U2 and Aung San Suu Kyi

I was a bit surprised when  I read about U2’s Bono supports for the detained Myanmar’s opposition leader.  Here is the excerpt from the news:

Bono, the lead singer of acclaimed Irish rock band U2 and a prominent social activist, added a political edge to his recent “360 Degree” European tour—with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” for South African statesman Nelson Mandela and a song dedicated to detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bono

At U2’s opening concert in Barcelona, Bono paid tribute to Suu Kyi when he introduced the single “Walk on,” which he wrote for her in 2000.

“This next song is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma,” Bono told the crowd. “Let’s send her a message of love and support! Let us stand with her … put on your masks!” The crowd clapped and put on Suu Kyi masks.

The band asked fans to wear the masks to highlight the fact that Suu Kyi has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest.

The mask can be downloaded here.

God does not forget

We had a wonderful worship service this morning. Church members prepared a very delicious lunch which we enjoyed immensely.  After lunch, we stayed for a while and really had a good fellowship. A lot of talking and encouragement among us who attended the worship went on for a while that it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon that we said our goodbyes.

We called-out the kids to ride on the van so that we can go home and they can have their afternoon nap. We had 15 children rode with us going to the church excluding my own 3 children. However, going home, we never did bother to count or checked if everybody was in. I assumed that all the kids were in, I took off and drove without thinking. Then halfway through, the children who were annoyingly noisy at that moment yelled that we had left two children behind. We returned to the church and we found them waiting for us with a smile on their faces.

This was the first time we forget to count the children that consequently made us left two of our children behind. We tried very hard not to forget but as humans we are prone to do so.  I remember the Lord who never forget us. He says in Isaiah  49:15:“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!” It is comforting to know that God will never forget us.

Praying the Psalms: Preface

In the preface of the book, Praying the Psalm, Brueggeman laments the fact that scholarly works on the book of Psalms reached its pinnacles in the work of Gunkel and Mowinckel and after them there seems to be no further scholarship that link Psalms to the life of the church. There have been important scholarly contributions (like Anderson and Westermann) recently that are developing the connection of the Psalms and Church.

However, Praying the Psalm is a book that does not discuss about scholarship but it nonetheless assume the works of previous scholars. The book discusses specifically two important issues in reading the book of Psalms. The first issue is about the function of language in the use of Psalms. Brueggerman observes rightly that there is a huge gap that separate scholarly consensus and the “devotional materials” that abound. I do not know much about Hebrew but I understand that Hebrew poetry is not the same as any other poetry. It is unique. Knowledge of Hebrew language and linguistic theory (i.e. Ricoeur) are essential in order to appreciate the beauty and the understand precisely the meaning of Psalms.

The second issue is about the way Christian use a poetry which is obviously Jewish. He says that it is problematic in the sense that there are many passages in Psalms that directly contradict New Testament specifically Jesus’ teachings. Thus in reading the Psalms we tend to be selective or use spiritualization which are not the proper way to read any books of the Bible. Brueggeman  states that:

On both the questions of the liberation of language and Jewish awkwardness, very much is at stake for the Church. I hope to contribute to the vitality of the Church’s faith by pointing the subversive and powerful resources available in the Psalms. It is an unreformed Church which uses the Psalms for a domesticated spirituality. It is not an accident that the Reformers of the sixteenth century attended to the Psalms in intensive ways. On the one hand, I have urged that language here is not only for candor but for the articulation of that which is known both by God and human persons only when articulated. That is, everything depends on the articulation, for such speech evokes something quite new for both parties in the conversation.

He further says that the church should honestly see Psalms possesses a distinctively Jewish shape–the shape of active, protesting suffering; the shape of defiant, resilient hope. The Jewish experience of suffering and hope give meaning to the strident, subversive, intense forms of language. Indeed, it is the understanding of the interaction between these elements of Jewish faith and Psalms speech that will make it matter to the spirituality of the church.

Reading this book would radically change the way we think of Psalms and to some extent the way we pray to our God.

Quote of the day

Today’s unjust decision reminds us of the thousands of other political prisoners in Burma who, like Aung San Suu Kyi, have been denied their liberty because of their pursuit of a government that respects the will, rights, and aspirations of all Burmese citizens.

—US President Obama

Quote of the day

The Student Volunteer Movement founded on 1888 is considered the most successful missionary recruiting organization of all time. Its leader Arthur Mott uttered these words which I believe should be the motto of a modern missionary.

“Evangelism without social work is deficient; social work without evangelism is impotent.”

Praying the Psalms

I have not read a book straight for some time. One of the reasons is I find myself unable to concentrate on what I am reading.  I see and read the words but the meaning escaped me. Perhaps it is because of the noise of the children or other more important concerns are distracting me from understanding what I am reading.

Nonetheless, I resolve to read this little book from Walter Bruggeman entitled Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit, second edition.  Brueggeman is a well-known Old Testament scholar. He is the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emiritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He has written many books including the Theology of the Old Testament, Inscribing the Text, Prophetic Imagination, and David’s Truth.

Here are some of the blurbs:

“I am so glad to see this second edition of Praying the Psalms. In it Walter Brueggeman reveals the way in which the Psalms teach the mother tongue of biblical speech by inviting us to the risk of daring candor with God. The contemporary church in North America regularly suffers collective amnesia in the face of the languages of techno-speak, market share and sentimental cliche that shape the world we inhabit. Praying the Psalms offers a surprising antidote to this chronic forgetfulness. It invites us to recover our ancient memory and true identity be learning to pray the Psalms. I know of no better book for introducing a congregation to the Psalms than this one.”

Edwin Searcy, Pastor University Hill Congregation, United Church of Canada, Vancouver, BC.

“The psalms just don’t speak to me. Anyone who has ever felt this way should read Brueggeman’s book… He shows how these ancient prayers can lead us from disorientation of our chaotic live into a reorientation of transformation. His treatment of both the post-Holocaust Christians use of these very Jewish prayers and the troublesome call for vengeance is most timely. This book shows how the Psalms can indeed speak to us.”

Dianne Bergant author of Preaching the New Lectionary

To whet your appetite here is the contents of the book.

1. Letting Experience Touch the Psalter

2. The Liberation of Language

3.  Language Appropriate to a Place

4. Christians in “Jewish Territory”

5.  Vengeance-Human and Divine

I will interact with the text and post my reflections here. I will not offer any critique or review. My post perhaps would just be a summary of some section, I will offer some applications that are appropriate for my context particularly missional and Asian and perhaps post some interesting and controversial quotes that would disturb our conventional thinking.

Quote of the day

“The Good Life,’ comfort, convenience, and a painless life, have become necessities that people view as basic rights. If they do not have these, they think something has gone wrong. So when something like inconvenience or pain comes, they do all they can to avoid or lessen it. One of the results of this attitude is a severe restriction of spiritual growth, for God intends us to grow through trials.”

Ajith Fernando, Sri Lankan church leader (Men of Integrity Newsletter)

The Miracle Key

The rain was pouring heavily when we drove to Chiang Rai International Airport to pick up our friends. We easily found a place to park and hurriedly went out of the car. Mindlessly, I slammed the door locked and was about to run and escape out of the pouring rain when I horribly realized that the key was still in the ignition.

We stood helplessly under the rain, checking if there was a door left unlock. Then knowing for certain that we were hopelessly locked out of the car, we ran for cover, we could not get soaker than we already were.

Inside the airport, Narlin mustered all the Thai words she knew and talked to one of the guards and asked if he could help us with our problem. One of the wonderful things you can experience when you are living in Thailand is that most of the people are very helpful. After waiting for more than an hour, the guard with his friend went to check the car. And they actually tried to open it with their bare hands and loud talking. Then the helpful guard turned and told us that he knew somebody that could open the car door but it would cost us 500 baht. That was expensive. The Thais are indeed helpful people but at the same time they will try to rip you off.

By this time, our friends had arrived already and we told them the bad news. We told them that we need to wait for the locksmith (or whatever he was) for 30 minutes and we need to pay the amount. Also at this moment, my pride was already down the drain. I was so embarrassed by my stupidity. Yes, this happens but not to me. I did not happen to me before may be because I didn’t ever own a car.

When the rain stopped, Narlin suggested that we go to the car and try to open the door with the key of our old van that was in my pocket all the time. I inserted the key and twist it many times and I saw that lock notched inside was moving. Narlin prayed aloud, “Lord have mercy on us let this car door be opened.” As I twist the key for the what I decided will be the last time, the lock miraculously clicked and I saw that the notched moved up. Perhaps the key did work after too many twisting, but we believed it was God’s answer to our simple prayer.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Rising tension between the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Burmese government forces is reported by sources in Shan State and along the Sino-Burmese border. The Burmese army had deployed reinforcements .Wa soldiers in the southern region are stockpiling food and supplies in case armed clashes break out, according to the news agency, Wa soldiers now on leave reportedly have been called back to duty. Wives and children of Wa soldiers have been sent out of potential conflict zones. – Source: Irrawady News

The agreement between Burmese and Wa army had expired last month. The Wa people aware of the impending arm conflict start sending their children across the borders to Thailand for safety. Parents do not even know if they will see their children again.

For lack of better terms I called our ministry a “mini-orphanage” it is because our original intention is to provide a home for a limited number (not more than of orphans and abandoned children. But in the light of the impending crisis, we could not reject children who came to us for shelter. Hence, we end up with twelve children from age four to eight and we know what the phrase “cheaper by the dozen” means.

The question people are asking us now is how are we going to provide for these children’s daily needs knowing that we are receiving limited support. Just like George Muller who expected God’s miraculous provision on a daily basis running his orphanage. We trust that God will do the same for us.

Presently, we are sending five children to a Thai school and the rest are going to Grace Home Kindergarten Center (GHKC). All of the children speak Wa except for Tina who speaks English, Thai, Burmese, Wa and Tee Lek who knows little Thai and fluent with Burmese and Wa. For the mean time, they serve as our interpreter until they learn to speak English, Thai, Burmese or Tagalog or we learn to speak Wa. Whichever comes first.

We know that it will take a miracle to provide food, shelter, clothing and education for these children but we believe that with your prayers God will accomplish the impossible.

My blogroll is missing

Yes, I know I haven’t been able to update for sometime. I really don’t have the time to visit and read blogs much more visit and update my blog. After the worship service today, I decided to take a quick visit and notice that my blogroll is missing. I tried everything to make it visible but to no avail. I don’t know if I am missing something, if you know the solution please let me know.