The news of Israel’s invasion of the state of Palestine has caused many to take the sides of either one.
Most Muslims side the State of Palestine and decry Israel’s invasion of its territory to clear out terrorists. They believe the reckless and senseless killing included civilians who are innocent.
Most Christians support Israel because they find that reports of rocket fire from the forces of Hamas in Gaza are credible. Many others give support to Israel because they are God’s chosen people.
We have to remember that God is God over both peoples – the Israelites and Palestinians. In the Old Testament, God’s righteousness and justice is applied to both the nations that did not believe in Him, as well as the nation of Israel that believed in Yahweh God. Israel was not spared for breaking covenant with God, even though they are God’s chosen people. God knows all things unlike the news media and their biases.
If there is a side to stand with in this crisis, it is God’s side we need to stand with. To stand with Him in pain and sorrow as He sees His creation and His people living in enmity and suffering the consequences on such a devastating scale. We stand with Him in sorrow and intercession for all the losses of both sides and pray for the peace of Jerusalem and of Gaza.
Our 2014 church camp was held in Everly Hotel in Putrajaya. I decided to visit my favourite church in Petaling Jaya, the New Covenant Church. My friendship with the pastor, Peter Sze, was started and maintained by social media via this blog and Facebook. I have been a keen observer of this grace-based church that has taken Joseph Prince’s melody of grace and made the song uniquely theirs. It has been nothing short of amazing what God has done, and I have been observing the development of this young church since its formation. You can read the various posts I have written by doing a search on the top right hand of this blog.
Hosted warmly by the family
With Yew Juan and tallest tissue prata in PJ
On Friday afternoon while church campers went home to Singapore a Mercedes Benz shuttled me and my wife off to the pastor’s home where we received a warm welcome from Seefen, the pastor’s wife. Pastor Peter is a managing director of a company and flew back from Singapore late in the afternoon. By around six, he and his wife had to go launch a new community group of the church. Running a company and leading a church requires bi-vocational stamina and passion. Meanwhile we were brought out for an evening meal in IPPUDO at the Bangsar Shopping Centre. Filled up with ramen and pleasant conversation with Yew Juan and Suzanna (the pastor’s daughter), we then had dessert at a kopitiam: roti tissue tower, teh tarik, and chendol – calories for tomorrow’s hike, that’s how we justified our intake.
the tncc regular hikers of Gasing Hill
Hiking Bukit Gasing
Pastor Peter hiking with us
It was about seven in the morning on Saturday when we got ready and went for the morning’s hike up Bukit Gasing (literally “hill top”). The hill is located on a narrow sliver of green, smack in between Kuala Lumpur (federal territory) and Petaling Jaya, a city of Selangor. At 160 metres tall it is the small brother of Bukit Timah Hill’s 163 metres. There was a group of hikers from the church who regularly hiked here. Many had climbed Mt Kinabalu recently and some had stories of weight loss and better health as a result of regular hiking.
We enjoyed the hike. It had interesting features like a watch tower, a suspension bridge, and various detours from the main route. One of the steeper slopes was tougher than the toughest slope in Bukit Timah Hill. It was a good workout and we adjourned for breakfast with the group while Pastor Peter had to rush off for a meeting with his leaders. He was busy but had accommodated our desire to hike. If not for us, he would probably have had opted for sleep, glorious sleep. That afternoon we talked shop over lunch and coffee at One Utama.
Recent developments in the New Covenant Church
The New Covenant Church used to have a mid-week fellowship that meets for teaching of the word and small group interaction. Now in addition to this they have developed home fellowships for the caring and belonging of community. I thought this was an important development for as the church grew to its current 600 in attendance, feeling a sense of belonging can be easily lost. These home groups that met fortnightly for fellowship are spread over more locations, making it convenient for members to attend. The increase of such groups will certainly increase body ministry and participation, develop shepherds and leaders, and give the church a greater capacity to assimilate and initiate new guests or converts into the life of grace. It will lay foundations for further growth in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
TNCC Educenter
Another interesting development I got wind of was the formation of the TNCC Educenter. The stated mission was to provide an education alternative for young people at affordable costs. They use a programme called Eduseeds. It is multimedia-based online learning combined with classroom interaction. It is done at the pace of the student. And it prepares students to sit for the Cambridge IGCSE. It is done as a community service too. Pastor Peter shared how the Lord opened the door for them to start this and provided the right contacts, champions and students.
Ian and Chermaine, the worship stalwarts
On Sunday I saw the large auditorium that tNCC uses for its worship services. This was their third one and it seated 800. I preached there on the new covenant way of finishing well, and gave an invitation for sick people to be prayed for with the laying on of hands. Nowadays, I find that my doctoral research on ageing and spirituality have crept into my preaching and writings. I guess this is inevitable and I do not mind if that is relevant to the text my message is based on, which it was, as I spoke about the biblical Caleb, that senior with great faith, and how he finished well.
Christine, Aileen, and us
Catching up with Aileen and Christine
I couldn’t book a return bus ticket for Sunday and I asked Aileen, who attended our church when she lived in Singapore, for help. She invited us to stay in her home on Sunday and book a ticket on Monday morning. We had a lovely crab dinner near her place and then we visited her daughter’s new start-up café. It was in a glass house situated in a university, and we loved the coffee, lava cakes, macaroons and decor. On Monday morning, we slurped up fish porridge at a local coffee shop, and left for Singapore on First Coach at One Utama.
What an enjoyable and blessed weekend of ministry, fun and fellowship.
People aged 65 to 75 are called the young old and people 75 above are called older old. Throughout the senior years, and indeed while you are in your early or mid-50s you have several tasks you need to begin to navigate if you want to make your senior years meaningful, spiritual and impactful. In my research on ageing and spirituality, I have discovered there are at least seven tasks that have to be processed through. Here they are:
Preparing for retirement
Doing a life review with biblical lenses
Clarifying your life purpose
Developing a healthy sense of self and community
Deepening your faith in God
Grieving and handling losses well
Preparing to die well
Each of these tasks has to be worked through in a safe, loving and interactive environment. When these are done, the senior years can be adventurous, purposeful and meaningful.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.Deuteronomy 31:8.
Do we have misconceptions about the old? There are plenty swirling around in society but often we who are becoming seniors have too easily accepted them without thinking. Let me give an example. They say the old deteriorate mentally. Forgetfulness is a common sign of this deterioration. The young forget to do their homework, forget their multiplication table, forget appointments but do not say to themselves, I’m getting old! Seniors should not say that they are mentally deteriorating just because their memory sometimes fails them. This is just one example.
Other misconceptions about seniors are:
-seniors are weak and are often plagued with illnesses.
-seniors are irritable, stubborn and unteachable.
-seniors are less productive than their younger colleagues.
-seniors are generally withdrawn from life and activities and prefer to vegetate.
The first thing we need to do is to set free the mind of such misconceptions. If you are becoming a senior, do not allow such misconceptions into your mental software. If you are young, do not look at your brothers and sisters who are growing older in this light. See them differently and treat them differently. This is kingdom thinking and living.
Love and marriage is one of the important issues of life that a person in his twenties and thirties are usually eager or anxious to settle. I use the word anxious because society and media has increased the pressure on the plain, the ordinary and the nerdy. It seems like the good looking, the intelligent, the highly qualified, the charming are the ones that are desirable and if you do not fall in those categories, good luck to you.
The pressure is greater for the Christian because they see the wisdom of marrying someone of the same faith, but this means the choices are already limited as only about 18% of the population in Singapore are Christians. Added to this the fact that there are more Christian girls than guys in most churches and this decreases the odds of a successful pairing, that is, unless we put God in the picture.
The ten spies did not put God in the picture and saw giants and fortresses in Canaan. Joshua and Caleb saw God and said the land can be taken, the giant soldiers and fortresses can be gobbled up. We need to put God in this pathetic, problematic picture of love anxieties. We need to trust God in prayer for a life partner.
Just as important, we need to realize that though having a life partner is important, it is not the most important thing in life. Jesus and Paul the two most impactful men in the New Testament were not married, but they were fulfilled and served God’s purpose well.
We are all created to serve His purposes and to glorify Him. This can be done in the married state or in the single state. The most important thing is that we serve His purposes in this life and for all eternity, and not whether you got married or not. We were created to glorify Him, and this may be better served in one state or the other. (1 Cor 7)
