Back to school at LTS Hong Kong

Chapel flowers during Mid Autumn Harvest Moon Week.

Wayne and I are back in the saddle at LTS Hong Kong, and my jet-lag is totally, finally over (only two weeks later :) So we're back in Hong Kong where --

--we have daily chapel:

(This one led by a recent group of Hong Kong students who did an intercultural exploration/ mission trip to Cambodia and Thailand)

--where I, Christa, at the advanced age of.... oh never mind, let's just say at my advanced age, I have just been accepted into the Doctorate of Ministry program at LTS (part time student, my goal is to graduate before I turn sixty :)
and am taking a course in Diakonia:

snapshot of my class - two Mainland Chinese students (for whom Mandarin translation
is provided) two from Hong Kong, one American (me!), one from Myanmar, one from
Nepal, one from Cambodia. Talk about diversity! 

and one very cool teacher, with years of theological/practical diaconal experience in Hong Kong and Norway
(one of the best teachers I've had, and I've had some good ones)

and, lest we forget that we are in Hong Kong,
 there's THIS, discovered and filmed on our way home from seminary last week:

(My Hong Kong friends assure me that the snakes will soon be in winter hibernation. This Red-necked Keelback snake seems to have a mouse in its belly, if you look closely.)

Happy Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival Everybody!

It's great to be back!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

3 

...Praise him, sun and moon;

   

Praise the Lord from the earth,

    

10 

wild animals and ... creeping things... 

13 

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for his name alone is exalted;

    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

A morsel from the chopsticks...

Just for a slice of life... or maybe I should say "a morsel from the chopsticks": Wayne is off in the Mainland of China this week, visiting Christian churches with some of the other seminary professors, I'm getting ready for a conference in Myanmar (Burma) next week... trying to organize hotels, speakers, logistics of flying in Mekong folks from Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand... I'm really excited that among others, we'll have a Jewish rabbi giving a presentation, since few of the Mekong Christians have had (any?) exposure to the faith in which Jesus was raised! But oh, those logistics. Hotel rooms. Speaker bios. Airport pick ups. Will Buddhist vegetarian food fulfil Jewish kosher needs for our Jewish guest? Oops, I haven't gotten my Myanmar visa yet...

Meanwhile here in Hong Kong:

• One day last week we had nearly a foot of rain in 12 hours. 
• We have snails the size of a fist crawling up the walls of our house (thankfully only on the outside walls, so far)
• I have killed not one but two giant tropical cockroaches since my husband is gone, and...
• Two days ago one very large monkey was swinging in the trees outside our home. I closed the door very quickly so he wouldn't get the idea of coming inside. One of our neighbors actually once had a monkey come and grab a banana out of the fruit basket on his dining room table !

At work we got our first set of rejections on all nineteen of the student visas we are hoping to get approved for next fall's incoming students. This dismays me but does not stop me... time to start sending in yet more documentation - proof of employment, proof of previous degrees and certifications, explanations to the Hong Kong government officials of what exactly is theological librarianship or why would a student from Myanmar need a masters degree in diakonia, anyway? So I make copies, scan folders, try to find the right words for the officials... respectful but not too fawning, 

A co-worker invited two of us Americans out for "hotpot". Should I tell you the shrimp were so fresh they literally kept jumping off the plate? That was a little... extremely fresh even for my adventurous tastes.

It's a fascinating, fascinating life.

Next week -- return to Burma. Stay tuned!

Taste and see that the Lord is good;    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.      -- Psalm 34:8

The Colours of Lent in Hong Kong

Lent 2013 has come with an explosion of colors and holidays in Hong Kong:

Chinese New Year with vibrant, springtime reds.

Chinese Hibiscus Feb. 14, 2013

Valentine's Day, and what I've called "Valentines from God"

A Red-Whiskered Bulbul Feb. 14, 2013

Chinese University, HK, Feb. 14, 2013

and, of course, the Christian season of Lent, with its





purples and deep blues of contemplation, fasting, prayer, Bible study.

Lenten colours captured at Kadoorie Farm, Hong Kong Feb. 15, 2013

It's an extraordinarily busy time... Wayne is starting the harrowing process of editing long dissertations from students whose primary language is not English (often English is their third, fourth, or even fifth language!)

and I have begun receiving the deluge of new international student applications, which is exciting, and challenging. Each new application demands a huge amount of time, downloading files and checking the paperwork, and next week I'm off to Myanmar again, to do personal interviews with potential students. Me? Discerning which candidates would be best suited/best helped/best served/best at returning the enormous resources invested in each student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong? I'm overwhelmed with the responsibility.

Similarly Wayne is nearly overwhelmed with the responsibility of helping students through the doctoral process, since these students will return to their home countries - Myanmar and Indonesian students are scheduled to graduate this year -- as "experts" in the field of pastoral ministry. Lord have mercy!

It's a season where we ask ourselves, what is it all for? Is it worth it? Is this what we are supposed to be doing with our lives? Are degree programs in theology actually helpful for churches in cultures so different from that of the West? Are we doing it right? well?

And this Lent it turns out that both Wayne and I are involved in Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. This week's Scripture verses included Jesus' deep compassion for a woman whose son had died (The widow of Nain, Luke 7:11-17 ) and also a passage from the Psalm 8, rendered here in a slightly different translation than the one I'm used to:

When I look up at your heavens,
    shaped by your fingers,
at the the moon and the stars you set firm -
    which you have set in place,
 what are human beings that you spare a thought for them,

or the child of Adam that you care for him?

Yet you have made him little less than a god,

you have crowned him with glory and beauty,

made him lord of the works of your hands...   -- Psalm 8

And so we are reminded to keep our eyes on Jesus... observing and imitating his deep compassion... and we are reminded to keep our eyes also on those works of creation God has entrusted to us....

I'll be reporting next on my trip to Myanmar!

In Lenten Peace, with Lenten eyes watching for Lenten colours and signs of Jesus --

Christa

After shocks from Blue Monday, Terra Cotta Warriors and More!!!

"This subterranean life-size army of thousands has silently stood guard over the soul of China's first unifier for over two millennia." -- Lonely Planet: China 11th ed. May 2009, p. 423

That's an interesting theological statement, don't you think? The Lonely Planet author continues:

Panoramic view of the warriors from above. Thousands and thousands of them,
each face is unique.

"Either Qin Shi Huang was terrified of the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, or, as most archaeologists believe, he expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life..."

Big Goose Pagoda in Xian, China January 2013

I find myself in a January slump [aftershocks from Blue Monday the most depressing day of the year?] Here's what's on my mind:

-- I'm having more trouble with the Hong Kong Immigration authorities as I try and get renewed visas for our current wonderful, dedicated Mekong area theology students, who sacrifice so much to be here.
-- I'm very unclear where all the scholarships are going to come from for the next batch of Mekong and other international students.
-- I'm not sure the material, academic, financial, and spiritual commitment to LTS Hong Kong is as strong as it needs to be if this seminary is going to build and expand upon its current unique strengths to serve the inter-cultural mission of Lutheran and evangelical churches around the world.
-- Some of my other work responsibilities seem  unfocused and diffuse as I do things like spend hours updating international mailing lists. Is this worthwhile in the interests of networking, or is this time misspent?  Hard telling.
-- I miss my family back in the USA!

Our first time in winter weather in 4 years.... on top of the
Xian city wall

So, let me attack the January blues by sharing amazing photos with you from our recent trip to Xian (huge thanks to youngest son Eric Z. Nieminen, official event photographer, who was our only kid able to visit us at Christmas this year)

Side view of the same wall... we rented bikes and rode around
the top of the whole 14 kilometers of the wall.

Did I mention it was cold??!
Also, 14 km of bumpy bricks does
a number to one's hinie.

Tomb of Emperor Jingdi

Jenny, one of our LTS alumni, accompanied us through
the tomb --- it was definitely low tourist season in China! We
practically had this amazing world-class  museum to ourselves.

Jing Di's tomb features terra cotta women and eunuchs along
with the male figures, this is one of the female cavalry.

Before we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriars, we went to a lesser known Tomb of Emperor Jingdi where fifty thousand small terracotta figures were buried, including sheep, dogs, pigs, and people. The figures had originally been clothed in real silk clothing, but the years have rotted away the coverings, exposing them as females, males, and eunuchs.


And then we went to see the actual, utterly astounding Terra Cotta Warriors, which has made Xian a destination for travelers from all over the world.

Yes these are the fake terra cotta warriors, in a little side room to the
real warriors - photographs could be taken for a small fee,
which we were happy
to pay :)

Real terra cotta warriors... over 2,000 years old.
The real ones are all tagged... and not touchable!

Xian street scene 1

Xian street scene 2

Xian street scene 3
our back up photographer (Wayne)
trying to get the perfect shot of the
Goose Pagoda

And then a true highlight of the trip, a delicious Chinese dinner with
Jenny, in her home.

The chance to spend time with Jenny, one of Wayne's students from Mainland China, was amazing. She actually waited two hours to pick us up from the airport bus at our arrival, accompanied us on several of our excursions, and topped off our Xian visit with a home cooked meal.

Seeing students/ alumni and hearing about their good memories and appreciation of their studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong helps make us feel it is all worth it, our work in Hong Kong. Living, breathing, loving, relationships, bonded in Christ... something that will last (we believe) much longer than even those amazing terra cotta figures.


⁴ A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by...
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—    yes, establish the work of our hands.  --Psalm 90

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

Is daily chapel too much or not enough?

Always an exotic, fresh flower arrangement, many with distinct symbolism. Not sure what the symbolism of this one is, but we're in the "liturgical growing" season right now, so I'm guessing... bloom and grow?! And swirl and dance in the Spirit?!

Beauty in the leaves, to and from chapel. This butterfly was as big as my hand.

Evening Prayer.

One of the things that's different for me in my new job at the seminary is the chance to attend daily chapel.  DAILY chapel?  Yup, and I'm enjoying it.  Full disclosure -- 30 years ago when I was in seminary myself, I did NOT attend daily chapel!  I thought that was for über-religious  and/or those students who wanted to impress their worship professors.

Now, it's a break in my day... it's a chance to get out of my office and see the community. It's a chance to sing a familiar hymn with old, deeply poetic words, or hear a new song sung.

It's almost always a chance to hear the Word. And to pray.

Sometimes the short homilies are in English and sometimes they're in Chinese.  And sometimes they're in English but it might as well be in Chinese (ha, something my former parishioners may have experienced from time to time) but there are Bibles available, and if the translation on the headphones isn't so great, then it's a few extra moments to look at the Biblical texts for the week (we follow a fairly standard liturgical lectionary).

It's beautiful!

I go to the day chapels at ten o'clock.  There's also evening chapel at five-thirty, but I just glance in as I start the 15 minute "descent" down the mountain to our home.  Maybe in another 30 years I'll be attending evening chapel too.

I was glad when they said to me, 

"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

 -- Psalm 122:1

Multi-media Worship

We got to worship with the Nepalese Church again on Sunday.  Wayne preached, one of his students translated, and the singing and praying transported us to another world.  Since we don't understand the Nepalese language, we didn't know if they were praying "in tongues" or just praying, but there was a distinct whoooosh of the Spirit.   

Singing and praying and preaching was followed by dancing and jamming (the congregation includes a number of recovering drug addicts who are pretty great musicians, too bad yours truly didn't recharge my camera battery)... and delicious Nepalese food which even the kid (yes, our 17 year old was along for the occasion) enjoyed immensely.

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us
so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
                                                       -- Psalm 67:1-3