EFCSB - 2010 主題：「凡事謝恩 各處傳揚」

Dear All:

Haven’t written to you for quite a while. Many things happened to me between then and now. Life is like a revolving door, many things pop up in front of us and many others disappear. Just like a old song [When tomorrow comes, today will be like a toy balloon that sails away …]

Recently, I had chance to detour from daily routine. I had a business trip with tight schedule. Yet, it gave me some personal quiet time to read books and thought of something and even encountered the edge of a typhoon in Taiwan. I also had some chances to get reconnected with some old friends. Some of them, I haven’t seen for more than twenty years. One of them I didn’t see for more than 30 years. Due to the restriction of my time, I still didn’t have chance to see most of them but talked over the phone. I learned some exciting stories about what God did on them and has used them as instruments to be other’s blessings. By listening to those stories, I have been thinking of a question. “Will God do the same among us?”

Once I serve in a church that the situation was quite depressing. Then, my wife and I met some old friends from a reviving church located at east coast. After listening to their story, we sadly said  “it seems 福音本是　神的大能only occurs at your church not ours” Of course, we know that’s not true. We should have the same high expectation to see something great happens among us.

On coming Sunday, I’ll have chance to preach at Mandarin service. I haven’t done so for quite a while. I have a burden to share with you some of my views. I was hesitate to do so because I think it could be premature. However, I think I have the responsibility to help our congregation to be released from the bondage of tradition. Pleas pray for me and prepare yourself to come to worship Him.

Peter

Dear Mandarin coworkers:

This is the time for the adjustment of church organization.

During the next few weeks, we should do the following:

• Each fellowship should elect the chair for the year of 2008
• We should also form a new congregation core-coworker team
• As the congregation pastor/minister is absent, we also need to have someone to lead and to represent the congregation

It is a privilege to serve with you this year. It is a special experience. This year, we have made some progress together. Yet, there is a long way to go. I can see many faults in our current organization but not sure for all the fixes to them. We also tend to spend too much attention in ministry but not enough on people. I always feel it is very wrong that we spend so much effort in caring things and attending meetings but so little to cultivate lives. As time goes by, I have realized that my views in many things have been very different from some of the other church leaders. I should admit I have been feeling frustrated and like to see some adjustments of my role but not so sure about how yet.

Peter

Dear All:

During the camping trip, we went hiking to Rainbow Fall. Many went down to play in the water. I took off the shoes and put my feet in the cold stream in the hot day. I thought of a Chinese poem by 左思 of Jing (晋)  dynasty. It says

振衣千仞崗  濯足萬里流 (Let me try to translate it. Shed off the dust on top of a thousand feet high hill

Wash the dirty feet on a river that flows for ten thousand miles)

This famous phrases are the end of the following poem:

皓天舒白日。靈景耀神州。列宅紫宮裏。飛宇若雲浮。峨峨高門內。藹藹皆王侯。自非攀龍客。何爲歘來遊。被褐出閶闔。高步追許由。振衣千仞岡。濯足萬里流

By reading that, we know he is not talking about cleaning clothes or washing feet. In the first part, he described

峨峨高門內，藹藹皆王侯

(behind the high gates, there are many high rank officials)

He was tired of the non-sense of the “civilized world”. Thus, he said

被褐出閶闔，高步追許由 (I decided to left the palace with plane clothes to go for my own dream)

振衣千仞崗  濯足萬里流 were symbolic actions. Of course, what he wanted to shed off is not just the dust collected on the trip. Quite often, we need to get back to the nature to clean the dirt that set in on our mind too.

Coming back to the city, I am about to go for another trip (not to the pure nature but to the “murky world”. It seems ironic. We get cleaned just to get dirty again. Hopefully, we can hold on our Christian principles and values in this world. Jesus don’t want us to hide in the mountains to keep ourselves clean. He sent us into the world to be the light to shine for Him.

I won’t be able to worship with you on coming Sunday. Yet’ let’s set aside the time to worship Him no matter where you might be.

Peter