First Sunday of Lent

On the first Sunday of Lent, I was moved by the homily yesterday. The priest encouraged us to act upon our mission as children of God. Lent is the time to make a full commitment to God. The time is now when God is convicting hearts of individuals who are ready to listen. Three pointers made are: what am I giving up?, what are my prayer lists? and what changes am I going to manifest? On these, while sitting on a pew, I thought I have to give up laying safety cushions around me so I can place my full dependence on God, which increases my faith and develops my spirituality. I am praying for people around me that some may find jobs to support and feed their families, that some may find peace in God, and that others may discover joy in the community of faith. I want to change a habit of neglecting the poor, homeless, and hungry. When I see a homeless person on the street, I will remember to buy them food/spare some change. The homily brings me to a different level of spirituality. I am enabled to serve others, encouraged to pray for others, and empowered to bless others.

Competition, Compassion, and Thanksgiving

You heard it around, "The economy is bad. It's the worst it has ever been. My friends are relocating, terminated from their jobs, or laid off." Companies are cutting down cost, laying off workers, not giving bonuses this year. Americans are hoping the president elect creates more jobs and boosts the economy. However, waiting for the president elect to create new jobs would not change unemployment rates we see today, this week, this month. New jobs created and boost in economy does not even happen until 2011 as the president elect informs the media a week ago. While we are waiting for 2011 to happen and for new jobs in our neighborhood to appear, what can we do to help the unemployed, the needy, and the hungry?

I read this book about compassion and appropriately titled Compassion by Nouwen, McNeil, and Morrison. In it explains what our attitude and behavior exemplifies when we show compassion to others. The book states, "To be compassionate means to be kind and gentle to those who get hurt by competition." How true is it that the cause of our economic chaos is competition. Greedy gas companies hikes up gas prizes and dot-com and electronic companies move to third world countries to pay employees less than what they pay in America. So, the story goes on. We are left with struggling economy, unemployed fathers, mothers on welfare, and children without new toys for the holidays. When we look around us, we do not even have to cognitively compel ourselves to evoke compassion. I believe that each person is good-enough, not perfect, but good-enough to be compassionate.

I learn of a church that shows compassion to the needy. The Catholic Church in Tracy, St. Bernard, gives canned food to the needy each year. The church has been demonstrating compassion for more than 50 years. The church recruits many volunteers to help with sorting canned foods and giving them to people who could not afford to have Thanksgiving dinner. What the church exemplifies is true compassion. She is kind by sensing the felt need of people that is lack of budget to afford Thanksgiving dinner and by fulfilling the need of people that is giving dinner rolls, frozen turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The church is also gentle when volunteers walks donations to families' cars and sends them off with a Happy Thanksgiving smile. To those people who are hurt by our competitive American economy, there are churches who feel the pain of others and show compassion to sufferers.

Happy Thanksgiving

For more about St. Bernard's Tradition, an article on Tracy Press has photos of the event.

Overcome fear and act upon it.

The text was Matthew 25:14-30. The homily was moving. I was personally moved by the homily. I heard this text preached many times and I heeded the words of the preacher (This comes from my Evangelical low church background, placing an emphasis on Sermon as a divine utterance.) However, on Sunday, I retook detailed mental notes. Reflecting upon the homily, I ask myself what gifts and talents do I acquire? Let's see. I can't sing. Strike Choir. I can play instruments only at home where no one can listen to my elementary chords. Strike Music. What have I done in the past that was really good and I enjoyed? Let's see. I have organized camps and retreats for children and college groups. I enjoy planning and organizing. I have recruited speakers and teachers to speak and teach at camps and retreats. I enjoy meeting speakers and teachers. I have recruited and trained volunteers to help me with camps and retreats and daily functions. I enjoy interacting with people. I have prepared, digested, and implemented new curriculum for children and evaluated curriculum for college group. I like reading new materials.

So I know what my talents and gifts are: administration and organizing. Now I ask myself what obstacle hinders me from using my talents and gifts?

You probably heard it before. "I am not good enough." "I don't have enough practice." I even mentioned above that I am not good at playing musical instruments so I strike music out of my talents. However, self-failure is not what is hindering me from using my talents. I have to admit that I am not lazy either unlike the man in the text with one talent. What I have is a failure of virtue: cowardice. I have fears. I fear that I may disappoint others. I am afraid that in a collective culture where "all for one and one for all" is the driving motto I may be blamed and accused for the responsibilities of other people. I am afraid of embarking on new a new journey because I do not know what the future holds for me. I have fear of the unknown. I am afraid to live and work with the world filled with marred and foible people. I have fears of people backstabbing and backbiting me. I am a coward like the man who said, "Master, I knew that you are a hard man.... So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground."

I have been curled up in a bag of fear for the past eight months. Perhaps I have been fearful longer than my knowledge of fear itself. So, I ask myself now: What can I do to overcome my fear?

Connect. We have heard it before. "Join a small group." "Connect with church people." "Introduce yourself to others." Connect with amiable, nice, caring people. Do not connect with backstabbers and backbiters, who inflict pain on other people. Instead be surrounded with teachers, trainers, leaders, producers, directors, and pastors. Know people and their names and make a list of good and marred people. Connect with good people and make friends with good people. Toss stuck up, conceited, backstabbing people around the corner. Nah! just kidding. That'll make one in the marred people list. Know backstabbing people, get their names, interact with them, but be careful around them and do not turn around when walking away. Always watch out for the one carrying a knife. Remove fear by connecting wisely.

Focus. Look toward the divine who gives talents. Do not look toward the people lest distraction may occur. Look up do not look around. Heed the words of the divine and not what others say about you. When focusing upon the works of God, on what he has done, what he is doing, and what he is going to do, we practice faith. God says to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Faith is the catalyst for communication with God. Without faith communication with God is impossible. Focusing on the one who gives talents eliminates fear.

How can I invest in my talents and gifts? In what ways can I continue to enhance what I have while serving others.

Time to work. Take a spiritual gifts assessment. Learn different kinds of spiritual gifts. Find out your gifts and talents. Journal on what brings you joy and contentment. Discovery and jot down top three gifts and talents. Go back to connect and focus. Connect with people who are trained to invest in talents. Speak with your leaders, coordinators, directors, and pastors. Tell them about your gifts and talents and what you can do for others. Try different types of work and encounter different possibilities.

Build character. What type of character develops when using gifts and talents? Stewardship. Using gifts and talents for the sake of others produces good stewards. While connecting with right people leads to the right path, investing in God given abilities sharpens character. Do not be like the man in the text who hid his talent. Use and enhance gifts and talents. Sing. Play an instrument. Greet people. Say kind words. Encourage. Uplift. Preach. Teach. Babysit. Help the poor. Feed the hungry. Give medicine to the sick. Care for the lost. Be a foster parent. Lend a hand to the recovery. Offer your shoulder to the divorcee. Listen. Empathize. Go on mission trips. Plan mission trips. Organize. When we use our abilities, we build our character of stewardship.

Investing in talents serves a purpose of interacting with the divine and interacting with others. Communication between the divine and human being increases faith and removes fear. Connection with right people proves ability to discern good and bad company. An active state is the key to change. The activity of a person defines character. What kind of person uses gifts and talents to bless others? A steward takes what is given and enhances abilities to better the self, be active, and serve others.

Tower of Babel and Immigrants

I am currently reading Making Wise the Simple where Van Wijk-Bos explicates the passage about the Tower of Babel. According to her the passage does not primarily concentrate on human hubris but its desire to congregate in one place. The building of the tower of Babel shows solitariness and resonates oppression of Israelites in Egypt. I am immediately reminded of immigrant congregations that build separate community even denomination, hoping for increase in financial revenues without the burden of membership fees.

Van Wijk-Bos argues that these people were involved in human activity such as "making" and "baking bricks" and "building." These verbs when used in conjunction with bricks, stone, and mortar are found only in Exodus where tyrannic Pharoah established his city using foreign labor. What lies behind the meaning of these key words is oppression of people. In Egypt Israelites were oppressed by Pharoah's people. Israelites were treated as slaves; they were "demoralized and abused." So using my imagination to comprehend the story that may be composed of myths in combination with some facts, I add to her arguments the question of oppression before or during the establishment of the city in Genesis. Although there is no historical support to my question, I would like to pose the concept of abuse, neglect, and demoralization of human beings which often lead to hubris.

I know this is quite a stretch. On the other hand, I would like to point out the connection with immigrant churches (such as the previous issue with Fil-Am Christian Fellowship, based in San Jose, Ca) that want to establish its own organization to attain financial freedom from their denomination (gud ol' Assemblies of God). While the idea of free membership sounds liberating to some pastors who do not have enough members to support them financially to pay for their household bills let alone additional monthly fees charged by their denomination, where would immigrant churches get the money for conventional expenses and such? Would it mean that pastors would still have to pay fees but only detours to the new superiors of the new organization? The implication of this is that the new superiors do not want to be submissive under their old denomination, which clearly describes hubris of human beings. If my argument is right, then the oppressive nature of their old denomination is a catalyst for hubris among immigrant pastors, which leads to the building of a separate denomination.

Having taken so many courses in Racism and Christianity and Multiculturalism in North American churches, I am not calling myself an expert on the issue of immigration and dominant culture but someone with adequate knowledge. Why do immigrant churches isolate themselves from the dominant culture? One reason is the difficulty of immigrants to assimilate to the dominant culture; thus finding ways to adopt in a new land that is foreign to them in ways of building a place for survival. Second is their desire to promote their culture and country by way of expressing 'cultural pride.' Immigrant communities want to familiarize the dominant culture with different people who live around them. While the effort to promote cultural pride breaks racial profiling and discrimination, often immigrant communities are misinterpreted as isolated unit existent within the macroculture.

In light of immigrants in North America, I do not fully agree with Van Wijk-Bos. Often it is necessary even primal for immigrants to create an isolated community in a discriminatory world. It is a way of survival. It is a way of fellowship with people who accepts them for who they are. Immigrant communities do not feel oppressed by the dominant culture when they are together with people who look like them. They do not have domineering denomination that exemplifies Mr. Grinch taking all their money leaving immigrants helpless and isolated.

Under a Robe

We are surrounded with churches that are helpful to the community and to other parts of the world. We live in a world of nice churches with nice ministers. Church leaders around us have convincing conversion stories. We hear how the Lord has changed their lives and how they have decided to follow the Lord’s calling. When lies and betrayals come from church leaders who are personable and charismatic, it is inconceivable to think of them as liar or thief. It is easier to think of them as people who are called by God to lead his people.

A letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul addresses overseers as leaders who are above reproach (I Tim 3:2)--however, we have lightly taken this verse. We have avoided accusations against preachers or teachers because we want to live at peace with everyone especially with our church friends.

What do we have to learn from pastors from Brazil who smuggled money to Florida or from Ted Haggard who was caught with a male prostitute using meth? We need to learn how to discern a pastor’s sermon, and we need to be accountable to outside institutions to maintain our integrity. A pastor’s sermon is a window to one’s soul. We can tell what a pastor is experiencing when we listen carefully to his sermons. This means when a pastor is struggling with sexual immorality, one might preach against promiscuity. When a pastor is preaching about tithing, one might be subtly suggesting an increase on his salary. Just as we advice our friends to walk in the right path, we must encourage pastors to live above reproach.

Recently, I heard of a pastor who opened his own bank account to deposit church tithes. When members of the church directed their concern to the bishop, they were told that as the pastor, he can do what he wills. Is this an appropriate response to thieves hidden under a pastor’s robe? No. We must continue to be vocal about maintaining the integrity of pastors. We must begin at Bible Schools and Seminaries. The training of pastors, academically and practically, is the first step to thriving in ministry. It means taking classes in Spirituality. This also means being accountable to God, to ourselves, and to our community. We have to go further than merely studying Theology or preparing for a sermon. We have let other people teach us, correct us, and rebuke us. We cannot afford another pastor who lies, steals, or commit adultery no matter they are great preacher with incredible personalities.

Multiculturalism

I heard from someone that ethnocentric churches should stop being ethno-centered and start reaching out to those who are different from them. The argument sounds compelling. However, have we asked ourselves what it takes to build a multicultural church? I made some observations from my church visits, my cultural autobiography, and theories in class. These resources teach me that as Biblical as it sounds it is not easy to create, let alone lead, a multicultural setting. I will describe how five factors—geographical location, pastor of the church, church ministries, study of Scriptures, and missions—contribute in building intercultural relationships. The confluence of these factors leads to a multicultural, multiethnic, multinational church environment.

The first factor is the geographical location of the church. A city that is populated with many different nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities aids in promoting a multicultural church. The beginning of intercultural relationships starts with people who have certain amount of exposure with people who are different from them. Exposure with people who are different increases one’s tolerance towards other cultures. The more an individual spends time with people from different cultures, the more one becomes inclined to get to know others, thus initiating intercultural conversations. People who stay in multicultural environment develop likeness towards others. The amount of exposure an individual has with people who do not share similar values and worldviews pave the outset of intercultural conversations. Conversations among people from different cultures establish intercultural relationships.

The second factor is the head leader of the church. The head leader of the church is the pastor. The pastor is like a shepherd whom the flock follows. He is like a sailor who steers the ship. When he leads, the people imitate. When he envisions, the people grasp the visions. When he shares his passion of creating a multicultural environment, believers agree as one. The pastor who promotes in building a multicultural environment helps establish the kingdom of God. To accomplish this task, a pastor informs the pastoral staff (if he has any), lay people, and the congregation. I imagine a pastor following these steps: first, encourage the pastoral staffs to carefully study passages in the Bible regarding multiculturalism; second, tell lay people about his visions and probably conduct seminars; third, exhort intercultural relationships through homilies and allow them to practice intercultural relations in small groups.

There are ministries in the church that fosters intercultural relationships. This is the third factor that encourages intercultural relationships. A welcoming church includes all people from different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities. The church promotes intercultural relations through ministries such as small groups. The church exhorts the community of faith to come together as one and to cross cultural boundaries. Dialogues begin in small group settings. Small group is an instrument in furthering multiculturalism. To form a small group, one or two members of the church organize a group, find more people to join, have short conversations over a cup of coffee, or enjoy long conversations over dinner. In short, small groups provide warm and cozy atmosphere that is inviting to all people and good and delicious food that is pleasing to the stomach. Small group ministry is a tool in building intercultural relations.

Intercultural relationship begins from the sermon of the pastor—the fourth factor. A sermon delivered to the community of believers leads them into an act of communion with another person regardless of nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities. A sermon that explains the literal and evokes the Spiritual meaning of Genesis 1:27 aid believers to unfold the Sacred Scriptures. This verse implies that the stranger whom we sit with in church is a creation of God and a reflection of God’s image. The practice of getting together and crossing cultural boundaries is an example of applying the Scriptures in our daily lives. This exercise puts the Word of God into action and allows believers to engage with the Scriptures. Simply put, the Word of God urges us to know enough not to make distinctions among ourselves, but to distinguish only in God. We are called upon to discern to be Christlike and in Christ, in whom all distinctions are one.

Mission trips initiate intercultural relations. This is the last factor. Christians have been taught that it is the responsibility of the church to make disciples of all nations. I add to this statement the obligation of the church to develop relationships with people from other countries. Relationships with other people from different countries bring all Christians on the same level, erasing all divisions between the rich and the poor. Christians from first world countries are called to know what other Christians from third world country are experiencing—some of which are appalling and disheartening. Stories of disadvantaged people in third world countries hopefully alarm Christians from the first world, compel them to be compassionate, and move them to end poverty. The deeds of a blessed person, who reaches out to the poor, neglected, and outcast, not only bring the chasm between the rich and the poor closer but also stimulate intercultural relations with people from different nationalities.

The grace of God is so mysterious that we often miss it. We do not notice that we are living in a state of grace that God has provided for us. We do not need to be in this state, but we are. Our life is in the state of grace and everything that happens in it. Our churches are in a state of grace and every change/progress that occurs in it. To become better instruments of multiculturalism, though as difficult as it seems, (thus we are in desperate need of the grace of God,) our reference point is the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God welcomes all diversity, transcends all boundaries, and includes all nations.

Etnicities and Churches: Final Reflections Paper

Aha moment

In my Ethnicities and Churches class, I learned something new about myself. I finally figured out why I am gravitating more and more into the Filipino community. I have been asking myself this question for a while now. My professors said that as generation X gets older and finds a mate, they tend to look for their kind. This explains why my desire to be with my ethnic group is stronger than when I was younger. Five years ago, I hated ethnocentric churches and I felt that ethnocentricism is not a way of participating in building the kingdom of God. Now that I am older, I feel more comfortable in a Filipino community. I feel at home because I am with people who are like me. I feel safe and secure. I do not have to constantly answer questions about my culture, traditions, and background. In a Filipino community, I can be me. When I am around other Filipinos, I reaffirm my self and cultural identity.

Divided by Faith

I am very frustrated after reading Divided by Faith. It describes racial division between Blacks and Whites as a structural concern and not an individual case dilemma. The authors blame white evangelical for creating chasm between the two races through segregation and through discrimination. They insist that structural issues are most evident in schools, job interviews, neighborhoods, and communities. They concur that white evangelical churches further supplement the gap by forming groups that are similar to their socio-economic background, income, class, and culture. The gap causes poor black communities to experience greater struggles in white prejudice environment. They believe that the cause for structural racial problems is due to white evangelicals who are not making intercultural relations with other ethnicities.

I am an immigrant who came to this country with nothing. My family and I pulled ourself by the bootstrap to start all over from the beginning. There were occasional help by our extended families (thanks to those who let us stay in their house for six months). For the most part, we had to spare every penny to survive. My parents, filipino immigrants with Filipino education, using streetsmart techniques slowly pulled themselves from lower middle class to middle class lifestyle. They worked hard to get promoted in their jobs. They did not indulge in luxury, but they saved for their future. They did not sit idly until they were able to say, "Im ready for retirement." They did not settle to be ordinary but they wanted to be extraordinary. They took advantage of every opportunity they have to buy their first house and their brand new SUV. Through my parents, I have seen the difficulty of migrating to America with nothing in their pockets. I have also experience how anyone can pass any hardships if one puts his mind into it. I do not believe that the government is not there to help, nor the system. For all I know, my parents had an American dream and their dream came true!