Affirmation of Baptism Behind Razor Wire

The Stanley Prison volunteers - a pretty eclectic group, almost as eclectic as the prisoners themselves (who we're not allowed to photograph)

I've been back in Hong Kong over a week and I'm still jet-lagging...or maybe it's the bouts of sadness about my sister, Karin. It hits me in all kinds of places and all kinds of ways. People have been kind. Several have reminded me it takes time. Lots of it.

Well, it was a packed week, my first full week back.  The highlight was last Saturday, when we had four "Affirmation of Baptisms" in Stanley Prison. That was pretty amazing, these guys were really serious about this re-commitment to following the way of Jesus. The guys are from Africa, South America, and Asia, so in my little homily I related it to how they were baptized long ago in a place far away and how God is present in different times and different places and different kinds of churches, but He's also here in these prison walls... well I guess you had to have been there to hear how good it all was :) but I did want to share this quote which we used:

"For too long, we've called unbelievers to 'invite Jesus into your life.' Jesus doesn't want to be in your life. Your life's a wreck. Jesus calls you into his life." - Russell D. Moore

We followed the Baptism affirmation with a powerful laying on of hands. I keep being blown away by how these guys can pray, these prisoners. And sing! Being stuck behind prison razor wire seems to bring out the latent larks and warblers among the guys. I hope you don't think I'm being facetious, because I'm truly in awe. In fact I've told Wayne several times I think I've never experienced such pure, focused, authentic worship as I do in that cement closet we have to use for our chapel. All of this was then followed by Holy Communion, with large chunks of home-made bread and big cups of grape juice for each one. Truly a foretaste of that "feast to come"... which I do hope to share one day with a big circle including these prisoners, and that sister of mine who has left this world for good. I think she would enjoy the company of these guys, she would, and our crazy Christian baptismal hope is that she still will.

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, 

we too may live a new life.

If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his." --Romans 6:4-5

A birth, a death, and the change of seasons

All Saints Day Blessings!

In my last post I wrote of a birth - little "Christie" was born to one of our Burmese students. I'm pleased to report she is doing well!

 Today I write this post from Rockford, Illinois, in the USA, where my beloved  姐姐 "jeje",  my older sister died at her home, surrounded by her family, after a three year struggle with advanced breast cancer.

Here is an excerpt from her funeral homily, given by moi, her little sister:

 "God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart." -- Ecclesiastes 3:11

There is a season for everything, the Old Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us.
My sister, Karin Elisabeth on Zychlin Gaines, a beautiful, complex, unruly name for a beautiful complex, unruly woman...

Karin loved her seasons. She was born in earliest spring, just about the time when the first little snowdrop blossom peeked out from under the snow

and she died just when the change of seasons, the cold snap came.

I don't think that's an accident, I think that's within the divine design of her Creator.

But at the same time, beyond the seasons of this life, Karin also had a thirst for eternity.

She did not want to die.

And we hated to see her suffer and die.

As the word on the street has it - Cancer sucks.  It does.

And into this painful reality, the Christian Church speaks a powerful word:

Jesus - the most Human One - came to take away the sting of death.
Jesus - the Suffering One - was with Karin her dreadful struggle for breath.
Jesus- the One who got up from the dead again, can and will awaken his little sister, God's daughter, Karin Elisabeth.

It is a mystery, says St. Paul in I Corinthians 15

 ^"...in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye... we will be changed."

Karin's eternal self will be as different from her worn out body, as a flower seed or grain of wheat or an acorn is different from a sunflower, a wheat stalk, or an oak tree in its full autumnal glory.

This is almost unbelievable, but all it takes is the tiniest seed of faith to make hope bloom.

Blessings to all on this All Saint's Day, 2012. And thanks to my big sister, Karin, for all the life gifts you have given to your family and friends, and in particular to me, your Mui Mui (妹妹) - your favorite (and only) little sister.

Treasures on a Sunday Afternoon in Hong Kong, and news of a birth!

Wayne forgot something up the hill in his seminary office, so we took a 15 minute hike to retrieve it.  And along the way we saw these treasures:

Wayne's colleague at the seminary, professor of worship and  spirituality

All three of our Cambodian students walking
down to retrieve a cheap supper in town...
no meals served in the cafeteria on
Sunday nights!

All is quiet at the seminary pond.
I take photos while Wayne is inside
making copies or doing whatever,
exactly, he needed to do.

lotus blooming

Bugs skating

Bird of Paradise, fragile, torn, exquisite.

The great news this week - a fourth child born to one of our students from Myanmar (Burma). If it were a boy, he would have been named Wayne. But we're all in luck, it was a fourth daughter! So she'll be named after me! [for linguistic reasons... she will probably be called "Christy" rather than "Christa" since the "a" is a masculine ending in the Burmese and/or Chin language]

However, no sooner did I hear the good news, than I heard the update that she had developed a fever and had to remain in the hospital.  I'm uncertain how good the medical facilities are in the rather remote area of northern Burma where this family lives.  Please pray for infant daughter, mother, and the worried father who will not be able to see his baby for several months at the earliest.

I will post pictures of my namesake as soon as I get them :)

Yet you brought me out of the womb;

    you made me feel secure on my mother’s breast.

¹⁰ 

From birth I was cast on you;

    from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 

-- Psalm 22:10

Autumn Moon Festival

It's Autumn Moon Festival in Hong Kong
and throughout China!

Chinese students taught the international students
the fine art of making mooncakes

Each mooncake must contain a moon of course!

Many hands at work.

Definitely needs more rice flour!

This takes special technique, boys!

The finished product - perfection!

The more traditional mooncakes...
with salted egg in the center

Just before the official holiday began,
we celebrated a Autumn Moon Festival Eucharist
at LTS, complete with Chinese lanterns:
Jesus says, "Let your light shine"!

And this year, we are celebrating with
new friends, Australian missionaries
serving in Thailand, who have
one of the cutest 4 year olds
in the world.
"I can see the moon better from up here!"

Here's wishing all of you a blessed, fun, moonlight-filled Autumn Festival!

When I look at your heavens,

    the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

    which you have set in place,

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

    the children of the earth, that you care for them?

-- Psalm 8

What NOT to do if you're attacked by monkeys

A photo from another, more innocent day,
 when I still considered monkeys cute
rather than menacing...

So there I was, walking down the hill on a Friday night, quitin' time. Down the 121 steps from my office at the seminary, down the winding road past To Fung Shan, past the circle intersection, and just passing the cemetery, when I saw one solitary monkey on a papaya tree. 
Then I saw two or three, maybe a dozen. 

I'm cool with that. I'm not new to monkeys on my walk home. I avert my eyes (everybody knows you shouldn't look a monkey right in the eyes, right?).  I really didn't think a thing of it.  In fact, I was talking on my cell phone with Wayne, discussing the ever important question of what we were going to have for dinner.

I hear screaming behind me.  I turn around to look, and it's a big monkey screaming at me! Coming at me!

I turn around again, and there are monkeys pouring onto the road. There are monkeys overhead on the trees. They are all, inexplicably, looking at ME!

I try the aggressive dog thing where I stop and say "No!" firmly.  Well, maybe not so firmly.  Maybe it came out more like a "Noooooooo!" 

Then I could see some big daddy monkeys coming at me.  Monkeys big and small coming at me, dozens and dozens of them. Then I could see a bunch of angry, red, open mouths with glistening teeth coming at me.  And then I did exactly what you should NOT do if you're attacked by monkeys:

"But whatever you do, don't freak out; those who scream, wave their arms, and run away are only going to make the macaques even more aggressive."*

I freaked out, I screamed, I waved my arms, and I ran full speed down the length of the cemetery, and around the corner, where, thank GOD, they did not pursue me.

(Not another human being in sight, by the way.  I'm in Hong Kong for Pete's sake, and not one other human being in sight, nor - since no one came to my aid - within sound)

Okay, so I wasn't mauled, I wasn't bitten, they didn't actually touch me, just came close enough with those nasty looking teeth, to feed another several decades worth of nightmares. My throat was a bit sore from the screaming, but that was the physical extent of it.

It turns out Wayne heard the whole thing (he was on the cell phone, remember?) and guess what, this is how much he loves me, he rose up from his table at McDonalds (McDonalds? That's where you were???) leaving his almost untouched burger behind, and started running to rescue me!!

After I got home I invited my neighbors over and we had an impromptu "Escape the Mad Monkeys" wine and cheese and board game party, and I WON at the board game.

So all's well that ends well, and yes, I've gone down the hill again this week, alone, and not a monkey in sight.  But if I DO see some more  monkeys and one comes screaming at me, I'm going to do the 

"...the open-mouth threat. Basically, form an "O" with your mouth, lean toward them with your body and head, and raise your eyebrows."

And maybe I'll also follow the advice of most of our international students here -- and carry a big stick.

To read the whole article from where I culled those bits of highlighted info, check out the 2007 Slate article by Michelle Tsai on How to Fight Monkeys (big thanks to New Testament visiting professor and friendly, sympathetic neighbor Dr. Robin Mattison for researching and finding that article for all of us for future reference!)

So, watch out for monkeys, and if a great big troop of mad monkeys does come at you, please do not freak out.  But even if you do, be sure to have a party to celebrate the great escape afterwards.

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
    our God is full of compassion.
 The Lord protects the unwary;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.

 Return to your rest, my soul,    for the Lord has been good to you.  Psalm 116:5-7

The Final New International Student Arrives... and other scenes from the seminary...

Scene from the top of our seminary hill
where the cloud formations alone make you
know there is a great God of all...
and when the heat & humidity suddenly breaks
with waves of fresh air,
you know the Spirit is moving
wild and strong.

We're getting just a wee bit more daring in chapel...
German-Swedish, Myanma, Lao and Chinese faces raise up their
voices, hearts and yes, even their hands in song (a stretch for some Lutherans, but the Mekong students are gently teaching us :)

International relationships among young church leaders are being formed... which will have impact for decades to come.
Two new students from Myanmar and Indonesia --
there are no strangers in God's house.

Our final international student (from Cambodia) received his visa!! He was only a few days late for the semester...
He won't see his wife and two young daughters for at least ten months. His
tee-shirt reads: All for Jesus... NO TURNING BACK.

A fairly typical cafeteria scene... only this day we were celebrating our seminary president's sixtieth birthday.
Apples, juice, cake and... grape tomatoes! I love grape tomatoes!

Wayne and I took our three Cambodian students to church
today... Union Church has an orphanage project in Cambodia... LTS seminary has
three culturally aware, spiritually committed Cambodian students...
what synergies might the Holy Spirit be weaving?
They were welcomed enthusiastically.  Then we five headed out for (what else, since Wayne
was involved) an Indian buffet. Yum!

John 3:8

New International Version (NIV)

The wind blows wherever it pleases. 

You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”*

*John 3:8 The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.   

This is how the seminary school year begins...

This is how the new school year begins at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong...

hearing the Word (simultaneous translation provided - English, Cantonese, Mandarin)

Can't read the slogan on the t-shirt? I'll help you:

"Training Servants of God's Word for Asia"

receiving the Body at the foot of the cross -- face to face, hand to hand, heart to heart.

well fortified, students, staff, and professors walk back out into the Hong Kong heat... to classrooms, study, discussions, community life, and various kinds of diakonia - a recently renewed emphasis on campus - Christ-empowered acts of sharing, healing, and reconciliation.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith 

but do not have works? 

Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” 

and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, 

what is the good of that? 

¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

(James 2:14-17)