by Admin | Sep 14, 2013 | Wong Chai Kee, • Timely Word •
I have long avoided Lamentations. The writer lamented too much – did his job too well. Then I realised that for the Psalmist, praise often proceeds from lamentation. I recalled that The Psalms have a good share of moaning and groaning, even a barbaric and comical blend of cursings. Lamenting and praising are not strange bedfellows after all.
“The thought of my affliction and homelessness is wormwood and gall. My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.” (Lam 3:19-20; NRSV)
My recent second series of chemo, necessitated by the aggressive spread of my nose cancer, created what my oncologist called a possible “recall” effect. This recall brought back painful side-effects of my old radiotherapy – inner-ear-piercing, Sashimi-knife-slashing-of-tongue and back-of-right-mouth pains.
“But this I call to mind, therefore I have hope.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.”
Your first impression is that these famous song lines come from The Psalms, right? Gotcha! You’ll find them in Lamentations 3:21-23.
The recalling of affliction, be it that of the Lamentations writer or my chemo’s recall of old radiotherapy wounds, are countered by the new calling to mind of His steadfast love.
Books on writing remind me not to repeat myself, not to say things again. But The Psalms and Lamentations keep repeating themselves. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,” but doesn‘t being steadfast means never ceasing? The Lamenter, together with the Psalmist, was blatantly repeating, as if to tell the readers, just in case you haven’t gotten it, the love of the Lord never ceases. The Lord wants me, wants you, to etch in our hearts that in adversity, He never deserts us, for:
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul that seeks Him.” (Lam 3:25)
“It is good to bear the yoke in youth.” (Lam 3:27)
In the Old Testament youth started early and ended pretty late.
With that yoke, through affliction and spiritual disciplines, Lamentations 3:32-33 remind us:
“Although He causes grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love; for He does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.”
The writer’s repetitions were unending – he was unfailingly grateful to the Lord:
“You came near when I called on You; and said, ‘Do not fear.’ You have taken up my cause O Lord. You have redeemed my life.” (Lam 3:57-58)
We will not fully understand why the Lord afflicts us – mine is aggressive cancer, your suffering may be aggressive in other forms, acute depression, bipolar disorder, a relationship disaster, an abusive childhood, a family torn apart, a bully victim, academic failures, career blows.
It could be like the stroke that within days took Elder Chin Keng, YCKC’s Barnabas and the humblest man I knew in person, from us. We do not fully understand why – but His compassion remains with us, His assurance of love is constant.
Do not think that as afflicted ones we are to mouth praise like Lionel Richie prancing All Night Long. The Lamenter groaned much of the day. Bible scholar, translator, author and clergyman J.B. Philips in 52 ministry years of his 76 mortal years suffered from depression and saw the valley of darkness every day, sunny or stormy. Joni Eareckson Tada is paralysed from shoulders down and recently stricken with cancer. Hymn writers disabled and infirmed – all doing ‘war-zone’ writing with occasional good interludes. Betsy, Corrie Ten Boom’s elder sister, died in Ravensbrück concentration camp in December 1944 but she never wavered in believing that no matter how deep the pit, her Saviour was deeper. And I, with blood-test pricks and intravenous insertions made on my forearms and my frail Charlie-Chaplinesque gait that would tempt the Central Narcotics Bureau to haul me in for testing, am only facing battle skirmishes for now, soon to confront frontline battles and guerrilla war. And I was not one-tenth as tormented as my Cantonese neighbour-patient who haunted the ward with a cacophony of paimia, aiyoh, boi-ah, warna-lan, yu-eh-eow, waswasmia, hurri-yeh.
As I write to you, this piece is my way of praising at the end of my lamentation. There is a saying: God may disappoint us, but He never abandons us.
Before praising, the Lamenter thanked the Lord, and that was after seeking His help. It’s a triune spirituality: one spiritual outpost leading to the next, as if the Lamenter could not wait to praise, then sought help, quickly thanked God again.
That’s the way to live out V.C. – Victory in Christ, in good times and bad: Help me O Lord, Thank You Lord, Praise the Lord!
By Wong Chai Kee, Elder (YCKC Bulletin 14&15 September 2013)
(Editor’s note: Elder Wong Chai Kee was called home to the Lord on 17 Sept 2013, a few days after writing this article. He is now enjoying the eternal loving embrace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.)
by Admin | May 18, 2013 | Wong Chai Kee, • Timely Word •
I am not talking about jumping into the currents, and dying to save a drowning child I have never met. Not about showering the unkind with kindness. Not about you refusing to bad-mouth someone who spreads toxins about you. Not about doing unto others what you want done unto you. Not about loving others as you would love yourself.
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you,” wrote C S Lewis. I’m not thinking of this huge demand either when I am thinking of loving as Jesus loves.
These ways of loving as Jesus loves, we should aspire toward. Less dramatic is a Jesus way that’s easily overlooked.
Attending.
To attend to someone is not passive, as some think. “Pay attention”, we recall teachers repeating ad nauseum, and we think of just trying to stay awake, or these days not working our iPhones. “Attending worship” evokes the image of just being there bodily, with heart, mind and soul somewhere else. Yet being there is a powerful thing – our being is there, not drifting into the past, dreaming into the future.
Attend: “To stretch toward.” It is to stretch the eyes and ears toward something or someone, to give uncompromised, undivided consideration. To listen with the third ear, to see with soul eyes concerns in his heart. To be totally simpatico with his soul.
Jesus was always attending to the one person before Him, be that the Samaritan woman at the well in broad daylight, Lazarus dead, or Nicodemus in the still of the night. His ministry on earth was less about crowds than about attending to each person he met, even healing the bleeding woman when he noticed her, in the crowd, touching the hem of His garment. That person’s world was His world, all else receded. He stopped the disciples from pushing the children away. Jesus noticed too the poor widow’s mite and paused to draw attention to her. He made invisible people visible. Jesus’ encounter with each person was a sacred attending.
To love as Jesus loves is to attend, with eyes and ears to understand what the sister or brother is saying, what she hopes you hear when she hesitates to say it, what’s in his heart, what he does not himself yet know. To attend is to be in the zone with the person, the way Roger Federer eyes the tennis ball, blocking out everything else. It is to listen slow, whether the brother speaks fast or slow. Only then can we pray well, pray deep, for him. And to keep attending by praying on regularly, even daily, to inquire after him for updates upbeat or downbeat, to assure him you are praying for him, to chat up with him, to pray on the spot for him.
Constancy is the hallmark of attending. Nothing spectacular is needed, because the spectacular is left to God.
Attending is to wait for the person to respond, in his own time, in his own way, even when the responses disappoint you. Attending is unconditional, given freely and fully despite people failing to match the time, effort and money we spend on attending to them. For loving as Jesus loves is to remind ourselves that Jesus first loves us, before we love Him back, even when we hold back our love. His love does not depend on our loving Him.
To attend to a fellow believer is the essence of our church’s priesthood of all believers – we are to be priest to each other, under the tutelage of the Chief Priest Himself.
On attending to non-Christians, the Barna Group’s April 2013 study provides this operational definition: “Jesus-like actions included listening to others tell their story before witnessing, choosing to often spend time with non-Christians, and influencing multiple people to consider following Christ. Jesus-like attitudes included seeing God-given value in everyone and feeling compassion for those who do not know God.”
Attending to someone afflicted and depressed restores him, as aptly portrayed by Albert Schweitzer: “Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”
Loving as Jesus loves is sacred attending – it validates the person in the eyes of God.
Attending to one another is a prized privilege, a sacred responsibility.
By Wong Chai Kee, Elder (YCKC Bulletin 18&19 May 2013)
by Admin | Jan 19, 2013 | Wong Chai Kee, • Timely Word •
Two quotes help me ponder my reverence for God. Nothing covers everything about God but they cover enough for me, for now.
In Pulitzer Prize winner Marilynne Robinson’s When I was a Child I Read Books, this line grips me: “…God is a sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”
We are reminded to acknowledge how great God is. But how could we not revere Him? God is the centre of everything. He is beyond borders. With God in control, pain cannot, and gain should not, possess me. Surely awe and adoration shall follow me, all the days of my life.
We are buried. Not only is earth a tiny blur in the universe, our universe is only one amongst more universes than we dare count. The late cosmologist Carl Sagan said: “Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people… For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”
Love is not enough, we can bear the overwhelming vastness only if we acknowledge God as the centre, that He is beyond this vastness, and that He, mystery of mysteries, centres His attention on us, specks residing on a blur. This truth sets us free to revere Him. When the Infinite reaches out to the infinitesimal – God the Son becoming man, to die for us, to secure us eternal life through His resurrection – how could we not bow down and worship God?
The second quote is the opening line of Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes’s memoir, Nothing to be Frightened of: “I don’t believe in God, but I miss Him.” His philosopher-brother’s reaction: “Soppy.” Cute it does sound, the declaration nevertheless makes me think, I believe in God but is it only because it is comforting to have Him around? As an emotional crutch? As the Figment I can turn to when people don’t care two hoots about my sorrows? Is God merely a Convenient Truth? I believe in God, but do I grieve Him to say, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) by keeping Him at the periphery? Unlike Barnes I don’t have to miss Him, but am I missing? Is my way with God a distortion of Thomas Dorsey’s classic gospel song, Precious Lord Take My Hand?
Precious Lord, let me be
Don’t call me, I’ll call you
When I’m tired, when I’m weak, when I’m worn
Only when there is storm
Lead me on to the light,
Only when, precious Lord,
I make my call.
I run the risk of treating God as a 24/7 call centre – He’s always there, while I do my own thing outside His circumference. The opposite of revering God: revering my terms. It’s my life. To add insult to injury, I check whether my schedule can take Him, after He’s planted me in His very own court (Psalm 92:13-14). God, go control the universe, just don’t disturb me.
Revering God is letting Him disturb my universe, taking steps to put away old gods and choosing this day whom I will serve (Joshua 24:14-15). For reverence to be true I cannot turn toward God without turning away from sinful habits and narcissistic decisions. It is not posturing, however worshipful that makes me look.
Reverence for God is approaching Him in the manner of Psalm 51:17 (NASB):
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God,
You will not despise.”
– Pastoral message by Elder Wong Chai Kee, YCKC bulletin 19&20 Jan 2013
