Friday Fellowships

Last Friday, during our fellowships, one of our friends celebrated his birthday. It was a very significant moment. Birthdays are usually spent with your family. But because Haejin, our firned, was another international student, he did not have any family here. Not really. We are his family here in seminary. So he celebrated his birthday with his family. In a place where you are away from home. Seminary students can define what a Christian family looks like. In the celebration of Haejin's birthday, we also celebrated the blessing of God for us to embody the Christian family.

Troubling...

I was a little troubled this afternoon after I read in a Filipino Methodist blog a question from a Filipino pastor about baptism. I was not troubled by the discussion nor by the content of the question. The question, what is thhe Methodist belief in baptism, is a valid question. But for this question to be asked by a pastor, someone who leads a church and guides the faith of his congregants is a little troubling. How can a pastor (much more if he/she is ordained elder) not have any clue about Methodist belief on baptism? Are these the kind of church leaders we have? Then what kind of christian followers (who are guided by the pastor) do we have? I hope the laity know better than the pastor. But this is not to blame the pastor. This is to question the church, the church structure, the District COM, the Conference BOOM, and everybody responsible for affirming and ordaining a person to be a pastor who may not yet be fully ready and equipped. We must consider this. Pastoral ministry is not a job or occupation. It is not to be taken for granted. That is why, we must take courage to educate our pastors for us to have quality church leaders.

"You don't need a cross..."

Last Sunday, when the children came in for Children's church, they were so proud to show me the cross necklaces they got as gifts. One of my students, Kayla who is 5, came to me and said, "Look, Pastor Neki, (holding her cross pendant) I have a blue necklace. This cross shows I am a Christian. The cross is Jesus so I have Jesus with me always... (she paused for a moment) But you don't need a cross to have Jesus with you. Jesus is always with us." She explained. I was amazed how a 5 year old can articulate so clearly the presence of us always. Immanuel - God is with us. Always. With or without a cross necklace.

Preaching

I preached last Sunday in my field ed church. My pastor have to be out of town to attend to some important matters so I have to do everything on both services. It has been a while since I prepared a sermon. When my pastor said that I have to preach on both services, it was already on a Friday. So I either have to prepare a new sermon or I have to recycle an old one.
Because I already took preaching classes, I should know better. The sermon is the word of God for the people. Although it is a discipline to write and prepare a sermon what is more important was to speak to the particularities of the congregation. Thus, in a sense even a recycled sermon being God's word have to address and speak to the congregation.
And so I went to the library after my Hebrew class and prayed hard for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I prayed so hard that I fell asleep. But when God is at work, nothing is impossible. And so I was not troubled even if it was already Saturday morning and I have only done the exegetical part. From there on, the Holy Spirit just guided my hand to write God's word to the people. And yes, the Holy Spirit also works overtime so I had to stay up late to finish the sermon for Sunday. But everything is well. Without the guidance of the God, the almost one year of not writing a sermon could have taken a toll on me.

Fitting In

There is something difficult in trying to fit in. The question is do you try to be one of the corw, or should I stand out of the crowd? Now there is too much to say what it means to stand out of the crowd. It could mean you are excellent or it could mean you are despicable.
In my case, I standout because I am a minority in an Anglo church. It does not mean that this is an automatic case of racial discrimination. No! But it does mean an automatic case of difference - not only physically but more on a cultural manner. As I intern as a pastor in an Anglo church, I bring with me unique pastoral characters that was shaped by my culture. This pastoral character may be different from the churches' culture. They may find it good or bad. They may be blessed by it or not. Which leads me to the question, should I try to fit in or not?

Reflection Group

We had our monthly reflection group meeting last week, July 9 at Duck UMC, NC. Duck was a nice place with the beach in view and some historic spots like the Wright Borthers museum in Kill Devil, it was a perfect toursit spot. I started appreciating the good side of having to drive an hour or so just to meet with my shoolmates and friends and reflect upon our experiences in the ministry. You get to go places and you get to see beautiful spots. More than that I found it very helpful to have a group of friends that you can share your experiences with. It refreshes me to hear stories, reflections and insights about serving in God's vineyard especially knowing that these people also share the same experiences that I have. I could only hope that these kind of reflection groups would translate into covenant groups when we all become ordained clergy in the near future, that we may have a venue to old each other and grow together as we serve our Lord.

Living as a Community

November 24, 2007

I moved to an apartment in Bedford Street. The apartment is a 3 bedroom unit and I would be sharing it with Daniel and Inseo, my classmates in the seminary. I have no trouble living in an apartment with other people since I lived most of my college and med life with my classmates. What's interesting with this new setting is I would be living with two other people with cultural backgrounds totally different from mine. What is more interesting is that we would be living with our families together.

Yes, my family would be with me. They came here early Novemeber and that is one of the reasons I had to move out from my host family. I had to find a place for me and my family. God is so gracious in using my friends who readily offered their place so I can have a place where my family can also stay.

This set-up would work. Financially, it is cheap enough that I can afford it. The location is close enough to Duke. The place is safe and secure enough. Plus I would be blessed knowing I am living with my family. And when I say family, it's not just my wife and daughter, but that I would be livng with my Christian brothers and sister.