Open & Shut Case

I went to see Joey’s appearance at the high court last Thursday (November 18). I thought it went very well: he said all the right things, even his lawyer was pretty good, and the judge definitely sympathized with him. Whether that sympathy will turn to lenience or not, we’ll have to see. God, I hope it does.

I didn’t get to see Haoyuan. There were two cases before his appearance and I didn’t have time to wait. Looking around the other courts while trying to find him, I was struck by the difference in atmosphere between Joey’s courtroom and all the rest. There was so much hostility and anger in all of them, but in Joey’s there was mostly repentance and peace.

Br. Lan and I did see Haoyuan on Monday. He’s doing very well - one of his cell mates asked him about Christianity, and Haoyuan told him to read the Psalms. We told he was doing the right thing, but urged him to tell him more about the gospel. Haoyuan prayed in a very fluent and easy way this time, though still a little shy - but he’s come on in leaps and bounds since I last saw him.

The day before that, on Sunday, Lena and I gave a testimony to our big district - of about 120 people - about opening our home. It was exactly a year ago that we started to host small district church meetings, including Tuesday’s prayer meeting, the children’s group on Friday, and Sunday communion.

I said, Christians are a family. In Christ we are all children of God, and the home is the center of church life. Like it says in Acts 2 “One and all they kept their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in their homes, they shared their meals with unaffected joy, as they praised God and enjoyed the favor of the whole people.” So although opening my house has made me extremely busy, it’s also brought me unaffected joy.

I went on to say that Taiwan is also my home, having settled here 20 years ago. But no matter how long I stay, I’m always a foreigner, an outsider. While on the one hand, I always wanted to be accepted by Taiwanese society; on the other hand, I never liked getting too close to people, and didn’t really like receiving guests. But that changed after I was saved. I found a different kind of acceptance in the church, and started to enjoy being with people with whom I didn't have much in common. So last year, when we were asked if we could open our home, I said yes.

Getting ready to open our home felt like we were getting married again. For one thing, we received a big dowery - we got second-hand chairs, a sofa, a piano, a dish dryer, a huge refrigerator, dinner table, cups, plates and a brand new framed sign that says: “Christ Is The Head Of This House” - all given to us by people in the church.

As well as lots of furniture, we also got new people. From January to September, 23 people were baptized in our small group, include six on one week in September. It was an amazing experience to bring so many people to Christ - to help those who had lost love find it again, and see couples who were falling apart come together.

When I got to that part in the testimony I broke down in tears. I had no idea I was going to react like that, but it was too late. Lena just froze instead of coming in to rescue me, so I had to sob my way through the rest of it.

Struggling to go on, I said I didn’t know why we gained so many people. All I knew was that it was nothing to do with me. Everyone in our small group played a part, but in the end it was God’s doing. One thing I learned this year is that God really did choose us before the foundation of the world.

It’s a very different experience being in the family of God - we still have problems, make mistakes, and have successes too - but whatever happens, we share it with each other, and take it to God in thanks and prayer.

After last month's reshuffle, we have less people in our group now - the same five families of a dozen or more people, come to our home on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. But oddly, I don’t get tired of seeing them. I don’t think: "Oh, no - not you again!" Quite the opposite - I look forward to seeing them, and feel sorry when they go. When you are in the family of Christ, it’s like being in a very entertaining soap opera. Every day fresh things happen, and in us and through us we have new experiences of God.

I pray that we may continue to become God's new creation, his corporate body, satisfying his will, and manifesting himself.

Opening Up

Last weekend, seven of the brothers and sisters in our group went to the Central Blending Center in Nantou for a training for newcomers. Four were saints who were baptized this year - Br. Lan and his wife, and elderly Br. Lian and his wife. The other three were looking after them - Br. Shuyuan and his wife, and Sr. Lingling. Another three saints who used to be in our group before the reshuffle went as well, so it seemed to be the sensible thing to merge our two groups on Sunday - and so it turned out to be. It was really good to get back together with the brothers and sisters who left us last month, and meet some more unfamiliar faces in their group.

I also noticed how our group has suffered a bit since the split - not just in terms of numbers, but the strength of the spirit in our home has been deflated. At the brother’s meeting last night, I brought up that concern, and received a lot of good advice and support in return. They said three things: (1) exercise your own spirit, so even if everyone around you is dying, you’re still alive and enjoying the Lord; (2) sing more hymns and enjoy them, learn them, talk about them, get into them; and (3) blend together with the other brothers - spend some time one on one with them, or just two families together, have dinner with them, and get together with them outside the meetings.

Oh, and there was a fourth thing - open up. That doesn’t mean openly criticize people and tell it to them straight - it means opening up your own spirit, and allowing the Lord to come in and flow out from you. I’m not sure how the last one works in practice, but I’ll give it a go.

So that’s something to build from. And it’s not all doom and gloom - there are a lot of good things happening too - those 7 are reenergized after the Nantou meeting, we have at least 3 more people who are going to get baptized in the next month or two, and last Friday’s children’s group at our home was really good.

Tonight we have a joint prayer meeting at the hall, and on Sunday it’s a joint eucharist meeting also at the hall - Lena and I are giving a testimony on Sunday, to talk about the last year. It’s been 12 months since we opened our home. So much has happened I don’t know where to start.

Basic Principles Concerning Eldership

We’re studying a book called the “Basic Principles Concerning the Eldership” in our district responsible persons training. The training is always an interesting experience - it happens the first Monday of every month. All the leading brothers gather together at the church hall to be gently roasted over the coals by the elders. I have to admit, it’s often quite an uncomfortable experience, but you always feel better for it at the end; and it’s comforting to know that this is serious stuff, and the elders are not going to let us mess it up easily.

On Monday's training, we read the first chapter of Br. Lee’s little book, which is about the three main administrators in God’s governance: prophets, apostles and elders, and especially elders. Br. Lee explains how the Israeli elders, of the Old Testament, got lazy and asked Samuel to elect a king for them, (1 Samuel 8:4-9) so they wouldn’t have to ask God to lead them, and could get a quick fix from a human leader, who could fight battles for them, and put things right. Br. Lee said the same problem can be seen in the church today - most of us are lazy, and just want someone to tell us what to do and make the hard decisions for us. That laziness allow ambitious people to make themselves kings.

At the end of our training, Br. Ke compared the pros and cons of democracy or dictatorship, and concluded that neither system is appropriate for the church. He. Ke said the church should be governed by God. How that works in reality, is a tricky question. It means, you can’t give people orders - you have to take them to God and ask for his guidance; but on the other hand, if you just tell people to pray, they’ll stop coming to you for advice.

Of course, exactly this kind of scenario is playing out in our small group right now. We have a situation where the majority of the brothers and sisters want to do something that the elders strongly disagree with. I could tell them, “Sorry, brothers and sisters, but the elders said No.” And that would be the end of it. But that would be the same as giving them an order. When the issue came up at the end of tonight’s prayer meeting, I tried to steer them towards seeking God’s guidance, and resisted the temptation of just telling them the result. Unfortunately, what I found myself doing was steering them weakly towards what the elders had told me - which was the worst kind of compromise. I even forgot to pray at the end (although it was getting late). However, with the grace of God, somehow things went in the right direction.

It’s hard stuff, but wonderful at the same time. Like Tom Wright says, we often pray the lord’s prayer, saying “let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” without thinking about how we would go about actually letting God’s will be done on earth.

(Photo: Lawrence OP)

Take Up The Cross

We’re reading 2 Corinthians at the moment in church. We’re at the end of chapter 11, which is where Paul finally gets to the real point of what he wants to say in this remarkable letter. Some preachers have been making trouble and talking behind Paul’s back while he’s been away, so Paul has to put them in their place and reestablish his authority over the church, but do it in God’s way.

In chapter 10, he starts by defending himself, as someone who does what he says and says what he does, and berates his challengers for bigging themselves up, when Paul’s achievements speak for themselves. And finally in this chapter, he says, unlike his enemies, he doesn’t step into other people’s territory, but stays within the sphere that God sets him.

In chapter 11, Paul says he’s going to speak as a fool. He says he’s losing the Corinthian saints to the enemy, and he’s willing to go to any length - even if he lowers himself to the level of the false apostles - to try to win them back to Christ. So he puts all his cards on the table. We can guess the fake apostles were Judaizers, so Paul lays out all his Jewish credential - which are of course matchless. But then he goes on. In an incredible list of trials and tribulations, he says he has been “more overworked, more often imprisoned, scourged more severely, many a time face to face with death. Five times the Jews have given me the 39 strokes; three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked, and for 24 hours I was adrift on the open seas,...” and so on and so forth. And then at the very end of the chapter, Paul tells a story about when he was in Damascus, and the King was after his head, he was let down in a basket, through a window in the wall, and so escaped his clutches.

That final boast - not breaching the city wall and winning a medal of honor for his courage, but going the opposite way, escaping the city wall by being lowered down in a basket - is the complete opposite of what everyone else in Paul’s time would boast about. So then, like NT Wright says, the Corinthians will realize that he has been boasting about all the wrong things. And as Br. Lee says, humanly speaking, Paul had no glory or honor.

Paul sums it up in 2 Cor 11:30 - “If boasting there must be, I will boast for the things that show up my weakness.” This goes back to what he said way back in 1 Cor chapter 1, about the folly of men being the wisdom of God, and the ultimate expression of human failure - the would-be messiah nailed to a Roman cross. But it was through his crucifixion that Christ became the unifying force of the entire universe, compelling us to take up our crosses and follow him. Br. Lee points out that in Col. 1:24, Paul says: “It is now my joy to suffer for you; for the sake of Christ’s body, the church, I am completing what still remains for Christ to suffer in my own person.”

(Photo: eye2eye)

Trials and tribulations

I talked to Sr. MH yesterday about how the prosecutor's appeal against JM's sentence went, when he went to court on Tuesday (Nov 2). She said it wasn't too good. I just pray that he'll be able to serve a lenient sentence.

On a brighter note, I met Hu Haoyuan on Monday. At the Sunday meeting at my house, MH urged me to go and see J, because she said he needed to pray about the appeal - she was cut off in mid-prayer on her last visit! She insisted that J. wasn't in rehab, and although I was pretty sure he was (because of the cryptic letter I received on Friday, that J said I was going to get the moment he went in) I thought it was worth a shot, because I could always see Haoyuan if I couldn’t see him. I had already arranged to go and see Haoyuan with Br. Lan on Thursday, but it was a good thing I went early, because Haoyuan has family who see him on that day. So, it all worked out perfectly in the end.

(Normally prisoners are only allowed one visit a day, and if they're in rehab or other special circumstances, they're only allowed one a week by family members.)

I had a very good fellowship with Haoyuan. He was just a nice kid - 21 years old and facing a 12 year sentence - what a world we live in. Anyhow, J. had obviously inspired him, because he had a real thirst for the gospel; and at the same time was full of really basic questions about how to read the Bible, how to pray, and what was the difference between God and Jesus. I tried to answer everything as best I could, and it seemed to come together in one giant but simple theory, even though I rattle though topics like the creation, the trinity, and the lord’s prayer - all in 10 minutes. In the end, I asked him if he wanted to pray about anything, and he suggested we pray for J. So we did. It couldn't have ended better than that.

I’m going to go and see Haoyuan again, hopefully with Br. Lan, on Friday instead of Thursday! Br. Lan was going to see him last week, but bottled out at the last minute, so we’ve arranged to make the visit together this time. I’m really looking forward to it - and I think this is going to be very good for Lan as well.

The prayer meeting on Tuesday was a joint one for our big district, which gave me a chance to catch my breath a little. Lots of people there. At the end, Br. Cai said, preaching the gospel goes according to the seasons - you plant in spring and harvest in fall. Oddly, people are more receptive to the word when summer ends, so we should grab every chance we have, while the time is ripe. He added that you shouldn’t worry about not being prepared, or not being in the right place, or it not being an appropriate time. If you get an urge to tell people about Christ, just go for it.

(Photo: zeng.tw)

Burnt By The Sun

I got toasted out in the sun again today. I only recently recovered from the roasting I got when I went to Kuolai with Br. Mushu’s group back on September 11. That was the weekend six people from our group were baptized - three at Mushu’s place, and three at my home on Sunday, September 12. What a weekend that was - I must have had second degree burns on my back, and I was molting skin for at least two weeks afterwards. This morning’s sunburn came from spending a good part of the morning on Shezi Island, exercising our spirits with Br. Lan, Shuyuan, and Hanyuan. It didn’t go quite how I planned it - somehow I didn’t get around to having everyone scream their lungs out, but it was good nevertheless.

It reminded me a bit of the time I was taken out to the same place, about four years ago, also by Hanyuan, but with Junqiang and Br. Zhuo coming along too, to have my spirit exercised. We did do the shouting thing back then, but it just made me feel uncomfortable. And then, by the grace of God, it started to rain, and we ran for cover to the car. In the car, I opened up more, and talked about how guilty I was feeling about doing the old things I used to enjoy in the past, and feeling bad about them, but at the same time, not being able to stop doing them. Hanyuan gave me some good advice - he told me to concentrate on enjoying the Lord, and not try to give up my old habits by myself.

Today, Br. Lan said more or less the same thing about struggling with temptation, though his sins were much less than mine, and this time I was able to offer the words of comfort, with a nod to the person I was borrowing them from, because he was standing right beside me. The difference was this morning it looked like it was going to rain, but instead of the heavens opening, this time the clouds cleared and the sun came out, just long enough to turn my face to the color of a beetroot. And although Br. Lan didn’t break down in tears as he was filled with the holy spirit, I think it was a good experience for him, and hopefully it will help him in some small way to enjoy the full spiritual blessings of God. 

Interestingly, going back with Hanyuan in his car, he talked about Lan and Shuyuan together - saying he could feel Shuyuan’s spirit more than Lan’s, but that was probably down to the Lan being a newcomer. I had only thought about serving Lan, and had assumed Shuyuan didn’t need any help exercising his spirit.

The Bible passage I chose this morning was Lamentations 3:55-56, because I it came to mind when I was watching the amazing pictures of the Chilean miners being pulled up from the depths of the pit on CNN yesterday.

Big Reshuffle

Today was the day of the big reshuffle. One of the main families in our group has now opened up their home, and they’re taking about 9 people with them, which means we’re back to where we started at the end of last year. Some of the saints in our group are a little worried. Last night, Brother Shuyuan showed me this complicated list of names, that he’d highlighted in different colors and marked with strange symbols - which proved we’d struggle to get a dozen people on Sunday. There was a square beside my name, which matched the square beside the oldest brother in the group, so I’m not sure what the significance of that was - slow at reading Chinese perhaps!

It’s good that Shuyuan cares so much about the new group. And I think we’ll do better than a dozen people. It’s fantastic that a family from our group are ready to go on their own; and like Jesus says in John 15, his father the gardener prunes clean fruiting branches to make them more fruitful still.

At Sunday’s meeting when the changes were announced, Brother Cai shared two verses from the scripture with us - both from the Old Testament - Jeremiah 48:11-12, about not letting wine settle on its lees, but decanting it from vessel to vessel to improve the flavor and aroma; and Hosea 7:8, about needed to flip a pancake so it cooks evenly, and doesn’t get burned on one side and half-done on the other. So change is good. Every so often, we need to be flipped over, and tipped into a new bottle.

Out Of The Wash

I went to see Joey on Friday. He asked me to buy him some snacks - anything, chocolate pies, or anything - and I probably should have gone for a nice variety, but I just went for five packs of chocolate pies. Shopping isn’t my specialty. 

I talked to Brother Cai Wei today (Saturday) about the new brother, Xu Youxin, who is now in the psychiatric ward at Veteran’s Hospital. Cai Wei also happens to be a doctor, so he was able to give me a medical analysis of the situation - he said I shouldn’t worry, and that Xu’s lupus condition is affecting his psyche. Still, the guy being in hospital so soon after getting baptized is a test for our group, and whether we can help him and his family come through their current problems, in and through the love of Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow is the day of the big shake-up, when we’ll finally find out who is going where. It hasn’t been an easy process but hopefully we’ll come out of it washed clean and ready to serve the Lord afresh.

Into The Light

(I should have posted this last Friday - April 23) I just came out of another meeting with Brother SQ at Shilin Detention Center. This one was a lot less intense and emotional than the first, but covered more practical issues: like what sins to confess and which ones to keep quiet about, whether it was okay to grass up a friend, the choice between being an informer and still ending up in prison or keeping your mouth shut and being well respected inside for a very long time, and the worry about being labeled as a sissy if you preach the gospel to other prisoners.

I have to admit, I’m over my head with this kind of stuff. I wouldn’t last 10 minutes inside there. All I could say is that you have to confess your sins and wipe the slate clean with both God and men as well, but if a lot of people are going to be hurt by some of your too open and honest confessions, it’s probably best to try to make your peace with God and keep quiet about them. I don’t know the Biblical basis for grassing up your mates.

I’m going to need some guidance for this one. Thank the Lord, last weekend I went to a national coordination meeting for volunteer organizations in Taiwan - which was remarkable only because of how lifeless and behind the times it was. I made a comment in the meeting, and was slowly writing out what I said in Chinese on a comment sheet, praying that someone would come and talk to me so I could make a useful contact, when who should walk up but a woman from the Rehabilitation Association - who deals with prisoner services! I don’t know what message I would have taken if the guidedogs for the blind foundation came up to me, but I took it as a sign. I haven’t called her yet, but I certainly will after today’s visit.

Yesterday evening, Lian Erlang - Shuzhen’s father - got baptized. What a wonderful thing that was. Trying to do everything in Taiwanese was a struggle, but we got through it okay.

Heavens above, I’m sitting on the MRT while typing this, and I can see Zhang Boya (pictured) opposite me - the former Minister of the Interior. I wonder where she’s going.

Right, back to the baptism. The best thing was his son, Lian Zhendong, came too. He was saved just the week before, and he said a few words in prayer for his dad. The two have a slightly awkward relationship, as most Taiwanese dads and sons do, so that was lovely to see.

Ramblings At The End Of A Long Day

Shuzhen’s father came on his own fruition to the meeting today (Sunday 3/28), and Dajie prayed by herself for the first time. Mr Lan and his wife were there too, and they seem to be on the brink of getting baptized - Lena and I will be gong to see them on Wednesday with Shuyuan and Qionglin. Br. Zhong invited a brother called Joel from Indonesia, who is already heavily involved in his own church, so I don’t know how far we can go with him, but he said he’d come next week too. He also said he would come to the training in the evening, but pulled out at the last minute because his church was having a meeting about Easter. I had mugged up on tonight’s lesson - on 1 Corinthians 12 - because I was interpreting for Joel, but when he didn’t come, I could just relax and enjoy the lesson having done all my homework - which made it so much better. Oh, and Yuanmei came for lunch today as well. So all in all, it was a perfect day.

One of the good things I said in the afternoon was to encourage Dajie to just pray for what was in her heart, because God knows what you’re thinking anyway. I hope I didn’t offend Liqing when I said that, because she was correcting her older sister when she was praying for her grandson to get into Taida. I told Dajie to just to say what she wanted, but keep praying, and in the end, as she got closer to God she’d pray for what God wanted. I stole that line from something Bo told me a few years ago, but I don’t think he’ll mind.

I talked to Steve on the phone to catch up, and to ask him for advice on a proposal I’m writing. Although we did talk about Christianity, I didn’t argue my case at all. Well, we’ll see what happens. I’ll place that one it God’s hands. Amen.

Eternity in man's heart

What an amazing day. It didn't start so well when I got up and immediately picked a fight with Deping, but it ended by baptizing Qionglin’s brother-in-law!

Between those two events was a testimony we were asked to give at Xinji Building. It has been hanging over Deping and me for a while - we weren't qualified to talk about the subject (running a children's group), it was a big audience of about 1,000 people, and we hadn't put enough work into writing or memorizing the testimony. So when the big day finally came on Saturday, I snapped back at Deping when she was trying to tell me something. But we made it up and got ourselves to Xinji Building in time.

Our testimony went okay. Here it is in Chinese. It was a bit rubbish, but at least we weren't as bad as one of the elders who gave the first message - he seemed to be encouraging everyone to take sweets into the park to entice children into the church! Surely not a good idea. Anyway, the second elder was really good - he talked about the decline in church life in the US, and how that macro historical trend is a mirrored in the micro development of a child into adulthood who drifts away from the church in the same way. The answer, he said, was to draw on Romans, preach the whole gospel, and teach young people how to run meetings.

Qionglin, Shuyuan and their friends the Lans were there. After the Lan’s went home, we grabbed something to eat, then went to see Qionglin’s brother-in-law, Wei Jiajun, at a hospital miles away in Xizhi.

He has lymphoma, so was weak, and he was losing his voice too. He’d asked Shuyuan to bring over a Bible - I gave him an extra one I had on me at the Xinji Building - so we got down to preaching the gospel to him. Shuyuan went through a flyer he’d brought, and then I started on the Mystery of Human Life, and moved straight onto the last bit after going through the first key. I basically said that only God could satisfy us because, like it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, we have eternity in our hearts: material and worldly things can never satisfy us, because we’re not made for them - we’re made for God. Then I asked him if he wanted to get baptized, and he said yes! Full immersion wasn’t an option in the hospital, so we did it by pouring water on his head.

Amazing. That’s number five for our little district this year - three were baptized in our bathtub at home (Chen Xiaorong, Liu Rongshu, Cai Wanzhen) and one at Huang Wenhong’s place (Xie Shuqing). Jiajun is also the first member of Qionglin’s family, apart from her, so it’s very important for her. What a day. Shuyuan and Qionglin couldn’t believe it was so easy, because he’d been very stubborn before, and quoted Buddhist scripture back at them. Qionglin said God gives authority to the district leaders - I don’t know about that, but all I know is that it’s not me. I can’t even memorize the thing you’re supposed to say at the climax of the baptism.

Perfect day

Shuzhen’s father came on his own fruition to the meeting today (Sunday 3/28), and Dajie prayed by herself for the first time. Mr Lan and his wife were there too, and they seem to be on the brink of getting baptized - Lena and I will be gong to see them on Wednesday with Shuyuan and Qionglin. Br. Zhong invited a brother called Joel from Indonesia, who is already heavily involved in his own church, so I don’t know how far we can go with him, but he said he’d come next week too. He also said he would come to the training in the evening, but pulled out at the last minute because his church was having a meeting about Easter. I had mugged up on tonight’s lesson - on 1 Corinthians 12 - because I was interpreting for Joel, but when he didn’t come, I could just relax and enjoy the lesson having done all my homework - which made it so much better. Oh, and Yuanmei came for lunch today as well. So all in all, it was a perfect day.

One of the good things I said in the afternoon was to encourage Dajie to just pray for what was in her heart, because God knows what you’re thinking anyway. I hope I didn’t offend Liqing when I said that, because she was correcting her older sister when she was praying for her grandson to get into Taida. I told Dajie to just to say what she wanted, but keep praying, and in the end, as she got closer to God she’d pray for what God wanted. I stole that line from something Bo told me a few years ago, but I don’t think he’ll mind.

I talked to Steve on the phone to catch up, and to ask him for advice on a proposal I’m writing. Although we did talk about Christianity, I didn’t argue my case at all. Oh well, we’ll see what happens. May God have mercy on us all.

Lord I Come To You

The home meeting with Mrs. Cai was a bit flat this evening. It started well - she even prayed by herself: I prayed for our two families to be happy, and the kids to be good; and she followed suit with her own prayer. So that was good, but then we sang the hymn 主我來就你 (Lord I Come To You) and it went a bit flat. After the hymn, we read the last part of “The Mystery of Human Life”, which ends, theoretically, in the person getting baptized, but it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen. When I got to the bit about accepting the watch that someone gives you, using a sweet as an example - she put it back in the bowl on the table, and said: “And I can say, no thank you, I don’t want it!” Ha! Funny. Oh well. Lena got her to memorize the chorus of the hymn, which was a good way to end; and we made a date for next week to go through Bible stories. Let’s pray something clicks. It didn’t help having her two youngest children there all the time - they were a bit of a distraction. I’ll have to persuade Esther to look after them next time.

Prayer meeting

In the prayer meeting today, I focused on our active groups. Looking back at it now, I think it was a little inspired. May God help us look after all these new people, while taking care our own health at the same time.