The Waiting Room

Mummies Unite

2007-03-11T20:45:00.000+08:00

BLC Epiphany Series 2007

2007-01-07T18:36:00.000+08:00

Advent Videos

2006-12-09T09:54:00.000+08:00

Watch and allow the videos to help in your Christmas preparations.

I'm dreaming of a ________ Christmas

2006-12-06T12:35:00.000+08:00

There are two corporate worship events related to Advent/Christmas starting this Sunday December 10, 7.30pm at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. The map to the venue for this Sunday is below (click on the image)

Rejoice in the Lord

2006-10-31T00:33:00.000+08:00

It's wonderful to catch a glimpse of the more celebrative side of BLC. Thanks Daniel for facilitating that through last week's Reformation Sunday Worship Gathering! I will miss all of you during the coming 28days. And I know some of us are still going through times where the word "rejoice" may be furtherest from our minds. But, for whatever we have now whether it's big or small ... let's allow God's joy to be birthed in us his way!

Let's start with the first video [BLC Rejoices I]

and take it further in the second video [BLC Rejoices II]

Mouth Ping Pong

2006-10-15T22:12:00.000+08:00

[Mouth Ping Pong video]

I've got nothing much to say except please enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed capturing it.

Crouching Neo Hidden Darth

2006-10-15T22:01:00.000+08:00

[Crouching Neo Hidden Darth Video]

Yes these are the members of the church I'm pastoring. I took this during our recent BLC Retreat in Cameron Highlands.

We are trying to learn what true "Shalom" and "peacemaking" is supposed to mean. Let's sing together now: "Lord, Make us instruments of your piece..."

:-)

Lead us to Dance ...

2006-10-15T21:58:00.000+08:00

[Lead us to Dance Video]

This is one of my favorite videos of the children of BLC freely dancing as others were practising a song for a wedding earlier this year. One of the joys our family had this week is to watch a number of the videos I've taken with my little Canon A70. I'll be posting some of my favorites whenever I feel it's easy to get bogged down my "overloaded" brainy stuff or "entangled" concerns. These videos connect me to what's human (as well as some humor). I find God connects with me through these simple moments :-)

*Originally posted here Lead us to Dance ...

The Return of BLC's Boy Band?

2006-10-10T01:54:00.000+08:00

Here's my attempt in putting a YouTube video on this blog.

[BLC Boy Band Jamming Video]

We miss you Ray!

Every reason to always rejoice

2006-10-07T17:33:00.000+08:00

Grace at Cameron 2006 - From Bangsar to Habu

2006-09-05T21:45:00.000+08:00

It's wonderful to return again to the moments decorating a meaningful 4 days and 3 nights ... starting with the journey to our destination. I'll put up some of my favorites with more commentary later. For now, the FilmLoops gives some quick-view of our time last week. Bob has some here with a great title on Why Some Things Are Worth It?. DB has some beautiful artsy shots here and a thought provoking one here.

Wonderful 2006 Retreat!

2006-09-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

Rumah Hope Outreach

2006-06-07T07:28:00.000+08:00

If your Life Group/individuals are interested to visit Rumah Hope, please contact myself or Mrs. Alice Paul on ph: 79545523. The home is located close to the Jaya supermarket in Paramount Garden, PJ. You will find a location map on their website. You might share testimonials with them on a Friday night, do Bible Study on a Saturday morning andsoforth... Each Life Group could commit to meeting there once only this year.

Currently the BLC Mum's group has a visitation plan for Bible Study to the junior school children on the following Tuesday mornings (8.30am):

11 April, 2 May, 23 May, 13 June, 4 July, 25 July, 15 August, 12 September, 17 October, 7 November, 5 December 2006.

3 children (5-6) attend Kindergarten 8.30-11.30am weekdays.
25 junior school children (7-12) attend afternoon school.
21 senior school children (12-16) attend morning school.
About 5 young adults (16-19) are in Montfort to obtain a qualification.

BLC members may contact me for a list of their names.

There might be opportunity to be involved in Bible Study and Homework sessions.

For the junior school aged children (afternoon school):

Bible Study 8.30-9.00am
Study/Homework 9.30-11am
Study/Homework 7.30-9.30pm

For the senior school aged children (morning school):

Bible Study 3.00-3.30pm
Study/Homework 3.30-4.30pm
Study/Homework 7.30-9.30pm

On weekends:

Bible Study 9.00-9.30am
Study/Homework 10.00-11.00am
Study/Homework 8.00-9.00pm

Thank you for praying. If you do not have a specific prayer request for Rumah Hope (as handed out on Sunday, 3 June), I can forward one to you :)

Blessings

Sigrun Berry

On Fire for Christ

2006-05-16T16:35:00.000+08:00

I seldom join the Sunday School fun, but was quite humbled upon doing so on Sunday. Takeshi was stringing tunes from his guitar and Vicky led the singing.

I did not find an angelic choir of cherubs in the room; no, it was a bit like a taming process of wild stock. I certainly want to applaud every single member serving our Sunday School kids. Their love and commitment is something I am very thankful for, yet I have not properly conveyed this to them. Every bit of Sunday Scool teacher energy output in this room is to the glory of God.

May God empower and equip us all with the love and guidance required to shepherd these young lives in the right direction. May our childrens' hearts be pierced so that they might be bright lights for God's Kingdom.

Love from the mothers of the rugrats-
Sigrun Berry :)
xxx

BLC Map 2006

2006-01-17T11:31:00.000+08:00

Map of Bangsar Lutheran Church

I think this is a more "detailed" map that might help newcomers if they need help to come to the Father's House - the gathering place of Bangsar Lutheran Church!

I know informally we call this place Rumah Papa or the Father's House. But I thought to make it easy for "searching" I just used our official designation Bangsar Lutheran Church :-)

BLC Website EXTREME Makeover?

2006-01-06T09:06:00.000+08:00

Well ... perhaps not so EXTREME-lah! After some years using the free tripod site here, we've moved to http://blc.net.my/ and already have a simple new design (thanks to Moh Foong) with gradual improvements in progress.

Second Thoughts on Children and More...

2006-01-05T10:39:00.000+08:00

"The church's ministry to children is broken…It's broken when church leaders and senior pastors see children's ministry primarily as a marketing tool…Something is broken when we trivialize God to our children…It's broken when we depend on our programs and our curriculum to introduce our children to God—not our families and communities…And perhaps most importantly, it's broken when the church tells parents that its programs can spiritually nurture their children better than they can." —Ivy Beckwith in Postmodern Children's Ministry

My involvement in church as a child was sporadic, preferring basketball and kung fu on Sundays. I started attending regularly as a youth. After seminary, my main focus was as a youth and worship pastor; so it wasn't until recently that I even really thought much about children's ministry. For more click here

(This article was written in 2005 and we've been working on Step 5 and desire to see improvement in 2006. Let's walk together!)

What's the Point of Church?

2005-12-23T10:08:00.000+08:00

I was laughing and brought to some simple deeper reflections after listening to my UK friend Jason Clark talk about "What's the Point of Church?" (download the Mp3). He asked a great question, "What if community is a by product of being and doing church?". A great antidote to the consumer streak in us!

See You on Christmas Day!

2005-12-20T14:20:00.000+08:00

We're having a Christmas Worship Gathering on 25th December 2005 Sunday 10am at The Father's House!

After that we'll have a special Christmas Lunch .. please finalize with John Cheah if you are coming and how many guests!

I think these girls will welcome you at the door ... so come early .. at least be on time - there won't be traffic jams!

let's come with hearts prepared and ready for worship.

World Vision Update

2005-12-16T11:03:00.000+08:00

We got some news recently that one of our sponsor children had been able to leave the program as he was working. We asked WV for an update on the child and how the sponsorship had helped him so we could let BLC know how the money was being used. I got the following reply:

Zhang Jun Fu graduated from junior secondary school in July 2004. After graduation, he helped the family to do the farm work. After a while, he went to Lijiang to work in Nov 2004. In the past, the child was benefited with the help of World Vision in the following areas: subsidization of school fee, 6.1 children's day and body check. When he was studying in primary school, World Vision repaired the primary school. He could study in the new classroom when he was primary 4. When he studied in secondary school, World Vision had provided beds and desks to the school, and also with some repair and toilets. Zhang Jun Fu lives in poverty in Yunnan. The economic status is bad. Under the support of the sponsor, the child learn a lot after finishing his junior secondary study. The child could get a job outside. With education, it equips the child to be more independent to serve the community and know about the world. It's a treasure to the child to have education. Zhang Jun Fu's family members include father, mother, 2 elder brothers and 1 elder sister (already married) and himself. These years, there was work on storage for drinking water in the community of child. With this, the drinking water can be drained to the house for use. Also there was a repair of channel to ensure the irrigating water. The child's parents also joined the training of agriculture and breeding, they learnt some new knowledge in the area. With the help of World Vision, the life of the child and family had been improved.

This is a great story and we will now adopt a new child whom we hope we can see graduate from the program as Zhang has.

The Lord be With You

Trust and Obey

2005-12-03T22:29:00.000+08:00

For there's no other way

This comes from a Lutheran hymn I haven't sung since we came to KL (it's a bit old fashioned *smile*) but today I am reminded of it. We had an event planned with the kids from Rumah Hope at a park so we could play some games and let them run around a bit. When we got up though it was raining and it stayed that way until we got there. We started calling each other to see what alternatives we could put in place but there were not many at late notice.

Then as we arrived at the park we saw the sun peeking through

So we had hope and started some games

The kids enjoyed trying to stone the dragons tail

Uncle Keat Lim did a great job of leading them

Everybody wanted a turn

And the worm was just as popular as it busily swallowed children

During refreshments we were surprised by a clown ( who is it ?)

the kids were rapt

smiles were plentiful

There was plenty of fun about

And we couldn't have wished for a better gang of God's children

So why trust and obey ? he made the rain to make things cool, he stopped it when we were ready to start, he left us with joy.....

Good Job (2 thumbs up!)

2005-12-03T20:13:00.000+08:00

Excellent work from David Berry and the outreach core in terms of planning and coordination. Special welcome and thanks to the Shell team that came along. And all the LiFE Group reps who came. A special mention for the "clown" that showed up - awesome! (I want a balloon too!)
Feel free to comment on how you felt about the event...

For me .. with smiles like the one below whom I shall call the Rumah Hope dynamic duo .. I think waking up early, getting through the rain (with extra prayer that it will stop on time), sweating it out by playing with them in the games as well as enduring some heat :-), having a slight sun burn ... is worth it! What a great way to start Advent and prepare for Christmas!

Working Hours

2005-11-29T16:44:00.000+08:00

*I read this from my friend Jason Clark and caused me to re-assess myself as we draw near to Christmas, would you join me? ~ Sivin*

Apparently the average person works for 40 hours per week in the European Union. Until this summer, I have worked far more than that. Being bi-vocational, for several years, meant worked in excess of 90 hours a week at times. Even going into this summer I was clocking in weeks of 60-70 hours.

Now many jobs are demanding of time, and being a pastor/minister is one those vocations that takes up alot of time. Yet I am have suffered from workaholism, and being in ministry has been something that suited that tendency well.

Yet something happened to me this summer on sabbatical. God did something in me that found me at peace in a way I haven't been for a long time, he challenged my workaholism, and the the need to trust him, not my output.

And maybe getting older, I am finally slowing down. Anyhow I am putting in 40-50 hour weeks. By my previous years it feels down right lazy, but the difference has been liberating. And people are noticing the difference in me, in good ways.

A Prayer after Isaiah 64:1-9

2005-11-28T06:08:00.000+08:00

Thanks to young Doulos (who visited BLC before) for this. I think it captures the heart of the text the Covenant players based their plays on and that governed the theme of my message excellently. Have a blessed week!

"When I look back upon my life nigh spent,
Nigh spent, although the stream as yet flows on,
I more of follies than of sin repent,
Less for offence than Love’s shortcomings moan.
With self, O Father, leave me not alone –
Leave not with the beguilder the beguiled;
Besmirched and ragged, Lord, take back thine own:
A fool I bring thee, to be made a child."

~George MacDonald, Poetical Works~

First Project Fireflies Camp!

2005-11-25T01:04:00.000+08:00

Can you locate Wong Chin Hor, James Tan & Aaron Ponniah from Bangsar Lutheran Church?

One thing I believe is as Christians either we can organize such events or just go ahead and loan our energy and join them. In this case both were done.

Praise God! and well done "younglings" and "padawans" ...

Of course James does look like a younger yoda :-)