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Doing part-time formal studies and ministry together

23 April 2012 blogpastor Leave a comment

Can be deeply enriching

Doing part-time formal studies and ministry at the same time can be deeply enriching. The reality of doing both simultaneously forces you to reflect on your actual ministry situation and make relevant applications. We often get so absorbed in ministry, we develop tunnel vision and silo mentality, and do not take a step out of our situation and reflect on what and why we are doing what we are doing. Or our heads could be so into our books and laptops in the seminary library, we hardly reflect on the practical ministry implications of what we were learning. The press of time could even be worse when we do both together. However if the assignments were well-designed and the subject you were researching relevant to ministry, you would be forced to reflect and act in ways that were deeply enriching for yourself and for the ministry.

A case in point was a piece of assignment I had to do in a spirituality module (AGST MTh) which had to do with crafting a Rule of Life. It is simply a growth plan of soul-care tailor-made for your unique self. It is specific to your temperament preferences, ministry situation, stage of life and needs. It outlines a rhythmic cycle of daily offerings of yourself to the Lord. It is holistic and includes a rhythm of prayer, silence and solitude, reflection and other areas of growth. It does not bind but puts you in a place of enjoying spiritual liberty. The paper was done with enthusiasm tempered by realism as I was still in the ministry. It was most helpful, and till serves as a reference point for my reflection and prayer.

Can stretch you to the point of scream

It is enriching but at times it stretches you to the point of scream. The ministry is always more urgent and demanding. A new sermon is due in a fortnight, if not this Sunday. Its always keeping you on your toes. Besides this Sunday key task, there are other programs and members’ needs that call for your attention. Part of my ordination vows include a vow to be in fellowship with other ministers, so meeting with other pastors has been a part of my ministry. As much as I have tried to keep all my assignments done on time, over the last two modules I could not meet the deadline. Blame it on Christmas, Chinese New Year, Holy Week, the nature of the assignments and poor time management and motivation…..and the devil. We need to have the peace that passes all understanding and a patience with ourselves. The food on our plate is more than we can handle but somehow the Lord does enable us by grace (his and the lecturers’) to finish the assignments.

Choose a course that grabs you and do it for his greater glory

With all the challenges of doing formal studies and ministry at the same time, you have to choose a course that interests you and helps you in your goal of seeking God’s greater glory. You have to be clear about what you want, and the course has to grab your attention, and when you pray about it your desire grows and persists over time. It would be wise to have done one or two modules to get a taste and feel of the weight and demands of doing formal part-time studies and ministry together. A trial period like this helps you make a better and firmer decision and will increase the likelihood of finishing it. Because your goal is the greater glory of God, should you be unable to finish the course for some unforeseen reason, it does not matter, because your interest is in being a better servant of God and his people.

INCEPTION of the good news of God’s grace

17 April 2012 blogpastor 1 Comment

The plot of INCEPTION

The film INCEPTION, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, poses an intriguing proposition, and by extension an interesting spiritual application. The action film is science fiction with a tantalising idea: that ideas and secrets and technology can be extracted from people while their subconscious mind are at their most vulnerable- during dream state. So the hero is skilled at extracting secret industrial information from people, and is highly in demand by competitor clients, as well as a fugitive from those who have been milked. The tension is set when he was asked to plant an idea rather than extract ideas from a particular heir of a near monopoly. Its a tight fast-moving, suspenseful movie which ends with a successful conclusion and we are meant to assume that the idea bore fruition and the client who hired him reaped the harvest from the growth of that idea.

How is preaching like INCEPTION?

Some people think that preaching is passe and ineffective. The monologue they say is doomed to failure in a world that is increasingly interactive, and that grew up on sound bytes, moving visuals and immediate gratification of senses. Young people and increasingly the older ones as well are having shorter attention spans than ever before. It used to be 20 minutes but I speculate that it is much less, perhaps a worrying 2 minutes! Is the sermon as a method of communication past expiry date?

Despite all this I still believe there is a place for the sermon. It does help to have power point visuals, or fill in the blanks outlines in the bulletin, or to keep the sermon interesting. However, the sermon is not a lecture, or an interesting public talk. A sermon has life: it is impregnated by the preacher’s soul and the Spirit’s life-giving power. And the worship service is the equivalent of the dream state, when a person, with all his rational and spiritual powers intact (unlike in dream state), is most receptive to receiving an implantation of the eternal, life changing good news of Jesus Christ. With the implant of an idea, that God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself, and joined them to the life of the Triune God, the recipient would have received a word that would generate life and transformation, leading to a harvest of the Spirit, the fruit of righteousness.

INCEPTION means the beginning, the start of a process, a project and it does appropriately describe what can possibly happen through preaching of the good news of God’s grace, and its reception into the receptive, believing heart. When the Word is implanted it is just the beginning of a process, a project that will culminate in life transformation and the greater glory of God.

Contemplative prayer in a Pentecostal church

9 April 2012 blogpastor 3 Comments

Worship hall rearranged

The chairs were removed from the worship hall for the Holy Week of Contemplative Prayer. A wooden cross had a robe wrapped around its outstretched arms. Around the neck, was a crown of thorns ingeniously made from rose branches and toothpicks twisted together. A large candle, and a porcelain blue cup and plate bought from Israel, were laid on an Ikea coffee table with a beautiful tablecloth. At the sides of the hall were three tables and chairs set aside for faith expressions: artwork materials, soft clay, and card making materials. The lights were dimmed on all four nights of the arrival of contemplative prayer in a Pentecostal church.

Holy Week theme

Holy Week as we all know starts on Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday. In the lead up to Good Friday and a Easter Sunday Baptism we created an inviting environment for God-chasers to contemplate the death of Christ. The theme this time were the 7 words of Jesus from the cross. It built up on Good Friday with 7 sermonettes on the same theme interspersed with music, silence and worship. Then the climax was an Easter celebratory service followed by a baptism in the East Coast – a most fitting end with all the church people having a picnic and food galore at the beach.

Contemplative prayer: what it looked like

Each evening of the Holy Week of Contemplative Prayer began at 8pm and ended at 10pm though people were free to leave earlier at 9.30pm. The evenings were led by a facilitator who guided the participants through the silence, the lectio divina, the journaling, and the holy communion. Instrumental music and silence were used and it needed no live music. On each evening, a scripture passage that captured the words of Jesus on the cross were read three times, and minimum comments were made, so that the participants can receive the word of the Lord.

Complementary to retreats

The attendance was encouraging. To make a retreat require annual leave, giving up weekends, and money. Though such contemplative nights cannot be compared with the sheer vastness of undistracted time devoted to attending to the Lord in a retreat, it is a good complement, as it is grounded in everyday life. Unlike in a retreat, the participant does his daily activities as usual and comes to the place of quiet prayer with some effort, and leaves to go home to rest and then to work/school the next day. The ordinary day becomes the space for “retreat”. A regular daily rhythm of prayer and reflection may take shape in the midst of ordinary living. This is something that cannot happen in a retreat. As many as half of the 20-30 participants came every night. Some of them wanted it to be a more regular affair. Most were blessed and helped by the guided times of silent prayer in a community context.

Contemplative and Pentecostal?

It may be regarded as rather odd that the contemplative and charismatic can flow together like streams that join together to water the people of God. How can something so “Catholic” be found in something more known for noisy meetings and emotionalism and evangelical fervour? But why shouldn’t the waters mix together in a heady, bubbly oxegenated mix? Weren’t the early Christians contemplative Pentecostals? Both of these stereotypes of ancient spiritual practices being “Catholic” (and therefore suspect) and Pentecostals being boisterous and uneducated spiritual drunks do not belong to the 21st century. They are baggages that should have been left behind in the last century. We need a spiritual humility, one that discerns what is good in other traditions, acknowledges them as God’s gifts, and adapt them for use in one’s own tradition.