Near the Banias, remnants of the pagan temple of Pan, located near Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights, we stood where it is claimed Peter declared, You are the Christ the Son of the living God in one breath, and in another he insisted that Jesus must not take the Calvary road. Lord, help me to see that the cross is not to be shunned but to be accepted with a Not my will, but Yours be done”. This was in December 2013. Wonderful memories.
The weather got better by the time we reached Capernaum, and our energy inched up despite the overnight flight from Singapore. This hometown of Peter and Andrew, and James and John, was a small fishing village on the northern edge of the Galilee lake. It became the staging area for Jesus’ ministry in that province. Many mighty miracles were done here but people were resistant.
I was looking at some old photos of the holy land trip I led in December of 2013. It was unforgettable. It was unexpectedly cold. One of the coldest in the recent history of Israel. It snowed heavily in Jerusalem. And here in Caesarea by the Sea I faced the forebodings of a freeze. I worried that the itinerary would be curtailed.
Ponder the courage of the two
who knowing not
how things would unfold
said “Yes” to God
and step by step
saw the hand of God
turn shame into glory
and trial into testimony.
Ponder.
I was in the Trinity Theological College (TTC) library, when I heard the loudhailer blaring something outside. It must be some kind of celebration or a college event, I thought. Some time later, on my way to a lunch appointment, I caught sight of what was happening. It was a glorious sight. I could not believe my eyes. I had to take pictures to document this for my good friends and classmates Rev Benedict Muthusamy of Open Doors, Malaysia; Dr Tan Yak Hwee lecturing in Westminster College, Cambridge; and Raphael Samuel the Anglican Bishop of Bolivia. They would be delighted. I saw a sea of red: with students and faculty members and construction workers. Most were seated on the floor, some were standing, and others were busy helping around. They were having lunch, the seminary folks and the construction workers who had been working for the past few years to build the MRT station a stone’s throw from the college entrance: the Hillview MRT station.
I asked Veronica from TTC office, What is happening? Oh, the college decided to serve lunch to the “unsung heroes”: foreign workers from Lanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Korea that had been working on MRT station works just outside the college. I was pleasantly surprised at TTC’s gracious act of hospitality, even if it was a symbolic once off event. You know, after all seminary do not do such things.
The foreign workers would have seen the big seminary sign at the main road, and may have known that this is the place where Christian workers and pastors were trained. For them to receive hospitality and thanks in this fashion is something they will remember for a long while. Just as significant the seminarians have begun to learn by actual doing the sacred art of showing hospitality to the “stranger” or “alien”. This is a true curriculum which educates the heart, a curriculum as important, if not more important, than learning in comfortable lecture rooms and library. This is theology of the heart. Theology 101, Jesus way.