Sunday night thoughts

Okay Thailand is definitely one of the weirdest places to be a pastor. The 10am service wasn't anything unusual. Sleepy people from the holidays. The evening service had some energy. But it was a couple of things that happened before service that was funny.

When I walked in at 5:30pm, there was a computer movie going and a shirtless guy asleep on the couch. I pretty much had to yell at him to wake him. Then I had a hard time getting him up and out. He seemed a bit confused.

Then Tim (our guitarist for the night) came in and asked who the sleeping kid is. I started to explain, I didn't know the kid but that I'd finally gotten him to get up when I realized that Tim wasn't asking me about the shirtless guy. He was asking about the 5 year old passed out in the nursery. The Guest House employee who was helping set out chairs said her dad was in with the Nepalese Christmas party.

At about 6pm, a group of kids came in. Ran into the nursery. Turned on the lights. Jumped around. Finally the spotted the sleeping girl. They stopped in their tracks. Looked around. Talked amongst themselves and then turned the lights out and left. They said nothing to anyone about their discovery.

About 6:15, I wandered over to the Nepalese party to let mom or dad know that we were about to start worship. Mom came and scooped up the child. I've never seen a deeper sleeper. And I can't imagine leaving my kid in the next room asleep like that.

Then 10 minutes later we were starting worship and it was good. And God showed up (as usual).

After the wisemen left

I've been doing some thinking about what happened to Mary and Joseph and little Jesus after the wisemen left. What happened when the star was no longer in the sky? The shepherds had gone home? Matthew has the royal family fleeing to Egypt. But Luke includes a detail that I think is significant which occurred before they fled. They went to the temple.

It never occurred to me that THIS might have happened. But it's funny to think about...

Trouble on the Nazareth Express

Last night's Christmas Eve service was ... ahem ... not our best effort. Our Music Director didn't show until about 7:30pm. The problem was the service started at 7:10 and was supposed to start at 7:00. The pianist did show up on time (or just a tiny bit late). But I didn't know we had a pianist there until I was already freaking out about the music. Not a good state of mind to be in when trying to lead a service celebrating the birth of Christ.

In defense of our Director, he wasn't the only one late. People came in as last at 8:00pm which was about the time the service ended. Traffic was bad. Here are photos of what traffic looked like at 5:30pm when I arrived.


It's safe to say noone was going anywhere. Now I don't know why traffic on Christmas Eve is insane in Bangkok. There are not a lot of Christians in Bangkok. Christmas Day is NOT a holiday. And yet - this traffic meant a lot of people who intended to come worship on Christmas Eve didn't make it. Or made it very very late.

It is remarkable to me how often things like this happen to disrupt people from coming to church. Perhaps it's not traffic for you. Perhaps it's the big game. Or a children's birthday party. Or last minute work. Or... [your thing here].

What gets in your way and keeps you out of the house of God?

Christmas Eve in Bangkok / Klong Toey

The family went over to the Klong Toey Community Center this morning to hang out with the kids while they played Christmas games and got some presents. It's great to see kids (most of whom have every disadvantage in life imaginable) have some cool Christmas presents. Here's Nong Dtia enjoying her present. It's great to be part of a church that helps make stuff like this happen.

Conservatives are more generous than liberals??

The NY Times has an interesting op-ed this week by one of their religion writers. In it he cites research that shows that while liberals talk a good game about compassion for those who are less well off - their lives don't match their rhetoric. In fact, conservatives (politically) outgive liberals in almost every measurable way.

Here's the article.

The exception is the gay community (politically liberal) but very generous.

Interesting reading. So - what do you think? Biased research? Hits the nail on the head? Some explanation the article doesn't think of?

The Bible says that we should pay more attention to the fruit of a person's life in accessing where their heart is than the rhetoric of their speeches. I have to admit that I generally assume that liberal folks are more generous and that conservatives are more stingy. Am I wrong?

A vegetarian dog in a bun?

Why? Why? Why? Now look at the larger picture.

What's the point of a vegetarian wrap if there is a HOT DOG inside? Some things just don't make sense.

3 things on my mind

There are three things on my mind this morning. One disappointing, one that I think everyone needs to read and one that is simply fun.


(1) Let's get the bad stuff out of the way. Why do the American far right and left have to be so militant? Barak Obama invited Rick Warren to lead prayer at his inaugural. While I don't agree with Rick (or Barak) on everything, I thought the choice was brilliant and I thought it showed both political and spiritual maturity. AND YET - the American right and left are going for blood. The left is mad because they feel "disrespected". Well get over it. I know Warren is against gay marriage. And I know he's against abortion. But he's not a jerk about it like you are being. His position is nuanced and thoughtful. If you can't stand thoughtful people who disagree with you - then you shouldn't be in the conversation. This kind of militancy saddens me.


Then - just to make things worse - the Christian blogosphere is full of people denouncing Rick for accepting the invitation. One guy even used the "unequally yoked" passage. Unbelievable. And these guys wonder why people hate Christians.

Can't we just get along? Okay, rant finished.



(2) I read a blog post today that a ton of people should read. It's posted by Perry Noble a pastor from my hometown. Perry is one of the funniest bloggers I know. We don't always agree - but his heart is in the right place. And he has a great first name. :) And he is right on target with this post. If I were writing, the only thing I would change would be the end when he addresses church leaders. I would address it to all Christians. Here is the link. If you are a Christian - please read this.


(3) Finally - Today is Christmas Caroling on the River and I am very excited. Each year (for the last 3 years) our church rents a river boat and carols on the Chao Praya river. One year we caroled the Dragon Boat races! At any rate - it is one of the nicer, more joyful events of the year for me.

Remember - church tomorrow (see #2) and Christmas Eve @ 7pm on 24 December.

God bless.

A Muay Thai Christmas

Sorry about the low quality image. But it's a camera phone shot from a long distance. I just couldn't resist. Sometimes two images just don't seem to go together. Last night Laura and I went to MBK to do some shopping. There was a boxing ring set up at the entrance with a fight going on. Couldn't help but see irony in the Christmas decorations providing a backdrop. The Prince of Peace born into a world of violence.

(Nothing against Muay Thai, in fact, I want to learn it. But it is a pretty violent sport!)

It's easy to see inconsistencies like this in a culture that isn't your own. I wonder what someone from a different place would find incongruous if they visited my regular hangouts. Would they be shocked at the juxtaposition of materialism and Christmas at all the malls? Just a thought. The Jesus born poor and in a stable being celebrated in places too expensive and too exclusive for someone like Jesus to have ever been able to go.

Christmas Eve Worship

Just finished work on my Christmas Eve Sermon. I won't look at it again until Tuesday. But this got me to thinking - I should mention the Christmas Eve Service here cause it's really a great service. It's at 7pm @ Bangkok Christian College Auditorium (not the chapel). Directions (if you aren't a regular). Kids are invited to wear pajamas so they can hop right in bed after the service. Adults can come casual or you could go for PJs too, but let's keep them modest!! :)

We'll finish about 8pm. There will be communion. At ICB Communion is "open". Meaning if you are a follower of Jesus - you are welcome to partake. We don't really care what your denomination is or was or how long you've been a Christian. Or even how good a Christian you are. Oh and...

Come early because wisemen and women are coming from all over and you want a seat, right?

Sunflowers in Lopburi

Sometimes you just have to step back and say, "wow, God!"

Another "new" Prime Minister for Thailand

Yesterday (I think) we found ourselves with another new Prime Minister here in the land of smiles (Thailand). To be honest, it's tough to keep up we've had so many in recent months. The new one is...

...a young Democrat named Abhisit. I wish him well. And in invite you to pray for him. All indications are that he's a nice guy who wants what's best for the country. But the truth is you never know.

The irony is, of course, that his party has lost all recent elections by huge landslides. The people outside of Bangkok and a few other major urban areas overwhelmingly support the former Thai Rak Thai party.

Here they are rallying in Pattaya a few months ago in support of the now ousted government.

This is NOT a fringe movement. It is mainstream. If you believe the PAD they are naive. But fringe they are not. And they are a bit angry. It will be a miracle if there is not more and prolonged violence surrounding the Thai political situation. I just can't imagine a solution which both sides see as fair and just.

So pray for Thailand. Pray for peace in this wonderful country. Pray that as we prepare to celebrate Jesus' birth... pray that He would be born anew in Thailand. And that His peace would reign in this kingdom.

Kicking a man when he's down

Anyone that knows me well knows that I was not a big fan of the Bush presidency. Despite that I'm saddened by this...


Today (or what it yesterday) Bush was giving a press conference in Iraq with the Iraqi PM. He was essentially acknowledging American withdrawal when an Iraqi reporter stood up. Called him a "dog" and threw his shoes at his head. I'm told that hitting someone with the sole of your shoes is the biggest insult available in Iraqi culture.

You can read about the incident and see a video here.

I get the anger. But it just feels like kicking a man when he's down and done. I just don't see how this is constructive. The Scripture we meditated on yesterday was from 1 Thessalonians 5. In verse 15 Paul writes, "Do not return evil for evil." Is that what's going on here? I think so. Perhaps that is why it just doesn't feel right.

Death of a Saint

Amparo Palacios died recently. Amparo was a true saint. You can read about her in the Washington Post Obituary.

Amparo was an amazing person. One claim to fame was she was personal friends with Archbishop Oscar Romero whose story was made famous in a late 1980s film called Romero. Edgar, Amparo's husband, told me once that he remembered the day that Oscar converted. He wasn't refering to the day Oscar became a Christian, he meant the day he became an advocate for the poor.

I headed the charge to get Edgar hired as the Calvary Baptist Church pastor to the Latino Community. It started as a Sunday school program.

One of my most vivid memories of Amparo was when she suffered a stroke during a worship service. She was actually at the pulpit leading a prayer or something when it hit. She soldiered thru and didn't tell anyone. After church, we were in Woodward Hall (a fellowship area adjacent to the sanctuary) when someone asked, "Where's Amparo?" We went looking for her and found her still in the sanctuary. She couldn't get up. We rushed her to the hospital and she was there for a few days and came out fine. What an amazing lady?

God bless you Amparo.

What if church was like a business?

Sometimes churches get accused of being run too much like a business. Let's take the idea to the silly extreme for a minute. When I was in Alexandria, VA we had a changeable street sign. Some times I'd put something up just to see if people were paying attention. One of my favorites was conceived by "another" church member. One July our signboard read "Two for One Membership Special this month only."

I was reminded of this when I read Todd Rhodes post today, What if the church was run like an airline. It's worth a read. Check the comments section too. :) Have a happy Friday.

Kudos to Israeli PM Olmert

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister called some Israeli settler actions recently a pogrom. Pretty strong language.

Article here.

I remember when a Jewish scholar gave a talk at Rhodes College (when I was a student in the early 1990s). He compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to German treatment of the Jews. It created huge amounts of controversy.

In Sunday's sermon I talked about the courage it takes to stand by your convictions when lots of people hate you for it. And when your convictions are right and the world is wrong - you end up changing the world in a positive way. This willingness to stand up and call a pogrom a pogrom has the potential to do just that.

It reminds me a lot of Jesus standing up to both the Romans and his fellow Jews and saying (not a real quote, but I think it captures the essence) "You guys are both missing the point. It's not all about being right. It's about being good. It's about grace and love and forgiveness. These things are 'right'. You can have all your beliefs and practices exactly right, but if you don't have love, you are empty." Wow!!!

Thanks to PM Olmert for his courage. May God bless you and keep you safe. Perhaps your willingness to do this will encourage more peace loving people from the Arab side to stand up for Israel. Perhaps your courage will inspire more Christians (like me) to be more forthright when people from my faith are doing terrible things in the name of God.

Stranger than fiction

Sunday was enjoyable except for one thing.

A guy came in during the 9am service. He entered midway through the sermon. No problem. The problem started after the service. He greeted me and immediately jumped into a criticism of the sermon.

20 minutes later when we were about to start the 10:30 service, he approached and asked if he could "say a few words" to the congregation. (Hint: if you want to "say a few words" in our worship, then you'd be wise not to insult me 20 minutes before.) I said, "no." Even if he'd been super nice, I wouldn't let a stranger do that. Who knows what they will say? One guy, a few years ago, grabbed the mic during the "welcome of visitors" and preached for 3 or 4 minutes about how we were all going to hell before I finally forcibly took the mic back and invited him to sit down.

It's hard to refuse someone's request - even when you know it is unreasonable. It was hard to tell the man from a few years ago to sit down - even after he'd been saying crazy stuff for 2 or 3 minutes. Why do these people do this? What makes them think it's okay to just invade someone else's space.

The guy yesterday was there to "evangelise" us. He told me after the service that he's learned over the years that God doesn't use churches like ours anymore. I asked what he meant. (Note to self: DO NOT engage this kind of person in conversation anymore. :)) He said he believe in an Ephesians 4 kind of church. Odd. Me too.

Pressed further he said he thought God used churches that pray. That study scripture seriously and take discipleship seriously. All I could say was, "It's amazing that you know we don't do those things having only been around for a little over an hour."

If you worshiped with us yesterday - be glad you were spared the "few words" our friend had prepared for us.

Other than that - it was a great day. Now I've got to figure out why THAT'S the thing that is on my mind this Monday morning.

How lazy are we?

I saw this in Toys R Us yesterday doing some Christmas shopping. As Jay Leno would say, "How lazy are we that we need a machine to shuffle cards for us? We can't actually pick up the two sides of the deck and put them together?"

Maybe there is something I'm not seeing?

It's easy to become physically lazy in a world where children's toy stories have "card shufflers". I wonder - do we have problems with spiritual laziness as well. We (most of us) live in a world where we have access to an amazing array of spiritual resources. We have Bibles in every language. We have online concordances which are infinitely more powerful that tools that were available even to the top scholars just a few years ago. We have podcast sermons, Bible studies. We have amazing access to mission and opportunities to help others in need in the name of Jesus. It's remarkable really. But how many of us (in the midst of all this) find it hard to just say a prayer? Read the Bible for ourselves? Think for ourselves? Meditate on a passage of Scripture for even 10 minutes?

Most of the time all the tools I have at my disposal are incredibly useful and fruitful, but sometimes they make me lazy. Sometimes I lean on them when I ought to "do it myself".

Where do you have the tendency to get spiritually lazy?

Airports reopen in 15 days. No 7. No tomorrow.

So we got word late yesterday that the PAD had decided to let the airports reopen. Airports of Thailand folks initially said they'd reopen on December 15. Then on the 7th. I heard the 5th. Then they were talking about flights going today. Who knows?

It's good to have the tension ease up. I wonder though how long this peace will last. Won't the PPP just reform under a new name? Run different candidates? And get re-elected?

I heard one of my American friends say condescendingly - "It's terrible. The PAD are a bunch of bullies. I can't believe that the courts would orchestrate a coup like this. Who do they think they are to overturn the vote? This would never happen in America." Oh yeah. Never in America, eh? Implication is that Americans are too mature fr this kind of thing. Pretty funny how quickly we forget.

This has been one of the sadder parts of this whole mess for me. I heard a British tourist interviewed on BBC complaining that the "Thais are acting like children". Implication being that Brits never do.

The paternalistic and (dare I say it) racism that has come out as westerners have been stranded is really appalling. One of my prayers is that Thai people recognize those kinds of comments as NOT representative of all us westerners. Another of my prayers is that God would change the hearts of those of us who think we are so superior. Another prayer is that this reduction of tensions would blossom into a genuine peace that is fair and just.

Governments come and go

I read just a few minutes ago that the court ruled that the ruling political party and one of its key coalition partners is illegal and therefore the government must dissolve. So I guess we'll have elections soon.

Article here.

Sad really. Top officials in the party were convicted of corruption and vote buying. I have no doubt that's true. But that's just how things are done. Many of the PAD protesters have been paid as well. It's hard to know what the best political solution is for Thailand. As a foreigner - I'm sure I don't know enough about local politics to see clearly.

I am going to keep on praying for a fair and just solution. And that both sides will see it as such so we can have peace even beyond the next election. Please join me in praying for this.

Monday Christmas Cheer

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Can you believe it?

Yesterday - and all of last week for that matter - was wild and crazy.

I still cannot believe that both major Bangkok area airports were have been shut since (was it?) Wednesday? I would never have believed it.

I still cannot get over the fact that gunmen went into various buildings all over Mumbai just killing as many people as they could shoot. And that it took two full days to get rid of them.Here are some things that happened yesterday (most of which were great).

Here are a few things that happened yesterday...

1. We didn't have a coup. I was so surprised. I thought for sure it would happen late Saturday night or early Sunday morning not only bringing down the government but also messing up church. Didn't happen.
2. We experimented with two morning worship services. We went from one relatively traditional worship @ 10am to one reasonably contemporary one at 9am and one slightly more traditional at 10:30am. Our evening service went as usual on Sunday night at 6:30pm.
3. The experiment went well. This was probably the worst Sunday in my 4 years in Bangkok to try to add a second morning worship. With all the uncertainty in the air and my guitarist stranded out of the country because of the airport closing. But at 9am there was good energy. Expectation for what God would do and general Spirit. Our new friend David jumped right in and played guitar.
4. The 10:30am worship rocked too! We had a brass quartet play and they were great.
5. The 6:30pm rocked too too. We had about 30 people there from 14 different countries.
   
6. At the 6:30pm service I got to see my old friend Rendell. Rendell is partly responsible for me being in Bangkok in the first place.
7. Our Christmas Carol boat trip sold out. This is good and bad. It's neat to see the demand. It's sad to have to tell people who wanted to come that it's full. About four years ago we started a tradition of renting a boat and singing Christmas Carols up and down the river. We leave at 4:30 before it gets dark and arrive back around 7pm. So we are singing carols as the sun goes down and the lights of the city come up. It's pretty cool.
8. Our Christmas Eve worship service is NOT sold out. We're not even selling tickets. Although last year we ran out of hymnals and bulletins. Christmas Eve is at 7pm this year @ Bangkok Christian College. You might want to come a little early to ensure a seat!
9. Someone told me yesterday morning that the sermons on tithing prompted her to align her financial life with her religious beliefs. That's cool!

In the midst of all this the protests and bombings and general pandemonium continue in very isolated areas in Bangkok. There are still coup rumors. Everyone is waiting to find out what happens on Thursday when the court is to rule on the legality of the ruling party (among others). We are also all looking forward to Friday (the King's birthday) when we'll likely hear from His Majesty.

What a time to be alive! God bless.