Seminary Olympics... for the sport of it

The opening ceremonies

Seminary Olympics held in the yard of our home in Hong Kong with inter-Asian and inter-national students. .... something we first experienced at LSTChicago many years ago. The Hong Kong version included the 1) cardboard slalom doubles event, 2) edible medals, and 3) fastest recitation of the books of the Bible (in one's own language). Below are some of the top contenders, can you recognize the languages? Can you guess who won?

Notice the fancy footwear for the "slalom doubles"

Alas, the edible medals did not last the night...

Sometimes it's good just to have fun together!

You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. 

All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. 

You're after one that's gold eternally.

-- St. Paul writing in I Corinthians 9:24-25  THE MESSAGE BIBLE

A New Year and passport troubles in Southeast Asia

So this is how we started 2014... in a certain city in Southeast Asia along the Mekong, looking out of the hotel room at these rooftops, where a cat prowled for mice on a collapsed and rotted building just next to our room with its air-conditioning and room service menu.

We had had the following conversation with a couple of our LTS seminary alumni. One of the ways their small "start-up" church is serving is by weekly visits to the local hospital, to bring meals to patients. The hospital does not provide any food, that's the family's job.

"What if they don't have any family who can do that?"

The answer can swiftly.

"Then they die. That's the reality here in ________. If you don't have family who can take care of you, then you die."

This young couple is leading a young church which is intent on making a difference in the local community. 90% of their church members are university students, and most of these young Christians are first generation Christians, coming from non-religious and cultural Buddhist backgrounds.

The pastor of the church is asked to come in for questioning by the local authorities, on a pretty regular basis. So far, he's been looking at it as an opportunity to explain his church's special emphasis on serving the neighborhood, trying to do what Jesus did, helping the hungry and hurting, sharing basic ethics and teachings with other young adults and couples.

However the situation is tricky, and things could change at any time for this small but not-yet "official" Christian community, in a part of the world where freedom of religion is far from a given.

As if to emphasize the complexities of life in this part of the world, our oldest son was suddenly told he could not leave the country (and return with us to Hong Kong) because of a small tear in his passport So our family had to split up -- I returned with our other two sons and Wayne stayed behind to deal with the sudden bureaucratic nightmare. Long story short, thank God they were able to return to Hong Kong in time for eldest son to catch his flight back to home and life in NYC.

Does this look like an international trouble maker to you?

So, we had an interesting start to the New Year 2014!!! And have lots to think about, and hopes that in some way our work here can contribute to a critically conscious, yet also kinder and more hopeful world.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

(the Prophet Micah 6:8 ... also encapsulating some of the basic ethical principles taught by Jesus)

Up onto Jesus' shoulders in Vietnam

Our last day of 2013 started on the beach in Vung Tau, Vietnam, where we are taking a grace-filled (dare I admit desperately needed?)  family vacation.

Vung Tau is home to the largest statue of Jesus in the world, at 32 meters it is six meters higher than the one in Rio (Brazil).

We had try to climb up the statue  two days ago, walking up the small mountain only to discover the stairway within the statue is closed for two hours in the middle of the day, exactly when we had arrived, of course.

So today was the day. Again we went by the smaller Biblical statues lower on the mountain... depicting some of the happiest prophets I've ever seen. I'm sure I've never seen a Moses with a big grin on his face before, although it mirrors something I once saw in Jerusalem, at the Wailing Wall, where grey-bearded orthodox Jews had gathered to dance their joy in commemoration of Shavuot, the giving of the Ten Commandments.

There's also one of the jolliest depictions of the preaching of the Beatitudes I've ever seen. And why not? Jesus was talking about deep happiness, blessedness, joy. Maybe a bird or two and lambs and a batch of kids did frolic, to hear about God's topsy-turvy hand-out of blessings to the poor, the sad, and those reaching out to taste a better world.

And then we came to the foot of Jesus: Note the scale of things... those are people peering out over the top of his shoulders!

It was a bit of a squeeze to walk up the last 133 steps. We were glad we were the only Western-sized tourists that day - we definitely would have been in trouble otherwise.

And at the top we were rewarded by a view of Jesus with Asian eyes, and the sense of seeing things from the perspective of resting on His shoulders. Hmmm. Not a bad way to look back upon the year that was, 2013, and ahead to the year starting up in a few hours, 2014.

Jesus according to Matthew 11:28-30

The Message (MSG)

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Happy New Year everybody!!!

Peace on Earth -- reporting from Vietnam

“True peace is not a balancing of opposing forces. It’s not a lovely facade which conceals conflicts and divisions...

Peace calls for daily commitment." 

 -- Pope Francis, Christmas Day 2013

As an American visiting Vietnam as a tourist, Pope Francis' words ring in my ears as our family tours first  the Cu Chi Tunnels (said to be over 200 km long) by which the Vietnamese evaded American military, and where now children - beautifully incongruously - scamper over tanks.

Life went on, underground, with systems for cooking, sewing, medical care, and the devising
of weapons to kill the "American enemy"... some of whom were neighbors to Wayne and I, growing up as American kids in the 1960's

At an entrance to the tunnel system, portions of which
have been enlarged so Western-sized tourists can enter.

 We then went to the War Remnants Museum, which grimly reminded us of the millions killed in the war and the on-going aftereffects of land mines and chemicals used on Vietnamese soil, causing human mutilation and birth defects.

Wayne and I are of an age where we well remember neighbors and church families sending off young men to fight what some at the time thought was a noble war for freedom, what others believed was a horrible mistake, what all knew was a war fought, like every war, at the terrible cost of God-beloved human lives.

 May the One we name the "Prince of Peace" make Christians the first and the foremost to embrace that "daily commitment" for peace in the New Year 2014.

So then let us pursue the things which make for peace 

and the building up of one another.

Romans 14:19

Merry Christmas 2013 from Hong Kong!

We celebrated the last of the Advent Sundays in a tent sheltering us from the rain. 

The church provides a welcome respite from the Hong Kong crowds... and you thought Christmas

shopping crowds were bad in your hometown??  (These are not, of course, Christmas

shoppers but just the normal Sunday afternoon crowds at the metro station!)

But we've also been surrounded by voices of peace & joy from all over the world this Christmas, as we've celebrated Christ's birth with professors and students...

 from Hong Kong,

from Cambodia

 from Germany

from Myanmar

and Wayne and I have our house full of men... our "boys" have beat the Midwestern and East coast storms and have landed safely in Hong Kong.

Merry Christmas from Hong Kong!  With love and joy in our Savior's birth,

Christa & Wayne

"The angel said, 'Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. 

This is what you’re to look for: 

a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.'

13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises..."

Luke chapter 2

God's amazing world in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar

A little bit about our Mekong Mission Forum teaching trip to Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar:

Of all the Mekong countries, Myanmar (or Burma) has the highest number of Christians. Much of this is due to the perseverance of a husband and wife American Baptist mission couple, Ann and Adoniram Judson, who established a Christian Mission in Myanmar 200 years ago! The Myanmar Baptist Convention is expecting over 20,000 visitors for the celebrations in Yangon next month. Of course, those old-time  American missionaries just got the ball rolling. Since then there have been generations of faithful indigenous ministers, pastors, Christian parents and grandparents, and yes, Myanma/Burmese/ Kachin missionaries who have attempted to live lives of service, witness and love in extremely difficult conditions, in response to the Gospel.

Wayne and I had the great adventure of visiting the Kachin Theological College, in Kachin State, Myanmar. 

Myitkyina airport

We had the opportunity to teach alongside a fantastically diverse group including Kachin Baptists, Independents, Anglicans, one Presbyterian (Dr. Lal Tin Hre from the ATEM - Association of Theological Education in Myanmar who was the chief organizer of everything), two Lutherans (us!) and even one Roman Catholic priest! We Americans talk about ecumenism, but these folks are living it. When times are hard, when you are a minority ethnic group AND belong to a minority religion, when you realize the Gospel calls us to be counter-cultural, then you unite for continuing education events. Beautiful!

Along with a trip to the site of the Myitsone Dam Project (halted last year due to the outcry among environmentalists and the Kachin people who fear for their lives if the dam should break) and taking a boat ride in the cold and fast moving river

we also had the opportunity to visit the beautiful "Prayer Mountain, overlooking the exotic Kachin State landscape. Many people come up to pray for this land and its people who have been embroiled in war for years with the Burmese military (whose fighter jets we saw flying overhead, in what seemed a menacing show of power over the Kachin people).

Prayer Mountain

We were able to briefly visit an IDP camp (Internally Displaced Persons) filled with children. The children at the camp just shouted with joy as (together with the Kachin Baptist Church members) we shared the Gospel with them through a simple children's song. I imagine the sound of the angels are no sweeter to God! 

We also heard about a nearby camp where there are three toilets for 500 people, (a young Swedish guy working for UNICEF told us this... and thankfully it appears that together with the local people UNICEF is working to help this nearly unbelievable situation). Don't take your toilets for granted, people!

We then heard from one of the  Kachin ladies about her mission trip of encouragement and medical help in yet another camp, nearer to the Chinese border,  where people have to learn how to function without arms and legs, which have been amputated because of landmine casualties and lack of medical facilities. 

As we begin to head into the Advent/Christmas season, (decorations are up all over Hong Kong when we arrived back last night) I am newly aware, again, of the real Gospel of Advent/Christmas -- that into this hurting and dangerous world, God sent his son, fully human, a vulnerable baby, born to a poor family, in a land occupied by the Romans, where babies could be slaughtered upon the whims of a ruler.

What love is this that God gives to us, and which we are called to share in practical ways? 

Theologian, lecturer, at KTC (Kachin Theological College) wife, mother, daughter of God: Saw Nam.

Doing theology under the young mango tree

leaving Bangkok

I always feel how amazing life is when I take this flight -- Hong Kong to Bangkok to Yangon.

The lights leaving Bangkok are much brighter than the lights upon arrival in Yangon, but the Yangon airport is looking much, much spiffier than when I first started flying there just two years ago.


Most of today was spent greeting Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) Hong Kong alumni now teaching at Karen Baptist Theological Seminary:

Theology under the young mango tree

Theology in the clothing  shop

Karen culture textiles

Karen culture handwoven clothes

Heading out for lunch

The daughter of Dr. Christopher... who waited three long years for her Daddy
to return from his Hong Kong studies.

It's an incredible gift to be here again and to see the thriving LTS alumni. Tomorrow we fly to Kachin State... a place we've never been to before.  We are flying on either Asian Wings Airways (the name on the envelope with our tickets)... or Air KBZ (the crossed out name on the ticket)  or Air Bagan... the name handwritten on the confirmation printout.

Wayne will be teaching a seminar on healthy families and I'll be his healthy assistant :) Actually, I'm going to be doing a unit on church-based sex education, based on the Master's degree thesis from another Myanmar LTS alumnus. Please please say a prayer for us! May we listen, and learn, and perhaps be of some use in our teaching.

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, 

as good stewards of God's varied grace:" 

[1 Peter 4:10]