that. You can only do your best you can’t do more than that.
So then, supposed we have ticked all three boxes and we are in a state of burnout. What should we do to fix it? There are four suggestions from the article:
Prioritize self care, Shift your perspective, Reduce exposure to stressors and Seek out connections.
Self care means what it says. You have to take care of yourself first. You have to rest, eat well, get enough sleep and do things that make you happy and you have fun doing. The papers to mark and the lessons to plan are going to be there tomorrow anyway but I feel like eating a piece of cake from Lady M today. So, go and get it and eat all of it. Eat 2 if you feel like it. Forget about the calories. Did it make you feel good? Savour the feeling. Build your soul back up.
In my next post I will expand on the other three remedies. But for today, be encouraged, we are all good people and we do our best everyday.
Amen
Gratitude
In a little book entitled ‘The Little Book of Gratitude: Create a Life of Happiness and Well Being by Giving Thanks’ by Dr. Robert Emmons he defines gratitude as: ‘A scientifically proven way to increase happiness and encourage greater joy, love, peace, and optimism into our lives.’
‘Gratitude is, first and foremost, a way of seeing that alters our gaze.’
This is powerful!
Are things really the way that they seem? If I change my perspective and look at a situation from a different angle would it look the same way? Is the glass really half empty or is it half full?
What are you grateful for? Can you find one thing every day to be grateful for? Can you find two, or even three? I am fascinated by the way that the brain works. Perhaps in a former life I was a psychologist or psychiatrist I don’t know. Many moons ago I attended a workshop in Boston MA where the presenter was exploring the relationship between learning and the brain. He had worked in a school that was either connected to or located inside a hospital for children I can’t remember but he shared some of his experiences of working with children who had issues of various kinds. One story stuck with me that I would like to share.
Essentially there was a boy who was a challenge to deal with in the classroom. He wasn’t focused on his work and had behavioural issues. He was however fixated with animals. Everything in his life revolved around animals, how they behaved, where they lived, what they ate, how to interact with them etc. He knew everything about them and if he didn’t know he went to find out. So, what did the school do? They made the boy the caretaker of the school pet. I think it was a bird. He made sure the bird ate, his cage was clean, he was entertained and everything else that went on with caring for a bird. His behavior improved, his teachers focused their lessons around birds just for him and his academics improved. It was a win win situation. They found something that he was good at and they incorporated it into enhancing the life of the school. The teachers were grateful, the boy was grateful, his parents were grateful because what was once seen as a challenge could actually be viewed in a different way.
When life throws what looks like a challenge it you, rest assured, life also provides the solution for you too even though you can’t really see it clearly at first. Develop a sense of gratitude to be able to look at things a different way to get a clearer picture of what challenges in life you might be faced with. Gratitude gives you that X Ray vision to see things differently so that a life of happiness, love, joy, optimism and peace can be ours to enjoy more and more each day.
What Motivates You?
In a fantastic article written by Ashley Elizabeth – a resilience coach and motivational speaker on lifehack.com she makes a powerful case for the importance of motivation in our lives. She says ‘The difference between successful people versus everyone else is that no matter what is going on around them, successful people always find the motivation and drive to keep going.’ We all want to be successful so how do we stay motivated?
‘What Is Motivation?
Psychologists define motivation as the process by which activities are started, directed, and sustained so that certain needs are met[1].
Why Is Motivation Important?
According to the research of Dr. Anders Ericsson, motivation is the most significant predictor of success[2]. I like the way he puts it – ‘It is the secret sauce that allows you to create your destiny.’
1. Motivation helps you to know your why.
2. Motivation helps you have to transform fear Into a powerful plan of action
3. Motivation helps You Bounce Forward From Setbacks
Everybody is different. We are all motivated in different ways. What motivates you might not motivate the person sitting next to you. You have to find that thing that you love that motivates you, that pushes you or pulls you along. There are so many different strategies out there but the important thing is that you have to have something to believe in. As we begin another week I hope and pray that whatever currently motivates you continues to be that powerful driving force in your life. And if you haven’t found that ‘secret sauce’ just yet know that when you find it, success will be yours for the taking.
Ashley quotes Zig Ziglar who she said, says it best,
“Motivation is like bathing, you have to do it every day. Without motivation, you will never have the drive to take action, and without action, you can never reach your goals and live your dreams.”
Students in HK are some of the busiest people in the city. Most of you wake up at 5.30am, hustle to get ready to get onto the bus or the MTR by 6.00am, travel to get to school by 7.00am, take a break to have some breakfast and to then enjoy some quiet time before class begins. When the first bell goes you’ve really already been to work for 2 hours just trying to get to school on time. I have a friend who told me a story of his early working days as a trader in Hong Kong. He had to be at his desk and trading at 6.30am. God only knows what time he had to get up to make it to work on time. He also had to take a ferry as well. All of this pushing takes a toll on your mind and your body. Is life really supposed to be this difficult?
After 6 hours of intensive learning at school we come to end of the school day. What do you do next? I have asked many of you what exactly do you do after school and you have given me many mixed responses. Most of you say you either go home and study some more or there is an extra class that you have to attend. Some of you admit to just going home and spending time chatting to friends on whatsapp or playing games on your phone and then eventually picking up a book, doing some homework and then studying. Which approach works best for you?
In the ancient monasteries the monks believed in living life in three separate chunks. There were 24 hours in the day, 8 hours were for sleeping, 8 hours were for praying and going to church and the final 8 hours were for working. We are not monks but there is some wisdom in their strategy. Medical professionals will tell you that getting enough sleep is important. Especially for all of you as young people, you need your sleep because your minds and bodies are growing rapidly. Some of you have gotten taller since I’ve seen you last before the summer holidays. Breakfast is also touted as being the most important meal of the day. So many studies have been conducted by medical researchers and they have found that there is a definite link between student performance and the eating of breakfast. Here’s a hint – do you want to do better on your upcoming exams? Get enough sleep, so many of you tell me that you go to bed so late at night, you need 8 hours rest and eat a good breakfast every day. While we are sleeping our bodies are fasting and so when we wake up we are hungry and we need something to eat. While we are at school we work hard, there is no doubt about that. All of you are hardworking students and I applaud you for your diligence. So 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for work, what do we do with the last 8 hours?
There has to be a balance. You have to do something fun for some of those 8 hours. Yes studying is important, as is the extra classes you might need to go to but there has to be an outlet for having fun. Many educational researchers have found a link between physical activity and improved academic performance so taking a break to play a game of football or basketball with your friends might help you to score higher on that next test. Also one or two pieces of educational research have suggested that there may be a link between some leisure activities and improved academic performance. Of course what is fun for you might not be fun for someone else so everything is relative. Maybe you like to play a musical instrument or perhaps you have a hobby. Take time out and organize the hours in your day and success will be yours.
The Box of Spare Parts
During my first week at Seminary I was introduced to the concept of having a Rule of Life. Prior to this I did not know much about the topic and to be honest I pretty much lived life from day to day. Yes there would be some goal setting, some targets to work toward but in terms of a method for day to day living I didn’t really have one. And so, I was introduced to the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia.
St. Benedict is the father of the monastic movement. According to Wikipedia he founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Lazio, Italy (about 65 kilometres (40 mi) to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of central Italy. He is the patron saint of Europe. He was the son of a Roman noble and was sent to Rome to attend school but didn’t enjoy the life there and so he became a hermit for three years, living in a cave in the mountains of Subaico. After some intrigue he established 12 monasteries in the mountains of Italy, his most famous being the Benedictine Monastery of Monte Cassino in 530AD. His main achievement, his "Rule of Saint Benedict", contains a set of rules for his monks to follow. The rule has a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness which persuaded most Christian religious communities founded throughout the Middle Ages to adopt it.
One of the Rules of Life talk about the person of the monk who is identified as ‘the box of spare parts.’ This person is flexible and willing to help out whenever he can if possible. Being a spare part means that you may not be the factory identified replacement part but you are the right size and shape and can fit in and just about make the machine work. It’s like being the wrong size spare tyre for your car. The car might not travel as smoothly as it could with all four tyres being the same but at least you won’t be stuck on the side of the road with a flat. I believe in this way of living. I think sometimes there is a danger in the concept of perfection. Though it is something excellent to strive for, the anguish of not achieving perfection is sometimes damaging for persons. Sometimes 99% is just as good as 100%. Sometimes perfection comes in just getting to the end of a difficult challenge. Everything may not have gone to plan but at least you can step back at the end of it, look at it and say ‘I’ve done a good thing.’
And so as we march ahead with life post COVID I want to encourage you to embrace life to the fullest. If you don’t have a rule of life already, consider finding one that works for you or perhaps you can write your own. Who knows maybe 100 years from now your rule of life will be just as famous as the rule of St. Benedict. Who knows how many people’s lives would have been touched by your wisdom in your approach to life. A rule is like a ruler, it is not there to limit you but rather to help you to follow a straight path. May your paths be straight and true today.
Amen.
The Similarities of Religion
For the past few weeks I have been doing a lot of reading about Confucianism and Buddhism. Religion is the human attempt to understand how God works and theology is the human language that we use to try to make sense of God’s actions. For example here in Hong Kong, the main language is Cantonese. It is a difficult language to learn, as I am finding out, but the words and phrases and sounds and the writings and the characters all help us to connect with each other. The interesting thing about all of the writings of the main religions is that the text can be translated to any and every language on the planet. So no matter where you are in the world and what language you speak you can learn about the teachings of the Buddha, especially on this holiday celebrating the birthday of the Buddha, or the teachings of Jesus or any other major religious figure. The interesting thing I learned about Confucianism though is that it isn’t really a religion but rather is more a philosophical way of thought and of being. The writings of Confucius are very profound and have deep meaning and are still very relevant and applicable today but most scholars would agree that it chooses not to engage with some of the deeper topics of religion like salvation, life after death etc.
The Four Noble Truths about suffering as explained in Buddhist literature are all very true. Suffering, like language, is something that unites all of us as human beings. At some point in our lives we will encounter suffering. Even Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God, encountered much suffering while he was alive here in this common sphere of earth that we share. I don’t know of anyone alive who would love to suffer all day every day. I certainly would not. So how then do I live in such a way or how do I navigate through life to minimize the amount of suffering I could possibly encounter? I like to think about it like this. Life is like a video game. One of the more popular ones from my childhood would be Halo or Call of Duty. Like in the game, in real life there is a goal that we are all trying to get to at the end. Along the way there are obstacles to overcome, enemies to neutralize, friends to partner with, supplies to collect along the way and a map to follow. If we are lucky there is an eye in the sky observing the surroundings, seeing things that we cannot see as yet, sending instructions to an ear piece in our ear as to which way to go, what to look out for or what is hiding behind the next corner. For us as Christians we like to think of that voice in our ear as the Holy Spirit.
After Jesus rose from the dead at Easter, which we just celebrated, he went back to heaven where He came from but before He left He promised to send someone to help us navigate our journey here in life. In Buddhism, the Buddha in his writing said that he would leave instructions in his writings to guide us and the same could be said of all the religious writings. Someone took the time out to observe life and to leave clues to help us to avoid some of the classic pitfalls that affect all of us as human beings. So, since we are already here in this video game of life let us play as hard as we can, trying to get to the goal of leaving the world a little better than we left it before we die, helping as many people as we can along the journey and avoiding as many dangers as possible on the way.
READ THE TEXTBOOK
One of the best pieces of advice I always gave my Physics students was to ‘read the textbook.’ We have all been students before. We like to rely on our short term memories to help us to make it through our exams or quizzes. Nobody likes to read the text book. It takes too long. It’s boring. I’m not going to need all of this information anyway. For the most part you might be correct, however the results of my text book experiment were pretty accurate. All of my students who took the time out to read the text book scored A grades in their national exams. What was the secret? The answer is discipline. If you are disciplined enough to read the text book then chances are you will be disciplined enough to take the time to process information and be able to embrace it not just to draw it out for an exam. Things learned from the textbook tend to stay with you for the rest of your life.
The same can be said of religious books. Every major religion has their own version of the text book. For us as Christians it is the bible. It is a very long read. Actually it is a library of books written and assembled over a period of many hundreds of years. A lot of what is printed in the bible are stories. The Old Testament talks a lot about events that happened in the life of the Jewish people. The Gospels talk a lot about the life of Jesus and the things that he got up to. The remainder of the New Testament talks about the person of St. Paul (the patron saint of our school) and his writings to the newly formed congregations of the church around the time of his life. In comparison, the writings of the Koran, the Talmud and others tell similar stories. The purpose of these text books is to tell the story of us as human beings.
Since the beginning of time people have stopped to think about the big questions of life. What am I here for? What is my purpose? How will I know if and when I achieve it? Am I having an impact? Is my life making a difference? How do I navigate through the challenges of life? Is there a God out there? Why does evil happen in the world? For every question of life there is a story associated with the answer in the religious writings of the world. A lot of timeless wisdom exists in the ancient writings of the sages. We human beings haven’t really changed that much over the last couple of thousand of years. The only real difference is the level of technology that exists within our created envelope. So the next time you have a deep question about life that you are struggling to find the answer for why not search for the answer in one of the text books of life. As the rain falls outside I am reminded of a quote ‘Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.’ I hope you find some of life’s answers in your text book today.
A PSALM OF LIFE
There is such a different atmosphere in the air here in Hong Kong. It is energizing and refreshing. Under the masks there are more smiles, there is more singing, people are chatting loudly on the buses, the parks are open, people are playing games and getting on with living their lives. It is almost magical to witness the change. I am hopeful and excited about life.
I want to share with you a classic poem about life from one of my favourite poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I hope you find motivation from it as we have reached the light at the end of the tunnel and new days and new beginnings are ours to conquer.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
OPPORTUNITY
Welcome back to school! I have been waiting for this day for a long time. Even better will be May 10 when we all head back to school face to face. So many of you that I have chatted with over the past few weeks feel the same way. Yes sometimes the lessons might be boring or the work difficult but nothing beats the energy of a bustling classroom with 30 or more students eager to learn and excel in life.
I want to share with you a poem by Berton Brayley entitled Opportunity. Every one of us has something inside that the world needs, a famous invention, a beautiful song, a poem, a timeless piece of literature, a painting, a sculpture. Don’t miss your opportunity to leave your mark on the world.
With doubt and dismay you are smitten
You think there’s no chance for you, son?
Why, the best books haven’t been written,
The best race hasn’t been run,
The best score hasn’t been made yet,
The best song hasn’t been sung,
The best tune hasn’t been played yet,
Cheer up, for the world is young!
No chance? Why the world is just eager
For things that you ought to create,
It’s store of true wealth is still meager,
It’s needs are incessant and great,
It yearns for more power and beauty,
More laughter and love and romance,
More loyalty, labor and duty,
No chance–why there’s nothing but chance!
For the best verse hasn’t been rhymed yet,
The best house hasn’t been planned,
The highest peak hasn’t been climbed yet,
The mightiest rivers aren’t spanned,
Don’t worry and fret, faint hearted,
The chances have just begun,
For the best jobs haven’t been started,
The best work hasn’t been done.
EASTER MESSAGE – FR. SHAZZ TURNQUEST
ST. PAUL’S COLLEGE
Mark 16:6-8
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
The Easter story is truly an exceptional event that defies all human reasoning and understanding. Many people choose not to believe outright that it is possible for a human being to be raised from the dead. Critics will say that Jesus wasn’t really a normal human being anyway so it theoretically might be possible but what about for us ‘normal’ people. The Easter story does highlight two fundamental concerns for all of us as human beings namely:
· The desire to live forever
· The desire to not die.
From the minute we are born we are on a journey to the grave. This reality is true regardless of our spiritual affiliation. Even those of us who are not spiritual in any way cannot escape this fundamental law of life of our universe. Everything in the created order dies. Trees die, animals die, humans die, even stars in the sky die. In my 47 years of life I have never met anyone who has ever wanted to die. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the Garden of Gethsemanee, in his pleading with God in Mark 14:35-36 wished that the cup of suffering and death might pass over him. Jesus Christ, in his true humanity did not want to die. Death is the last physical challenge that we as human beings have yet to conquer with all of our intellect and technological advancement. There is no magic pill that we can take to make us live forever. Will we ever scientifically conquer death? I don’t know. Many have tried before and many continue to try. According to an article in the sciencetimes.com on Sept 13,2021 Jeff Bezos, perhaps currently the richest man in the world, is investing heavily in research at a place named Alto Labs to develop genetic reverse ageing technology to try to live forever. Even he too doesn’t want to die.
The miracle of Easter gives us a clue into how we can in fact beat death. We have to die first in order to live forever! Immortality lives within us as the soul and spirit are in fact immortal. Only the human body is finite. It simply cannot live longer than a specified time. Even the healthiest person, at some point has to die. The human being is the most fascinating creature ever created. The body contains an immortal soul, implanted within each of us from the moment of our creation when the miracle of biology happens within our mother’s womb. Life begins at the fusion of the sperm and the egg, it is our Big Bang. Is that one of the hidden places where God reveals Himself? From that point on everything else is evolutionary. Like a baby growing in the womb, or a caterpillar undergoing a metamorphosis to a butterfly in a cocoon, Jesus became spirit and soul albeit with a twist He also transformed his physical body into something else for his scars were still visible as Thomas the disciple would discover a little later. So what does that mean for me and you? Many religions believe that there is life after death. The ancient Egyptians buried the Pharaohs with wealth to spend in the afterlife. In our own local culture models of items that we believe our dead relatives will need in the next life are burned at their funerals.
Easter reminds us every year to live in hope. Life without hope is dark and depressing. Hope is nourishment for the soul. Hope gives us the energy to keep pressing forward amidst the most difficult of times. It is no divine accident that Easter falls, for the most part, in the springtime every year. S
PALM SUNDAY
Yesterday marked the beginning of what is known as the most holy week in the annual calendar of the Christian church. Jesus has entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and on his way in to town the people on the side of the road cut down palm branches from the trees and lay them on the road for him to ride over. As He is enroute he is greeted with the phrases ‘Hosanna, to the King of David!’ and ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’ as well as other shouts of acclamation. His fame has preceded him and now the citizens are hopeful that he will drive out the terrible Roman persecutors and liberate Jerusalem and the temple religious establishment once and for all. As far as they are concerned, it is time now for war! Their long awaited messiah has come to set them free.
Over the course of this week the shouts of praise on Sunday will turn into blood curdling demands for him to be crucified. This same long awaited Messiah is not doing what the crowds thought that he would do. Maybe if we press him into a corner he will call out to God and armies of angels with fire swords, lightning and thunder will descend and kill all the Romans. Let us try to force his hand.
One the other hand the religious leaders are watching this pontifical entrance of the Messiah with dread. Has he come here to destroy their way of life? They have gotten rich and lead a comfortable life taking advantage of the spirituality of the people through the temple taxing structure. Not too long ago it was Jesus who made a whip and drove out the money changers and the animal sellers from the temple. The true purpose of the temple, as a house of prayer, was being compromised. It would be these same religious leaders who tempt Judas Iscariot with money to betray Jesus to them. He does so and the rest, as they say, is history.
This entire week was a week of intense testing for Jesus. In our own envelope here at St. Paul’s for our sixth formers their time of intense testing will soon be upon them with the beginning of the DSE examinations. It is a normally a very stressful time. I can still remember how stressed out I was more than 30 years ago getting ready to sit my A Level exams back in the Bahamas. In today’s modern and fast paced world the pressure to succeed has surely been amplified many times over than in my day. Is there any thing we can learn from Jesus’ experience that can help to prepare us for challenging moments of testing in our lives? In life there are three possible outcomes to a test. We either pass with flying colours and get the results we worked hard to prepare for, we pass but do not do as well as we had hoped or we fail and all of our hard work for the past many years has appeared to have been in vain. Of course everyone wants to pass with the highest grade possible. But if that does not happen, is that the end of the world? I don’t think so.
You do not have to be a Christian or even a religious person to learn something from the life of Jesus.
1. Jesus was preparing for this test from the moment he was born. When the wise men came to visit him at his birth in Bethlehem they told his mother Mary many things that pointed to the events of this upcoming week. You too have been preparing for this examination for all of your school career up to this point.
2. Jesus got nervous and almost didn’t follow through with his assignment in the Garden of Gethsemanee. He asked God to remove this ‘cup of suffering’ from Him if it was at all possible. You too might feel very nervous on exam day. This is normal. Just breath deeply and try to stay calm. If you panic and get anxious the information in your brain won’t be able to flow properly. Your mind will develop a clog.
3. Finally, in the end success is yours no matter what grade you get. You showed up and took the exam. Good luck!
POSITIVITY
What a beautiful day yesterday was here in Hong Kong! There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The temperature was just right, not too hot and not too cold. Children were riding their scooters on the sidewalk, couples were riding their bicycles or strolling hand in hand in the city centre. The domestic helpers were having a grand time fellowshipping with each other, playing card games and singing karaoke. There seems to be a shift in mood in the air. What could it be? In reality we as human beings are hardwired to look at life from one of two perspectives – either the glass is half empty or it is half full. Some people live in a constant state of doom and gloom while others live in a world of possibilities and rainbows. There is merit to both points of view as life causes us to constantly pivot every day.
Living with COVID, the invisible enemy, for the past two almost three years has been psychologically very difficult. Many people have lost their lives, some known to us and others complete strangers. There is no disputing that fact. Life is precious, it is sacred, human life is at the highest tier of the created existence. It is only right and fitting to sympathize with those who have lost loved ones during this dark time. I certainly have lost family members and friends and I am sure that you have as well. How much of our own lives have we lost during this time? How many events in our lives did we miss in person, how many people we did not get to touch physically, probably too many to mention. Thankfully those days appear to be drawing to a close. We humans are sensory people. Zoom does not allow me to smell the aroma of the cup of coffee I see you drinking on the computer screen. I cannot taste the chocolate cake that you made that you are showing me virtually. Neither can I touch you though I can see and hear you, provided the internet doesn’t go down during our online call. In the old days, when there was no zoom we could only hear each other through the telephone so at least that is some progress. Could somebody invent teleporting quickly please so that we can travel long distances in seconds and not have to worry about flight restrictions? Then I would be able to smell the coffee and eat the cake and give you a hug in person.
I have decided to focus on everything else in life except for COVID. I don’t read about it in the newspapers anymore, I certainly don’t watch anything on TV about it. There is so much more to life than staying in a mental prison with COVID as the jailer. Life is meant to be lived and lived to the fullest. This is the message of the Easter season that is fast approaching. Even Jesus broke out of the prison of the tomb after 3 days. It’s our time now to resurrect, unlock the chains that have been weighing us down, put a spring in our step and a song in our hearts, embrace life and live as hard as we can.
Nothing in Life Comes Easy
Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Life is not easy. Even the best laid plans can get thrown off in a heart beat. The buzzword post covid appears to be PIVOT. Because of the law of chance embedded within our human existence there is always a chance that something can go wrong when you least expect it. The law of chance is like the law of gravity. It exists and we are influenced by it all day every day. We as Christians sometimes struggle with understanding why bad things happen to us. Didn’t I say my prayers? Haven’t I tried to be a good person? Am I not following the 10 commandments? Why is this happening to me? There are 2 ways to look at life – either from a negative perspective or a positive one. When bad things happen to us are we able to find the good in it somehow? This is very difficult to do. It’s not easy. It’s like life itself.
When summer break was moved forward a few weeks ago I decided to take the opportunity to travel back home to the Bahamas for a few weeks. It had been eight months since I had been at home and realistically if I did not travel then I would not have been able to travel for the remainder of the year. So, at the spur of the moment, and in faith, I booked my ticket and my quarantine hotel and made ready to travel. As chance would have it, the restrictions to enter the UK were relaxed and no test was required to enter. This was a blessing because the COVID outbreak here in Hong Kong was exploding. It was impossible to book at PCR test in order to travel. I made it out just in time. After arriving in the UK and spending a day with my son I was off again to the Bahamas via New York and then Miami and finally home.
I enjoyed my time and got to visit with family and friends. I ate a lot of good food, checked on a number of projects that I had been working on before leaving to come to Hong Kong and enjoyed all that the Bahamas had to offer. Coming back home to Hong Kong was a bit more of a challenge. It seemed as though chance and luck were no longer in my favour. But at the end of it all I made it back safely. The moral of the story is that life requires strength and determination to push through its challenges. It is like flying on an airplane you have to push through the turbulence to get to the smoother air above. My original flight back to Hong Kong got cancelled. I had to rebook my quarantine hotel twice – fortunately they still had space. They are now fully booked until the end of August. I had to rebook a new flight to Hong Kong, the second leg of which I was denied boarding due to the fact that my COVID test would expire before I got to Hong Kong, never mind that the journey time is more than 24 hours. I then had to book a new flight and a new COVID test all without sleep sitting on the floor of JFK airport in New York city at 1.00am in the morning. Life can indeed be tough.
Through it all God, in his quiet but powerful way was rolling the dice in my favour. Were it not for Whatsapp and some internet data, my wife would not have been able to make a new booking for me. Were it not for the COVID lab opening at 6.00am in JFK I would not have had my new test in time. Were it not for Korean Airlines being on time I would not have made it back to Hong Kong just before my quarantine hotel booking would be invalid. Was it stressful? Yes, very. Was it worth it? Definitely.
Even when things don’t appear to be working out, God is still very hard at work for all of us. COVID has taught us that all of our best laid plans can be thrown off in an instant. All of our plans for the future have gone sideways and we have to pivot. We will get through any and all challenges life has to throw at us. We just have to be strong and courageous. God will always make a way, and He is with us wherever we go.
Amen.
CHAPTER 6
8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.
10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [3] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [4]
16 Make a roof for it and finish [5] the ark to within 18 inches [6] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
The biblical story of Noah and the ark involves the elimination of all humanity by a great and terrible flood. Noah is instructed to build a big boat and take a sample of all animal life on board, a male and female of each species. In this way life will be able to begin again after the flood waters would have subsided.
Not only was Noah a boat builder, and by extension a captain, he had the incredible duty of having to be perhaps the busiest zoo keeper ever in the history of mankind. Even before the flood he would have had to grow enough food for a microcosm of humanity to feed on for at least 40 days.
Can you imagine what life must have been like for at least 150 days on the ark?
Can you imagine being locked up with the sights, sounds and smells of all of those animals? It is hard for us to be at home for 2 days on the weekend, what about someone in solitary confinement in a small prison cell for 30 days? Or what about someone in a hotel quarantine for 2 or 3 weeks?
The story of Noah hits home to me during this time of the pandemic in that the beginning of the lock down felt like the day the Lord closed the door of the ark. There was a finality to it. For those who scoffed at Noah and did not take his warnings.
The story of Noah has so many powerful images applicable to us in our present day. The releasing of the raven and then the dove to assess the situation on the outside of the boat speaks of hope when the dove brings back the olive branch. Things are subsiding, the waters are going down, dry ground will appear again. We must hold on to hope. Our covid numbers are declining rapidly, fewer and fewer people are getting ill. We are going to get through this. God has a beginning and an end to all things. How we manage in the middle is our test. At the end of the flood, the scriptures tell us that Noah goes on to plant a vineyard and begin his new life here on earth. We are not told what he did for a living before the flood, but we do know that for a few good years well he was a marine engineer, carpenter, painter, then a zoo keeper and farmer during the flood. He re-invented himself! This is what we need to do to survive and thrive during and after this life changing pandemic. How are you going to re-invent yourself?
Life is changed, not ended.
Why and How Do You Pray
Luke 11:1-4
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
The Our Father Prayer is a template for prayer given to us in scripture by Jesus himself. Sometimes we find it hard to pray and sometimes we forget to pray to God to give him thanks for all the things that he does for us. In essence the Our Father Prayer is broken down into a simple formula:
1.We firstly acknowledge the sovereignty of God.
2.We ask for an opportunity to do His will in the world.
3.We ask that he provides our needs for us.
4.We seek his forgiveness for the things we do wrong, but it comes with a catch.
5.We ask for his guidance to avoid difficult times.
Have you ever been inside a huge building or perhaps been to the top of a very tall building? Did you feel the enormity of the space or appreciate the breathtaking views from the 100th floor? Somebody designed that building. A team of people built that building. It is so much bigger than just you or me. That’s how God is. He designed and built the universe, no human being could have done it. He is so much bigger than all of us and so the first thing we do when we pray is to essentially thank God for being so big and powerful.
The next part of the prayers talks about the coming of God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. What does this mean? I sometimes wonder what heaven must be like. What do people do there all day? Is there any crime? Do they have illnesses? Is there a subway system? Do people work? I’m not really sure. What if life on earth could be heavenly? What would that look like for you? When we do God’s will in the world by doing the right things each and every day and trying to make life a little bit better for our fellow brothers and sisters in some small way we are bringing a little bit of heaven to earth. So when we pray we are asking God to give us an opportunity to do something positive each day to eliminate the hell that someone might be going through just for a little while.
The next part of the prayer involves us asking God to provide all that we need. Some people develop an attitude of not wanting to ask God for anything. That is fine. Some people feel as though they don’t need God. They’ve got it all sorted out. Some people do not have life all sorted out and they need help and guidance in order to make it through life from time to time. When life throws you a challenge and you need help, the best thing to do is to pray and ask God for help to navigate. In doing so he provides opportunities for us to earn a living, to pay our bills, and to take care of ourselves. This is what it means to give us our daily bread.
Next week I will continue with the last two points on forgiveness and guidance through difficult times.
Have a wonderful week
Genesis 45:4-8
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
During this week the readings for Morning Prayer have centred around the story of Joseph the dreamer. Being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers he excels after a period of hardship to become second only to the Pharoah in the land of Egypt. He had every right to be angry and resentful toward his brothers but rather he chose to be kind to them for he realized that all that happened to him was all a part of the divine plan of Almighty God.
Are you an angry person? Do you have feelings of resentment toward another person who might have wronged you in some way in the past? Did their actions cause you to suffer for a short or extended period of time? Were you able to exact some form of vengeance against them? Have you been able to let go of your anger and move on with your life? There is an old saying ‘I might forgive but I will never forget.’ Letting go is very difficult to do indeed.
In an excellent article entitled ‘The Body Never Lies’ taken from tcmworld.org the Traditional Chinese Medicine Foundation the writer shares some insights on the dangers of getting stuck emotionally, holding on to anger and not being willing to let things go. ‘Allow things to flow! Not just at the body level, but at the mind, body and spirit level. When something becomes stuck or cannot move, blood and Qi cannot flow freely through the body. That is when symptoms like acid reflux, GERD and others start to appear. The flow of emotions is controlled by the Liver/GallBladder, which is at its highest peak in Spring. If you constantly hold in or suppress emotions or you allow your emotions to become excessive or chronic, your body will let you know by producing symptoms. Practice letting go!
Anger is a poisonous emotion. It harms the body at a deep level. Getting rid of anger and forgiving someone who has wronged you is perhaps the most difficult thing in the world to do whether you are a Christian or not. Forgiveness comes with a catch. In the Lord’s prayer we ask God to forgive us for the wrongs that we do as often as we forgive others that wrong us. If we don’t forgive others then we make it slightly more difficult for God to forgive us when we do things that upset Him. May God help us to let go, to be free, to be flexible and to put away our anger and live.
A very important topic in the life of young people involves developing a life of faith. Young people, like yourselves have a lot of questions about life. Why are things the way they are? What does life have in store for me? How can I succeed in life? How do I navigate through life with the minimal amount of pain? These are all very valid questions and they require a convincing answer. Young people do not suffer fools gladly.
The best analogy I can give for faith involves the imagery of trying to cross a raging river or a deep valley between two mountains by walking over a narrow wooden bridge. Is the bridge strong enough? What material is it made of? If wood, is the wood rotten or is it new? Did the bridge builder do a good job in its construction? What about the anchors on either side are they secure? How is the weather today? Is it too windy to cross? Life is like that there are so many decisions to be made when facing challenges in our lives be they big or small. Faith involves putting your trust in the involvement of someone else in the course of your life. When you step into an airplane and the door is closed, you have put your trust in the ability and competence of the pilots flying the plane. You have also invested faith in the people who built the plane and the ones who maintain it. Whether you get to your destination or not is now completely out of your control. You can only have faith that you will get to your destination safely.
Many people struggle with putting their faith in an abstract being called God. You can’t see Him so how do you know He exists? If He is all powerful and all knowing why would He even be wasting time worrying about whether I make it safely through life or not? Isn’t the universe a billion billon times bigger than me anyway? Why would He even care? The beauty of the ‘bigness’ of God is that he has the capability to care about whether the sun burning hydrogen at the right amount and is shining properly or whether the smallest blood cell in your body is performing the way it should as well. He can also monitor, track and adjust an infinte number of other variables happening in the universe at the same time. He is the ultimate supercomputer.
While in College I studied something called computational fluid dynamics. Essentially what it is is science trying to model everyday behaviour and assign an equation to it. My university was researching the way in which paint, in microscopic droplet form, adhered to a rolling film. What the researchers did was to try to pin point the location of each drop of paint from one micro second to the next, plot a trajectory and then generate an equation that explained its motion. Needless to say the equation produced took up a few pages of lined paper. Imagine doing that for a couple billion droplets of paint for a few seconds. My computer would crash a thousand times.
As we navigate life we are like drops of paint, we have a beginning and an end and in the middle there is an equation of sorts that plots our trajectory. The person we call God knows our every step, He knows every possible choice we can make in our lives and their associated outcome. He has a plan for our existence and He will make sure that the bridges in our lives that we sometimes have to cross are strong enough to carry us. We have choices to make in our lives, we have the power to make them, but really we are all sitting on an airplane, the door is closed and we have to have faith in the captain. God will never stop us from making our own decisions, he is not a tyrant. He will however sometimes whisper suggestions to us to help us navigate life more smoothly. Faith really is a vulnerability. You have to choose to believe.
Sometimes in the midst of uncertainty and distress singing helps to lift your mood and to make you feel better. An elderly parishioner of mine in the Bahamas once told me that she loved to sing familiar hymns when she was feeling low, or stressed or lonely. Singing helped her to fall asleep and the next day she felt so much better. I want to share with you the words of a beautiful hymn from a very old hymn book 'Hymns Ancient and Modern'. The title of the hymn is : Oft in Danger, Oft in Woe. I hope it brings you some form of comfort.
1 Oft in danger, oft in woe,
onward, Christians, onward go;
bear the toil, maintain the strife,
strengthened with the bread of life.
2 Onward, Christians, onward go,
join the war, and face the foe;
will ye flee in danger's hour?
Know ye not your Captain's power?
3 Let not sorrow dim your eye;
soon shall every tear be dry:
let not fears your course impede;
great your strength, if great your need.
4 Let your drooping hearts be glad;
march in heavenly armour clad;
fight, nor think the battle long:
soon shall victory wake your song.
5 Onward then in battle move;
more than conquerors ye shall prove:
though opposed by many a foe,
Christian soldiers, onward go.
Research conducted in 2015 by Goldsmiths College at the University of London found that singing has a powerful chemical effect on mood. They said 'In the same way that exercise boosts endorphin flow, singing also releases the brain’s “feel good” chemical - resulting in a sense of euphoria, enhanced immune response, and a natural pain relief. Singing also triggers the release of oxytocin, which helps relieve anxiety and stimulates feelings of trust.'
So sing your favourite song and may your tomorrow be happier and more positive than today.
In an article written by Tracy Himes in August 29 in the Independent Tribune online she asks a fantastic question that I had never really thought about during this entire pandemic. The question is ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ In youth ministry the WWJD question is popular and it got me to thinking…’What exactly would Jesus have done if he were here on earth right now?’ Immediately I thought about the biblical story of Jesus calming the wind and the waves. The story from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4 and verse 35 goes like this:
“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
There is so much information being rammed down our throats about COVID. It is on every news channel 24 hours a day, its in every online newspaper, it’s all over social media platform. There are so many views being promoted, some contradictory, some form of research saying one thing and then someone else saying something else. It really is a lot of noise and it resembles the fury of the wind and the waves in the story of Jesus in the boat. The coverage of COVID is similar to having 100 TVs on at the same time at their loudest in the same room. What would Jesus do? He would say, ‘Peace, Be Still.’
My form 1 class had as an assignment the other day to select 5 character traits that best described them. Many of them chose peacefulness as one of their strong characteristics. I would agree with them. Being at peace is comforting and relaxing. Fear comes along to rob us of our peace and joy. COVID will not last forever. It cannot, only one thing is eternal and that is the love of God and God himself. It is like the howling wind and the raging seas at the moment. Jesus can calm the storm and still the seas. He is in the boat with us right now. He understands our needs and desires. He does not want us to die. He wants us to live in peace.
I agree with Tracy Himes. Jesus would first tell us not to be afraid. He will give us the strength to get through any situation. Just pray and ask Him for help. He is the best at it. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.
Next, He may remind us of the Sermon on the Mount. The same story my Form 1s are working on at the moment. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. If you are a generally peaceful person and you have a friend who is in distress, send them a Whatsapp or call them and talk with them until the feel better. Talk about something fun and interesting. Don’t talk about anything stressful. Summer break is here, now more than ever is the time to take a break and do some fun things. What do you do for fun? When school starts again in April there will be a lot of work to do so you have to take a rest now. I like to watch old movies as way of relaxing. I also like to eat and Hong Kong has so many options of delicious food to eat. You have to be happy in life as much as possible. Not irresponsible but there are enough storms in life to last each human being two lifetimes. Make an effort to carve out time to be happy.
Always remember that anxiety comes to rob you of your peace and joy. Anxiety is fear of the future which you and I really don’t have much control over. Be at peace and be a peace maker today – for we shall be called children of God.
Amen.
Luke 4:1-13
After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent in the church’s calendar. Lent lasts for 40 days and it is a symbolic representation of forty days that Jesus spent being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. The last day of Lent is Easter day, the day the church celebrates the day that Jesus miraculously rose again from the dead. Even if you are not a religious person there is something that we can all learn from the Lenten story. That thing is that we all have our wilderness moments at various points in our lives. Even Jesus had his and he was the son of God. Life is strange, sometimes our lowest points come right after some of our highest moments. Nobody likes to be distressed or to suffer or to have hard times. Sometimes our low points in life are actually very painful experiences. Fortunately they don’t last forever which is a good thing. Nothing lasts forever. In the temptation story it is the Holy Spirit of God that actually drives Jesus out into the wilderness. He didn’t do anything wrong. He wasn’t being punished for some sin, the wilderness experience is all a part of his growth and development – painful as it may be.
When I arrived in Hong Kong I decided to join a gym to keep in shape. After 3 weeks in quarantine I realized that I my muscles had become weak due to a lack of activity. By nature I am not the most athletic person and gravity and I are not the best of friends on the best of days. So I developed a routine where I would go to the gym to lift some weights to get my strength back. It was very hard work!!! Many days I felt like giving up. Many days I convincingly generated at least 3 excuses to not go to the gym that day. I really had to push myself to make an effort to jump on the bus and go. I started out with light weights and gradually added a little more as my strength returned. Grudgingly I had to admit that I was beginning to feel a lot better. I could walk faster and longer and carry heavy loads further. I love walking all over Hong Kong. It is a beautiful place and walking keeps you healthy. It also helps to walk off all of the yummy food that I find to eat seemingly around every corner of the city.
Hard times builds mental and emotional muscles. Hard times, temptations and wilderness experiences are the gyms for the soul. Difficult times build character. Character builds endurance and endurance gives you the strength to win in the end. For us as Christians we tend to look for clues in the life of Jesus to help us navigate life. In the story he pushed back against the temptations of the devil by using the scriptures that he had learnt. The scriptures gave him comfort
Jared Kleinert on Forbes Magazine Dec 10, 2015 on Why Young People Today Hold More Power Than Ever Before asked three questions at the end of his fantastic TED talk highlighting the fact that young people, especially millennials had more power than they realized. Those questions are:
1. What problem are you going to solve?
2. Who are you going to solve them with?
3. When are you going to get started?
I like to pattern my life on the person of Jesus Christ. I can’t do most of the things that he did like heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and feed thousands of people in one go but there are some things that he did that I can do. You can do the same things too.
1. What problems were he trying to solve?
I like to think that there were two main problems that Jesus tried to solve every day – he cared what people learnt and he cared about their physical and mental well being. Jesus was a teacher, even from an early age as a young boy he was arguing and learning with the rabbis and teachers in the temple. His mission in life was to teach people how to live both by his words and actions. The second thing he did was he healed people from their illnesses both physically and mentally. Physical and mental illness rob people of the joy of life. Jesus knew this. He wants us to be healthy at all times. One of my favourite stories is the one with the woman who had the issue of blood. The bible says that she spent all of her money going to the doctor’s office to find out what was wrong with her but nobody could heal her. So many people in the world do not have access to good health care. This is a bad thing. Is this a problem that you will solve? Psychologically Jesus also healed people by liberating them from whatever challenges they were facing in their minds. The scripture calls them demons. For some people that might take the form of addictions or negative depressing thoughts or other things. The field of psychiatry is one of the most perplexing scientific fields. No one really knows how the brain works completely. Jesus was all about positivity and giving hope – powerful medicine for the mind. Will you be the one to solve the mysteries of the mind?
2. Who will you solve these problems with?
Jesus knew that he could not accomplish all of the things that he did by himself. He needed help. He needed friends. He enlisted the help of the disciples to make the burden of work easier. Life is all about team work. Organizations are more productive and effective when they have a good team of people working together for the common good. Sometimes Jesus’ team needed encouragement, sometimes there was infighting and jealousy. One team member famously betrayed him, which didn’t end too well for him, but the betrayal was anticipated and the mission carried on regardless. That’s how life is. Sometimes people will disappoint you or not understand your vision or even work against you. But do not be discouraged, with God on your team you will move mountains.
3. When are you going to get started?
Why wait for tomorrow what you can get started on today? You do not have to have a degree in psychiatry to be a good friend to someone who is feeling down and out. Think about the story of Job in the bible. Job lost everything suddenly. His friends came to console him and they tried to rationalize his misfortune with pleasant words. Sometimes people just need you to sit with them so that they are not alone. Sometimes you don’t have to say a word to make someone feel better. You just have to be there for them. You have all the power in the world to make a difference in someone else’s life. Don’t waste the opportunity. Be the solution to someone’s problem and start today.
Amen.
Luke 9:28
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here…”
For some reason Jesus loved to go up into the mountains to be alone and to pray. In the reading for today something incredible happens to him while he is praying – two men who had been dead for a long time appeared to him and his face and clothes become dazzling white. Were it not for the presence of the disciples as witnesses we may never have known about this event. In another one of the readings for today Moses goes up to the top of Mount Sinai to receive the ten commandments from Almighty God and when he comes down with the stone tablets his face too is shining brightly, so much so that he has to put a veil over it. Strange things happen in the mountains.
If I look out of the window of my flat there is, what I call, a mountain. In reality it is big hill but for me coming from a country where most of the terrain is at sea level, the hill at the Pokfulam Reservoir is a mountain. I’ve made it as far up as 800 feet and my goal is to one day walk all the way to the top up to the Peak and have a nice lunch and then probably catch the bus back home. There is a sense of power, majesty and wonder being embraced by nature, you can really feel the presence of some more powerful force at work. I would dare to say that it wouldn’t be impossible for a human being to build the hill at the Peak but it would take a very long time indeed. Maybe the ancient Egyptians were trying their hand when they built the pyramids. One of my students quite rightly said, he too lives, near some hills in another part of Hong Kong, that when he goes walking in nature he surmises that nature is the biggest and best church there is. In nature, most times more than anywhere else you can really feel the power and presence of God. I personally think that God hears us better when we pray when we are out in nature.
The world that we live in is turbulence at the moment. Not only do we have COVID to wrestle with here at home with but also there is global instability with the events in Russia and Ukraine. Many people, myself included, tend to get overwhelmed when life gets busy. What can we do to find that place of peace? I like to go for a walk and meditate or pray. The fresh air is good for the body and the exercise gets the blood pumping and the lymph system working. The higher you go up in the hills the less distracting life becomes. The air is cleaner, the scenery down below is beautiful, maybe a cloud will drift lazily by. When life gets to be a bit too much, step away from the chaos and find that place of peace in your favourite part of nature. Jesus did it all the time, maybe he was on to something.
Where is my life going?
Many young people all over the world at some point in their lives struggle with very important questions – ‘What am I going to do with my life? Does my life have any purpose? What am I here to do? Don’t worry many adults sometimes wrestle with the same questions. Life can be difficult at times and similarly life can also be very rewarding. Everything, in my opinion, about life is all about perspective. Every day that God gives us life in our bodies, air to breath, food to eat, water to drink, somewhere to live and something to do is an opportunity for life to have meaning. You just do not know how your life has the ability to impact others around you. I have a friend back in the Bahamas who has a simple rule of life. He tries to do five kind things a day for other people, nothing fancy, expensive or strenuous – just five simple things. I cannot tell you that he succeeds every day but at least he has a simple rule that he follows. Perhaps he might call a friend to check up on them, or crack a joke to make someone laugh, or offer a cup of tea to a co-worker, or if he is driving he might let somebody stuck in traffic make an important turn. Doing something kind doesn’t have to be a burden.
If you think about life from the perspective of the sum of good verses the sum of bad things that can happen in a day there is no shortage of bad things that happen to people on a daily basis. Maybe a bus splashes water on you while you walk to the bus stop or the restaurant where you got your take out from gets your order wrong but you only realize it when you have gotten home and its too far to go back to change it. These things happen all the time. You can choose to look at these events either maliciously or as accidents and simple mistakes. If the bus driver intentionally splashes you for no reason then that is a mean thing to do but if he didn’t see the puddle of water and you get wet by accident – is the world actively plotting against you? Probably not.
Jesus had a very simple rule of life – Love God first and then love one’s neighbour as you love yourself. That’s it! That was and is his key to having a fulfilling life. In order to love God, we have to first acknowledge that He exists and then realize that He is not a human being like the rest of us. How do you love a deity I hear you ask? I think to love God is to be grateful for all that He does for each of us everyday that we cannot do for ourselves. What are you grateful for? Can you list two things? I know that I am grateful for my little electric heater to stay warm during these cold winter days. I am also grateful for family members and friends to communicate with every day either by WhatsApp or by telephone. Life can be very lonely when you don’t have anyone to talk to. It is very difficult to love people who are not kind to us or who are evil but, I think Jesus asks us to try.
As we continue to study from home while we battle COVID here in HK let us be grateful for what we have that God provides for us and in our own individual ways let show love to our fellow human beings one day at a time. Maybe, instead of trying to do five kind things a day why not start with one and then as time goes by increase it to two. As each day goes by you might find that more and more your life has meaning and purpose. You probably will feel proud of your accomplishments – which is a good thing. Albert Einstein once said ‘Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value.’ Your life is valuable and you and I are worth more than all the gold and diamonds in the world.
Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
Every major religion of the world has its own version of the golden rule. For example in Islam ‘Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.’ Hadith. In Taoism ‘Regard your neighbour’s gain as your own gain and your neighbour’s loss as your own loss.’ Lao Tzu. For us as Christians it is simple ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Many people feel as though religion has no role to play in a person’s life. Some persons chose to be non religious for very good reasons and there is no judgement of them. Similarly though, those of us who choose to be religious in one form or another should also not be judged for our willingness to have faith and to believe in the power and working of a divine entity that we call God. The beauty of true religion is the tolerance and acceptance of all persons.
There is beauty in all things, even in these dark and depressing times. February is a dark and dreary month. The weather has been cold, dark and rainy over the last few days. The city has been quiet. The streets have been empty. Everybody is bundled up and just anxious to get home to a comfortable and warm place perhaps with their favourite take out and plans for a quiet night in with a good Netflix movie. Many wise sages have written about February, one in particular, whose name I cannot remember at the moment once said ‘If you can get through February, you can pretty much make it for the rest of the year.’ February is the shortest month of the year for a reason. It is the bridge between winter and spring. I am looking forward to spring in HK. I know how hot and sticky summer can be. I am glad for my little heater from Fortress during these winter months. Springtime must be beautiful here – flowers must be everywhere, people will be outside having picnics, children will be laughing and playing in the parks and hopefully Omicron would have fizzled out by then.
In the same way as the seasons change, let us to embrace a change of mind and perspective this Lunar New Year. Let go of the past, its not coming back anyway. Embrace tomorrow, always keeping the golden rule first and foremost in everything that we do. We humans, have the power to make our inner world either a dark and dreary place or a room filled with sunshine. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Only the sun can chase the rain away. Why not shine a little bit of light into someone else’s world this week, and if the Golden Rule is true then maybe someone will shine even more light into yours and together we can all make our world a little bit brighter.
“Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5-10
I hope everyone has enjoyed a lovely Lunar New Year holiday and is refreshed and ready to embrace this new year of the Tiger here at St. Paul’s. These are very strange and worrying times indeed. The Omicron variant is surging here in our beloved city, the numbers are going up every day, people are getting sick, many are worried and afraid and not sure what to do next.
Just yesterday I went out for a walk in Kennedy Town and witnessed something very strange that I had not seen here before. Many residents were lining up on the sidewalk with buckets and pots and containers of all sizes to collect water from tanks on the side of the road. Many of the restaurants and coffee shops were closed, I guess because they did not have any running water for their kitchens and bathrooms. There were workmen repairing what appeared to be a big broken pipe underground. Everyone waited patiently until the emergency tanks on sides of the road, brought in by the authorities, were refilled and brought back for the residents to get water. Scientists have always said that you can live for 21 days without food but the body can only last 3 days at most without water.
Like the current surge in Omicron cases, some things in life are far outside of our control as mere humans. Think of the people in K Town, they had no control over the loss of running water in their homes and businesses. They didn’t do something wrong which caused their water to stop running. A situation happened to them caused by something else. They had to adjust and find water.
The reading for today comes from the book of Jeremiah. He was an Old Testament prophet who was taken off into captivity during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem many years ago. He knew about hardship and danger. He knew that in the midst of trials and tribulations it is best to put one’s trust in the power of God. Some people believe that their own intellect, physical strength, popularity, connections or some other human attribute is all that they need to succeed in life. That, in my opinion, is a fallacy. When problems in life come along, as they always do, sometimes more days than we would like them too, we have to turn to a higher authority for some help. God wants to solve our problems, sometimes though He is just waiting for us to ask. His solution might not seem to make sense but it normally is more effective than anything you and I can come up with on our own. When we pray about things God tends to put things in motion to make things happen for us, like the scripture verse says, we have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and trust in Him and he will provide all the water we need, help us to weather the siege of Omicron and any other challenge in life that we might face. God is powerful, He is good and He cannot fail.
Today the Christian church celebrates and remembers the conversion of St. Paul. It is a fascinating story of a complete 180 degree change in the life of a man who would go on to be one of the biggest supporters of the Christian faith. Conversion is a powerful event. It is Iife changing. Many persons in the religious world use the line ‘You have to have a personal encounter with God in order to be a Christian.’ This is true. However many people look for the same type of encounter that Paul had in their own lives and for the most part that doesn’t happen. Paul had a supernatural encounter with the risen Jesus as did Mary when she mistook him for the gardener right after the resurrection as did the disciples when Jesus appeared to them in the locked room where he showed them the marks on his body. For most of us, we have to see things to believe it.
Just this week with one of my classes we were talking about angels, specifically about the angel Gabriel and his appearance to the young girl Mary telling her that she would get pregnant by the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus. I asked them if they believed in angels. They all laughed and said ‘No!’ I asked them why? After a few seconds and a bit of thought they said essentially ‘Because we have never seen one.’ To this I replied that they are correct, it is difficult to believe in something without actually seeing it in real life. But what would you do and what would you say to your family or friends if a big winged angel dressed in white shining brightly walked into this classroom right now? They were stumped. How would you go about convincing people to believe something that you would have seen even if they didn’t.
That is the basis of all of the scripture readings today - the apostle Paul is writing down for the benefit of his readers what actually happened to him. It is an incredible story. The challenge is for the reader to choose to accept it or not. Each and every one of us has a story to tell. We all have encountered Jesus in some form or another. It is up to us to be brave enough to share our experience with each other. This is how we as Christians build up each other’s faith. I might have seen some things that you haven’t. And you might have had an experience that I cannot even begin to imagine. So, let’s talk about it. My door is always open and my new coffee machine is ready to make you a lovely cup of coffee.
It is my hope that we all enjoy this Lunar New Year holiday. We hope and pray for the health and safety of our loved ones and for our city. May God bring us back safely to school face to face in a few weeks time and may we continue through our story telling to build up the church of God here on earth. Amen.
1 Corinthians 12:3-11
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
What is your gift? What do you plan to do with your God given gift? Do you have a goal in mind to use your gift for good in this world?
Normally at the beginning of each new year we human beings like to set goals. A lot of our goals have to do with working out and trying to lose some of the pounds that we gained in weight over the Christmas holidays. The gyms would normally be full right about now but given the current covid restrictions that is not possible. For some of us we set a target weight that we want to get to and it is only due to sheer discipline that we are able to achieve our goal. Isn’t it a fantastic feeling when we reach our target? Setting goals is easy – achieving them is another story all together. Achieving our goals in life require a lot of hard work, dedication, endurance, perseverance, discipline, overcoming temptation, turning a deaf ear to the naysayers and staying focused on the end goal.
If we look at the life of Jesus, right from the beginning of his ministry after being baptized the first thing he encountered was temptation. The scriptures say that the spirit of God actually drove him out into the wilderness to be tempted. It’s only after paying for that gym membership that all of your favourite restaurants seem to be having a promotion of some sort. Jesus’ ultimate goal was to get to Jerusalem, die on the cross, be raised from the dead to atone for our sins and then ascend back into heaven. The 3 year road to Jerusalem was not easy. The Pharisees and the entire religious establishment seemed to relentless in their persecution of him. Yet still he pressed on. Even his close friends, the disciples, didn’t understand his mission at times and they had to be rebuked on more than one occasion. That’s how life is. ‘You don’t need to lose those pounds…’ they would say, come on let’s go out for brunch.
As we all set off on the journey of life this new year let us first of all identify our God given gift. Next let us set a target for the year of how we are going to use that gift, then we set a plan in place for how we are going to get to that target and execute it. God is counting on us to make a difference in this world of ours. Let us support each other in the achievement of our goals. One of my goals is to invite as many people as possible for a coffee and a chat this year at my office. My new Nepresso coffee machine is waiting to brew a cup of coffee for you. Come and tell me about your goals. Let’s make this the best year ever.
Luke 3:21-22
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
During this examination time many, if not all of our students are under considerable stress. Everyone wants to succeed and do well, there is nothing wrong with that. We as human beings always want to do our best, to achieve at a high level, to perform well enough in order to gain a promotion or to land a good job. This is normal. Not only does talent and ability play a big part in the achievement process but also words of encouragement and motivation go a long way.
In today’s reading we listen as God himself offers words of encouragement to his son Jesus Christ. This is not the only time in the scriptures that this happens – also at the transfiguration the presence of God descends like a cloud and the disciples are told to listen to him. Words of encouragement and affirmation go a very long way in building up the confidence of a child, especially a young boy. It is important for us as fathers to tell our sons that we are pleased with them when they do well. This brings about a sense of calm and a feeling of well being. Words of disapproval are easy to say and their effects last a life time. We as parents should never chastise our children too harshly or embarrass them intentionally in public. The damage done to their psyche is deep and sometimes long lasting. We should never fail to take advantage of an opportunity to tell our children that we are proud of them.
Dr. Steven Stosny, in an article ‘Anger in the Age of Entitlement What's Wrong with Criticism’ posted April 18, 2014 on Psychology Today said the following:
· As Oscar Wilde once said, “Criticism is the only reliable form of autobiography." It tells you more about the psychology of the critic than the people he or she criticizes.
· Criticism is an utter failure at getting positive behavior change. Any short-term gain you might get from it builds resentment down the line.
· If you want behavior change from a child, first show value for the person. If you want resistance, criticize.
· Critical people were often criticized in early childhood by caretakers, siblings, or peers, at an age when criticism can be especially painful.
· As hard as they are on others, most are at least equally hard on themselves.
· If you’re angry or resentful, however, any feedback you offer will be heard as criticism, no matter how you put it. That’s because people respond to emotional tone, not intention. So it’s best to regulate your anger or resentment before you try to give feedback.
So as we begin this new year with its ups and downs let us take a page from this story of God as father expressing his positive affirmation for his son Jesus. Let us remember that our children are going through a lot as well as this pandemic drags on with seemingly no end in sight. They are stressed and anxious too. They are worried about their future and what life has in store for them. It is up to us to speak positive words of encouragement into their lives. Look at all the great work that Jesus did during his ministry. He had positive reinforcement from his father…
Ephesians 1:15
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.
Happy New Year to all of you. It is my hope and prayer that this year 2022 will be the best year ever for each and every one of us. As we shake off all of the unpleasantness of 2021 we give thanks to Almighty God for the opportunity to be alive, in good health and strength, with our families and friends around us to take on a brand new year, full of divine opportunities.
Jesus came into this world to bring us a lot of things not only salvation, the forgiveness of sins, peace, joy, love among others but He also is the source of our hope.
What Is Hope? (https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/12500/why-hope-is-important/)
'Hope is the closest thing to trust.
As the late Desmond Tutu once said:
‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.’
Why Is Hope So Important?
- Hope is a healer.
Hope whispers, “Things will get better.”
- Hope is a motivator.
Hope is a source of energy. It helps us to see something better up ahead and to put one foot in front of the other to move forward.
- Hope brings inner peace.
Hope is the opposite of despair.'
JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF OUR HOPE
John Chandler is the translator of this hymn.
1 Jesu, our hope, our heart's desire,
thy work of grace we sing;
Redeemer of the world art thou,
its Maker and its King.
2 How vast the mercy and the love
which laid our sins on thee,
and led thee to a cruel death,
to set thy people free!
5 Jesu, our only joy be thou,
as thou our prize wilt be;
in thee be all our glory now
and through eternity.
We give God thanks today and every day for Jesus the source of our hope.
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.
We are coming to the end of a very long term. Everyone is tired, students and teachers. How do you plan to enjoy your Christmas holiday? Will you rest? Or is there a lot of shopping on the cards? Either which way, Christmas time involves a lot of music and singing. Everywhere you go there is Christmas music playing. In the ancient Christmas story the angels were singing when baby Jesus was born. We too will have our own Carol service to mark the end of the school year complete with a lot of singing. Singing makes the soul glad and music is the universal language that unites all of us as human beings.
In an article in Pyschology Today written by Dr. Kate Hayes
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No surprise, given my passion about the value of diaphragmatic breathing to mental health and optimal performance: the first benefit that occurs to me is that, to sing fully and completely, you need good breath support. It not only produces good sound—this kind of breathing gives your mind and body the positive effects of more oxygen and more complete exhalation of carbon dioxide.
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Unless you confine yourself to singing in the shower, singing means community and interpersonal connection.
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When you’re singing, it’s almost impossible to think about other things—the challenges of daily life, for example. You’re focused specifically on what you are doing. Being fully in the present moment allows us welcome distraction from other thoughts, issues, or burdens. Singing brings respite and refocus.
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Singing offers the opportunity for a sense of accomplishment.
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There is the emotional aspect as well: What does the music say, how does the singer convey it, what does it evoke in our memories, whether about the music itself or some totally unrelated memory? Does the music bring us to tears? To joy? To laughter? Accessing our feelings through music is especially true at this time of year.
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Singing is a form of communication. A lullaby soothes an infant; it communicates “you matter.”
After all that has happened in the world these past many months with COVID 19 let us celebrate our Christmas holidays as hard as we can. Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, buy whatever you want, enjoy your family and friends and most of all sing all of your favourite songs at the top of your voice.
Waiting is a frustrating time
Advent is all about waiting but also preparing.
All around in HK people are preparing for the coming of Christmas. Here at school we are preparing to end this long term, papers have to be marked, grades have to be entered etc. before the holiday begins.
All those many years ago people were preparing for the Messiah to come into the world.
There is an urgency in the air just as it was back then.
After all that has happened in the past few years let us approach Christmas this year with urgency and anticipation. Let us prepare to enjoy ourselves during our school break as best as possible giving God thanks for the gift of his son to the world at Christmas.
So while we wait we must prepare in hope to really make the most out of this time. It makes no sense to wait without hope, that would be futile. What gifts will we buy, what food will we eat, what friends will we visit, what Christmas movies are we going to watch. All of this is very important!! May God kindle in us that urgency to wait with great anticipation.