A Christmas Reflection
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
~~~
A God Directed Path
The other day, Saturday, I led our worship service at Nuevo Dia – a Spanish version of New Day. If you’re not familiar with New Day, it is a monastic type of a community. Like emergent. It is an emergent type of a church. It is not a new way of doing church; rather, it is rekindling an old tradition. Specifically, it is a group gathering that gets together on a weekly basis to worship. That’s beside the other daily missional things that the group does. Its visional leader is Dr. Elaine Heath, a Professor from Perkins School of Theology, SMU, who teaches Evangelism among other courses. Better than me explaining what it is, you should check out the website at www.newdaydallas.org.
I initially became involved with Nuevo Dia as part of a class assignment. But I found myself really enjoying the group for its small size, informality, atmosphere, and most of all, its people, which is composed of both students from Perkins and people from the local community. This way of doing church has made an impact on me that I wish to start a similar group gathering at the church where I will be serving for my internship starting in August. I am really excited about this opportunity. I am even more excited because I feel that this did not just happen out of serendipity, but rather it was God directed. This, I believe!
Now, getting back to my leading our worship service. I was asked last month by Shellie, who leads the Nuevo Dia Community, if I wanted to take part in leading worship service during the Summer. I responded, yes, of course. Shellie sent out the schedule earlier this month, and she had two people leading each worship service while two other people provide a small meal for the group. I was to co-lead twice and also co-feed twice over the Summer months. I thought, no problem, I can do this. I can coordinate this leading part with the other person, who in my mind has got to have more experience than me with no experience. Then, the unexpected distressful thing happened. Due to another engagement, the other person said she could not be there. I thought, just lovely, but I moved on. That was two weeks ago and life got busy for me that I kinda put this leading thing in the back burner. Then last Wednesday evening, thoughts of Nuevo Dia started filling my mind. Too tired to confront myself that I needed to prepare something, I put it off to the next day. I am very good at procrastination. Not trusting my memory, and as I do with important things, I intentionally wrote it down on a piece of paper to look into it the next day. The next day, Thursday, came but I still refused to act on it. I could have, perhaps, looked at the schedule to confirm the date, or even email Shellie. But I didn’t. Really, I didn’t want to face reality and therefore continued to prolong the inevitable. Do you ever do that? I mean when we delay doing the inevitable, we’re really just prolonging self-created stress. Yet, it never fails and we continue to repeat this behavior.
Anyway, later that same evening, like some telepathic thing, I received an email from Shellie reminding me that I was to lead on Saturday and that the other person was not going to be there. Sure, it wasn’t really telepathic as Shellie was only doing what a good leader does of sending out reminders. Still, I like to think of it that way. She also asked for the worship layout once I had it ready, and to email her if I needed help. Anxiety set in and instead of emailing Shellie, I spent that evening worrying about it. I knew that I had to work the next evening for 12 hours straight, and that if I didn’t have anything prepared before I went to work, I could not pull it off. Well, what do you know, it was time for me to go to work the next day and I still did not have a clue as to what I was going to do for worship. I didn’t even know what an order of worship should look like. At 5 a.m. Saturday morning, 12 hours away from the scheduled gathering time, I emailed Shellie and said that I was at work and that I had not yet prepared anything, but that I was going to have something prepared that morning and would send it to her when it was ready. Truthfully, I still had no clue, but for some strange reason I was feeling more confident. I don’t know how!
In my mind, my worst fear was that not only was I going to disappoint myself but that I was also going to disappoint a lot of other people. I spent more time worrying about it than actually doing something about it. But in the midst of those worrying hours, I continuously sent God telepathic messages known as prayers asking for emergency help. In those messages, I told God that if I am really called to lead in a church setting, then I should have something prepared. If I am really called to start an internship at a church in a couple of months where I will be leading people and church regularly, then I definitely needed help, a sign, or better, I needed worship order contents, right then without delay.
Well what do you know, I got off from work at 7a.m. Saturday morning, exhausted from working all night that I could barely keep my eyes open, but within a couple of hours managed to put something together and emailed it to Shellie. Yes, God responded to my emergency telepathic messages. I received the sign and affirmation that I needed. I received the worship order contents that I asked for. I also got to sleep for a couple of hours before heading over to Nuevo Dia in East Dallas. God is amazing!
Worship service at Nuevo Dia went well and I received positive feedbacks from Shellie and other colleagues. One of my colleagues said, “it seemed very organized.” I thought, “wow, if you only knew!” I also thought that we had a lively discussion over the Scripture text that God and I had chosen. This, I have to smile about! 🙂
The next day, Sunday, at church, the pastor told a story of another pastor’s experience with his first sermon. He told the story of how anxious this new pastor was that when he gave his first sermon, no one in the audience seemed to be listening. He was obviously disappointed. Then at the end of the service, one person waited till the very end and came to him and told him how much his sermon meant and how it preached to him. That one person gave this new pastor hope that, perhaps, there may be a second sermon. Now, this was not a first sermon for me, as in a postmodern way of doing church, it is more discussion and conversation based. Still!
About a week ago, I recall reading a friend’s facebook status where he said something like, “If you are not welcome at the place where you are, consider moving on. Someone needs what you have to offer.” A simple and important message of affirmation and hope.
I don’t know what the future holds for me and I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. I do know, however, without a doubt, that God is always leading me in a path. This path, I believe, is the path that Jesus said, “come and follow…” Indeed, I will continue to communicate with God telepathically and try not so much to sweat the small stuff.
Mother’s Day
To everyone celebrating today, or being celebrated, especially Mothers, a big Happy Mother’s Day!
For me, my mother portrayed endless acts of selfless love and compassion not only for us children, but also toward others. As I celebrate in remembrance my Mother, I also recognize that others may not share a similar or happy story for various reasons. Maybe they’re mourning the death of their mom. Maybe they’re mourning the death of their child. Maybe they’re restless about being a mom. Maybe they’ve never had a mom. Maybe their mom was just terrible. Maybe they wished to be a mom but unable to be one.Maybe they are a mom but wished they weren’t. Maybe they’re feeling inadequate about being a mom. Maybe they’re struggling so hard just so that she can provide for her children and feel like a mom. Maybe they’re not being appreciated as a mom. Maybe mom lives in poverty, whether economically, emotionally, or spiritually. Maybe they don’t know how to be a mom. Maybe you’re that mom. Maybe, just maybe, we ought to be sensitive to their stories, your stories, and our stories.
Whatever the reasons, may all of us find peace and joy and know that our Mother, who created the earth, the world, and everything in it, loves all of us as her children.
So regardless of gender or position, if you have or will play the role of Mother to a child, adult, pet, other animals, other creatures, and creation in general, Happy Mother’s Day!
Postcolonial Book Review
This is an invitation and reminder that if any of you is interested in doing a book review for Postcolonial Networks, please let me know. If you already have a book that you’re interested in reviewing, great; otherwise, if you need suggestions, I have a growing list.
And, by the way, if you currently have a book out and you’ve had it for over 8 weeks, please message me of when to expect that review. If you’ve already reviewed a book, and interested in reviewing another, please message me as well, and tell me what book you’re interested in reviewing. I have some time this week to order book(s).
Thank you for your contribution to the conversation on postcolonialism, where the subaltern is re-presented, de-othered and re-othered, de-colonized, yet postcolonized, de-claimed and re-claimed, spoken for, and yet not spoken with, differentiated, yet no different, subjected and indigenized, liberated, yet dominated, exotified, yet commodified. historified, yet un-identified, individualized, yet institutionalized. I could, perhaps, go on?! :)))
“Words empty out with age. Die and rise again, accordingly invested with new meanings, and always equipped with a secondhand memory.” Trinh T. Minh-ha
“The place of the subaltern, as complicated by imperialist project, is confronted by the ‘Subaltern Studies’ group. They must ask: Can the subaltern speak?” Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Helpful links:
- 10 Reasons why Graduate Students should publish book reviews. (Although the reviews are not limited to Graduate Students.) http://wozzeck33.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-ten-reasons-graduate-students-in.html
- PN (Postcolonial Networks) Website: http://postcolonialnetworks.com/
- Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23694574926&v=wall
- JPTT (Journal of Postcolonial Theory and Theology) http://www.postcolonialjournal.com/
- Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/postcolonialjournal?ref=ts
Second day of Postcolonial academic engagement at Brite Divinity School
“I hear you’re roaming the halls. What’s going on?”
That was how one of my conversations went with one of my friends, Chrystal. She was kidding of course with the “roaming the halls” part, nevertheless, I am sure that was what some of them wondered. Why was I there? From curious faces to puzzlement, to surprises, to happy, to cheerful, to maybe, even, suspicious, of my presence. That is of course, until I told them that I was there because of Dr. Kwok Pui Lan. I mainly saw PhD students the day before.
In Chapel, Dr. Kwok Pui Lan preached a sermon titled “The Samaritan Woman at the Well.” This sermon was appropriately chosen in celebration of International Women’s Day. Now, you may be thinking, there’s nothing original in that sermon as it had been preached many times before and continues to be preached today. Certainly that’s what I was thinking. To my pleasant surprise, however, that was not the case. What was different here is that instead of the focus being on Jesus, the focus was on the Samaritan Woman. Dr. Kwok invited us to re-read the story through the Samaritan woman’s lens.
Some of her questions or points that I recall are: why is it that we continue to focus on her five husbands? What is the significance about the five husbands? Why is it that we focus on our interpretation of morality? Why is it that we let her sexual conducts define her totality? Dr. Kwok would go on to underscore the fact that the Samaritan woman chose to become a bearer of Salvation. She reminded us that the Samaritan woman was a “stranger.” That is, someone who is different from the normative of society or does not conform to society’s expectations. If we pay attention to the “stranger,” it just may bring new possibilities and new horizons. Of course there was more to the sermon, but that’s all I can remember.
After Chapel, Dr. Kwok gave a lecture on the Tiger Mom Syndrome in Weatherly Hall. A very interesting topic that have created a lot of buzz in the U.S. lately.That concluded her visit with Brite Divinity School. It certainly was an honor and privilege to have been in her presence. Here is a link to her CV if you’re not familiar with her scholarship, http://www.eds.edu/sec.asp?pageID=82.
Next up, I sat in with Dr. Namsoon Kang and her Postcolonial class. I absolutely love her classes and her teaching pedagogy. I love the way that she challenges and motivates us students simultaneously. That concluded my visit with Brite for the past two days. I then drove back to Dallas to sit in or participate in a Sample Theology Class taught by a faculty candidate for an open position in Christian Theology at Perkins.
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I will also add that it was also good to see Carl Stoneham there for the last two days. Carl is a PhD student at SMU in Religion and Culture. He is also a Brite graduate.
It was good to catch up with so many friends and colleagues: Adam DJ Brett, Alfie Wines, Crystal Fisher, Christopher Thomas, Michael Riggs and others. Same goes to the professors, as it was great to see them as well, particularly those that I didn’t see yesterday, Toni Craven, Keri Day, David Gouwens, Brian Feille, Nancy Gorsuch.
A day with Dr. Kwok Pui Lan, A Postcolonial and Feminist Scholar
Today was a very good day, but also very tiring.
Student colloquy at Brite Divinity School with Dr. Kwok Pui Lan went well this morning. That is besides the fact that I arrived late (must be a colored people thing), but only to walk in and see friendly and welcoming faces. As I walked in, Dr. Timothy Lee immediately pointed me to my seat, which as a respondent, I was seated between Dr. Namsoon Kang and Dr. Kwok Pui Lan. That was a great honor!
Topic of discussion: Dr. Kwok Pui Lan’s chapter in Off The Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology. Edited by Dr. Kwok Pui Lan, Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock and others.
Adam DJ Brett was the other respondent. I thought he responded exceedingly well, as always. I was told I did well too! 🙂 I will try to upload a podcast when I have it figured out. It could be sooner if someone can provide me with simple to follow directions. Sorry I did not get everyone’s photo that participated at the student colloquy this morning. (I was a little occupied catching up with people.)
It was so good to see colleagues and friends. It was also so good to see some of my old professors, even if only for a brief moment, Dr. Warren Carter, Dr. James Duke, Dr. Joretta Marshall, and Dr. Leo Perdue. And of course, Dr. Namsoon Kang and Dr. Timothy Lee. I hope to see the rest tomorrow.
We had lunch with the TCU Religion Department’s faculty and students at the Wesley Foundation.
And to end the day, we also had dinner at a Korean restaurant in Fort Worth with BASA (Brite Asian Student Association).
About this morning: I roamed around Brite/TCU looking for a parking and unfortunately could not find one. I was not expecting the parking fiasco there. But I was glad to see their new building under construction. I ended up parking illegally, and received a nice parking ticket from TCU.
Summing up my thoughts for today is that song from Cheers:
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where
Everybody knows
Your name.
You wanna go where people know
People are all the same
You wanna go where
Everybody knows your name.
more snow and ice in north texas!
Ok, once again, while most schools in North Texas have announced they’re closing today due to inclement weather and dangerous driving conditions, SMU have announced that we will be open. Hmmm, I wonder if SMU ‘s weather meteorologist lives here in N. Texas!? I mean snow and ice continues to fall. It’s currently 16˚ F (-9˚ C) outside and temperature continues to drop. You don’t have to be a meteorologist to interpret that as dangerous driving conditions!
Last week, the surrounding cities of the Dallas-Fort Worth areas were immobilized due to unusual bitter cold weather that brought lots of snow and ice. I know it’s a laughing matter for some of you because it is nothing compared to what people up North have had to endure. Still, it was plenty of snow and ice for us. As my niece Lia in Boston commented last week, we, Dallas people were complaining about little “snow flurries.” Lol. 😉 But driving conditions were really treacherous, thus resulting in all schools being shut down.
Today is one more day added to that shut down, for most. The truth is, I am not too thrilled about the school closures. I understand that nature always takes precedence, but I would like for the school systems to have an alternative plan in these types of situations. For example, they could plan an online course or something. Nowadays, everyone have the capability of teleconferencing. I mean a whole of week of school closure is an economic cost to all parties, whether directly or indirectly.
Now, I am not complaining. I’m just expressing my opinion!
the sexism of auto “repair” shops
I am a bit baffled about how a certain auto shop refused to change my car’s oil last Monday, and instead caused me unnecessary anxiety. Here’s how it went. Last Monday I went to have my car’s oil change. I will refer to this auto shop as “Shop A.” It would be the second time around for them to service my car, with a simple oil change. The first time I visited Shop A, I was a bit hesitant, but I decided to give them a chance for convenience, distance, and economic reasons. The reason for my hesitancy with Shop A is due to a situation that occurred nine years ago, which I will delve into later.
During my visit last Monday, Shop A denied me service. No, not because of some discriminatory practice or bigotry reasons (at least not with this shop); rather, they claimed that my car had major issues and that they were not equipped to fix it. That is a first, considering auto repair shops usually offer to fix things that aren’t broken. Here’s their technician’s comment: “massive oil leaks. Rear mainseal [sic] leak. Leaking from oil pan. Poss. Transmition [sic] Leak. Poss. Valve cover leak.” Sounds pretty serious right? They advised me that I needed to get it taken care of right away. So, I called the other auto shop. I will refer to them as “Shop B” (specialized in my car’s make), and the one that I usually go to. I described the situation to Shop B. In so many words, here’s what they said, there’s really nothing to worry about. Unless I see a puddle of oil on the ground, there’s no urgency to my car’s condition. However, I still scheduled to take my car in the following day. Due to the weather condition this past week, I was unable to make it over there until yesterday.
Here’s Shop B’s diagnosis: there’s no “massive” oil leak. There is a little bit of leakage that’s occurring, but that is “normal.” There was no urgency that I needed to worry about and that I can wait until my next timing belt change, which is about a year away, to fix up the leaking points. I thought, you have got to be kidding me! I kept asking for reassurance and the Shop B technician assured me there was nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact, he said he couldn’t believe that Shop A refused to change my oil. What a relief!! I sort of trust these guys more since my car type is the only make that they service.
So how could Shop A get it wrong? I can only say that it’s probably due to lack of experience and their unfamiliarity with my car type. That’s a nice way of not saying they were incompetent. If it was an independent auto shop and one that offered to fix my car’s problems, then I may have been suspicious of them. But the shop is attached to a conglomerate retailer, which is the reason I went there in the first place. For one reason, their personnels are paid hourly and it doesn’t benefit them to give me false information or attempt to defraud me. The other reasons as stated previously are due to economic, distance, and convenience.
Now here’s that story from nine years ago. I went in for a routine oil change at a Lube and Tube place, that I will refer to as “Shop C.” I had been visiting Shop C for a couple of years, and was satisfied with their service. To make a long story short, it would be several thousands of dollars later that I would get my car back. However, my car was not in the same condition when I took it in. Shop C claimed there were issues that needed to be fixed right away, and like a typical dummy I said, ok, fix it. Well they didn’t fix it because there was nothing to be fixed in the first place. Instead they created a problem, which they could not repair. A second major auto repair shop was involved but they only added aggravation.
This experience caused me so much agony that I contacted the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, and even attempted to find an attorney. At that time, I had already spent roughly $3,500-$4,000. Because the cost was under $5,000, I was advised by an attorney that it would be more cost efficient if I would just take it to Small Claims Court. This was during a very busy time for me, and I needed a reliable car. Needless to say, I did not have the time to take them to small claims court, as I had other pressing issues that required my attention. So bottom line is, the case was never resolved in my favor. After corresponding with the Attorney General’s office, Shop B offered an alternative plan, but one I did not agree to. The other major auto repair shop denied any fault.
From that experience, I made the vow that never again will I take my car to one of those places. Later that year, I was contacted by a national television show whom wanted to hear my story. They were doing a special segment on auto shops across the country and how they purposely defraud and take advantage of women. Apparently my story is not unique to me, but rather, common among women. It’s a story of deceit, sexism, and misuse of power.
Anyway, I ended up giving away my car to my brother, and buying a “luxury” car, with the intent of always taking it back to the dealer for all work. I demanded service and was willing to pay for it. I religiously followed this practice for seven years. But as I made other life choices, my lesser income could no longer support the dealer cost. So instead, I started taking my car to a specialized shop, Shop B, as described above.
I am of course relieved that I didn’t have to fork up “massive” amount of money to pay for a “massive” oil leak. Still, I walked away paying $440.33 for other things, like rear brake pads, oil change, air filter, and other routine checkup. Now, did all those things really needed to be repaired? Oil change, yes. Others, maybe. Maybe not. I have no clue. The point of this story is that as a woman, I know very little about cars. And the auto “repair” shops know that. Women are always at the mercy of auto “repair” shops. It makes me want to become an auto mechanic.
On a more positive note, my car’s condition is very good considering it’s 11 years old (I’ve had it for 9) and at a 182,000+ miles. The rumor is, my car can easily hit 300,000+ mileage. I am so excited!
So next time you see me and my car, know there’s a story to it!
SMU will be open on Thursday!
Well, it is official, SMU will be open for classes and regular business tomorrow, regardless. They did, however, make a provision for those students that live off campus that if they do not feel safe driving to school, one can be excused from classes provided that they email their professors in advance. Otherwise, all are encouraged to take public transportation. Only problem is, public transportation here in the DFW area is an anomaly. I certainly do not live by any. We’ll see come morning if I decide to venture out to Dallas. I’m already 45min to an hour away without this mess! I can just imagine how long it will take me to get to school.
I am, however, a bit anxious to get back to school. Two days of idle time is long enough!
a journey in existence 