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Commissioned!

12 Jun

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The Central Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church opened with a beautiful Worship Service on Sunday, June 9, and concluded today, Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at Arborlawn UMC in Fort Worth, Texas. It was business as usual it seemed for most people, but for me 2 things made it special, my commissioning and meeting up with school friends and colleagues.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013, was a very joyous, meaningful, heartfelt, and spiritual moving day. It was the most amazing evening for me, thus far, as I got commissioned as Provisional Elder of the Conference. I didn’t feel so much a sense of accomplishment as I did feel God led and that I am where I am because that’s where God wants me to be. Yes, a sense of my calling being affirmed was what I felt.

Bishop Mike Lowry preached a very relevant and brilliant sermon. The entire service was beautiful and I truly appreciated the Bishop’s message. His sense of humor and thought-provoking style was splendid. The best captured phrase that seemed to have made its round in Twitter was “If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.” How true on so many levels.

I was so ecstatic and grateful that all of my family, which included 7 brothers, their wives and children, were present to witness and to share the special evening. One of my brothers could not make it but was represented by his son. And, I was very happy that my oldest brother was present and stood with me as I got commissioned.

I am grateful to the friends who also came to show support. And to the family and friends who were not present, I appreciated your thoughts and prayers.

I give thanks to God for my family and all the wonderful people I have met throughout the years. Your love, friendships, encouragements, and prayers have helped me come this far, and I thank you.

But now that Conference is over and I have been appointed to 2 churches, I need to attend to my responsibilities of leading God’s people which includes writing a sermon for this Sunday and every Sunday thereafter. Whoa!! Am I really not ready as the Bishop conveyed last night in his message? Whether I think I am ready or not, I do firmly believe in my response to one of his examination question, “With God’s help, I will.”

On top of that, I have 3 weeks to find a place to move to, as I close on my home the 1st week of July. Yikes! Time to get busy! But, confidently and faithfully, I do believe that with God’s help, I will! Amen!

 
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Posted by on June 12, 2013 in Church, Culture, Family, Life, Religion, Spirituality

 

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Heavens Telling Of Your Glory

26 Mar

A Lenten Devotional for Day 36: Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Heavens Telling Of Your Glory

Scripture: Psalm 19

Devotion: Some of you know that I work another job at night, and for those of you that don’t, before you start wondering “what kind of job?” I will soon explain. Needless to say, working at nights has not always been a pleasant experience, especially working 12-hour nights and being up for more than 24 hours at a time. That is never good for the body, mind, and spirit. Nevertheless, that has been my work schedule for the last 4.5 years, as I had to find employment that would work with my seminary school schedule. How I managed seminary work and this overnight job is beyond me. This is one of those things that I consider a God thing.

In any case, I realize early on working in the financial industry that while America sleeps, the rest of the world is awake, from Asia to the Pacific to Europe, and that we’re all connected in this global network, financial or otherwise. This means that what happens around the world affects the U.S., and vice versa. I think of what happens to us as individuals and a people affects God.

One of the benefits of working from evening till dawn is that I am privileged to see many sunsets, sunrises, endless clouds and skies in incredibly astonishing colors and form. Each time I see it, whether I’m on my way to work or on my way home, I am always in awe of the beauty of creation and how fortunate we are to be given the opportunity to witness the splendor and magnificence of this world that we live in. I pondered on how amazing it is that we’re all connected to the sun and endless clouds in the skies, giving us a glimpse of God’s glory.

I am reminded of how humanity seems insignificant in the midst of vast stretches of the cosmos and time and space. I think about how we’re all tiny specs in this big cosmos, but am comforted in knowing that God journeys with us each and every day and watches over us whether we’re asleep or awake.

Prayer: Creator God, We give you thanks for all of creation, and we give you thanks for the gift of life. This Lenten season, a time of self-reflection, a time of growth and renewal, open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts, so that we may live into what you have created us to be. Amen

*Originally published as part of a Lenten Devotional Booklet that I compiled and edited for Martin United Methodist Church.

– See more at: http://www.martinmethodist.org/connect/devotions-for-the-season-of-lent/#sthash.Jm50Cxzq.dpuf

 
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Posted by on March 26, 2013 in Church, Culture, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Theology

 

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Planters

23 Mar

A Lenten Devotional for Day 34: Saturday, March 23, 2013

Planters

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:6-10 (NRSV) I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Devotion: Today, I met with my district mentor, Rev. Judy Hunt, at White’s Chapel UMC in Southlake. As part of the UMC ordination candidacy process, I am assigned a mentor and I’m required to meet with this mentor for a minimum of 4 times a year. The process is very rigorous, selective, and lengthy and not everyone reaches the end of the tunnel. Nevertheless, the process and system are in place for a purpose.

My meeting with my mentor, in part, is to check-in with how I’m doing in ministry and life. On this particular meeting, I was excited to share with Judy my current involvement with various ministries at Martin, including our Evangelism Spring theme of Come Grow With Us in Faith & that We’re all Seeds in God’s hands.

Judy saw that I had picked up one of their devotional book and said that I should check out today’s devotional because it talked about seeds. Later in the evening as I was reading the devotional, I immediately connect it to my life. The authors talked about how “a life of faith is a life of seed-planting.” And most of the time, the planter is not around to see the seeds bear fruits. I couldn’t agree more. I thought of how it was never my intention or goal to go into seminary and ministry. But one thing led to another and I ended up in seminary, still with no plans of going into ministry, but with the aspiration to learn about the history of Christianity and my faith origin. It was in seminary that I began to realize that I didn’t end up in the classroom by serendipity and that I wasn’t just there to get an education or to fulfill my inquisitive mind. Rather, God was calling me into ministry, a seed that was planted years ago, and had taken roots in my family tree. You see many of my family members are in ministry, in the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, either working as pastors of a church, an educator for the church, have retired, or had a life working for the church. My grandparents were ministers and my great-grandparents and great great-grandparents were placed into exile when Christianity first arrived in Tonga because they chose to follow the new religion, because they chose to follow Christ.

The seeds that my parents and family instilled in my life growing up years ago are bearing fruits. While I wish that they were alive today, I’m grateful for their seed planting. Likewise, we’re doing the same in others’ lives, planting seeds. Maybe we’ll be around to see it bear fruit or maybe we won’t. But God pushes us forward to plant anyways and not be so eager to see the results. May we be reminded that planting seeds requires time to grow. This Lenten season, may you continue to grow in your faith, and may you continue to plant seeds in someone else’s as we remember our Lord who calls us to be planters.

Prayer: Creator God, Thank you for the seeds that you have planted in people’s lives. Thank you for making it grow. Amen

*Originally published as part of a devotional booklet that I compiled and edited for Martin United Methodist Church.

– See more at: http://www.martinmethodist.org/connect/devotions-for-the-season-of-lent/#sthash.Jm50Cxzq.dpuf

 
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Posted by on March 23, 2013 in Church, Culture, Family, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Theology

 

Happy New Year!

31 Dec

Just finishing up my sermon for our Tongan New Year’s Eve Worship Service tonight. It’s a bit difficult to say something relevant in both English and Tongan, to young and older folks, and stay within my time limit. Hoooiiiiii!!!! But I will get it done! Sermon text on Acts 17:28.

All are invited to our eating/feast celebration at 3:00 p.m. at Martin United Methodist Church, Bedford, Texas. Worship Service will be at 10:00 p.m. to midnight.

Uike Lotu will be this Thursday and Friday at 6:00 p.m.

Happy New Year to my family and friends around the globe, but especially those in the Southern Hemisphere celebrating 19 hours ahead of us here in Texas. May the God of old and new journey with you in the new year, 2013, and beyond!

 
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Posted by on December 31, 2012 in Culture, Life, Religion

 

A Christmas Reflection

25 Dec

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Yeshua, the Christ, is among you

Scripture: Luke: 17:20 (NRSV): Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”

Devotion: It is Christmas Day! Happy Birthday, Yeshua! Happy Birth-Day to Mary and Joseph. And, Merry Christmas to you! I intentionally use the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua, because it literally means, Salvation from the Lord. And what better day to appropriate his name than today.

As we join others around the world to remember and celebrate the significance and the joy of this season, we surround ourselves with loved ones. Yet, on this Christmas day, on this Advent & Christmas Season, there are many among us who may not share the same sentiments in these jolly and holydays. Some are mourning the lost of loved ones and are hurting. Some are lonely and afraid. Some are angry and lost. Some are weary, in despair, and ready to give up. Some are anxious to be discovered, to be liberated, and to be loved. Some are searching and yearning, for something, yet unknown. May we be mindful of those among us and around us during these Holydays Season and share Yeshua with them.

Some, like our Jewish sisters and brothers, are waiting for their Messiah to come for the first time. Some, like us, are waiting for the second coming of Christ. Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, told a story by Martin Buber, a Jewish Philosopher, who said to a group of Jewish and Christian theologians, “My good friends, what is the difference between you and me? Both of us, all of us believe, because we are religious, in the coming of the Messiah. You believe that the Messiah came, went back, and that you are waiting for Him for the second coming. We Jews believe He hasn’t come yet, but He will come. In other words, we are waiting. You for the second coming, we for the first coming. Let’s wait together.” After a pause, he said, “And when He will come, we will ask Him, have you been here before?” said Buber. “I hope I will be behind Him and I will whisper in His ear, please do not answer.”

While the story may bring smiles and laughter to many of us, the point of the message here, at least for me, and I hope that you will consider it also, is that Christ’s coming for the first or second time points us not so much to a future destination, as much as it points us to look for others among us whom we can serve as Christ, for Christ, and with Christ. So on this Yeshua day, let us give thanks to God who has been born for us. Let us look for Yeshua – Salvation from the Lord “in the least of these,” and in all people that we encounter daily.

Prayer: Merciful God, We give you thanks for Yeshua. Amen

~~~

 
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Posted by on December 25, 2012 in Culture, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Theology

 

3rd and final day apart from facebook

31 Jan

It is Monday, January 31, 2011. It has also been three days since I last signed on to facebook. I think I’ve successfully completed my weekend “fast.”

But now that I can actually sign back on to facebook, I am in no rush. I am also making some changes. That is, I’m creating a schedule where I will only be on facebook for a total of 1 hour per day (and even that seems like a lot), including the time that I take to read other posts. This also means that, I will be unsubscribing from various news sources and groups, and re-evaluating my “friends” list to make some adjustments. This can include removing some “friends” or hiding them from my feed. No offense to some of you, but this is simply a case of IO, that is Information Overload. There’s no need for excess information to be competing for my attention when I’ve got a pretty tight schedule. 13 credit hours of grad school or seminary work plus 36 work hours hardly leaves room for anything else, particularly spirituality or God.

Anyway, from my last post, I asked the question, “Are social networks such as facebook and twitter a religion?”

Well, let’s first define what we mean by religion since there are multitude of answers. Following are some definitions given by both Christian and non-Christian folks.

Ludwig Feuerbach: “Christian theology has tended to interpret the externalized image of “feeling” or self-consciousness as a wholly other, absolute essence, whereas in fact it is a self-feeling feeling. Religion is the projection of human needs, an expression of the uttered sorrow of the soul.”

Karl Marx: “The religious world is but the reflex of the real world.  It is the imaginary sun which seems to humans to revolve around themselves until they realize that they themselves are the center of their own revolution.  God is simply a projection of human concerns. Religion is therefore the result of a certain set of social and economic conditions.”

Sigmund Freud:  “Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.  Illusions are not deliberate deceptions; they are simply ideas that arise from within the human unconsciousness, as it seeks to fulfill its deepest yearnings and longs.”  God therefore is viewed as a “wish-fulfillment,” arising from repressed, unconscious infantile longings for protection and security.

Karl Barth: “Religion including Christianity is an obstacle and must be eliminated if God is to be discerned in Christ.”  And it is idolatrous, in that it involves people worshiping a human construction.  Religion as a human construction is contrasted with divine revelation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Argued for a religionless Christianity- meaning that “faith which is based not upon untenable and discredited notion of “natural human religiosity,” but upon God’s self-revelation in Christ.  An appeal to culture, to metaphysics, or to religion was to be avoided.”

John B. Cobb: Argues that the argument about religion is pointless.  “There is no such thing as religion.  There are only traditions, movements, communities, peoples, beliefs, and practices that have features that are associated by many people with what they mean by religion.”

And, in other popular definition, religion is defined by the four C’s: Creed, Code, Cult, and Community.  But what is more important to remember is that each religion’s goal is different, such as redemption, liberation, enlightenment, heaven, salvation, etc. This also means that we shouldn’t be qualifying, validating, and judging other religions based on our criteria. Or in other words, we shouldn’t be playing a universal “truth” game since different rules applies to different games.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I think that based on some of the definitions above, facebook is a religion. So just how committed are you?

I now return to my original post from Friday, which stated the purpose of this “fast” as a class assignment, and with the following question. Through the discipline of fasting, did I gain greater control over my life and allowed God to gain access and redirect and heal me in body, mind, and spirit? I will only say that at this point, I am making progress.

*Note: I am aware that all definitions of religion listed above are from male perspectives, but it is with intentions since that is how, traditionally, culture has viewed forms of authority.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2011 in Culture, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Student life, Theology

 

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day 2 apart from facebook

30 Jan

Today is Sunday, January 30, 2011. It is also day two without facebook for me. I left off my last post by asking, where is God in all this? Really, is God to be found in cyber? Yes, maybe, and no; these three. You see, I think that answer really depends on the user. One from the outside cannot really say that God is/not present in cyber space, and then proceed to give their reasons based on their individual perspectives. Actually, they can give a reason, but their reason should be invalidated. One simply cannot answer for someone else.

For me, I still subscribe to a traditional understanding of God’s presence. That is, God is ubiquitous (same as omnipresence) – a fancy theological term for “everywhere.” Put another way, God is present in all of existence, everywhere and at all times. Sure we can go on debating various things, such as creation and theodicy, but I won’t go there on this post. Those are much broader topics that deserve extensive writing, rather than a couple of paragraphs.

For me, here and now, whether I choose to acknowledge God’s presence or not is the real trial. How I prioritize God in the order of things may not have to do with confession, creed, or belief, as much as it is about how I do things. It’s not always easy.

Next question I am considering is this, are social networks such as facebook and twitter a religion? I will get back to you with an answer sometimes tomorrow.

I leave you today with this excellent TED Talk. By now you should know that I am a big fan of the TED Talks. I have a bias towards scholarly, well researched and thought out lectures. I think that the mind should always be nourished with excellence, experience, and inspiration.

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2011 in Culture, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Student life

 

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a day apart from facebook

29 Jan

Today is Saturday, January 29, 2011. It has also been over 24 hours since I last signed on to facebook. It has not been easy. As a matter of fact, I am highly anxious for Monday to arrive so that I can reunite with facebook and friends.

So here is what I did today without facebook. I slept an hour longer. I was able to listen to class lectures online. I even arrived to work on time. Now, to improvise and satisfy my e-communication craving and instant gratification need, I signed on to my blog a couple of times, re-read and edited a couple of my posts. I admit that my writings always need tweaking, but that’s because our human mind is always processing and always feeling the need to reform one’s work. Well, at least that’s how my mind works. But, honestly, in this instance, it was actually more about filling a void than it was about perfecting blog posts. It was about me getting my “fix” and wanting to be connected with a network of people. This is not good. I think. Or maybe I’m just bored because I’m at work.

The main question that I need to ask of myself is, where is God in all this? I will get back to you with an answer, shortly.

 
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Posted by on January 29, 2011 in Culture, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Student life, Uncategorized

 

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peoples, cultures, rituals, and beliefs

25 Jan

A couple of excellent TED Talks on peoples, cultures, rituals, and beliefs, by Anthropologist Wade Davis. I am not always in favor of a non-indigenous person telling indigenous peoples’ stories, but in this case, I support Wade Davis and his important work.

If you are someone who is interested in culture, and I can’t imagine who wouldn’t be, this is kind of important. Please watch these two videos.

Here’s a couple selected excerpts from the second video:

“….the central revelation of anthropology, and that is the idea that the world in which we live in does not exist in some absolute sense, but is just one model of reality, the consequence of one particular set of adaptive choices that our lineage made, albeit successfully, many generations ago.”

“A language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed, a thought, an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities….What could be more lonely than to be enveloped in silence, to be the last of your people to speak your language, to have no way to pass on the wisdom of the ancestors or anticipate the promise of the children? And yet, that dreadful fate is indeed the plight of somebody somewhere on Earth roughly every two weeks, because every two weeks, some elder dies and carries with him [sic] into the grave the last syllables of an ancient tongue….Some of you who say, “Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all just spoke one language?” And I say, “Great, let’s make that language Yoruba. Let’s make it Cantonese. Let’s make it Kogi.” And you’ll suddenly discover what would be like to be unable to speak your own language.”

All this to say, it’s important to teach your children your native language for what it carries, represents, and stories it tells from the past and onward to the future.

 
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Posted by on January 25, 2011 in Culture, Life, Postcolonial

 

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a brief story about Trinity H.S. football

19 Jan

Tonight, Trinity High School of Euless will play against Pearland High School of Houston for the Texas 5A Division State Championship Title. Trinity is no newcomer to this State Championship game, as they’ve won the title in 2005, 2007, and 2009. They are one of the highest ranked high school football team in the country, and have been featured on many national news. They have even done national commercials.

As some of you religion practitioners and academics may want to associate the name Trinity to that of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, unfortunately, the usage of Trinity here refers to the three cities, Hurst, Euless, and Bedford, which comprised the school district in which Trinity High School is located. It is often referred to as HEB or MidCities, and it sits right outside of DFW International Airport. It is also halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. These three cities hold one of the highest concentrated area for Tongans in the U.S., estimated 7-8,000 people.

My interest in this story is sort of family, country, community, and religion related. It’s family related because I have nephews and other family members playing for Trinity. It’s country related because about half of the players are second generation migrants from my native country of Tonga. There’s also a couple of players from our neighborly sister island of Samoa. It’s community related because the entire Polynesian Community will be at this game, along with thousands of the residents of these three cities. It’s religion related because here in Texas, high school football is a civil religion. So perhaps the name Trinity does after all refer to a religion, just in a slightly different context. But then again, church and religion is of extreme importance to these island folks.

Moreover, in case you haven’t encountered too many Tongans or Polynesians in life, they are naturally big boned, overgrown, and many times overweight. They are naturally fit to play sports such as rugby and football. Statistics show that these overgrown island guys have a higher chance of getting into the NFL than any other ethnic group.

Below are a few links that also tell the story:

NFL highlight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I6vb4XwV0o&feature=share

Haka-an ancient island warrior dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxB25H4yB2E&feature=related

With Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbHffGdbEpw

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95295728

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/sports/09iht-TONGANS.1.16810356.html

As much as I would like to see these Tongan kids pursue an academic career, and take great passion with their academic studies, I realize that I must also show up to give them support for what their heart, spirit, and mind long for. While football is not the only way to succeed in life, for many of these kids, it is a way of hope to a future. It is a door of opportunity for them not only as individuals, but also for their many families. After all, an island story is never about an individual as much as it is about the families and community.

Whether Trinity wins or not is beside the point. From a far away south pacific island of Tonga to the lone star state of Texas, Trinity football is a way of life not only for these island folks but also for the thousands of local supporters. I am glad to be a part of this culture and excitement. As an alumni of Trinity High School and as a Tongan-American, I will be attending the game tonight at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington at 8p.m.

Perhaps this brief story about Trinity High School football is not just a Trinity story, not just a football story, not just an island story, but it is also an American story.

T’S UP!!!

*originally written 12/18/2010 as a facebook note. 43,321 people in attendance.

*updated with photos. earlier game photos were borrowed from Kautai.

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 19, 2011 in Culture

 

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