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Marie Kondo season now

9 December 2020 blogpastor Leave a comment

The Marie Kondo season has come. Re-organize, give away, say “Thank you” and “Goodbye” to old stuff.

This is not because of the approaches of Christmas and Lunar New Year ahead. It is simply that now that I have retired, I have been freed of many of the church ministry “To Do List” priority items, that kept many of the household duties and tasks awaiting my attention. Now that those items at the top have been removed, those at the bottom are nearer the top, and gets my attention.

Ministry work stretched the intellectual and psychological. Preparing and preaching the sermon and trainings, evaluating and planning the worship services, facilitating meetings for planning, strategizing, reconciling, and supervising have all required the investment of spiritual, mental and emotional energies.

Therefore, I welcome this Marie Kondo season, this season of mainly physical work with my hands. It moves me towards a wholeness and awareness of things I see, touch, smell and handle. It can be mind-boggling to figure out the best place to store stuff. Yes, sometimes I struggle emotionally to say thank you and goodbye to old pre-loved stuff that served me so well. Yet overall I find a satisfaction in seeing rapid tangible results (in contrast to trying to solve church problems like late-coming worshippers): the room became tidy, the display looked pretty, the cupboards began to breathe, I see the changes and congratulate myself, “Well done!”.

I had a list of 29 things to do of which 9 have been done. Twenty more awaits my attention. One of them is painting the ceilings of the whole house, and the walls of two or three bedrooms. This will probably take the longest time, as I will do this in stages. I am no longer the 30 year old new house-owner who could paint the living room in half-a-day! And I belong to the generation that would rather save money and do the painting myself, rather than hire professionals to do it.

Its burdensome when I look at the list. But if I see it as part as my movement towards wholeness, towards development of the under-developed part of my person – the sensory – it helps cast a redemptive light on the strain and load. My mantra is “This is good for me”.

Lord, help me to see you in these mundane and dreary tasks. After all, You once worked with your hands and made things. You did it with pride and an eye to your Father’s praise. Help me to see You in all things, and to find meaning in doing the most uncomfortable, dirty, odious of chores.

Ordination service and retirement prayer during covid 19

30 November 2020 blogpastor Leave a comment

The ordination of Alvin Lim was certainly a highlight and delight in the month of November 2020. The Covid 19 makes all kinds of events unforgettable: a covid 19 ordination – what will it look like? We did not want it to be a non-event attended by 10 persons with all kinds of limitations, so we postponed it. However, when things got better and the government safety guidelines were loosened, and 100 were allowed to physically congregate, we decided to go ahead with the ordination. In addition, there was the deadline of my retirement: we had to do it before 19 November.

RESTRICTIONS DURING ORDINATION SERVICE

We had to limit the numbers who could attend. All the other measures like masks, temperature taking, two groups kept separated, no singing, a single entrance and exit for each group. Keeping safe distances all the time.

I began with a mask and later, for better communications, a full plastic shield. However, I had to make sure the microphone was under the transparent plastic shield when I spoke so that the sound is not muffled. The same goes with the Mandarin interpreter, who stood two metres from me, and the sign language interpreter who stood about ten metres from me.

This ordination service was pre-recorded and would be shown to all the three congregations on the 15^th of November, the following Sunday, giving the hardworking media team about seven days to edit and upload it. I was glad that everything went smoothly.

From the beginning, the excitement in the hall was electric – partly because it was the first physical gathering since the beginning of the circuit breaker, and partly because it was an ordination service. All this while, our services had been pre-recorded from home initially, and later at the church hall. Now this ordination service would be the dry run for future in-person gatherings for worship.

Despite the restrictions, there was no blocking the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I felt strongly his presence during the service, when I preached, and during the liturgy, but especially when I laid hands on Alvin Lim the candidate, and prayed and prophesied over him. I was filled with joy, peace and contentment.

**All the church staff of the three congregations were glad in the Lord**

**The President of the Board of Elders gave the love gift to SP Kenny**

RETIREMENT PRAYER FOR SENIOR PASTOR

Another thing we did was to pre-record my retirement service. This was done after the ordination service. The congregation had a ten-minute break, and re-gathered for the second part, where some commendations, appreciation speeches and a presentation of ex gratia offering for me, and my thank you speech was pre-recorded. The highlight was the three congregational pastors representing their congregations and praying blessings upon me. After editing, the segment will be added to the service of another Sunday and screened to all three congregations. You can watch this segment below.

Restitution at Robinson’s

22 November 2020 blogpastor Leave a comment

After Friday’s lunch at Shaw Centre, I went with my wife and a friend to Robinson’s, Singapore’s 162 year old iconic department store. There was a winding down sale. The dame has folded. The shift to online shopping and the covid 19 has taken another victim, with more to follow. I bought a pair of shorts for half-price and my wife bought two blouses at half-price.

NOT SO SWEET MEMORIES

Robinsons brought back many personal memories. I remembered being brought there by better off uncles and aunties as a school-going kid to experience the oohs and aahs of seeing an abundance of stuff you wouldn’t see anywhere else. My mum also liked walking there, even though she could not afford the rather expensive things displayed on the shelves. We could only afford things like bath towels and Airfix, the hobby kit that I was obsessed with, for gluing into plastic models of World War II aircraft.

I was so caught up in this hobby that I would save my pocket money to buy up different models. Once I was so overtaken by my lust for certain model aircraft, that I stole one or two at Robinson’s and put them among other items that had been bought. One was a Japanese fighter aircraft – the Zero. The other, I have forgotten.

I remembered how my heart palpitated as I walked out of the department store. I was relieved when I exited the entrance. It was crowded near Christmas time, so I supposed the security couldn’t cope. But my act of theft did not escape God’s eyes.

REPENTANCE AND RESTITUTION

Many years later, I would accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. As I followed Jesus in discipleship, I learned about repentance and restitution. Convicted about my past sin of stealing, I wrote a letter to Robinson’s department store and apologized for what I stole from them years earlier in a letter, with the estimated cost of what was stolen in cash attached to the letter.

Sometime later, I received a letter from Robinson’s with a receipt, informing me that they received my money, and were glad that I turned over a new leaf! For sure if I had a smartphone then, I would have taken a photo of their letter for keepsake.

Now whenever I looked back at this incident I realize it was an important step for me as a new believer to establish a clear conscience. I would one day be a pastor, and God knew that but not me, not at that stage of my Christian life. When God invites you or convicts you to do something, just do it. It is healing, strengthening and who knows how it may impact others?

Have you done any restitution before? Do share your experience in the comment box.