Pastor Jack’s Blog

We arrived in Macao yesterday, Friday.  One of Becky’s relatives is getting married on Sunday.

Macao, is sin city! The biggest Casino in the world, The Venetian, opened here last year. Last night we went for a ‘city tour’. Basically the city consists of a series of huge casino’s.  The wedding dinner will be held in the Wynns Casino banquet Hall, so we went to have a look at it. There was this free show that runs for 10 minutes every 1/2 hour, so we joined the other tourists to have a look. Basically the show consisted of the huge ceiling opening up to reveal a lazer light show above our heads, and a huge chandelier descending from the ceiling. All the tourists from China, and me were suitably impressed. Then a huge dome on the floor opened up and  this 5 metre golden tree rose up from under the floor. With the lights shining on it, it changed from bright white, to silver, to gold. There it stood in all its glory revolving in the grand foyer of this casino; The Golden Tree!

As I looked at this 5 metre high golden tree,  with its golden trunk, golden branches, and golden leaves….. I couldn’t help thinking of Genesis Chapter 3; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the warning that all who eat of it will surely die.

I wonder how many people have come to this sin city, and eaten of this golden tree??

I am still reading Pascal. In Pensees #136 he says; “Sometimes when I set to thinking about the various activites of man, the dangers and troubles that they face which give rise to so many quarrels and passions…. and so on… I have often said that the sole cause of a person’s unhappiness is that they do not know how to stay quietly in their room…. we love the hustle and bustle…. we cannot comprehend the peasures of solitude… rest proves intolerable because of the boredom it produces… we must get away from it and crave excitement…” Pascal wrote 350 years ago, but his insight applies to this City of Hong Kong and its people. How hard it is not to be drawn into the hustle and bustle.

Hong Kong is hot, crowded, and busy. We arrived late last night, after a long flight via Singapore.

The night before we left, we were with a group of about 8 from our Church around Mrs Lee’s sick-bed. This dear old sister in our Church had a severe stroke about a month ago, and had contracted pneumonia on Saturday. She was in quite a lot of discomfort, and as Becky led the others in prayer, as they stood around Mrs Lee’s bed, she passed away, right in the middle of the prayer. Becky had prayed and asked the Lord to shorten her suffering and take her to be with Him. It is a very sobering experience being in a person’s presence as their spirit leaves their body. Watching as someone dies causes one to think about the fragility of this life, and the fine line between our life and our death.

On the plane I was reading Blaise Pascal; in his Pensees #47 he writes; “Let each of us examine our thoughts; we will find them totally concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future….. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we chould never be so.”

Today I have been trying to ‘live’ in the present, to enjoy this great city, and be happy.

After a wonderful and hectic weekend in our Church, I spent this morning emailing, phoning, texting, and tying up the last loose ends before we leave tomorrow. Then Becky and I had lunch at a mall, and as I was waiting for my medium latte at ‘Muffin Break’, I had the most unusual experience. I physically felt my soul begin to unwind. It was a physical/spiritual/soulish experience that I felt in my chest, radiating out through my whole body. It only lasted about 2 minutes. After 19 years here, and the last few years in particular, I have been wound up tighter than a spring. Over the years, I have tried to be diligent in taking a weekly sabbath break, and yearly hoidays, but the accumulated gradual winding up over the years has finally caught up with me. But today I began the slow process of unwinding, and entering into wholeness again. I am looking forward to completely unwinding over the next few months.

If you have never been a pastor, I don’t know what words to use to explain what I mean. If you are a pastor, then you don’t need me to explain, you understand. The spiritual pressure and responsibility that Pastor’s feel is hard to explain.

This past Saturday and sunday have been wonderful; full of life, energy, love, and joy, and of course, being in a chinese church, lots of food. Saturday we had an all day children’s outreac called “Get On Board Noah’s Ark” and our building was full of the sounds of laughter and joy with about 90 kids and all the children’s workers. Sat. night our young people had a dinner together and a group of Theological students from Melbourne who have been visiting our Church for the past week and they shared with our young people about the Christian life. Sunday morning; Church was packed, and the worship was joyful and animated. We treated the team from Melbourne to a lovely lunch in our Building, and gave them a great send off. Afternoon Cantonese service was wonderful with 3 folk sharing with the congregation what God has been doing in their lives and families. Sunday night MOSAIC was great, udon noodles!, and Mike shared some of the story of his life, and how God has been leading him these many years. The whole weekend was fabulous, and I feel that God is really at work in our Church.

I will miss everyone!My life has become entwined with so many people in our Church. Of course I cannot have an intimate relationship with 400 people, but there are many who I feel very connected to. One, and I wish I could mention all the really lovely people in our Church, but one is Jimmy Chung. I took this photo of Jimmy after Church yesterday, and he said I could put it on my blog. Jimmy is one of the happiest guys in our Church. I don’t always understand what Jimmy tells me, but when he emailes me I understand every word, and Jimmy emailed me last week and said “I will miss you, Pastor Jack”… Jimmy, and everyone, I will miss you too!!!

This is Jimmy Chung from our Cantonese congregation. Great smile Jimmy!!

Lists, lists, and more lists…. so many things to do.

Getting ready to go has been a bit exhausting, I will really need a Sabbath Break by the time it comes. I pruned my grapevine recently, below are a couple of pictures. It looks pretty dead, but locked up in this vine is an unstoppable, unquenchable life force. I will take a couple more pictures when we get back in 3 months, and you will be amazed at how this thing can’t stop producing fruit. I also planted the garlic, red onions, cabbage, and broccoli, (see the pictures below) pruned the peach tree, cut back the raspberries, fertilized the fejoa….

I think tending the garden is a lot like tending the Church.

Only 7 days ’till we start our Sabbatical Break, so I better get going on this blog…

As well as rest, recreation, eating, visiting friends, I do plan to have some time to read, think, pray, and reflect on the past 19 years here at Christchurch Chinese Church. So I am going to weigh dowm my suitcase with 6 books I plan to read during the next 3 months;

“The House at Pooh Corner” by A.A. Milne. I love this book. They say all of us have a personality that relates to one of the characters of this book, either Pooh, Tiger, Rabbit, Piglet, Eeyore, or Owl. (As for me…. it is Piglet.) So reading about Piglet and his friends will hopefuly cause a bit of self reflection.

“Pense’es” by Blaise Pascal. Pascal was a brilliant mathematician, physicist and Christian apologist. When he died in 1662 at the age of 39 he had a colection of unpublished “notes” or in French; “Pensees”, (pronounced “pon says”) that were later published. I have read a lot about this book, but have never actually read it. So I plan to work my way through this 300 page book; the spiritual thoughts of a genius.

“Cadences of Home, Preaching among the Exiles” by Walter Brueggemann. Brueggeman was a professor of Old Testament, and although a little ‘liberal’ at times, has brilliant insights into the biblical text. This book is about the art of preaching. As a preacher I always want to improve my ‘art’ so will take a look at this one.

“Arminius, A study in the Dutch Reformation”. by Carl Bangs. If any of you know me, you know I am not a very good Calvinist. But one of the things about disagreeing with my Calvinist/reformed brothers and sisters is that one gets labeled as not haveing a ‘correct systematic theology’. Well, all I really want is a ‘Biblical Theology’. I have a suspician that Jacob Arminius who died in 1609 has gotten a very bad rap. So I want to find out who he really was, what he really taught, and why it is that John Wesley, one of my heros, adopted Arminian ideas and tought.

“Satan and the problem of Evil, Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy” by Gregory A. Boyd. If Jacob Arminius got a bad rap, so to has Greg Boyd. Called all kind of unpleasant names by his “christian” brothers and sisters, this American Pastor/writer/theologian has written some books that strike a real cord within my heart. This 400 page book outlines his theology of “Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy”. Sounds impressive huh!! But basically it is a book that tries to answer the question; ‘Does God’s Sovereignty mean that God causes sin and suffering, and is it all part of his ‘beautiful will’? And that other question that Uncle Eng sometimes brings up in our Home groups leaders meeting; “Why did God allow Satan and the demons to continue to live in this world?”

“The Bible” by God through the writing of man. Thought I better put this one in too. I have read it before, but like all Good Books, the more you read it the better it gets.

Well, this is my plan, 6 books in 3 months!