Emerging Faith Communities - fellow Lutherans & more!

Karen Ward was one of the first people in the world to ask me to blog. During that time an interesting Church of the Apostles was just born. Here's a recent description of where they are at. Let's continue to pray for them as they reach out to people over on the other side of the globe.

Spirit Garage was actually featured with us in a Lutheran World Federation magazine with the theme "Emerging Faith Communities". Here' the latest report I read. check ou this interesting article the Welcome at Spirit Garage

We've been very blessed indeed with these beyond Bangsar connections (locally and globally), whether it's just because we are connected to the Lutheran heritage (Besides my recent summer school in Germany with Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria James was a steward at the recent 10th LWF Assembly in Canada) or simply because we've built some friendships those linked with Emergent (like Jason Clark) and others who converge with our adventures, all this keeps us from having an "isolated" or "insulated" mindset and broadens our horizons. We're a "young BLC family" part of a wider Lutheran family ... and more importantly part of the Christian family worldwide. Maybe that's why God sent us the Aussies, the Finnish, and the Germans to remind us that :-)

Trials & Temptations

Our LiFE Group just finished the last session of “Pray This Way”. It was about temptations and deliverance. The pre-dominant sharings about temptations we faced were being on auto-pilot, maintenance mode, comfortable, etc. with our discipleship. Sometimes this is observed in ministries of BLC.

There was a question on the difference between “lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from evil”. We concluded that it’s the hope that we can cling on to because we could ask for us not to be led into temptation, and at the same time if we’re in it we could ask to be delivered from evil. See 1 Cor. 10:13, this has been a very encouraging verse to me personally since I was a kid.

LiFE Group on Saturday

almost 2 year old Janell expounding on life insights!

We had quite an adventure starting this group some months ago, especially when two mothers were in "confinement" after giving birth to Gabriel and GraceLynn. Then off I went to UK & Germany for a month. It's unique group ... with both new and "older" BLCians. We just started Session 1 of the "Pray This Way" series which marks our journey together using the Lord's Prayer as our guide. The prayer support time as usual is always good and as we focus to cultivate our prayer lives during the last quarter of 2004, I hope a sweet gentle spirit of prayer will spread together with those who've finished the series in our church.

The Waiting Room? Q & A

Q: Why is it called The Waiting Room?

A: I was thinking of a name that wouldn't be boring, so instead of just naming it The Father's House, I decided make this blog an extension of The Father's House. For those of you in BLC, you would know that we have many rooms... the Living Room, the Thinking Room, the Learning Room, etc. One room we didn't have was a waiting room. And I thought yeah, that would work as the title of this blog! It's our waiting room throughout the week before we step into the Father's House on Sunday for the Gathering and on whatever day for our Life Groups.


Q: Why is the URL http://thefathershouse.blogspot.com/ instead of http://thewaitingroom.blogspot.com/?

A: It may seem confusing to others at first, but this is afterall, still a BLC community blog, and we are known as The Father's House and The Waiting Room is merely an extension of it. So I felt the URL http://thefathershouse.blogspot.com/ was more suitable because a URL containing thewaitingroom would be meaningless in itself.


Q: Who can contribute to The Waiting Room?

A: Anyone who considers themselves part of the BLC family may contribute. Just e-mail me, and I'll send you an invitation. Others not from BLC may post comments at the bottom of each entry.


Q: What is BLC?

A: BLC is an acronym for Bangsar Lutheran Church. We're a cozy congregation in Bangsar which is situated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia pastored by Sivin Kit.


Q: What should we post on this blog?

A: Sugested postings: What's going on during the Gatherings, Life Groups and other activities, what we're doing for our community, things related to our discipleship, social issues, prayers, worship experiences, and insights into the Scripture.

No random opinions of who we had lunch with and what our dogs ate for breakfast. ;o) But meaningful experiences from your daily life are accepted.


Q: What's an appropriate size for photos?

A: The width should be 400 pixels or less to fit into the frame nicely. The height can be any variable.


Q: Can I redesign The Waiting Room?

A: Yes, you may! We'd be more than happy if anyone would like to help us out and redesign the blog.

Run The Race

In short, Untammed Vessels (UV) and Joyce Soon (my cousin and graduate from the recent Giraffe Programme in Australia) joined James and I to serve as "encouragers". We started with a weird-funny ice breaker trying to "suck" a blue color soft drink with four straws! UV shared three self-composed songs which fit in well with the theme. James interviewed Joyce on her experiences in Alice Springs and I shared from 2 Timothy 4:6-8:

As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me – the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his glorious return.

We had a good time 


Some DULC Youth listening to Hanry 


James trying to Interview Joyce 


Untamed Vessels sharing their songs 


Lining up for a game 

Conversations with Jessisca!

Conversations with "Our" Missionary

Personally, I think Flowerpot John did an excellent job (all those who agree quickly post a comment!), and Jessisca sure has lots to share. We met again later after my involvement in the Damansara Utama Lutheran Church youth meeting (with Untammed Vessels and my cousin Joyce) and managed to get more "inside" sharing. After witnessing John's "beautifully" handled interview, I also want to be interviewed one of these days :-)

Stepping In!

Ahh!
As I step into the waiting room, I see many of my friends.... good to be greeted by friends....

Reminds me of (Gives me a glimpse of) heaven..... when the day comes for me to step into the waiting room, its good if we can see those whom we love there as well (no morbidity here.... just a sense of Christian family)

Sometimes, especially our loved ones whom we don't see often, whom as far as we know are not believers yet, we often pray that God will somehow lead them to Him....oh the joy when we walk into the 'Waiting Room' and see them there....

On another note.....yesterday's service wa fun..... an informal converstation with a missionary to France.... quite eye opening and very impactful, makes me look at my life again.... what I can do...what God wants me to do....

Anyway....this is a great place.... so BLCians, do come.... visitors...read on, we have much to share with you... enjoy your visit!!!

The Communion of Saints

Here's a photograph I rediscovered recently while running through my archives. I made some adjustments on Photoshop and decided to go for a less-saturated, washed-out look, lots of white space and some grain the the dark areas. I felt it gave the scene a certain mood.



Even though it's a simple snapshot of an often under-appreciated 'ritual', I see and feel a lot going on in this one fraction of a second, captured in this one frame. Prayer... Contemplation... A sense of expectation... Solidarity... A feeling of peace, contentment, wander... Harmony... Love... Family...

Selah - Interlude

"Selah" is "a musical term. Peter Craigie discusses the meaning in an excursus in his commentary on the Psalms in the Word Biblical Commentary (vol 19), pp.76-77. He says it occurs 71 times in Psalms and 3 times in Hab. The meaning is still not positively certain. Possibilities are:

a) "rest" (the LXX uses diaspsalma)
b) "for ever" (this is how the Targum understands it)
c) as an indicator that the congregation is to prostrate itself at that point in the singing ~ From here

I like what this guy Jim says : "Personally I think it marks a pause in the music (like an interlude) intended to offer the singer/hearer an opportunity to reflect on what has been said- hence it means something like "pause a minute and think about this"

That's why I love moments like yesterday's Thursday worship rehearsal where after working through the musical/lyrical & arrangement bits, we could sit on the floor in a circle and share one "exciting" bit of our lives lately and move into a time of mutual prayer and support.

It's a needed "Selah" moment . A wonderful "Interlude"!

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The Father's House is "Open"