Advent Reflections on Progress at Friendship

Advent is a time to reflect on Christ's birth and on the past year as we prepare ourselves for a new year. Kay and I have begun our sixth year at Friendship. We couldn't have enjoyed it more, and have tried to build on the gospel foundation established by your previous pastors.

Some of the highlights and challenges have been:

• Every year we have around 25% of the congregation who move on to new challenges and callings. We can only hope and pray that the seeds of the gospel grew in their lives, and that they can take that seed and plant it somewhere else. At the same time, we almost always receive back as many new people. This dynamic makes the congregation quite welcoming. In short, everyone knows what it feels like to be "the new kid on the block" and so along with trying to provide hospitable worship, it makes for an environment that is dynamic, welcoming and a real opportunity to speak to both those who know the Lord and those seeking to know Him.
• We try to grow community and small groups. It's not easy as people work long hours, are often tired, and scattered over the city. Pastor Jason has done the church special service in expanding the number of Beta and mid-week groups. 
• I had the opportunity of taking a few men to India this last spring to serve a mission where they plant churches and staff a children's home. Some of our younger people participated in an English camp on the southern part of the Island. We also had the opportunity to give toward the typhoon that devastated the Philippines. 
• We love our international students and so it's been a special joy to see the regular contingent of Indonesian, African students and others from all over the world on any given Sunday.
• Our attendance with the children during the fall to spring months continues to be somewhere between 200 and 225 most Sundays.
• We continue to have a connection with the Redeemer City to City Church Planting Movement. It has enriched Pastor Jason and myself in an extraordinary way. 
• We have had a growing contingent of young couples with small children and more weddings in the past year than anytime that I can recall since I have been here. That has increased the numbers in the children's ministry. We continue to pray about how to improve our ministry to teenagers.
• We are grateful for our elders, deacons, small group leaders, Li Lin Wu, Pastor Jason and Jerry Chiao who all make significant contributions.

Kay and I would like to thank you for your generosity to both of us. Nee-tai-ku-che (that's my poor attempt to say in Mandarin, "you are too generous." We also thank you for your financial support of the church. Even though you have taken on two full-time pastors, the giving has kept pace. May his grace and peace be with all of you during this season.

The Shield of Faith

This Sunday we look at "The Shield of Faith" from Ephesians 6. The Roman shield was large enough to cover the whole body. It was made of wood covered with hide, and bound with iron at the top and bottom. When dipped in water before a battle, it could extinguish fiery arrows that had been dipped in pitch and set ablaze. Paul said that it was strong enough to extinguish all the fiery darts of the enemy. What does it represent? Most commentators say that Satan sends shafts of temptation, doubt, accusation, lust, greed and that the shield of faith is to be used to counteract these shafts. But mostly it seems to refer to those seasons of fiery trial that both Peter, James, and the Book of Job describe in great detail. Here are a couple of things to observe:

1. You can notice that the shields are almost large enough to cover the entire body. 
2. You can notice that they were joined with other shields so as to provide an almost impregnable wall of defense. Behind the army of shields, there were the archers who would counteract with their arrows against the enemy.

The Bible says that "this is the victory that overcomes the world--even our faith." The shield of faith means everything that we believe about God, Christ, the Bible, life and death and its application particularly in the time of fiery assault. We are to always "have on" the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. This means that truth should go right to the bone of our life so it comes out instinctively during the little skirmishes of life. It means that we are to live from the imputed righteousness of Christ that actually creates a righteous and holy life. We should always know that we have peace with God through Jesus life, death and resurrection. These parts of the armor are to be strapped on at all times.

But then there are those seasons of life that bring special trial. We are suddenly laid off from a job. We have a serious set-back with our health. A loved one leaves us or dies. During that time we need  to "take up" the shield of faith--faith in Christ and His promises, faith in the character of God that He is good and has good plans for us. The shields were almost as large as a door. It's a reminder that Jesus said he is the door to God, but also we could say he is the door of protection against all kinds of assaults. Moreover, it is not a solitary battle. We aren't to do it alone, but with one another as we create together an impregnable wall of defense against the enemy. This Sunday, we will also look at a case study of what it looks like in the life of one man under tremendous assault--namely Job. 

Sunday is also the beginning of Advent. This Sunday we have the advent candle lighting as we begin the celebration of his birth. Bring your friends so they can explore what it means to have Christ in their life who is the ultimate shield against every attack!

The Philippines: How Do You Find Hope When The Storm Comes?

This Sunday we have another opportunity to give a special offering to Taiwan World Vision who are assisting the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. And also don't forget to pray for Karen Yates who is on a team doing relief in one of the devastated areas.

It prompted some reflections on how do you find hope when the storm hits? We've been looking at Ephesians 6 where Paul says to "Put on the armor of God... so you can stand in the evil day." Well, the evil day comes with fair regularity in the Philippines. It's not unusual for the Philippines to have 20 typhoons every year along with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, armed insurgencies and political upheaval. So I was interested when someone sent me the following report from Yahoo News. I've extracted some of the main paragraphs from the article:

They found the hoop in the ruins of their obliterated neighborhood. They propped up the backboard with broken wood beams and rusty nails scavenged from vast mounds of storm-blasted homes. A crowd gathered around. And on one of the few stretches of road here that wasn't overflowing with debris, they played basketball. I didn't know what to think at first when I stumbled upon six teenagers shooting hoops over the weekend in a wrecked neighborhood of Tacloban, a city that Typhoon Haiyan reduced to rubble, bodies and uprooted trees when it slammed into the Philippines Nov. 8.

As a foreign correspondent working in the middle of a horrendous disaster zone, I didn't expect to see people having a good time — or asking me to play ball. I was even more stunned when I learned that the basketball goal was one of the first things this neighborhood rebuilt. It took a moment for me to realize that it made all the sense in the world. The kids wanted to play so they can take their minds off what happened, said Elanie Saranillo, one of the spectators. "And we want to watch so we, too, can forget."Saranillo, 22, now lives in a church after her own home was leveled by the storm.

I covered the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and cannot recall a single laugh. Every nation is resilient in its own way, but there is something different in the Philippines that I have not yet put my finger on. While walking through Tacloban's ruins, I and my colleagues were almost always greeted by kind words. When I asked how people were doing, people who had lost everything said, "Good." Superficial words, of course, but combined with the smiles, and with hearing "Hey, Joe" again and again (an old World War II reference to G.I. Joe), they helped form a picture I have not encountered in other disaster zones.Perhaps it has something to do with an expression Filipinos have: "Bahala Na." It essentially means: Whatever happens, leave it to God. 

So where does the resilience come from? I can't say with certainty, and don't want to give a superficial answer. There is common grace that God gives all kinds of people (Christian and non-Christian) to weather storms. The Philippines have a long standing Catholic tradition and a growing evangelical and charismatic presence. I would like to think that some of the hope and determination is rooted in something more than a kind of phlegmatic stoicism, but in the hope that Jesus promises. The author seems to leave the door open to that interpretation.

Of course the happy story doesn't in any way take away from the large question of why there is so much misery in the world? Maybe an even bigger question is, "Why is there so much joy in the world?" and "How can a bunch of boys play basketball with such joy after a disaster?" The problem of good is as large as the problem of suffering. I can't answer all the questions, but I do know that we have a God who entered into human suffering in the person of His Son Jesus. I hope and pray that everyone in the Philippines and here gets a vision of that.

In any case it's a time for all of us to reflect on our lives if we are putting the armor of God on today, so that when the evil day comes we are able to stand. A parallel passage is in Matthew 7 where Jesus says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." Putting on the armor of God, building on the rock. It's saying the same thing--just different imagery. I hope those images describe all of us.