Wednesday, January 27
Friday, January 15
How can God let such things happen in Haiti?
John 9:3 - "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in [their lives]."
Many people are asking how can God let such things happen in Haiti. A National Post editor made a statement that "God may have abandoned Haiti". People commenting that prayer will not help the people in Haiti (Comment #32).
My wife and I had a discussion on our views on the tragedy in Haiti, and our conclusion is that God has not abandoned Haiti , "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in [their lives]." Haiti has been on the news throughout last decade, especially during the 2004 Haitian rebellion. But while poverty and injustice continued on this island nation most of the world sat on our hands or wasn't aware of it.
Now this tragedy happened and Haiti has thrust into headline news in all major newspaper and news broadcast. Was God punishing Haiti for their past transgressions as Pat Robertson has suggested on national TV? I don't think so. Just as Jesus said in John chapter 9:1-3
What happened in Haiti is a reminder of us, children of God, to stand up against injustice and to show the world the love of God so that the work of God might be displayed. Or as another National Post editor as put it, "The earthquake was not His wrath being unleashed on Haiti's people; it was a slap to the face of every single so-called 'caring, liberal' nation on this planet -- a slap strong enough to knock the blinders from our eyes."
Brothers and sisters, God has placed the nation of Haiti in the centre of our lives this week. Let us pray and take action so that the work of God might be displayed.
Pray for and support a fellow sister from DR, she had rented a van and loaded it with food at her own cost and now in Haiti. (http://shannonconaghan.blogspot.com/2010/01/going-solo.html)
Here is another response by Donald Miller:
http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/13/1513/
Many people are asking how can God let such things happen in Haiti. A National Post editor made a statement that "God may have abandoned Haiti". People commenting that prayer will not help the people in Haiti (Comment #32).
My wife and I had a discussion on our views on the tragedy in Haiti, and our conclusion is that God has not abandoned Haiti , "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in [their lives]." Haiti has been on the news throughout last decade, especially during the 2004 Haitian rebellion. But while poverty and injustice continued on this island nation most of the world sat on our hands or wasn't aware of it.
Now this tragedy happened and Haiti has thrust into headline news in all major newspaper and news broadcast. Was God punishing Haiti for their past transgressions as Pat Robertson has suggested on national TV? I don't think so. Just as Jesus said in John chapter 9:1-3
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
What happened in Haiti is a reminder of us, children of God, to stand up against injustice and to show the world the love of God so that the work of God might be displayed. Or as another National Post editor as put it, "The earthquake was not His wrath being unleashed on Haiti's people; it was a slap to the face of every single so-called 'caring, liberal' nation on this planet -- a slap strong enough to knock the blinders from our eyes."
Brothers and sisters, God has placed the nation of Haiti in the centre of our lives this week. Let us pray and take action so that the work of God might be displayed.
Pray for and support a fellow sister from DR, she had rented a van and loaded it with food at her own cost and now in Haiti. (http://shannonconaghan.blogspot.com/2010/01/going-solo.html)
Here is another response by Donald Miller:
http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/13/1513/
Thursday, January 7
A Write Up to My Reaction to the Asian Worship @urbana09
@moomooaudrey #urbana09
Dear Audrey,
First of all I would like to thank you and the worship team for your service in leading us in the singing aspect of worship at Urbana2009. I believe God would have been pleased by the praises lifted up to His Name. And also thank you for opening our eyes and bringing us to the various neighbourhoods of worship. It was truly a small glimpse of what heaven would be like.
In response to your tweet: "I saw your tweet about Asian American worship and was intrigued to know what you would have done otherwise?" I apologize if my comment might have come out harsh, let me assure you that no ill intent and negativity was intended. The idea was to generate discussion among my fellow pastors and church leaders on the state of Asian Worship.
Before I continue, let me introduce you to my neighbourhood. My name is Joel Tang and I am the English Pastor of Logos Baptist Church (York Region Mission) just north of Toronto, Canada. We are a Chinese church with a Cantonese speaking congregation as well as an English speaking congregation. The worship experience at my church would be exactly like the one you described in your worship set, wanting to be invisible and as though it is just me and God. The choice of music would be very similar to that of your set too, therefore I felt completely at home in your neigbourhood as we worshiped the Lord.
While I am not a worship pastor, I have had the opportunity to interact with various worship leaders and pastor while I was a sound technician before I became a pastor myself. The common consensus is that our worship experience is a very Western Asian worship style.
In the North American context, this style of worship will provide a comfortable neighbourhood for Asian Americans to worship. But since the context of Urbana is global missions, how would Asians in various Asian countries react to such style of "Asian Worship"? Recently having the opportunity to speak to a worship mission team from Japan, he stated that such Western style of worship is extremely popular in Japan. It is because the youths in Japan embraces everything Western, and as a result, it leads to idolatry where the youths are worshiping the Western culture instead of worshiping God.
Also God has given Asians around the world an abundance of creativity and a long heritage. In addressing the global setting of Urbana, why are these creativity not reflected in our worship when we are invited into the Asian neighbourhood? The African drums and Natives dances provided us with a glimpse of creativity of other cultures and allow us to praise the creative God. That's why I was so excited to experience the Indian worship (with the Sitar) on the two occasion after my initial comment. My only wish that it was included and introduced in the "Asian neighbourhood".
I only have a limited resource on the pulse of Asian worship around the world, but being Chinese myself, here are some worship music that are coming out of the churches in China and Taiwan. I can further ask my fellow Korean pastor and missionaries from Japan and Thailand for other examples.
I do understand that with the limited time and resources, as well as copyright issues, it was difficult to explore every culture on the earth. I do hope this can generate discussion to enhance our Asian worship experience, leading us to celebrate our heritage and the creative God, even as we worship Him here in North America. Thank you once again for your time and your service at Urbana. I was my pleasure meeting you on this cyberspace extension of Urbana 2009. :)
Blessings,
Joel
PS. If you have the chance, can you let Tim know that Jenny and Joel says hi and attached is a picture for him.
Dear Audrey,
First of all I would like to thank you and the worship team for your service in leading us in the singing aspect of worship at Urbana2009. I believe God would have been pleased by the praises lifted up to His Name. And also thank you for opening our eyes and bringing us to the various neighbourhoods of worship. It was truly a small glimpse of what heaven would be like.
In response to your tweet: "I saw your tweet about Asian American worship and was intrigued to know what you would have done otherwise?" I apologize if my comment might have come out harsh, let me assure you that no ill intent and negativity was intended. The idea was to generate discussion among my fellow pastors and church leaders on the state of Asian Worship.
Before I continue, let me introduce you to my neighbourhood. My name is Joel Tang and I am the English Pastor of Logos Baptist Church (York Region Mission) just north of Toronto, Canada. We are a Chinese church with a Cantonese speaking congregation as well as an English speaking congregation. The worship experience at my church would be exactly like the one you described in your worship set, wanting to be invisible and as though it is just me and God. The choice of music would be very similar to that of your set too, therefore I felt completely at home in your neigbourhood as we worshiped the Lord.
While I am not a worship pastor, I have had the opportunity to interact with various worship leaders and pastor while I was a sound technician before I became a pastor myself. The common consensus is that our worship experience is a very Western Asian worship style.
In the North American context, this style of worship will provide a comfortable neighbourhood for Asian Americans to worship. But since the context of Urbana is global missions, how would Asians in various Asian countries react to such style of "Asian Worship"? Recently having the opportunity to speak to a worship mission team from Japan, he stated that such Western style of worship is extremely popular in Japan. It is because the youths in Japan embraces everything Western, and as a result, it leads to idolatry where the youths are worshiping the Western culture instead of worshiping God.
Also God has given Asians around the world an abundance of creativity and a long heritage. In addressing the global setting of Urbana, why are these creativity not reflected in our worship when we are invited into the Asian neighbourhood? The African drums and Natives dances provided us with a glimpse of creativity of other cultures and allow us to praise the creative God. That's why I was so excited to experience the Indian worship (with the Sitar) on the two occasion after my initial comment. My only wish that it was included and introduced in the "Asian neighbourhood".
I only have a limited resource on the pulse of Asian worship around the world, but being Chinese myself, here are some worship music that are coming out of the churches in China and Taiwan. I can further ask my fellow Korean pastor and missionaries from Japan and Thailand for other examples.
I do understand that with the limited time and resources, as well as copyright issues, it was difficult to explore every culture on the earth. I do hope this can generate discussion to enhance our Asian worship experience, leading us to celebrate our heritage and the creative God, even as we worship Him here in North America. Thank you once again for your time and your service at Urbana. I was my pleasure meeting you on this cyberspace extension of Urbana 2009. :)
Blessings,
Joel
PS. If you have the chance, can you let Tim know that Jenny and Joel says hi and attached is a picture for him.
Friday, January 1
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