Kindness

Kindness is a balm to a festering wound, a cup of cool water for a parched traveller, both unexpected and unasked. It is the soothing tone of voice you hear that comforts you from ragged fevers of life, the warm feel of a palm placed on your forehead. Kindness is a gift, a surprise to those who have been roughened by rudeness and apathy.

Rainy Season Reading List '09

Torrents of rain came pouring down. A far cry from the searing heat and the bone dry air of the desert where I have just come from. Was the trip just a dream? At the end, memories are all that we have.

In memory of my recent trip to the Middle East, and with the word "arabesque" still echoing in my head, here are my rainy season reading list:

1. Naguib Mahfouz' Children of the Alley

2. Naguib Mahfouz' Karnak Cafe (highly recommended by the sales staff at the Virgin Store in Kuwait)

3. Amin Maalouf's Leo the African

4. Amin Maalouf's Ports of Call

5. Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls

6. Lauie Lisle's Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgian O'Keefe

7. Thomas Merton's Seeds of Destruction

8. Allison Fell's translation of The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro

9. Frances Mayes' A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller


Frances Mayes wrote this: "What man can travel this long road and not fill his soul with crazy arabesques?"

Indeed.

“You need to resign yourself to the awkwardness of life. Only if you find peace within yourself will you find true connection with others.” palm reader, Before Sunrise

So Listen...

So, listen. There are things that grab of you, and sometimes, these things do not let go. It shapes you, it moulds you, it affects you in ways that are radical and dramatic, in ways that are subtle and gentle. But then, there is Him. He who lays hold you, and He changes you, and the core of your very being is never the same again. He is the breath of life itself; He is the freshness that blows in the dank, dark corners of your life. He is the cleansing you need; the traces of your harlotry and your rebellion are washed away.

So listen. What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

The Little Big Church Has Grown Bigger

So, let me tell about some people I know:

Dan is a cool guy. He plays awesome music, but he also draws. He is an artist, and you see that the first you see him. But what keeps him going, and literally jumping for joy every time he leads worship is something deeper than affinity for upbeat music. He has found the meaning and purpose for his life, and this brings the smile in his eyes.

Mon is a boy scout. He is always well-dressed, always careful. He is a gentleman in the mold that is no longer made. He has a sense of “old world” charm about him. When he speaks, it is well-thought of and careful. But when he prays, and when he worships, he closes his eyes and he loses himself to a place only he and God meet.

And then there is this young lady whose name I do not know, but I see her every Sunday. She must be on her way to work whenever she attends the service. But before the busyness of her day overtake her, before the necessary and important details of her day needed to be tended to, she comes in here to catch a glimpse of her True North, and in that way she is never lost in the fevers of life.

These some of the people I meet Gateway Community Church, and these are some of the reasons why I love my church.

Worship is a primary activity for Gateway Community Church. In fact, worship is at the very core of what and who GCC is. Worship, obviously, is not limited to the church services conducted every Sunday. However, these worship services is a significant part of the life and spirituality of the body of Christ. These worship services are times of celebration, a time of rejoicing, a time to gather and partake of God’s Word, letting it influence, change and move us. It is a time to learn and to minister to one another, and most importantly, a time to praise and declare God, and what He is doing in our lives and in our life as the Body of Christ.

Gateway Community Church is composed of men and women whose lives have been transformed by the knowledge of and passion for Jesus Christ. This is the core of who and why we are gathered together as a body, as a community. The community is about needing to explore the dynamic life of the Christian faith, and to connect in a deeper way with God, recognizing that one is able to do that in the context of a circle of meaningful relationships. This community is about spiritual maturity, and ministry involvement, knowing that a sacred ingredient to the Christian’s life is active participation in the ministry. In an atmosphere of mutual encouragement, openness and authenticity, Gateway Community Church endeavours to express love, grace, hope and care for the broken world even as they recognize their own brokenness.

At Gateway, we are challenged to live our Christian lives in a fresh way. We do not want to be satisfied with just living a formula, or someone’s idea of the Christian life. There is an intense desire to bring meaning to our everyday lives, and make it count for His glory. But in order to that, we value authenticity, and sincerity. We come as we, knowing that to truly worship, to truly grow and to truly minister in the most effective way - we must look at our own selves and recognize that by the grace of God, we are what we are.

I have been part of this church just on the cusp of its growth, and now it is entering its seventh year. A lot has transpired, and there numerous unprecedented milestones since then. The last three years alone saw dramatic and important moves as the church continues to walk in the leading of the Holy Spirit. Zeal for evangelism has marked the community. Well-attended worship events that has so far expanded to three services every Sunday, and a dynamic mid-week service on Thursdays, and the various groups that meet throughout the week are just a few concrete ways I have seen the growing passion of this church.

And while it wasn’t a long time ago that I called this church “the little big church,” I feel that that title is no longer appropriate, for it is not so little anymore. It hasn’t lost yet the small church feel to it as the members remain as close to each other and as concerned with each other as before. However, there are more people coming in every week, and whenever I am away too long, I feel I needed to introduce myself to the kaleidoscope of people that come every Sunday. This is what I love about Gateway Community Church – it is a church where people from every walk of life is heartily welcomed, and taken in like a long lost friend.

The Artist of Faith

An artist of faith - a real artist - may therefore cry: Listen, we have a myth that consoles and secures, one worthy of a lasting belief, one we can surely live by. It is "myth" insofar as it is the timeless, defining story by which we make sense of a senseless existence. But it is truth insofar as it happened. It is vaster than I am (says the artist). I did not create it; it created me. I may name it with my words; but it is the word which named me first: Jesus Christ the Righteous! But the artist of faith had better cry that in language as fine as that of the secular artist who sings of the abyss.

Colosians 1:15-20

by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

We stole this fire together

Prometheus’ boon in our hands

And we ignite the flammable darkness

And the cobwebs of this dank place

Is consumed in a burst of brilliance

We saw the world before us

And we were astonished

By its beauty

By the sheer bravado and daring

Of its inhabitants

We were bowled over

By its vivacity, by its intricacy

The spectacle before us, illuminated

Sparkles with a vividness that is

Captivating, engrossing.

And yet

We were frightened

For an undercurrent of malice is at hand

A hint of unnamed evil lurks

In places even this fire cannot

Completely erase, drive out

We were perplexed,

For while beauty and transcendence exist

Ugliness and pain are its mirror images

And while kindness mark our days,

The blood of hapless victims cry out

And so we ask ourselves

Do we want to close our eyes,

And refuse to peer out into the darkness?

Shall we extinguish this fire?

Or shall we continue to hold it up high,

Until all see the light, and rejoice?

Benediction

This moved me:

Benediction

Let us mourn till others are comforted

Weep till others laugh

Let us be sleepless till all can sleep

Untroubled.

Let us be frugal till all are filled

Let us give till all have received

Let us make no claim till all have

Had their due

Let us be slaves till are all free

Let us lay down our lives

Till all have life abundantly

Amen.

Words by Fr. John Herriot

From Arne Bergstrom’s Benediction

Thou

You – ineffable, mysterious – You do not revel in darkness. You do not find pleasure in hiding, but your delight is in being found, of being known.

In You are the deepest inscrutabilities of the universe and the astounding truths so profound the grindings and the groaning of the very foundation of the earth is hushed, and yet, Your secret joys are in forging bonds with creatures You Yourself have created.

In You is a yearning so deep, so powerful it transcends boundaries – it crossed the gap between Creator and creature, and You have made Yourself manifest, immanent, with us. You have chosen to relate to us. You have initiated this love-relationship, and the questions of whether we are worthy enough, or if we have earned the right to call you friend are hushed in the tenderness of Your heart beat.

In You we find our fulfillment. You planted in our hearts “a secret thread, an ineffable suggestion, an attraction or longing, something you were born desiring and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, you are looking for, watching for, listening for,” and we find that in You. You are what we watch for, listen for, whether we have realized it or not.

Ashes by Ben Harpert, featuring Allison Krauss

This song haunts me...
For S who i fear is on a path of greater destruction, and to his wife who is shattered beyond imagination...



Ben Harper Lyrics
Ashes Lyrics