Reflections: May 2021

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Pentecost Sunday 30 May 2021, by Bodil Skjott. The scripture reading that day were John 3:1-17, Isaiah 6:1-8 and Pslam 29.

Life of Jesus - life with Jesus

Today we are going to do something you are not supposed to do: Eavesdropping
- listen in on a private conversation between two people, Nikodemus and Jesus.
Nikodemus even tried really hard to make this a very private conversation –
coming to Jesus at night time. At least we often think that is why he came at
night. Perhaps it was just the culture among disciples of rabbis to seek out the
master at night. Maybe Nikodemus is actually treating Jesus with respect – as a
rabbi - by coming at night. For sure, Nikodemus does appear to be a very
respectful, honest and even open person, addressing Jesus the way he does and
quite different from other pharisaic leaders we read about in the Gospels
Listening in on two people's private conversation is, however, not very respectful.
But what can we do? John wrote it and it is the gospel story assigned for this
Sunday, Trinity Sunday, where we begin on a new journey in our church calendar.
I think we have to assume that Nikodemus himself actually is the one to leak the
conversation and share the story with John later on. We know that the
conversation that started that night led to Nikodemus later becoming a follower of
Jesus – and therefore also a friend of John.

Before we get further into our eavesdropping let us pause and notice where are
in the church calendar. As mentioned, today is called “Trinity-Sunday''. The three
big church holidays are now all behind us. No big feasts to look forward to. From
now on it is all about putting into practice what we have learned so far. We´´e
now been told the whole story about Jesus: His coming into our world - the
Christmas story; His death and suffering on the cross, culminating with the
resurrection, the Easter story and we have just celebrated his ascension and with
that the completion of what he came to do. He has returned to his father and sent
us the Holy Spirit which we celebrated a week ago with Pentecost Sunday. We
have been told what we are to believe in. Now the focus is on how to live in that
story so that what we know with our heads and believe in our hearts can take
shape in our lives with each other and in society – as the people of God. The
God we have come to know as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity.

What does this life look like? A key word for Christmas could be light. A keyword
for Easter could be life – even from the dead. Perhaps a key word for this next
season starting from today could be love – or faith, hope and love. Faith and
hope in Jesus leads to love in action.

Is it not amazing that as we set out on that journey - the journey of faith, hope
and love, that we start with the words from John 3:16 – about God’s love – for us
and the world that is ours – and still remains God´s. Not our love for God but his
love for us. John 3:16 has almost become a cliché. We know it so well - or at
least we can say John 3:16 as if everybody then knows what we mean. Are we in
danger of being num to them? Can we hear them afresh: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only son”.

A God who loves! Do we realize how unique this is for the Christian faith? Not a
God who is holy, righteous, all powerful, compassionate. But a God who loves -
Yes, even more, a God who IS Love. I have often met people coming to faith in
Jesus from other religions who would say that this is what was so different and
surprising to them. God, as a father who loves his children. And it is a love that
acts – by giving – giving what is most dear to him. God did not just send Jesus –
he gave him, gave him up. A giving that opens the door - for whoever- believes.
Opens the door and gives life – everlasting. It should blow us away! When we
talk about God so loved the world – it is not like when we say, I just looove the
people of HK, or I just looove the Danish people. You can put your own name
there where it says “world.” I can put mine. God so love me, you. God's love is
measured by what it is giving. We cannot string the beginning and the end of this
verse together and omit the middle part and just say: God loved the world so that
all could have eternal life. God had to give – give up – and what God gives we
get through faith - “whoever believes”. Perhaps it is easier to understand how we
are to respond to God's giving if we use the word “trust”. Trust in God.

We can know these words so well that we forget the context in which Jesus said
them. It was as he was talking to Nikodemus trying to explain to him what the
kingdom of God is all about - or what “life with Jesus” is - as we have labeled this
season in our church calendar.

So Nikodemus comes to Jesus very respectful, very open, not judgmental at all. I
think many of us have to redefine our understanding of the Pharisees when we
meet him here. He does not fit the stereotype. So, let us not be too quick to put people into boxes. I sometimes think that Jesus could have answered
Nikodemus a little more friendly. Could he not have given him credit for his good
behaviour, his high morals, his honesty. But it is like Jesus is telling Nikodemus:
All that is good, but with regard to your questions – or what it is you are looking
for, it will not get you there. You will not be able to grasp the Kingdom of God with
more information, more miracles, more good deeds. You have to be born again.
Says Jesu and he does so three times. Had it been about moral deeds –
Nikodemus could already check that box. Nor is it about great miracles that he
had seen or heard Jesus perform. It is a whole new beginning. To explain what
he means Jesus then refers to a story familiar to Nikodemus - the story about
when God's people were poisoned by snakes in the desert and Moses was told
to make a snake out of bronze, hold it up high and have the people look at it. By
doing so they would live. In the same way, says Jesus to his polite and open
guest, the Son of Man must be lifted up and in looking to him you can find life.
God has to do something for you – not you for him. And God still has a remedy
for broken and dying people in a broken world. We are not to look to a snake
raised on a stick, but to the Son of Man, Jesus, God's only son, raised up on the
cross. For so - so much and in this way - God loved - and continues to love - the
world.

Words and phrases can be used so much that we no longer can hear them. As
we said this can be the case with John 3:16.
Other words can be taken captive by certain groups so that others no longer feel
they can identify themselves with this label. I think many feel that the label
“evangelical” has become such a word. It has been stolen - at least from me -
and politicized. It no longer stands for “trust in the Bible, a desire for unity or
mission and a conviction that the gospel should be shared with all people.”

I think the same can be true for the phrase “born again” that some people will use
to describe themselves, saying: “I am not just a Christian – I am a born again
Christian”. The phrase was made famous when it was used by the former US
president Jimmy Carter back in the last century and also used as the title of his
biography. When Billy Graham then wrote a book about “How to be born again”
the phrase was almost made identical with the evangelical movement - and to a
certain extent trivialized. But whether we like the phrase or we think it sounds as
if the person is saying “I am a better, more serious Christian than others” – the
text today begs us to consider what Jesus means when he – three times – uses
the phrase “born again”.

Perhaps we should rather talk about being “born from above”. It is not a physical
re-birth, it has nothing to do with a program for moral upgrade. Nikodemus did
not need a moral upgrade. What he needed was something from “above”. It is
something that God does. It starts with God! It starts with “For God so loved the
world.”

None of us have ever done anything to be born. Birth is something that happens
to us. We cannot initiate it, or add to it. When it comes to our own birth we are
totally on the receiving end. Birth happens to us. And the same is true when we
talk about being born again – or born from above. It is like the wind – you feel it,
you know it is there but you can't see where it comes from or where it is going.

However, it does not make us totally passive. We can respond! Respond to
God's love for us. Jesus talks about being born of water and spirit - Repentance
and believing in Jesus – looking to Jesus – like the Israelites were told to look at
the snake in the desert. Looking to Jesus here means looking to Jesus – at the
cross. For so – in that way - God loved the world.

And the world is you and me. God loved you, loved me – not just the big
impersonal world. But you, me. How can we hear this afresh – or again. It is like
the phrase “born again”- or evangelical.- Just because the word has been stolen
from us does not mean it is no longer relevant for us to ponder what it means to
be born again and what it means to believe in the gospel the eu-engalicon.
And in a similar way, just because we have heard Joh 3:16 often does not mean
that we now can put it behind us and move on. As we start this season in our
church calendar with a focus on living out the gospel we need to be reminded of
this fundamental basis for living out the Jesus story. The story that we know now
because we have celebrated Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. This is a story we
can live in and we can do so, because God so loved us that he raised up not a
snake in the desert but Jesus on the cross as the remedy not for snake-bites but
for the bite of sin and death in our lives.

Our response to the new birth – the born again – or rather born from above - for it
is God's doing and we are on the receiving end – is - if we take the answer
Nikodemus got from Jesus that night - to look to Jesus. There we see how God
loved us. Can that make us stand in awe like Isaiah did in the temple? He
realized that God is holy, holy, holy, - notice the three holys - and his own
situation? And can we then respond as he did. He realized that he was in the
presence of God, but also in need of God to make him clean, heal him from the
snake bites in his life. When God did that, gave him a new birth, a new identity,
his response was: Here I am – send me!

May we see that we are loved people - people that are loved by God. And may
God's love for us make us people who love. Love the world, our family, our
neighbor, the stranger. Love with the love with which we ourselves have been
loved - the love that gives - everything, so that whoever - no exceptions –
believes in Him – or with a less “religious” word: Trust in him – will not perish but
have eternal life. That is why Jesus came – not to condemn but to give life.
Let's not withhold that love of God from anyone. May we like Isaiah be
overwhelmed overjoyed, again by this love so we too respond: “use me, send
me” May we start this season in our calendar - as church, as God's people
soaked in the love of God, by setting our feet firmly on this as the foundation on
which we stand and from where we move as we are sent. May we then go out
and into the world. And remember, the big world is made up of my family, my
friends, my colleagues, my neighborhood. This Is where we as loved people are
to love and to give - that people will not perish but live.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 30, 2021

Do It Again, Lord!

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Pentecost Sunday 23 May 2021, by Rev Judy Chan. The scripture reading that day was Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15.

Good morning. Let me begin with a story. It’s attributed to Fred Craddock, a distinguished American preacher in a denomination called the Disciples of Christ. The Disciples of Christ are one of the churches that sponsored my ministry in Hong Kong. So, when I’ve been in the US for speaking engagements, I sometimes got lucky and was at the same meeting as Fred Craddock. And I can tell you, he is a great preacher and master storyteller.

Craddock says once he was on a tour of the Holy Land with a group of seminary professors. One of their stops was the traditional site of the Upper Room in Jerusalem. There was another tour group ahead of them so they had to wait their turn. This other group was led by a pastor. With deep emotion, he told his flock: “This is the very room where Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples, where he appeared to them after his resurrection, where he urged doubting Thomas to touch his hands and side, where the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost.” The group responded emotionally praying and weeping and shouting to the Lord. They finished their time reverently taking Holy Communion together. Then Craddock’s group entered. Their guide said, “Actually this room where we’re standing did not exist at the time of Christ. It’s Byzantine in architecture and it’s less than a thousand years old.” The professors nodded their heads as the guide went on with fact after fact. The talk may have been accurate, Craddock thought, but not a particularly inspiring history of such a venerated site. As the tour guide droned on and on, a woman in Craddock’s group leaned over and whispered: “I wish I were in that other group!”

Does this story resonate with you? Do you see yourself here anywhere? Maybe you put yourself firmly with the group of professors from historic churches. We do things decently and in order. Or maybe you’re in the more pentecostal group praising God to the heights: “Do it again, Lord!” Or maybe, at some point, you’ve been someone who wished you were in the other group.

We come from many lands and cultures at KUC. Our spiritual experiences and church backgrounds are also diverse. So, I’m pretty sure we’ve been brought up with various interpretations of Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost. Speaking for myself, I grew up in a conservative Baptist Church. We were taught certain things about the Holy Spirit. Then I got to know some Baptists who were part of the charismatic movement. And they taught me some other things about the Holy Spirit. And what did I learn from all this? I learned I needed to have an open mind and open hands to receive everything God wants to give us – in my own life and church as well as through other people’s lives and churches.

And why is that so? Because the presence of the Holy Spirit can be manifested in different ways in different people for different purposes. I have an ex-patriate missionary friend who told me in her early days, she was in a prayer group in Hong Kong with other ex-pats. She started to pray in Cantonese. The others thought she was praying in tongues like in the book of Acts. She said, no, I’m praying in Chinese (which she had studied). She’s never prayed in tongues in her life. I can tell you, though, she’s one of the most Spirit-filled people I know and a very fine missionary. Then I told her I have prayed in tongues, mostly in private devotion. But regretfully it wasn’t Cantonese, as much as I might have wished it. I joke if you ever hear Judy praying in a language anyone recognizes as Chinese, you’ll know signs and wonders have not ceased. Nonetheless, my friend considers me a Spirit-filled Christian who also contributes to the Kingdom of God.

It’s tragic that the whole issue of the Holy Spirit has so often divided Christians of goodwill. God sent the Holy Spirit to unite us, not divide us. It’s not a competition – who’s got the Spirit and who hasn’t. I’m helped here by Pentecostal theologians like Gordon Fee. He’s convinced that whoever confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has already received His Spirit. No exceptions. No one, he says, no one comes to faith in Christ without the power of the Spirit in their lives. Faith is just not humanly possible without divine intervention. So, the most important question to ask is not whether we’ve got the Spirit – if you’re a Christian, that’s settled. The most important question is How does the Spirit change our lives? How does the Spirit change my life, your life, the life of the Church and the life of the world?

If we look at today’s traditional reading for Pentecost Sunday from Acts, we can find some answers. Are you ready?

Where do we start? There’s so much going on in this passage in Acts 2 that I could drone on and on like that tour guide at the beginning of the sermon. I could tell you fact after fact about Pentecost, and it might all be accurate but not particularly inspiring. So instead let’s cut to the chase: Let’s ask how did the Spirit change lives in the book of Acts? How did the Holy Spirit change the disciples? The people who listened to them? The Church that came into being? The world that God so loved?

When we look at Acts 2 with those questions in mind, we find some amazing results. Let’s talk about two of them this morning.

The first amazing result of Pentecost is the transformation of those 120 disciples in the Upper Room. You might be thinking, hey, the disciples already believed in Jesus – why does the Spirit need to come down upon them again? New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall explains that we need not limit being filled with the Spirit as a one-off experience. In Western thinking, if something is filled, it’s full. But we can be full of many things – like joy or love – and it doesn’t mean we can’t have more joy or love, does it? So too the Spirit – God continues to pour out the Spirit again and again in our time of need. And the disciples were certainly in need if they were going to accomplish the mission Jesus gave them. And what was that mission?

As we read it in Acts 1, verse 8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Not for the faint of heart.
The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost then was God’s equipping the disciples to be witnesses – bold and effective witnesses. And for sure they were going to have to be bold to be effective because they were starting in Jerusalem among their own people. So, what did the Spirit do but give them exactly the kind of testimony they needed. Remember the first disciples weren’t highly educated urbanites with an impressive resume. It would take a miracle for these disciples to convince that crowd. But through the Holy Spirit, that’s exactly what happened – a miracle – a miracle that let them to witness to Jesus Christ in every foreign tongue of their skeptical listeners. And that of course opened the door for Peter to address the astonished crowd and preach the first sermon in his life. The result? Over 3000 people that day repented, turned to Christ and were baptized.

So, the first amazing result of Pentecost? Bold and effective witness for God.
Does this look anything like your life? Have you ever been called a bold and effective witness for God? If yes, praise the Lord! But if you’re thinking, well, not exactly, don’t despair. Because Acts 2 is really not so much about the Holy Spirit coming down on individuals. It’s about the Spirit of God coming down on a whole community, empowering them for mission. We were never expected to go it alone.

The birth of the Church then is the second amazing result of Pentecost. It’s the answer to our prayers, whether we know it or not. And what’s so amazing is how this little Jewish start-up succeeded in taking the Gospel to the Gentiles as well as to the ends of the earth. Think about it. The early Church didn’t have lots of money. They weren’t seminary trained. They didn’t have the support of a big organization. All they had was the Holy Spirit and a mission. And that was enough. Enough to fulfill the words of the prophet Joel quoted by Peter.

'In the last days…God declares…I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

Did you get that? I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and they will prophesy – male and female, young and old, slave and free…we’re all included, from the greatest to the least. We’re all included, not only to receive the blessings of God but to be the blessings from God to a hurting world. And how does that happen? By telling the truth. That’s what prophecy means in the Bible. Not predicting the future like an astrologer or fortune teller. When God’s people prophesy, they tell the truth about the sin and evil of this world. When God’s people prophesy, they tell the truth about how God is at work right now in this world. When God’s people prophesy, they tell the truth about what this world would look like if God were in charge instead of man. That’s what the Church was born for – to tell the truth – God’s truth – and to live by it every day.

Of course, being bold, effective witnesses in a truth-telling community isn’t always going to be easy. In fact, much of the time it’s pretty hard. That’s what the first disciples and the early Church discovered wherever the Spirit led them. And you know what they did when things got tough? They prayed. That’s right. Every time the Spirit came down in the Bible, God’s people were praying. So, let’s close today with prayer - a beautiful hymn to the Holy Spirit written by Gina Tuck. Please pray with me:

Helper, Healer
One with the Father and Son
Teacher, Sustainer
Declare to us things to come

Mover, Molder

Pray for us when we can't speak
Comforter, Counselor
Strengthen us when we are weak

Holy fire
Come upon us when we pray
Renewer, Reviver
Grant us your words to say

With us, in us
Power to rest in your grace
With us, in us
Power to finish this race

Spirit of Him who rose from the dead
Live in me
Spirit of Truth who pierces my heart
Breathe in me
[She] who hovered over the birth of the waters
Bring forth the birth of my soul
Remind me that He who set me free
Will make me whole

Amen

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 23, 2021

“You are my friends if…”

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Labour Sunday 9 May 2021, Sixth Sunday of Easter, by Dr. Hope S. Antone. The scripture reading that day was John 15:9-17.

“You are my friends if you do what I command you (vs. 14).”

Somehow this verse reminds me of a statement I overheard from a little girl at a playground in Richmond, Virginia: “You are my friend if you do what I say, so now you are not my friend anymore.” The little girl then turned to play with another child. As a mother watching my small children at the playground on a seminary campus, I couldn’t help but wonder how a little girl could say that to her friend. What struck me about her statement was the conditionality implied in her understanding of the word, “friend.” For failing to meet the condition she had set, someone ceased to be her friend. Is friendship really conditional?

Although I am not an avid Facebook user, I sometimes get requests to be a friend from people I hardly know or haven’t met. Facebook enables us to have more friends as long as we are willing to allow ourselves to read each other’s posts. But in traditional friendship, reciprocity is foundational to a relationship of trust, respect and love for each other. Traditional friendship is something that evolves over time – unlike the slight touch of an accept button on Facebook. In traditional friendship, the people evolve from mere acquaintances to friends who know more about the other, share things in common, and affirm or confirm, “You are my friend” or “S/he is my friend.”

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Fortunately, this statement from Jesus does not carry a note of rejection of those being addressed. Read within the larger context of the passage, the verse is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his close followers, before his impending arrest. He had been a Rabbi or Teacher to them. He called/chose them to be his disciples. He taught them, in word and deed, God’s love and will for fullness of life for everyone. “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

What is it that Jesus had commanded his disciples? Verses 12-13 state: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

According to scholars, friendship was a key social relationship in the ancient Greek and Roman cultures in which the early church grew and the New Testament documents were written. Interestingly the Greek word for friend is philos, which comes from one of the most common verbs for ‘love’ in Greek, which is phileo. Thus, in the New Testament, a friend is understood as ‘one who loves.’

Jesus’ notion of a “greater love”, shown in laying down one’s life for one’s friends, might be easily understood as his literal death on the cross. But it should be remembered that it also reflected a well-known ideal for friendship in ancient time – i.e., looking to the interest of the other for the sake of the common and greater good. Some writings by classical philosophers would attest to this. Aristotle wrote: “…the virtuous man’s conduct is often guided by the interests of his friends and of his country, and that he will if necessary lay down his life in their behalf.” Similarly, Plato wrote, “Only those who love wish to die for others.”

In today’s context, it may be difficult to find this “greater love” being lived out literally. Although during this Covid-19 pandemic, we do read some extraordinary stories about the selflessness of medical workers who put their lives on the line by being at the frontlines to attend to the sick. Normally, however, especially before the pandemic, we celebrated friendship through eating and drinking together, taking holidays together, or simply being there for a friend in need. These are things that have come to be known as the old normal during this pandemic. Perhaps, before the National Security Law enactment, there were people who tried to live out the “greater love” for the common good, putting their lives on the line for the sake of this beloved city. And we know that there are consequences of living out that “greater love” for the sake of the common good.

I think the literal laying down of one’s life is not something to be made as a goal so that one would work towards reaching it. In the case of Jesus, it was a consequence of his actions for the fullness of life for all, but which was regarded as a threat to the status quo by the powers that be.

Another aspect about friendship in ancient times can be gleaned from the philosophers’ advice about the manner of speaking among so-called friends in a patron-client relationship, as in the case of the “friend of the emperor” or of someone powerful. Some Hellenistic philosophers wrote, “Frankness of speech … is the language of friendship … (while) that lack of frankness is unfriendly and ignoble.” Interestingly, for the ancient philosopher, the opposite of frank speech was flattery, which was used to further one’s own interests rather than the common good.

Perhaps, Jesus was alluding to a similar patron-client relationship of master and slave, when he said: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (vs 15).” If so, he is making a shift in the power dynamics – from that between servants/slaves and master to that of friends.

But in this farewell discourse to his disciples, Jesus declared that the master-slave relationship is now replaced with the relationship of friends: “I do not call you servants any longer; I have called you friends.” What used to be a relationship under the law, where the servant could be coerced to serve against their will, is now replaced with a relationship abiding in God’s love, among friends who deeply know each other and freely serve one another.

The notion of friendship is a powerful challenge to the earlier concept of being servants of God, or servants of the Lord. All along, the disciples must have understood Jesus’ teachings in word and deed as demonstration of servanthood and servant leadership. But now, at these final moments with them before his arrest, he is saying that he is no longer calling them “Servants” but “Friends.”

I would like to share some quotes from an article by Gail R. O’Day titled, “I have called you friends”:

“Not many of us will find ourselves in a situation where we are asked to lay down our lives as an expression of friendship and an act of love. But that does not mean that we are exempt from Jesus’ commandment to love as he loved…

“To keep Jesus’ commandment is to enact his love in our lives… If we take Jesus’ commandment to love seriously, and if we long to be called “friend” by Jesus, then the Christian vocation is to give love freely and generously without counting the cost and without wondering and worrying about who is on the receiving end of our limitless love. Because this, too, is how Jesus loved.”

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another (vs 17).” There is conditionality in friendship. But for Jesus, the condition is to love one another unconditionally. It is a love that is not self-serving; it is a love for the common and greater good.

For Jesus, friendship is the ultimate relationship with God and one another. But it is not enough to keep on looking to Jesus as the faithful Friend we can ever have, who is always ready to do something for us – to comfort us in our sorrows, walk beside us in our fears, and hear our prayers for help. By calling his disciples, “Friends” (and we do claim to be among the disciples of today), Jesus is now saying to us: “It is your turn to be my friends… to do the things that I have been doing… and to do even more…” (John 14:12, paraphrased by me).

May God help us as we strive to respond to such a call. Amen.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 09, 2021

Mental Health: The Delights of Sabbath

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Labour Sunday 2 May 2021, Fifth Sunday of Easter, by Revd Po Kam Cheong. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 22:25-31 , Isaiah 58:1-14 (OT) and John 15:1-8 (NT).

Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann states that a prime task of Sabbath in the modern society is against “anxiety”. Anxiety does not only refer to personal anxiety, but also to all the bondages upon individuals imposed by politics, economics and the society . All such bondages have existed in our community with a gentle name, “mental health”.

Like other modern societies, mental health issues have become alarming in Hong Kong. According to several surveys, 40-45% of the total population in the city have suffered from various kinds and degrees of mental distress. In January this year, Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute co-conducted a research on mental health at work in Hong Kong. The survey reveals that 35% of the interviewees suffer from different kinds of mental distress at work, covering around 1.7 million workers in the city .

Mental health as a matter of uneven wealth distribution
Experts of the World Economic Forum point out that the people in the poor economies suffer from depression and anxiety three times more than those in wealthy economies do. The solution is upon the political priority of governments and the international community .

The Government has recently issued the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2019. With the recurrent cash assistance, the poverty rate still went up distinctly by 0.9% over 2018 to 15.8% in 2019, while the poor population increased by 73,500 persons to around 1.1 million persons . Since 2013, with the recurrent cash measure, the Hong Kong poverty rate has continuously gone up. Besides old-age poverty, the poverty of two age groups, children and youth, also worries the community. In 2019, after the recurrent cash intervention, the poverty rate of children aged 18 went up by 1% to 17.8%, with the total population of poor children more than 180 thousand. One of the main reasons of the growth of the child poverty rate is the constant growth of the poor working families. More persons work hard but cannot afford their livings and the livings of their families .

Poverty is the most severe bondage upon people in the modern society, but it is caused by uneven wealth distribution.

Mental health as a matter of political tension and suppression
Hong Kong has become a highly divided city since the Movement of the Anti-Extradition Bill in 2019. The whole society is beset by tension and confrontation. Wong Yan-lung, the chairperson of the Advisory Committee on Mental Health, states that around 15% of Hong Kong teenagers suffer from depression during the social movement in 2019. It is much higher than the rates (3-4%) in Japan, South Korea and China .

Since the implementation of the National Security Law on Hong Kong, many dissidents have been arrested and prisoned. The community is filled up by fear and anxiety. In 2020, the migration rate went up by 70.9%, from less than thirty thousand persons in 2019 to around fifty thousand in 2020 . The Hong Kong public has no confidence in the future. Mental health of the city is deeply rooted with its political, economic and social development.

Mental health as a matter of labour power relationship
Mental health is also a matter of labour power relationship. Recently, a teacher suicide case was heard in the Coroner’s Court . The Court recommended the school to improve its communication and complaint mechanism.

It would be better if there is a mechanism in which the people in question could be left away. Both representatives of the staff and the school management could handle the issue through the given mechanism. If the people in question could stay away from the conflict, the tragic suicide could have been avoided.

Mental health issues at work portray the unequal labour power relationship. The issue is not only limited to Hong Kong, but also in South Korea and China. In South Korea, delivery workers are forced to work for 14-16 hours a day. In 2020, several suspected overwork deaths happened to delivery workers . A suspected overwork death and a suspected suicide due to overwork also happened to delivery workers in China . All the issues are closely related to unequal labour power relationship in which the basic rights of the workers are deprived of.

Mental health as a matter of the “new normal” of modern economies
The innovation of information technology speeds up communication among individuals and communities and has crashed down the boundaries of work, in terms of place and time. Working from home and dispersing work all over the world become possible and normal. This trend has brought three crucial changes in work: individualization of work, informalization of work and irregularity of work (3 “I”s of work).

In its research, BP, a leading oil company in the world, identifies four problems its workers encounter at work during the pandemic .

1. increased anxiety around job security (56%),
2. stress due to changes in work routines and organization (55%),
3. feeling of being lonely or isolated in working from home (49%), and
4. lack of a work-life balance (50%)

Working from home and dispersing work all over the world enforce and enhance the flexibility of work, but they also weaken physical solidarity and emotional support among workers. It makes workers easily feel lonely and isolated and become frustrated and helpless when facing difficulties. The new normal of work arrangements also speed up and intensify the informalization of work. Workers are worried about job insecurity and lack of labour protection. Loss of distinction between work life and personal life due to working from home and informalization of work forces workers to work in an unregulated situation and the work pattern becomes irregular. Long working hours is a common sign.

Food delivery, an uprising job in the modern economies, articulates well the said problems. There is a report about the suspected overwork death of a food delivery worker of ELEME Inc., an online food delivery service platform, Ele.me. Worse still, the death is not regarded as an occupational injury because delivery workers do not have formal employment relationship with ELEME. The family of the victim was given RMB 2,000 only as a special relief. But four days later, under severe public criticism, ELEME increased the amount to RMB 600,000 .

The Ele.me case is a good example to illustrate the three “I” issues.
1. The delivery worker worked as an individual alone without partners or colleagues (individualization).
2. He had no formal employment relationship with the delivery company (informalization).
3. He needed to work for very long hours for higher income (irregularity).

Deliverance of Sabbath
Sabbath as a task against anxiety refers to release of all bondages of individuals. In Isaiah 58:6, the prophet reminded the Israelites that if they wished that their fasting day (the Day of Atonement) could become “the day acceptable to the Lord” (Isa. 58:5), they should have not turned to their own gains and should have not exploited workers, forced the poor to pledge their lands and oppressed the poor to be slaves (Isa. 58:3; Neh. 5:3-5). They should rather break all the bondages of the poor as follows (Isa. 58:7,9,10):

Hunger: share your bread with the hungry.
Homelessness: bring the homeless poor into your house.
Nakedness: cover them.
Helplessness: not to hide yourself from your neighbours.
Lies and not speak of evil and point the finger against others.
perverting justice
Poverty: satisfy the needs of the afflicted.

Then the Lord would listen to their prayers (Isa. 58:9-12):
heal them,
save them from darkness and difficulties,
offer them food and health,
grant them the land and houses,
honour them and get them respected by the nations, and
rebuild Jerusalem.

The initial observance of the Day of Atonement does not demand the Israelites to make personal confession, but rather to exempt others’ debts and set others free (Lev. 25:10) . While fasting, the Israelites oppressed workers and salves to get their gains. The Day of Atonement demands “deliverance”, but “slavery” comes finally. It goes contrary to the ethical demands of the Day of Atonement as well as the covenantal duties of the Israelites. God’s condemnation is the only outcome (Isa. 58:1).

The prophet linked the Day of Atonement and Sabbath day together. Sabbath day is the day of the Lord’s delights (the day acceptable to the Lord). If the Israelites wished to enjoy the delights of Sabbath, they had to honour Sabbath (Isa. 58:13-14). The Lord said,

If you honor Sabbath,
not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, and
pursuing your own affairs,
then you shall take delight in the Lord, and
I will honour you among the nations and

feed you with the heritage of your ancestor.

Both Sabbath day and the Day of Atonement refer to the ethical demands in the Israelite community. The Israelites should not turn to their own gains, but rather to break all bondages of others. So, they could enjoy the heritage of their ancestors (the land) and be honoured among the nations (Isa. 58:10,12,14).

Sabbath: a time of sharing
The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. They were oppressed to labour without rest. Pharaoh promised sufficient food if the Israelites laboured heavily and intensively (Ex. 16:3). Today, since the telecommunication advances, work can continue without a break. Like the promise by Pharaoh to the Israelites, those who are willing to work without rest, they are promised food and wealth.

It is the situation in the primitive stage of the capitalist economy. Workers were forced to labour hard for their livings and the livings of their families. However, in Hong Kong and in China, the two very mature capitalist economies, many workers are still forced to work from dawn till dusk without rest days. The typical example is cleaning workers in Hong Kong. Most Hong Kong cleaning workers are aged over 60. They should have been retired if there had been a good retirement scheme in the city. They are forced to work in the bottom of the society for their own livings. The government data show that cleaning workers earn the least in comparison with other workers. Cleaning workers need to work at least 12 hours a day and 6-7 days a week. A day off is not guaranteed. Their monthly income is around ten thousand dollars on average . Cleaning workers get low payment, but 90% of the workers are under employment of cleaning companies. So, they enjoy meager labour protection.

Food delivery workers, however, have no labour protection at all. They suffer from the “fake” self-employment. It seems that the workers manage their own orders, but the dominant parts of their orders are controlled by the food Apps companies, including working time, order taking, order charges, time to food delivery, etc. The workers have no employment relation or labour protection. During the pandemic, many people lose their jobs and change to work as food delivery workers. Due to keen labour supply, the food Apps companies cut the order price. The longer hours the food delivery staff work, the less they can earn. The capitalist economy is just to widen the wealth gap and to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. (Isa. 58:3).

Both physical and mental health are impaired under such unequal labour power relationship. The prophet demands that those who exploit workers need to share their wealth with workers.

Sabbath: to celebrate with others
Sabbath is a particular festival of the people of Israel, but the prophet transforms Sabbath as a sign to be open to and embrace others. The persons, disregard of races, languages, political stances, economic status, health, or religions, who keep sabbaths and hold fast the God's covenant are acceptable to the Lord as the genuine people of God (Isa. 58:4,6). This is the initial objective of Sabbath. The Lord orders the Israelites to rest on Sabbaths with their families, friends, slaves and the aliens and be happy with them and serve them. The prophet articulates well the transformation power of Sabbath, a particular racial symbol being transformed as a sign to embrace others.

But more importantly, to embrace others facilitates us to work with others, to help each other and to celebrate together. Raymond Fung, a former director of HKCIC, treasures the celebration of workers because when workers celebrate together, they celebrate their own achievements together no matter how small the achievements are . Most workers do not believe that workers can achieve something. Old cleaning workers have never thought of why the city has had no mechanism upon which their livings could be afforded, but just think of serving as cleaning workers until the last moment of their lives . Food delivery workers have never thought of the fact that the food Apps companies should sign employment contracts with them. In the suspected case of overwork death in ELEME Inc. the company just gave the dependents of the victim RMB 2,000 as relief because there is no formal labour relationship between the worker and ELEME. Without the public outcry, the family of the worker could only resign themselves to bad luck and could only think of the dear one who has been away with the meager relief in hand.

It is our belief that workers can achieve something with a condition that they need to be organized together as a community. Therefore, they can achieve something together and then they celebrate together. Sabbath is a day of solidarity and embracing of others and a day to draw away loneliness and powerlessness. Workers should believe that they are not powerless. They can change and achieve something, and finally they can celebrate and enjoy together the delights of Sabbath.

References

[1]Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now (Chinese translation) (HK: Chinese Christian Literature Council, 2017), Ch. 2.
[2]Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, “‘We Hongkongers’” Panel Survey Latest Results”, January 29, 2021. https://develo.pori.hk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/PORI_PC_20210129_vhkr_eng.pdf, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[3]Katharine Rooney, “This Is Why Mental Health Should Be a Political Priority”, in The Davos Agenda 2021, World Economic Forum, January 28, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/poverty-mental-health-covid-intervention/, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[4]Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2019 (December 2020), p. ix. https://www.povertyrelief.gov.hk/eng/pdf/Hong_Kong_Poverty_Situation_Report_2019.pdf, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[5]Ibid., pp.29-30.
https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/420105/%E9%80%83%E7%8A%AF%E6%A2%9D%E4%BE%8B-15-%E9%9D%92%E5%B0%91%E5%B9%B4%E6%9C%89%E6%8A%91%E9%AC%B1%E7%97%87%E7%8B%80-%E9%BB%83%E4%BB%81%E9%BE%8D-%E5%A6%82%E5%9C%B0%E9%9C%87%E5%BE%8C%E7%9A%84%E6%B5%B7%E5%98%AF.Accessed (in Chinese), accessed on April 7, 2021.
[6]Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, “Year-end population for 2019” (18 Feb 2020). https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/press_release_detail.html?id=4612, Census and Statistics Department,
[7]HKSAR, “Year-end population for 2020” (18 Feb 2021) https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/press_release_detail.html?id=4825. Both statements were accessed on April 7, 2021.
[8]https://www.hkptu.org/85079 (in Chinese), accessed on April 7, 2021.
[9]Lee Hyo-jin, “Delivery workers vow not to work on Saturdays”, The Korean Times, October 13, 2020. http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=297512, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[10]“Xinhua News Agency investigates the “996” distorted working culture of Pinduoduo and others” (in Chinese), January 13, 2021. https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2021-01-13/doc-ikftpnnx6486442.shtml, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[11]Kelly McCain & Aidan Manktelow, “6 Global Employers on How to Improve Workplace Mental Health”, in The Davos Agenda 2021, World Economic Forum, January 25, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/6-global-employers-on-how-to-improve-workplace-mental-health/, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[12]“No employment relationship: the sudden death of the 43-year-old worker of Ele.me” (in Chinese), January 7, 2021. https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/2021-01-07/doc-iiznezxt1000016.shtml, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[13]Bohdan Hrobon, Ethical Dimension of Cult in the Book of Isaiah (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2010), pp.164-165.
[14]For the translation, see Ed Christian, “‘Sabbath Is a Happy Day!’ What Does Isaiah 58:13-14 Mean?”, Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 13/1 (Spring 2002), pp.83-88.
[15]https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/web_table.html?id=28, accessed on April 7, 2021.
[16]Raymond W.M. Fung, “On Recreational Activities for Factory Workers” (1976) in The Gospel is not
[17]for Sale, 2nd ed. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, 2021), pp.165-166.
https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/248253/%E6%9C%80%E4%BD%8E%E5%B7%A5%E8%B3%87-%E5%A4%96%E5%88%A4%E6%B8%85%E6%BD%94%E5%B7%A5%E9%A0%90%E8%A8%88%E9%80%80%E4%BC%91%E8%A6%81%E7%B9%BC%E7%BA%8C%E5%81%9A%E9%9B%B6%E6%95%A3%E5%B7%A5-50%E8%9A%8A%E5%85%88%E5%A4%A0%E9%A3%9F%E4%B8%80%E9%A4%90, (in Chinese) accessed on April 7, 2021.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 02, 2021

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