Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 25th January 2009 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Jonah 3:1-10 and Mark 1: 14-20.


Opening prayer

Our Lord God, we ask for your full presence with us. In delivering and hearing your words, may your holy spirit inspire us and guide us to understand your will and walk in your ways. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Jesus started his ministry by proclaiming “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” In today’s sermon, I am going to focus on the reflection of faith in ‘repentance’ and the interactive relations between God and his people .The word ‘repentance’ in its roots from Hebrew and Greek, it conveys rich meanings, that include: ‘change of mind’, ‘a feeling of regret or remorse’, in the ethico-religious sense that take from a negative perspective it means ‘turn away from sin, disobedience or rebellion’; from a positive perspective, it can mean ‘turn back to God, the beginning of a new religious or moral life’.

After I take up the marriage ministry of Kowloon Union Church, I begin to conduct group briefing session for newly wed couples who have booked our sanctuary for church wedding. The session is to share about marriage from the perspective of Christian faith and the order of service for their wedding ceremony. In a session, a young man shared that he is very self-centered for he is the only child in his own family and thus no one will deny him and only act according to his will and desire. In his encounters with his fiancee, he finds that there are many differences between them due to different family background and perspectives in looking at the same thing. He learnt to make compromises with his fiancee. At first he was very unhappy for he would ask why did he has to give in. But eventually he finds that when he changes his mind and act in another course of action for the sake of loving his fiancee, his fiancee will also change because she feels the love of her fiance. On the surface, it seems the young man has made a sacrifice but because of his willingness to change for his loved one, he gains the love of his fiancee in return and helps to build up their relationship. This young man’s change of mind from being self-centered to focus on other’s need has brought him much happiness and harmony in his relationship with his fiancée.

From the couple’s sharing, we can see that relationship is very interactive, if we change for the sake of love, the other will change also. The fruits that we bored are dependent on the seeds that we sow. The seeds of love blossom into the tree of love, the seeds of hatred begets nothing but destruction.

In a close and intimate relationship, there are constant interactions and some will bound to be negative and may form a seed of conflict. I have a very strong feeling about that for I have been struggling to build up a harmonious and loving relationship with my son all along. He and I always have conflicts over different matters. Whenever we have arguments, in some occasions both of us can be driven mad and very angry to each other. If I keep on focus on my negative feelings towards my son, this is a seed of conflict which will grow and begets nothing but destruction. It will only destroy our relationship. Therefore, I always remind myself to focus on the positive side of my son and try to weed out the seeds of conflict, but find ways to sow the seeds of love in our relationship. Repent and to seek God’s strength to change is an on going spiritual exercise for me, it is an everyday life challenge.

Some may argue, even though we try to repent, change our mindset and take a different course of action, it does not necessary bring forth positive result. And you are absolutely right. Such is human reality in our world, we can be easily frustrated by this situation. As a result we should realize that repentance is completed by faith. Only if we uplift our faith to God would there be a hope to change from the worse to the better.

For now let us move to the narrative of Jonah that we read this morning. The narrative of Jonah has conveyed a very comforting and encouraging message to us. From the narrative, we see that the People and the King of Nineveh who sincerely repented by turning to God through proclaiming a fast and put on sackcloth. These are the ancient liturgies represent people’s repentance. Amazingly, the actions of the people had led to God changed his mind to remove his threat of destruction to the city of Nineveh.

In Jonah, it has helped us to understand our Lord who will change his mind because of his people’s actions to turn away from evil. Therefore, repentance is a precious gift from God for it gives to people the possibility of change. However, on the other side of the same coin, it entails that human beings have a great role and responsibility to make a change possible. From the scripture, it helps us realize that “repentance is a human possibility because it is the result of divine redemption. God has given us the opportunity to change. In Jonah’s narrative, we found that the threats of destruction turn out to be an expression of the merciful will of God, who pardons at the first sign of repentance.

I love to watch musical, one of my favorite musicals is Andrew L. Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera”. In the musical, one of the songs is called the Point of No Return. One memorable line was “…the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burns. You’ve passed the point of no return”. It described the Phantom’s irreversible decision for destruction and to satisfy his lust. For our God in Christian faith, God will change his mind to take away the punishment and guide us to righteousness. Therefore, we are blessed to have “the point of return”. Jesus’ calling for repentance and follow him as disciples is the bridge that we can use to return to God and it will never burn!

Our Lord is a God willing to interact with people. His holy presence is to love and not to punish. In God, there is hope and point of returns.

In the past week, many Americans and people around the world are excited to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama to assume the presidency in America. There are very high expectations for him. Obama’s leadership of course is important. But his cabinet, people in America and around the world are also important to contribute a new era of hope over hatred, unity over conflicts, peace over war.

In places where we find the power is in the hands of a few and in situations which we are overwhelmed with our own problems, we may perceive ourselves as ordinary people, very much disempowered and have a feeling of helplessness . The narrative of Jonah we read today informs us otherwise.

In Jonah, it is the people, the ordinary civilians after hearing Jonah the prophet’s warning that took action to repent and turn away from evilness. Because of their commitment and their collective efforts, they have influenced the people in higher position --- the King. The king followed the footstep of his fellow citizens, to put on sack cloths and call on God with all their might; and let everyone renounce his evil ways and violent behaviors. How beautiful we see a bottom up movement in the city of Nineveh!

In the eyes of God, all people are important, all of us are somebody that can make a difference not only for our own lives, but for others. By collective efforts, we know that we are not along, the influence and power of change is great when people are able to join hands to struggle and work together.

Besides, let’s have a look at Jesus’ ministry; we can also see that he called the disciples from the fisherman community. The disciples were ordinary people, like you and me. When people respond to God's callings and respond positively at once, the miracle of God's merciful love manifests. God is interacting with people always. We change, God changes too in his steadfast love.

Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Ox. The Ox signifies patience and hard working, but when facing adversities, the Ox will fiercely fight back. Coincidently, Obama was born in the Year of the Ox. There are people regard the Ox a sign of overcoming any setbacks or obstacles in 2009. To us as Christians in Hong Kong, the beginning of the Chinese New Year is another good opportunity for us to reflect on Jesus’ calling of repentance. Repentance is renewal of life; it demands a new heart and new spirit (Ezek 18:31), to fulfill the kingdom of God. Genuine repentance leads to obedience and unqualified trust in God, rejection of all idols and refusal to lean upon human help.

There is a famous dialogue from a film, ‘I jump, you jump’! Do you remember in which film this dialogue appeared? Right, the Titanic. ‘I jump, you jump’! This commitment between the lovers in the movie conveyed so much of their strong connection and intimate interaction between the two. They cannot be separated. Your life is my life. My life is your life. This is a very romantic relationship. They love and need each other. This has also conveyed a strong interactive relationship between them. One person’s action will affect another person.

For God so love the world that he gave his only son to the world, so that everyone who believe in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16) God has clearly proclaimed such a romantic love of life giving to us as God’s people. God has given and shared his life to us through Jesus. But it is only when we take the love of God and respond to Jesus’ calling in our life, that this loving relationship is meaningful to us and God. In fact, I believe that God treasure our life and our love to him.

From Mark 1, we see that Simon and Andrew were called by Jesus and they follow him immediately without any hesitation. Today, Jesus Christ reminds us once again of his calling upon us, to repent and follow him. Are we going to respond to Jesus at once like the disciples in his time?

Closing prayer

Dear God,

We thank you for giving us the chance to repent and change our course of life to you, to walk in your righteous way for the Kingdom of God.
Guide us God that we are always sensitive to your calling of repentance and give us courage to follow Jesus’ words and deeds. Strengthen our will power to lead a life of loving and giving. Amen.