BLOGPASTOR – Page 60 – blogging since 2004

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I Received the Pfizer Vaccine as a Gift from God

22 April 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

On Tuesday, I received the second dose of Pfizer vaccination in the Yuhua Community Center. As usual, the process was very safe and efficient – something I do not take granted for and am always thankful for. I was generously given a box of face masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer. I had a sore upper arm and some flu-like aches on the day after, but today I am rather fine and continue to monitor my body.

AN ALLERGIC REACTION

Months back I had thought I did not qualify because of an allergy. My late mother told me I had allergic reactions to penicillin when I was a primary school boy. What kind of reactions, I cannot remember, and even if mum was alive, I doubt she would remember. I assumed that the jab was not for me and it was not at all a consideration. However, as the vaccination was implemented starting with the elderly, and as people started to think about it, I too started to seriously consider it.

There were many anti-vaccination material and horror stories circulating on the internet and through WhatsApp messages. A neighbour said receiving the vaccination is receiving the mark of the Beast. A cousin shared a story of a friend he knew who died from heart failure after the second jab. Perhaps instead of a direct cause and effect, it could have been sudden death from hidden heart condition. However, there were also informative articles and videos that propounded that it was good and safe and a social responsibility to receive vaccination. One that I found personally helpful was circulated by a Methodist TRAC seniors ministry recording of a Zoom seminar that debunked many misconceptions about the vaccination (which I cannot seem to find now, or else I will surely link it here). Many factors had to be considered and it became too murky for a quick decision.

PRAYER LED TO PEACE

However, I began praying about whether I should receive the vaccine since I could not remember what my allergic reactions were. If it had been very serious, I would have landed in hospital and my mum would have underlined that fact, “You know you ended up in the hospital for three days! You could have died!” or something along that line. But I could not remember any of such. What should I do with such inadequate information about my allergy?

During a routine medical check at the polyclinic I shared with the doctor about the quandary I was in. The doctor’s reply injected peace. She said the reaction need to be somewhat serious, with for example swelling as well as breathlessness. That got me praying more until I felt God’s peace about receiving the vaccination. This was a kind of peace that could withstand news of negative effects of vaccination and the opinions of others who plan to wait it out and let the early adopters be the guinea pigs.

I have become one of those informed and forewarned guinea pigs albeit one with peace in his heart. I received the vaccination as a gift from God.

Into your hands I commit my spirit and body, Lord Jesus Christ, giver and keeper of body and soul. Amen.

Beyond Interfaith Dialogue

18 April 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

My heart was warmed to read a lovely story of how young people from a church and a mosque have gone beyond stiff and awkward formal dialogues across tables to forge budding friendships and create platforms for interactions amongst people of two different faiths: Christianity and Islam.

A CHURCH AND A MOSQUE

A church and a mosque in the Geylang Serai area building bridges and tearing down walls through joint activities and projects would be unheard of twenty years ago. I found the extent and depth of progress that have been made encouraging. The stories of how this interaction is affecting the young people of different faiths is inspiring and augurs well for interfaith relations and understanding in the future.

INTER-RACIAL UNDERSTANDING BEFORE AND NOW

This has always been an area of concern that crops up occasionally when older adults like me chat with friends who were brought up in mixed neighbourhoods and schools where inter-racial intermingling and friendships were common. As a child I grew up in a neighbourhood where the apartment units directly around us were Malay, Indian and Chinese. We played together. We went to the same school. We visited each other’s home. And we enjoyed festive food during Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or Deepavali. We saw and heard things that helped us understand each other’s different culture and faith.

It is different for the younger generation today. I don’t know what happened such that all my neighbours in Bukit Batok were Chinese. My children studied in Pei Hwa Primary School and there were no Indians and Malays there. Mainly at tertiary level did they have opportunities to mix with other races, but did they? By then I doubt they would go out of their way to intentionally make friends with those of other races.

INTERFAITH RELATIONS

That is why I find it heart-warming that the church and the mosque were deliberately building bridges as neighbours. Easter and briyani: what a title to reflect diversity and interfaith partnership! I pray that their endeavours to understand and appreciate each others faith will continue to yield the fruit of love for neighbour in deeper dimensions.

To read the full article by Lee Siew Hua tap on this Easter and briyani: How a church and mosque build bridges, not walls to stem youth self-radicalisation

Bookstagrammers in the news

16 April 2021 blogpastor 2 Comments

I was so happy to see these two sisters, Grace and Sarah Phua gain some recognition in the Straits Times, Singapore’s national newspaper. They are pastor’s kids and they grew up in World Revival Prayer Fellowship, the church I served as senior pastor, before I retired recently. I know them and rejoiced in the fact that their pictures and work were highlighted in the article about bookstagrammers.

WHAT’S A BOOKSTAGRAMMER?

I learned a new word: Bookstagrammer -someone who loves books and reviews them on their Instagram account. Those with substantial followers, for example @jemmawei that the report featured has as many as 69,700 followers. If 10 percent of those followers read her book review and were motivated to buy the book, that would mean an increase of sales of about 6,970 books. Which publisher wouldn’t be eyeing this kind of influence? So these bookstagrammers do receive requests to review books which publishers sent to them for free. It is such a blessing if you love reading because when you love books you spend a lot of money on them. Besides freebies they also get acquainted with a virtual community of people who also love reading.

GRACE & SARAH PHUA

Both sisters are very talented in many ways including musically. Grace works in the media industry. She is the arty, aesthetic right-brainer. Sarah owns an accounting business and works part-time on the church pastoral team. She has strategic leadership skills, a good communicator with a sharp intellect, and contributes greatly to the church community. They have great parents who have faithfully served the deaf faith community in church. Their father was the pastor of the deaf church. He too, like me, has recently retired.

If you love books and want to read their reviews on Instagram you can follow Grace at @curiousreviewer and Sarah at @bookandbriefcase. If you wish to read the full Straits Times article about how book sales have gone up during the pandemic and how book reviews on social media platforms are fuelling reading, click HERE.