Let me jot down this funny thing that happened just now. Today, our church has mass animated by the children from catechism class. It is really so cute to see the little kids praising and worshipping God. My younger kids did not join us today because they were sound asleep. So, I took a few video clips of the mass to share with them.
I recorded the video in tiny files. So, when I play it on QuickTime, the size of the window is about 4 x 4 inches. My five years old saw it and exclaimed so loud and so full of surprises, “Hah? Is that Jesus? Jesus came to church this morning? I thought Jesus is DEAD!” LOL, it is so funny to have innocent little kid who is so trusting and so faithful. When I put the ear phone to my little boy’s ears, then only he said….”Oh……. not Jesus.” Bless ‘Jesus’.
Ok, on with my homework. Home reflections for Living The Word. We are half way through the course now and I am glad to see so many familiar faces and get to know so many new people. However, I still cannot relax with charismatic style of worship. At least not the ‘joget’ type. Lord, please let this end soon….real soon…..
During the fourth session, we talked about salvation. I blurted out that though I know what is salvation, I won’t use it as my focus to be a good Christian. It caught a few people by surprised. I explained that I had lived 38 years of a ‘punish and reward faith’ and now that I am a Christian, I am all for building God’s kingdom, here and now. I won’t worry too much about salvation because I believe in resurrection and hell.
Next question is ‘In what ways have you found the Bible “useful” in your life?’
I have turned to the Bible when I am fearful, doubtful, worried, angry, revengeful and many other troubled times. The Bible is like a very freaky guide that seems to know our mind. Of course, I know where to read at different times. I know what I can find in Isaiah, Kings, Jeremiah, Psalm and etc. So, maybe I am a little ‘crooked’ in treating the Bible that way. But do you know how comforting it is when you are so full of anger and revengeful and you read something from Jeremiah or King David? It was like ‘wahlau-eh, that’s exactly what I hope God will punish those who did wrong to me’. And the anger dissipated and I am ok again. So, you see, I didn’t exactly abuse it, merely using it to express my anger when I cannot do something about the hurts/betrayals I felt. Bible – A good tool for anger management.
What do we learn about our responsibility in the process of spiritual growth in the verses given.
Let’s do it in Bahasa Indonesia Bible Efesus 4
4:22 yaitu bahwa kamu, berhubung dengan kehidupan kamu yang dahulu, harus menanggalkan manusia lama, yang menemui kebinasaannya oleh nafsunya yang menyesatkan,
4:23 supaya kamu dibaharui di dalam roh dan pikiranmu,
4:24 dan mengenakan manusia baru, yang telah diciptakan menurut kehendak Allah di dalam kebenaran dan kekudusan yang sesungguhnya.
4:25 Karena itu buanglah dusta dan berkatalah benar seorang kepada yang lain, karena kita adalah sesama anggota.
4:26 Apabila kamu menjadi marah, janganlah kamu berbuat dosa: janganlah matahari terbenam, sebelum padam amarahmu
4:27 dan janganlah beri kesempatan kepada Iblis.
Two things – Iblis and Allah (the Christian reference for God in the Sabda-Web — Alkitab). It seems that being Christian, we don’t go for middle paths like my previous faith. It is either, or. Devil or God. The dark or the light. I must make mental note to ask some learned person if we Christians even have a middle ground? Oh, well, letters from St. Paul are sometimes very harsh to me but then, St. Paul probably had to be firm about things as he cannot afford to be a flip-flop disciple of Jesus. So, he gave the ultimatum all the time. Flip-flop kind of instructions don’t work. We know that.
Anyway, during Session 4 of Living The Word, I had shared with my group that I am all all gung-ho about being a disciple and will go out of my way to try to be one. So, in brief, Living The Word is actually too basic for me. Of course, through the journey in the last few weeks, I have mustered enough courage to take action to actually do something about my ‘boredom’ of being a Christian. That is enough reward from this course.
But now, after having gone through this, I know I am ready to journey in something more challenging. I do not know what they have to offer but I want something that really punish the mind and soul in order to have a rebirth.
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