Barclay’s Premier League 2013/14: predictions of top six places

11 September 2013 5 Comments

Last year, only Sunny got it right. Manchester United won the first place. I got two of my predictions right: Chelsea for third and Spurs for fifth.  I was too biased. This time I will try to be more objective. None of the other predictions offered by other blog readers got anything right.

This year’s transfer window is shut. We know who are the players in each team.

There are a few reasons why its tough to make predictions this year. First, new managers in Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea. A good manager with good judgment and motivational skills can be worth as much as 10 points. Only Manuel Pellegrini is new to the English league teams and players. Jose Mourinho can update quickly. The Man U players will  dither between doubt and faith, and the British media will relish putting Moyes in Ferguson’s shadow,  Is Moyes good enough to lead them to silverware? We will see. Second, there are many new foreign players. If not additions to your team, reinforcements in your competitors’ teams. New players can make either a positive or negative difference. Tottenham has bought so many good players, they are almost a new team. Likewise Sunderland.

The teams with the most fearsome strikers are Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. They have the clinical finish, the experience and can change a game even in the last minutes of a game. It is already tough to make predictions in normal circumstances, but with these additional variables, it becomes less predictable than ever before.

However this uncertainty is what makes the BPL more fun than any other leagues! Having thought deeply for ten minutes (haha), here are my predictions:

1st place:  Manchester City – the squad is scary and the engineer will be able to put the pieces together and foster greater harmony

2nd place:  Arsenal – will play with authority and a mean defence, but if a January addition of a special striker can be done, may even be champions.

3rd place:  Manchester United – most of the time Moyes will be under great pressure, players disturbed by doubts and a certain Rooney.

4th place: Chelsea – some too old, some too young, and I don’t like Mourinho’s narcissism.

5th place: Liverpool – I want them to beat Spurs.

6th place: Tottenham Hotspur – if they are hit by injuries, maybe Everton will be sixth.

Please add your predictions in the comment box. Love to hear your thoughts.

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Catch the Age Wave: a reflection

5 September 2013 2 Comments

Catch the Age Wave is a book about how the church should seize the opportunity of deploying the church’s seniors to reach a rapidly aging population. The church’s seniors are defined by the authors Win Arn and Charles Arn as those in the late 50’s and 60’s – the “soon to be retired” or “the recently retired.” My purpose was to survey what has been written about how churches pastored their seniors. Here are my brief reflections.

The Arns feel that there we should view seniors today differently from how they were viewed in the past. They are not weak and sickly. Today’s seniors are healthier than their counterparts a decade ago. They do not yet need a great deal of volunteers to take care of them. In fact they are potentially a great source of volunteers for the church. They can be great care-givers. Their retirement motive is not necessarily to play or rock the chair. They want to work, learn, grow and serve and play too. Evidently churches in Singapore need to revise their views of the seniors, and give more attention, more resources to deploy seniors and reach the unsaved seniors. I cannot but agree that we need new eyes. Ageism, that bias against the old, has no place in the church that boasts of Abraham as the father of their faith.

However, I was dissatisfied with the way spiritual development was dealt with superficially in the book. The tasks that seniors have to tackle and the spirituality of this stage of life were not spelled out nor examined. There was no mention of the very stark reality of the challenges of ministry to the seniors – especially the older old. Nothing was said of the infirm, the shut-ins, the poor, the sick and dying and their needs. The focus was heavily focused on the hope, the positive, the opportunities and ideas for ministry. It was imbalanced but their purpose was different from what I was searching for.

Their methodology was based on the “homogeneity principle” of church growth. This is the idea that the more people are of the same race, status, language and age group the higher the likelihood that such a homogeneous group would grow.  I thought that such a mental model would deter church leaders from seeing the church as ideally multi-generational and meant to be so because holistic, deeper and richer learning of the faith takes place more effectively in such a social context.

Arn, W., Arn, C. 1993. Catch the Age Wave. Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Book House.

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City Harvest Church trials: heartbreaking and heartwarming

2 September 2013 19 Comments

It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming to read about what has been dubbed the City Harvest Church trials.

A government minister had said, Its not about the church. It’s about the 6 church leaders. However, the Straits Times(ST) headlines screamed City Harvest Church trials. Not even City Harvest Church leaders’ trials. We live in a digital age and to catch eyeballs we have to have the right titles: the one that people are likely to use when they google for news. Looks like what the minister has separated, the ST have joined together, and so they will be. Anyway, in the minds of many, the trial of the church leaders is the trial of the church. Not only City Harvest Church, but all who worship under the Cross of Christ.

I find it heartbreaking because we are talking about people who went about doing good and with good intentions. These people have mothers and fathers, uncles and cousins. They have spouses and children. They are people who are faithful and loving in their relationships and inspiring to the faith of many. Though imperfect, they have found forgiveness in Jesus Christ and experienced a life transforming change in their lives that they are eager for many to experience as well. Though transformed, they are still flawed. If we had a chance to know them personally, and even to hear about how their lives are like, or how they had impacted others, we would have seen how they are like many good Christians who sit in the pews of our churches, or like the pastors who preach in our pulpits. Except for these issues that the trials will examine. How it will all pan out will be seen in this run of trials and the next run in the first quarter of 2014. How stressful all this must be for all concerned, especially the 6 leaders and their families and the City Harvest Church. Wear their skins for just a day. And don’t say I want Serina Wee’s skin.

That is why I am perturbed that the online buzz is about superficial mudslinging of Ho Yeow Sun and the $$$$ poured into catapulting her into fame for the sake of Christ and winning souls, and the sensationalizing of the looks and the style of Serina Wee. There are even salacious comments that compare the two of them. Haven’t the cyber piranhas had their fill of blood and flesh of these our sisters in Christ? Why don’t they stick to the issues that arise in the trials or think more deeply, perhaps about the church’s underlying philosophy, organizational culture, or theology (or lack of it) that fueled these issues in the first place?

It’s also very heartbreaking to read the expositions of the prosecution.

On the other hand, my heart has been warmed by some audacious show of support by a church. Surprisingly a Presbyterian church – Bethany Presbyterian Church. Now if you know about churches: the Presbyterians and the Pentecostals are as alike in relations as the Samaritans and the Jews(some would reverse the order) in Jesus’ time . They have some points of disagreements in doctrine and practice. Yet this particular church put up a huge sign that read:  “Bethany Presbyterian Church is upholding City Harvest Church, Rev Kong Hee & the leaders in prayer”. When I first heard this from one of our church’s leaders, I cried out in disbelief, Cannot be lah! But now that I have googled and seen the photo, I am amazed at this church along Upper Paya Lebar Road. When my website is fully repaired, I will be able to upload the picture. Until then please click HERE.  May this church be blessed.

Of course we Christians do not support what is illegal or wrong. The verdict has not been given out yet, and even if these 6 leaders were found to be guilty, can we not still pray for them? Wouldn’t we pray for our loved ones if they had to go to court for something they have been accused of? Those who do not know God think that when Christians pray in such circumstances, they are always praying for miraculous acquittal or a suspension of justice.  That may be so. However Jesus taught us to pray, Father, May Your name be glorified and hallowed. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done. Amen. And this is how we too should pray throughout this trial.

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Singapore churches

blogpastor.net down and up

29 August 2013 2 Comments

Well some of you are aware that the website has been suspended for quite a few days. From what I gather from my friend and server sponsor, what has happened thus far is that blogpastor.net has attracted a rather large traffic, possibly due to a random attack. The result is that the server crashed as it could not handle the sudden increase in traffic. Blogpastor.net  has been moved to a different server. Some of the photos of the last few months have been dislodged, so I have to re-upload or clear the empty boxes. Hmmm…this will take some time. For the time being, I have also reverted to a previous theme I used that is clean and minimalist though less practical.

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Writing and blogging

Reading and learning and knowing- “above all”

12 August 2013 2 Comments

St Paul lets slip his love of true knowledge in 2 Timothy 4: 13 – When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Above all, he wrote, as if that was what he valued more than the other things he could have asked for. He knew the day of his departure, his execution drew near. How many months would it be before the blade separated his head from his body? He could have asked for other things, but why he did he ask for his books and parchments? Books, which according to the original Greek, meant papyrus scrolls that probably carried the ancient scriptures of Israel. And above all – parchments, which probable referred to the animal skinned version of today’s books. What’s in them? Perhaps memories of those close to Jesus who recorded his sayings and deeds in these durable material. Paul was trained a rabbi, so he could recite the whole Pentateuch from “in the beginning” to “in the sight of all Israel”. He knew all the interpretations of all the biblical schools of thought. He had supernatural encounters with Christ and had heavenly visions. He had vast experiences of suffering for the gospel and knowledge of church planting. Yet he said, “above all” bring the parchments. He had a hunger to learn, and to fellowship with God. He had much time in prison, and he wanted to end his last days in the company of “friends” – some books of the Old Testament, and fragments of what may possibly one day be part of the gospels. We have missed this in our day of digital idolatry – the relishing of scriptures and fellowship with the Living God that those scriptures point to. Paul knew the scriptures were not Christ; he knew though that like signboards or photographs they showed what the real thing was like. As in Paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man, says Ambrose of Milan.

It was the real thing he was after. His cry, even near death, was “that I may know Him” more and more intimately. What a truly Spirit educated man! Never ever give up on reading scriptures till your dying day. Lord, let that be true of us as well. Let our heart beat again with the “above all”.

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