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Yishun Christian Church (Anglican): A Space for God’s Word to Form You

5 September 2024 blogpastor Leave a comment

When I received an invitation to preach at Yishun Christian Church (Anglican), I was happy to accept. I heard of this church long ago, when the church I served was searching for a permanent church facility. This was the first example of two churches sharing one building facility in a HDB land tender in a housing estate. It made a lot of sense as it halved the development cost and doubled the usage. As it turned out the Lutherans, being a mainline, liturgical church, is a good match in terms of the sanctuary design, nave and altar, pews and culture. A few other churches have followed suit and improved on this model: Clementi Bible Centre, another building in Yishun shared by Tabernacle of Christ and Life Centre Church (formerly Smyrna Assembly), and in Jurong West a church building shared by Victory Family Church and Centre of New Life. In fact, the government had plans for more churches to share buildings similarly but there had been no updates thus far.

Passionate about forming members in Christlikeness

The present vicar is Rev Daniel Teo. I was quite impressed with his broad experience. He was with Youth With A Mission for a season and served as ordained priest with St John’s-St Margaret’s for many years. He loves learning and holds a Master of Divinity (Greek track) and Master of Christian Studies from BGST, Singapore. Currently, he is close to completing his Masters in Theology. It became obvious he carries a passion for the Word of God and expository preaching. I noticed that the vicar and staff team had been preaching through the book of James. More importantly, they desire to see transformation towards Christlikeness as the word is applied in the members’ lives. I noticed that the English congregation pastors Japheth and Richard were likewise passionate about teaching God’s Word.

I was happy to see Beth, a former church leader who married pastor Japheth. I was pleased that she had integrated into the church well as a ministry staff. It was painful for the church I still attend to lose her, but I take comfort that she will bloom wherever she is planted and she is happily married to a pastor. She led the praise and worship songs in the monthly family worship service where the children and youth joined the adults in an inter-generational service. I believe such integration is healthy for the church, even if it is done monthly. This church had also experienced the charismatic renewal and unlike other churches, members are permitted to flow with the Spirit during the worship service.

I preached on the topic, “Being Single and Fulfilled” and placed the accent on being “fulfilled” because there were many married couples, young families and empty nesters. The attendance was over 200. I surprised myself because I preached for thirty minutes. I usually preach for forty minutes. On the Sunday before, I preached for an hour in my home church! It helped that I knew that after the 8:30 am Anglican service, the Lutherans would hold their worship service, so I was motivated to keep to my allotted time.

After the service, I caught up with Hedy Chua and her husband Christopher. We lived in the same neighbourhood in Princess Elizabeth Estate. Many decades back, I got to know that she attended this church. It was good to see her still rooted in the same church. These days loyalty, gratitude and faithfulness are rare qualities. People leave churches for the weakest reasons: a misunderstanding or dissatisfaction. Many left their home church simply because they unknowingly acted like consumers, searching for what was best for themselves, and not thinking of how they could contribute to the church they were dissatisfied with. This is a generalization of course but it is true for a sizeable percentage of church migrants.

When I left, I received a gift book, “The Bible’s Grand Story” written by the vicar himself. This was published in 2019 before the covid pandemic. I scanned it and felt it would be a good addition to the many books that local Christian writers have written in the past two decades. It’s another reminder to finish editing my book draft, which halted abruptly in the past month when I came down with pain in my back shoulder. This is the Lord’s nudging that I must finish editing my book draft.

“Coincidences are natural phenomena”

2 September 2024 blogpastor 2 Comments

I have taken the liberty to post a comment from “Gary” here. He had posted it somewhere else, where not many people would see it. So I post here his argument against the existence of God. He states that coincidences are usually natural phenomena, not interventions of God in answer to prayer or the providence of God. He then mentions some of the answers that evangelicals typically give. He numbered them (1) to (5). These are answers I would possibly give too. If you wish to elaborate, explain, or add to the reasons for your hope in Christ, please drop a comment to help “Gary”.

This is what “Gary” wrote in the comment page:

“A primitive farmer in a primitive land suffers two consecutive bad harvests. The following spring, he
sacrifices a chicken to the rain god hoping to change his fortunes. That year, the rain fall is steady and just right: not too much and not too little. His crops grow tall and strong. He has an excellent harvest. “The rain god answered my prayers because I offered a chicken sacrifice to him,” the farmer says to
himself. For the next four years the farmer offers a chicken sacrifice and each year the rain fall is just right and his harvests are green and bountiful. His life changes dramatically. He is incredibly happy. Once angry and short-tempered, he is now kind and generous. He experiences incredible peace and a profound sense of security knowing that he has pleased his god and is now reaping the benefits of his god’s good favor.

Question: Do you believe that the chicken sacrifices had anything to do with this man’s five consecutive good harvests and his change in character and demeanor? Of course you don’t. The five consecutive good harvests were simply a rare but very natural phenomenon. Statistical variation perfectly explains this man’s good fortune.

As an evangelical Christian, you believe that a spirit lives inside you; a spirit who has unlimited knowledge and powers; a spirit who answers your prayer requests and performs miracles for
you. However, if you can’t see, hear, or touch this spirit how do you know this spirit is really there? How do you know that your perception of a spirit dwelling within you is not just your mind playing tricks on you? I have asked many evangelical apologists this question and the response I usually receive involves one or more of these statements:

1.) My personal experiences prove His presence: Unusual events have occurred in my life which I am certain were due to the intervention of Jesus/the Holy Ghost.

2.) Answered prayers: I ask Jesus/the Holy Ghost for something and the requested action or event occurs. This has occurred multiple times in my life. They cannot all be coincidences or
statistical random chance.

3.) Dramatic change in my life: Since becoming a Christian, my life has changed dramatically. I am a new person. I left behind (drugs, alcohol, crime, etc.) and have become a good, loving, upstanding person.

4.) Incredible feelings of peace, comfort, and happiness: Since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and asked him into my heart I have experienced the most incredible joy, peace, and
sense of security, knowing that He is always with me, guiding me in every step
of my life.

Question: How are your perceived experiences with your spirit (Jesus/the Holy Ghost) any different than the perceived experiences of our primitive farmer with his spirit (the god of rain)? There is no difference, my evangelical Christian friend! All your perceived answered prayers and perceived miracles
have involved natural events. Some of them may have been very rare natural events, but they were still natural. None of you has witnessed Jesus/the Holy Ghost move a mountain or even levitate your kitchen table after requesting that action in your prayers. Those types of answered prayers never occur, do they? Answered prayers always involve events which could have a natural explanation, even if a very, very rare natural explanation.

A fifth reason I sometimes hear is this: 5.) The Bible tells me that Jesus/the Holy Ghost dwells within me and the Bible has proven itself to be true and trustworthy.

Question: Would you accept such “evidence” from any non-Christian on the planet touting the veracity of his religion’s holy book? Of course you wouldn’t. You and your fellow Christians may believe that the Bible is reliable but most of the world’s population disagrees with you. Jewish Bible scholars reject Christian claims that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecy. Jews, Muslims, and non-supernaturalists (agnostics and atheists) reject as insufficient and weak apologists’ evidence for the alleged resurrection of Jesus. The authorship and eyewitness status of the Gospels, the best evidence Christianity possesses, is disputed, even among Christian scholars, for goodness sakes! So appealing to the Bible as proof of the
existence of a spirit living inside your body is a real stretch, friends.

Final question. Dear Evangelical Christian: Are you being rational in your belief that a spirit dwells within
you? Or, are you being as irrational as our primitive farmer, who experiences statistical anomalies and attributes them to the actions of his culture’s gods and devils? Invisible spirits and ghosts are not
real. There is no good evidence they exist. Step out of the darkness of superstition and into the light of reason and rational thinking.”

I would appreciate any response from readers to “Gary” that will help him see the hope we have in Christ. “Gary’s” worldview is rationalistic-scientific which is understandable because we are all children of modernity. Such a worldview leaves no room for miracles and divine intervention – even if there are no natural phenomena to explain them, like the healing of a person born blind, or the miracle of a deaf man enabled to hear after being prayed for.

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The Importance of Rhythms in Prayer

16 August 2024 blogpastor 2 Comments

For about seven years, Jimmy Tan, Koh Seng Chor and I (above picture, from R to L) have been meeting in a 3-2-1 spiritual friendship. We have met in our homes, the Railway Mall, the office or the great outdoors. Three persons, for about two hours of sharing life and prayers, once a month. This circle of authenticity and accountability has been a blessing in my life.

The Rev Dr Jimmy Tan is a chaplain, and lecturer of pastoral and practical theology at Trinity Theological College. The courses that he teaches include pastoral care, pastoral spirituality, pastoral theology, marriage and family, and Christian spirituality. He regularly leads retreats and offers spiritual direction at the college and beyond. Seng Chor and I have been blessed by his insights, authentic sharing and prayers of faith and I am sure we have been a blessing to him.

On the 14th of August, the college recently had their annual Day of Prayer when faculty, staff and students (about 180) came together for prayer. I read the talk that Jimmy gave to them at the beginning of the day. I was so blessed and inspired I asked for his permission to share the script in this blog post. Here goes:

If we pause to notice, we will observe that ‘life is full of rhythms’

The daily rising and setting of the sun, and how it influences our circadian rhythms. The rhythm of our heartbeats or the lack of it, how it communicates good health or concern. The rhythm of our breathing correlates with the pace of our walking, running, or resting. In rhythm, one seems to do better; in rhythm, a gymnast delivers a more beautiful floor exercise; in rhythm; a sprinter clocks a faster timing; in rhythm, a marathoner pushes on to the finishing line. Out of rhythm, a higher-ranked badminton player loses to an opponent many rungs lower. Out of rhythm, a student struggles to write a single line of an essay.

Rhythm affects our lives more than we realize

Even with our leisure and moods; rhythm has its influence. Music and dance with a good sense of rhythm make for better music, dance, and relaxation. Poetry, with its rhythm, brings forth its point with delight. A good rhythm in communication engenders deeper trust and makes for a better community.

Rhythm impacts our lives beyond the surface

And we find the sense of rhythm in Scripture. The author of Genesis utilizes the rhythm of day and night to describe God’s creative activity. The psalmist uses regularity and consistency for the practice of prayer and praise. Indeed, the chiastic structure of the psalm communicates the author’s point with greater impact. Jesus, himself, regularly goes out to quiet places to pray and be in communion with his Father.

God’s wisdom, grace, and mercy is communicated in rhythmic provision. Six days of work and one day of rest; six years of production and one year of rejuvenation; forty-nine years of activity and one great year of Jubilee!

Scripture is imbued with rhythm

If a sense of rhythm pretty much permeates our living consciousness and impacts the quality of our lives, we ask why a sense of rhythm is strategic to prayer. We have noted that the Psalmist embraces a sense of rhythm in his expression. Seven times a day, he prays. Through the travails of the night, he prays.

Then the early church tells us about their times of prayer. These were regular hours through a day: intentionally spaced out: at 6am, 9am, midday, 3pm, at the setting of the sun, and before one retires for the day. They were strategically placed to pepper the day with prayer consciousness. These hours became known as the divine hours, and the practice of prayer, the Daily Office. Together, they distinguished the church through the ages.

The regularity of prayer did not just carry them over a day, but also a week, and then through a year with its liturgical seasons. There were prayers for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany; there were prayers for Lent, Easter, and the Ascension. And there were prayers for Trinity Sunday, and Sunday after Sunday, till Advent came around again. The rhythm of the lectionary tells the story of Christ and his church, over and over again. And so, the practice of prayer coinhered with the regularity of rhythm – daily, weekly, and annually. And this is what our chapel roster is patterned after.

But the practice of prayer is not just rhythmic. It is, in fact, rhythm in relation

If we regard prayer as a conversation with God. Does this conversation benefit from an expression in rhythmic form? During National Service, we learnt to use the walkie-talkie; and to use it well, we learnt and practised the discipline of communicating with it.

“Alpha to Command Center, over.”

“Command Center to Alpha, send over.”

“Alpha asking for permission to proceed to checkpoint two, over.”

“Alpha, permission granted, over.”

“Alpha, Roger and out.”

We learn to hear, and then we learn to respond; this hearing and responding is itself a rhythmic expression of communion with God. Perhaps that is why, in the observance of prayer throughout the day, we pause from our labours for a moment to hear better; and pray better. Especially with a hectic schedule, which often calls us to many tasks and engagements, the pause at midday or evening brings refreshment to our weary bodies and minds and helps to re-centre our distracted souls in God. Has it not been our experience where the pause to pray became a blessing rather than a bane in a crazy workday? Just this past Sunday, I was reminded of the blessing of a pause in silence.

In her acceptance speech, the British actress, film-maker, and poet, Michaela Coel, the first black woman to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing, said,

“In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others… [and] to be constantly visible (for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success), do not be afraid to disappear, from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence.” (Acceptance speech 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for HBO’s I May Destroy You).

Today, we learn to disappear for a while, into the silence, to receive some reprieve through the rhythms of prayer. For……

These rhythms of prayer heal us of our restlessness and addictions.

These rhythms of prayer guide us to commune with God.

These rhythms of prayer offer us the beautiful gift of a yielded life.

These rhythms of prayer sustain us over the long haul of discipleship.

These rhythms of prayer bring us life.