Asia
Sunday: Biblical Reflection by Rev. Phyllis Wong
1
King 8:37-40 ; Mark 1:29-34
Today is the
first day we resume physical worship in church after 8 weeks’ suspension. I am
very glad to see many of you.
Our worship
service is designated as ‘Asia Sunday’. It is a special day suggested by an
ecumenical organization named Christian Conference of Asia, to celebrate every
year in church to demonstrate solidarity with people, churches and countries in
Asia, and to embrace the gifts of diversity in this continent. The theme of
Asia Sunday this year is “God, heal us as we are vulnerable”.
We would like
to open the pulpit to our church friends to share their reflection with the
theme of today. We are glad to have Carl, Norma and Jenet to share with us generously
this morning of their experiences and reflection during this COVID 19 pandemic.
They are of different background, age, gender and nationality.
After their
sharing…..
In here, I
would like to highlight some of my biblical reflections generated from the
gospel reading we heard today.
The gospel
reading is about story of healing.
My first point
of reflection is:
1 Healing in
a mutual relationship as a community
When the
disciples realized Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with fever, they told Jesus
and she was healed immediately. After Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law, many
people brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the
whole city was gathered around the door.
When people
are sick physically and psychologically (deep depression), they may be too weak
to seek help. We need someone else to help. It is the disciples who asked Jesus
to heal Simon’s mother-in-law. After that miracle healing, many other people
brought the sick or possessed with demons to Jesus. For those who are ill,
don’t be afraid, God will send angels to you so that you can be healed. What
you need to do is to open up and receive healing from God. Sometimes, those who
are sick may have lost confidence and faith that they can be healed.
Sisters and
brothers, do trust in God and in yourself that healing is possible by God’s
power and grace. Having said that, we need to bear in mind the ways Jesus heals
us may be different from what we expect. We have to be open and patient to go
through God’s healing process. For those who are healthy and have capacity to
help others, please always open our eyes and hearts to see who are in need and
bring them to God for healing through prayers and concrete actions. Carl’s
sharing on their healing is our healing. Their health is our health touches me
a lot!
Deep and
effective healing happens in a relationship of love with God, with each other
and with ourselves in a godly family.
2 The power
of the vulnerable
My second reflection
is: the sick have made people come together. The power of the vulnerable
The text
speaks about “many people brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with
demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door.” The whole city was
gathered around the door. The sick, the weak and vulnerability can bring forth
such power of connection and solidarity. Can you imagine these people who don’t
have to do anything make this great impact? This is a very radical paradigm
shift for those who have been trained to believe that only the strong and
powerful in society can make great impact and change. The story enlightens us
to think otherwise. The power of the vulnerable.
Both Carl
& Jenet shared with us how the COVID-19 helped us to be connected with
families overseas and the mother earth. We then see how vulnerability brings
people to Love and Care of others, that is the essence of God and the beauty of Life.
3 The
transformation of the sick & vulnerable
The third
reflection on this healing story about Simon’s mother-in-law is sickness and
vulnerability bring transformation
When the
fever left Simon’s mother-in-law, she began to serve Jesus and the disciples
immediately.
How do we
know we are healed? When we are able to stand up on our own feet and serve
others. There are people who have been sick for a long time or who love the
feeling of being cared when they were sick, (I am sorry to say that) they
become addicted to a kind of “sick role”. They always feel they are not well
and require other’s attention and care. These people become dependent on others
and always victimized themselves.
God loves the
vulnerable, the sick and the little one who are not visible and even neglected
by society. We see from the text, these sick people don’t even have a name to
be recorded. Not even Simon’s mother-in-law. However, they are not only healed
by Jesus, they are empowered and called to be Christ’s witness to bring love,
joy and hope to others. Today, our sister Norma and our children, friend Jenet
have given us this powerful witness. When we pray to God for healing and admit
that we are vulnerable, we are reminded that God who came to the world in the
form of human being is also vulnerable like us. The life of Jesus, who lived,
suffered, died and rose up again enlightened us to know whenever we are
vulnerable, God is there to be with us to heal and save. At the same time, we
are called to live out God’s healing grace as Christ’s disciples.
A few days
ago on 21 May, it was the day of Ascension of the Lord according to the church
liturgical year calendar. Being on earth forty days after his resurrection,
Jesus left his disciples on earth and went back to the Father in Heaven. When
we are feeling lost and painful in our illness and vulnerability, suffering
from the absence of God, let us remember, in our vulnerability, we are meeting
face to face of God, and to receive Christ’s deep healing grace. Jesus Christ, reveals
the God who was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen! it was
Asia
Sunday: Reflection by Carl Catedral
On the
morning of April 9, I woke up to a text message from my mom telling me she had
tested positive for COVID-19. In some ways, I knew the news was coming. She
told me the day before that she had symptoms and was going to get tested. But
the news was still shocking. I guess in part because even though Hong Kong is
connected by rail from the epicenter of the virus, the first person I
personally knew who was infected was my mom – someone living an ocean apart and
thousands of miles away from me.
My mom is a
nurse at a local hospital less than 10 minutes from my family’s home in
Phoenix, Arizona - where she lives with my dad, my brother, and my brother’s
fiancé. She got sick around the same time several other nurses on her floor
were also infected – what now seems to have been the peak of the pandemic in
the U.S. The news of her sickness created a deep sense of sadness,
apprehensiveness, and frustration in me. I was sad because I love my mom, and I
didn’t want her to be sick or in pain. I was apprehensive because my dad had
several underlying health issues (earlier this year he had a stroke and has had
other heart-related complications), so he was at a higher risk of further
health complications if he contracted the virus. I was frustrated because
health workers like my mom shouldn’t be getting sick as a result of a lack of
protective equipment and preparation on the part of her employers and the
government as a whole.
Despite
taking special precautions like staying in their own rooms and avoiding contact
with one another, my dad and brother also ended up testing positive. My dad
experienced the worst of it. He experienced severe body aches and low oxygen
levels, so he was taken to the hospital - which meant he was separated from
seeing the rest of my family. He ended up being put on oxygen and staying in
the hospital for 11 days to recover from pneumonia caused by the virus.
Thankfully,
my family is doing much better now. My mom and brother have mostly recovered
though my brother still has a slight cough. My dad has been out of the hospital
over a week now and is slowly gaining strength. But they are all still a little
bit weak and have lost a lot of weight. My dad is still being monitored because
he seems to still have some minor complications from being sick. My mom is also
trying to regain strength because her hospital is asking her to come back to
work soon. They will be getting tested again this week to make sure they are
officially cleared of the virus and will be checked for antibodies as
well. So I’m praying that things will continue to progress for
them.
Throughout
this whole process, my family has received so much support from friends and
family who provided meals, dropped off supplies, and of course prayed. I am so
thankful to all of you who have prayed for my family and checked in with me. It
has been a great encouragement both to them and to me. I think one silver
lining of the situation is I now call my parents every day to check in on them
and tell them I love them. They always used to complain that I didn't call
enough. But I don’t know - maybe now they are annoyed that I keep calling them
every day. But I am thankful for the opportunity to grow closer to them through
this experience as it has been something I have always wanted but struggled to
do.
Overall, I am
immensely grateful that my family is doing better and steadily recovering. But
what I have also learned in the process is God reminding me to not only look
inward at the pain affecting me and my family but to also see the pain and
grief experienced by others. To some degree or another, we have all been
impacted by the trauma of COVID-19, and we are all in need of God’s healing
touch. Still at another level, we also see that those on the margins of society
– those already lacking basic protections and necessities – are the ones most
severely impacted by the pandemic.
So part of
what has been helpful and healing for me in this process has been Lydia and I
being involved in giving both our time and resources to those in need. Even
though I’m far from my family and unable to see them, I have been thankful for
the opportunity to be able to serve at KUC while also being involved in
supporting some of the work of Filipina domestic workers here in Hong Kong. It
has helped me to get a bigger picture of what is happening in the world and to
find solace and healing through serving others.
Part of what COVID-19
has shown us is that if anyone is vulnerable and lacking protection; then we
are all at risk. I think it is a reminder then that when we pray and take
action, we must not forget the most vulnerable of society. Their healing is our
healing. Their health is our health.
My prayer
then is that the testimony of my family’s healing might be a way to ask God to
bring healing again - healing for those of us who have broken or grieving
hearts; healing for sick family members and friends who need it; but also
healing for broken and sick institutions that fail to protect and serve the
needs of the people.
Thank you
again to all of you who have prayed and remembered my family in this difficult
time. May we continue to pray for healing and stand in solidarity together with
all those who continue to grieve and suffer.
Asia Sunday:
Reflection by Norma Diaz
Testimony
of a Migrant Worker
Who is the migrant worker? They, like me, are those who leave
home to find work outside of their home country. Our aim is to provide for our
family, their basic needs of food, education and a little of life’s comforts.
We have faced many challenges during
our times of work here in our host country—the language barrier, social
exclusion, confinement and isolation, to mention a few of the many challenges
that we encounter every day.
We suffer from
discrimination, long working hours and a lack of rest. We work around the
clock. We are very vulnerable to a high level of stress, mental and physical
strain, social isolation and a lower quality of life. We are the most
vulnerable group of workers, and we need help to negotiate the contract we have
to sign so that the employment agencies and our employers are more humane.
The coronavirus has
paralyzed the world and has become a deadly threat to our lives. We, as migrant
workers, felt the fear of infection and death before the virus came, but now we
all have this fear. Quarantine, isolation, tracking and testing seem to be the
remedy for everyone’s protection.
But isolation and confinement
are not new to us, for it’s been our everyday cycle of life due to the inhumane
nature of our employment contract.
Life, however it may be,
is not all about negativity, hardship and injustices though. There is good in
all that we see, that we face, that we experience.
I and other migrant
workers may feel vulnerable and weak, but there is good news: I have found a
shelter and a hiding place, a place of protection and safety, that’s good
enough for me to feel safe and comforted.
The psalmist wrote, “For
in the day of trouble, He will keep me safe in His dwelling, He will hide me in
the shelter of His sanctuary and set me high upon a rock.”
What a wonderful promise
from a loving God! He makes me strong and confident!
It has been such a
blessing that during these hard times of life in isolation and confinement that
I have found in him a loving Father, a shepherd , a comforter, who guides, who
loves, who protects and treats me and my fellow workers as his own. He becomes
a loving father in the absence of my physical father. He sends me a gift of
human love and a best friend and allows me to explore this wonderful life
together in the future.
He supplies me with good
health, nourishes my soul and gives me the desires of my heart. I am grateful
though that, in spite of hardship, I have found satisfaction to receive his
gift that satisfies my soul.
We are welcome to express
our sorrow and pain, but we don’t have to be a victim of our circumstances.
We can overcome fear by
trusting in God for his protection.
He is in control of our
circumstances.
From the Lord comes
deliverance. May your blessing, Lord, be on all your people. Amen.
Asia
Sunday: Reflection by Jenet Chinonso Onwufuju
Good morning
everybody, I am Jenet and I would like to share with you the effects of the
coronavirus in my life. First, I would like to talk about the negative effects.
First, I
feel very bored because we always stay at home. Second, I also feel sad because
many people are getting sick and many have died and many scientists haven’t
been able to find a cure yet. I am also very scared because my mom goes out
almost every day and I’m scared that she might have the virus and what will
happen to me and my siblings.
Now I will
talk about the positive effects. I am very happy because we have more holidays.
We have more free time, and my mom can spend more time with us.
Now that I
told you the positive and negative effects of the coronavirus in my life. I would like to tell what I realized. I
realized that we are becoming closer to God. We now pray more often not only
for ourselves but other people too especially doctors and nurses. I also
realized that we need to have more love instead of fighting and I realized that
we need to value and care for ourselves and nature.
God bless you!
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Tuesday, May 26, 2020
A sermon preached at Kowloon Union
Church on Sunday 10 May 2020, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, by the Revd Judy Chan. The scripture readings that day were I Peter 2: 2-10, John
14:1-14.
Good morning. A few years ago, I got an
email from a friend in the U.S. He had a request. His friend is a
Chinese-American minister and he wanted to take his daughter to visit their
ancestral home in Guangdong province, what we call your “heung ha”, or your
native place where your family came from. His relatives in the US had given him
the address in the village and told him that there were still some distant
cousins living in the house that his great grandfather built. The only problem
was the minister couldn’t speak enough Chinese to get there by himself. He
checked with some travel agents in New York but they only did these grand tours
of major cities in China. So, he asked my friend if there was any travel agent
in Hong Kong that could help them.
Well, I didn’t know any travel agency
in Hong Kong that gave such personalized tours, and it might be expensive
anyway. And I knew I wasn’t capable of getting them to the village in Guangdong
either. But I had an idea. My husband Joe. I thought, now if he had time and
the schedules matched, Joe could get them there.
So I asked Joe and he said if he could
arrange his work schedule, sure, he’d do it. So I wrote back to the minister
and said, “My husband is from Hong Kong and he’d like to help. Please send more
information.”
Well, back and forth the emails went.
The minister was excited and very grateful but also somewhat anxious. How will
we get there? How much will it cost? Are you sure your husband can do this? I
wrote back, “Don’t worry. If anyone can get you get there, he can do it.
Finally, after a few months, the
minister and his daughter arrived in Hong Kong. And Joe took them on this
adventure back to the heung ha, where indeed, they found the village, the house
and the relatives. It was a wonderful homecoming. And most amazing of all, when
they went upstairs, they saw a picture that they recognized right away. It was
the great grandfather’s portrait, and they knew it, because they had the only
other copy at home in New York City.
I tell this story, because today’s
Gospel reading is also about going back to the heung ha or our ancestral home.
It’s a story about claiming our spiritual DNA as children of the living God.
But most of all, John 14 is a story about Jesus Christ – the Way, the Truth and
the Life - the one who makes our homecoming possible in the first place.
So, let’s begin the journey. Our Gospel
reading is part of the narrative of Jesus with his disciples in the Upper Room.
It began in Chapter 13. He has washed their feet and is eating his last
Passover meal. He predicts one of them will betray him. They are shocked. Then
later he tells Judas go quickly, do what you’re planning to do. Judas is the
treasurer of the group, so maybe he has to take care of some money
matters. After Judas leaves, Jesus
breaks the news to the other disciples. I’m not going to be around much longer.
I have to leave you and you can’t go with me.
This of course is all very upsetting.
The disciples have left everything to follow their Master for the past three
years. The idea of separation is unthinkable. They can’t believe he’s going to
leave them behind. What’s going to happen to them?
Jesus knows this is hard for them to
accept. And he’ll answer their desperate questions as honestly as he can. But
by the very things they ask, it’s obvious how far they are from grasping the
magnitude of what’s before them. The disciples really have no idea (1) what’s
going to happen to their Master; (2) why it needs to happen; and (3) what this
means for their lives. So Jesus tries to explain everything before he leaves
but they won’t really understand until later. In other words, this story is
told in a pre-Easter setting, but it’s meant to instruct the disciples and you
and me in a post-Easter world.
Let’s walk through those questions one
by one.
(1) First, what’s going to happen to
the Master?
Peter at the end of Chapter 13 asks,
“Lord, where are you going?” Jesus doesn’t answer him directly. He only says
he’s going away and Peter can’t follow him now. Peter protests. “Lord, why
can’t I follow you now? No matter how dangerous it is, you can count on me!” To
which Jesus replies, “Really, my friend? Alas, before this night’s over, you’ll
deny you even knew me three times.”
Peter obviously has no idea what
dangers lie ahead for the Master and for themselves. If he really knew where
Jesus was heading that night, he might have had second thoughts. And Jesus knew
that. But no matter what, in the end, none of them can’t follow him now because
his suffering and death on Good Friday was Christ’s alone to bear.
But even more, the disciples can’t
follow him now, because his ultimate destination is even farther away. He’s
heading back to his heavenly Father. And they aren’t ready to go there either,
until Jesus has prepared safe passage for them and all those who love him. The
disciples don’t yet comprehend how far Jesus will go for their sake. All they
know is he’s leaving.
(2) Which brings us to the second
question, why does all this need to happen?
At the beginning of Chapter 14, Jesus
tells his disciples: Don’t let your hearts be shaken! Even though I’m leaving
you, didn’t I say I’m coming back? That you’re all going to be with me, and
together we’ll all be with God. It’s going to be OK. After all, you know the
way.
Thomas responds, “Actually, Lord, we
don’t know anything about anything. How can you say we know the way?” To which
Jesus replies with the famous words in v.6, “I am the way, the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
What does that mean? Remember, these
are Jesus’ words of comfort to his frightened disciples. What he says then
should be good news, not bad news, for anyone. It’s amazing then that some
believers today quote John 14:6 as a condemnation of everyone who is outside
the circle called “Christian”. Certainly that was not Jesus’ intention!
What did Thomas ask? “Lord, how can we
know the way?” And Jesus says: “You’re looking at him right now, Thomas. I am
the way! You don’t need a secret map to get to where I’m going. All you have to do is trust me, believe in
me, because none of you can come to the Father on your own. That’s why
everything that’s going to happen has to happen.”
That’s why everything that’s going to
happen has to happen. Because we’re all in the same boat, friends. We’re all
separated from God because of sin. That’s the spiritual reality of this evil
world. And there would be no hope indeed for humanity unless someone can tell
us that’s not the last word. And that’s exactly what Jesus is saying here.
New Testament scholar Craig Koester
explains it beautifully. As he puts it:
John's Gospel doesn’t identify Jesus
as the way, the truth, and the life in order to close off relationships with
God, but to open up relationships with God where sin has created separation.
The word "except" in the phrase "except by me" means that
the categorical judgment that "no one comes to the Father" is not the
last word... "Except" is like a window that lets light into a closed
room. [It confirms] what the Gospel says about Christ coming as light into a
world of darkness. . . as the door or
gate that enables people to enter God's sheepfold.
In short, “no one comes to the Father
except by me” means we have a way to be reconciled with God that was never
possible before. In Christ, through Christ, and with Christ, we are going home.
(3) Which brings us to the third
question. What does this all mean for the disciples? Simply this, they, you and
I have the absolutely best guide possible to take us back to our heung ha, our
native place right to the heart of God. His name is Jesus and he speaks the
language, he’s travelled the road, and he won’t charge you even a penny.
And when you get there you too will
make the most amazing discovery upstairs. The picture of God you see through
Jesus Christ is exactly the same in heaven as it is on earth. That’s right. You
and I have the clearest picture of what God the Father is like through our
Crucified Lord and Risen Savior. Like Father, like Son. That’s what Jesus was
trying to tell Philip when the disciple asked for a special preview: “Lord, show
us the Father and we’ll be satisfied.” “Philip, Philip, do you know what you’re
asking? No one can see God face-to-face and live. But everything you need to
know about the Father, you can find out by looking at me.” Like Father, like Son.
Now some of you may be uncomfortable
with so much emphasis on “Father” in talking about God, especially on Mother’s
Day! And I did struggle some with the language. Because we know that God is not
male, and God is not female for that matter. But the point here I think is that
the God of Jesus Christ is not an impersonal deity but a God of relationship.
That the God of Jesus Christ is not a God whose ways and will are hidden from
our sight. No, absolutely the opposite. In Jesus Christ, God has made it as
clear as day how much we are loved, how much we have been forgiven, and how
much more we need to do in His name to heal this broken world.
Because at the end of the day, for me,
that’s what John 14 is really about. Not just giving us assurance that we’ve
got a room reserved in heaven, as comforting as that may be on our deathbed.
Through Jesus Christ, there’s a place prepared for us in the Kingdom of God
right now, right here on this side of eternity. But to get there, we have to do
it his way, what the great late Eugene Peterson called the “Jesus way”.
Because it’s only when the Jesus way is
wedded to the Jesus truth do we get the Jesus life. That means we can’t claim
to preach the Jesus truth and then live any old way we want. We can’t brag
we’re living the Jesus life and do it any other way than what he showed us.
And what way was that?
I like how writer and pastor Brian
McLaren puts it. He says one of the questions he gets asked most often is “Is
Jesus the only way?” He knows it may be a test from some Christians who want to
see if he gives the “right” answer, or a test from non-Christians who hope he
says the opposite. In either case, McLaren has the same response. He says
Is Jesus the only way? It depends on
where we’re trying to go. If we want to abandon the earth as a lost cause and
evacuate upward to heaven as soon as possible, I suspect we’re going in a
different direction than Jesus…Jesus’ movement is downward. Heaven to earth,
earth to humanity, humanity to servanthood, servanthood to suffering and death.
He doesn’t teach us to pray, “May we go to heaven where your will is done,
unlike earth,” … rather, … your kingdom come, …your will be done on earth as in
heaven. If that’s where we want to go, to get earthy and
manifest the kingdom of heaven on earth, then you won’t find anyone [better to
lead] you there. Only Jesus…. move down with him, in the direction of
incarnation not abandonment . . . of involvement and identification not elitism
and escape . . . go where he went for the reason he went, in love and service
to … sinners like you and me.
Jesus Christ: His Way, His Truth, Our
Life.
In closing, let me share something from
my life, from my last 20 years’ experience in ministry. Many of you know that I work at the Hong Kong
Christian Council. I’m in charge of the English religious broadcasting for RTHK
radio. Some of you have been in our studio recording your programs. Most of you
have contributed through live Sunday services from Kowloon Union Church. Let me
thank you. RTHK is the government’s public broadcasting station. So of course,
they have their rules about what’s acceptable or not acceptable to say on air.
Usually it has to do with political matters. But for religious broadcasting,
over the years, we’ve developed our own rules. And I try to apply them to my
Christian life as well. What are they?
First: no disparaging or tearing down
other religions. Not just because we’re a multi-religious society. It’s a form
of the Golden Rule: Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to yourself.
Next: Say something normal people can understand, not just Christians. You want
the audience to keep listening, not turn you off. Lastly, be yourself, be
authentic. Sure, some people are more eloquent speakers than others. Some run
rings around the rest of us with their vast knowledge and wide experience. But
you have things to say that no one else can say because they haven’t lived your
life. And the world needs to hear from you, not only on RTHK, but wherever
Jesus opens the door for you to share his message of faith, hope and love. As
one wise veteran missionary once wrote:
We know only in part, but we do know.
And we believe that the faith we profess is both true and just, and should be
proclaimed. We do this, however, not as judges or lawyers, but as witnesses;
not as soldiers, but as envoys of peace; not as high-pressure salespersons, but
as ambassadors of [our] Servant Lord [Jesus Christ].
Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 10, 2020
