mark 2:1-23: bearing the stretcher

There is this great dramatic story of a man in Capernaum who had been paralyzed, and it seems that he might have persuaded his friends or they might have thought of the idea themselves, to carry the paralyzed man on a stretcher toward the house where Jesus was teaching. (Now keep in mind this home where Jesus was, was filled with a large crowed that filled the space available inside and spilled out the open door into the streets.) Their hope was that Jesus would heal the paralyzed man. Once they arrive they couldn’t penetrate thought the crowds and there was no way inside the home. What then were they left to do? Well, one of them came up with the crazy idea to climb up on the roof, whether it was thatched or tile, and somehow open up a hole through the roof that would allow them to lower the man on his stretcher so that he would bypass the crowd and land right in front of Jesus. There is no doubt this was a crazy scheme, but bold, and it might just work. At this point there are no other options, so they go ahead with the plan.

So, they follow through with the plan, and Mark says that Jesus was impressed by their faith, not just the faith of the paralyzed man, but of his friends as well. Therefore, Jesus pronounced forgiveness and healing on the man, and because of their faith, which lead to them making a hole on the roof, also opened new possibilities for the man. Mark says, that he walked out carrying his stretcher in which he had been carried. I can imagine the awestruck crowd making space for him to exit in a matter that they didn’t when he first arrived at the house.

While others see this story as another great miracle Jesus did. I like to focus on the four friends that carried their friend. How they let the weight of his condition become their burden to bear, and allowed his problems become a problem for them. One way of looking at it is his paralysis became their paralysis, and their ability to move became his ability to move. Also, what is not important is whether or not the man had faith, but most important is his friends did have faith. Which resulted in a miracle. This happens when we practice compassion in the world, and we become the stretcher-bearers for people of this world whether or not they have faith and hope. We need to put our faith and hope to work on their behalf.

Imagine the world we would live in if we all became like the four friends of the paralyzed man and practiced compassion for others and ourselves. Hungry stomachs will be filled. War zones bill be overtaken by peacemaker. Tears will be tried. And God’s compassion will be behind these wonders. If we allowed God’s compassion to be alive in our hands, eyes, and voices, we would bear stretchers, defy crowds, open holes in roofs, and become more part of the solution and less part of the problems in the world.

The struggle always is remembering that we don’t stop and open our hearts, and realize that just outside the front door of our consciousness there are people who are in need. A relative or co-worker. A neighbor or friend. Someone we might have heard about on the radio. Even non-human ones, as endangered species, threatened ecosystems, and plundered landscapes.

It is always our chance to enter into the pains of this world. There is always the chance to bear the stretcher by feeling its weight and carrying it to God, sharing it with God, joining God in the vital connection of compassion, generosity, and kindness.

 

 

 

 

holier than thou?

When I was a student at North Park University, and taking a course on C.S. Lewis, there was a question that C.S. Lewis asked in one of his books that we read for class called “The Most Reluctant Convert” that today has stayed with me. This question that C.S. Lewis asks is, “What is the most significant conversation you have every day?” My response than was my conversation with God, but according to Lewis it’s not, “It’s the conversation you have with yourself before I speak with God, because in that conversation with myself, I decide whether I am going to be honest and authentic with God, or whether I am going to meet God with a false face, a mask, an act, a pretense.” At that point in life I had realized that most of my Christian life I was busy being a pretender. I had come to realize that I have been spending my time being a religious broadcaster, a false Christian projecting an image by which I hope to get praise and respect from other Christians. I was living in a closet hiding from the real me, the insecure me, the sexual me, the doubtful me, the angry me, the complex, different, tempter, actual human me. Overall I had come to know that I was seduced by the appeal of appearing more spiritual to others than I really was. Since than I have tried, and I know I sure can try harder, to live a live of self-examination, especially as a Christian. This is crucial for my growth as a Christian.

Since than more than ever before it has been my goal in life that I become comfortable with the idea of confession. Not sure how that will look like, but it is important that I keep acknowledging the tragic gap between my appearance and my actuality. I need to speak to God and not hide anything from God, for God already knows all of my dark secrets I carry in my life after all. It is tiresome to always project a happy, likeable, and “spiritual” image, when I should hold up to God the regrets and remorse of life. Also, I have come to learn that when I try to appear no holier, stronger, or better than I actually am. I keep the vital connection in tact, unsevered. The connection of “I am who I am” with God’s “I am who I am.”

Meanwhile, I believe that if we as Christians practice self-examination and confession, the more we are likely to stop the fault and wrongs that are not simply personal, but the wrongs and faults that are ingrained in the patterns of church, denomination, tribe, nation, or civilization. If we are able to acknowledge that in our Christian communities there is lying, coveting, stealing, seeking revenge, and other personal sins. If we can truly confess the things listed above which is eventually combined to create social categories of evil that will and do emerge within Christian circles. Such as social injustice, economic oppression, racism, and class or caste consciousness, heat waves of homophobia or patriarchy, and blinding blizzards of systemic evil. We can, just maybe can bring true peace and justice to all life-forms of this earth.

 

 

hoping for the new christ in me

As my time gets closer to my new life as a seminarian, at Pacific School of Religion, and knowing that I have been some kind of a drop out in my Christian faith the past few years. I have been reflecting a lot about the Christian faith and myself as a Christian. Overall, I hope that being at PSR will transform how I think now as a Christian and even more so from the past. Because in the past as a Christian all I worried about was being more religious than my fellow brothers and sisters in the faith.

In the past I was always worried about being the best Christian. I knew that in order to be somebody in my church and with other Christians around me. I needed to know as much as possible about the bible. I needed to gain more and more Bible lore. I always wanted to be ready to have answers to any questions or comment on anything that had to relate in the Bible. No matter if it were a person or a place I needed to make sure I knew what part of biblical history it was from and why it was important to know what I had to say. But, knowing the bible for me was never enough. I needed to know more complexities of theology. Especially because my previous church was about dispensationalism, and that in itself brought a lot of complexities that dealt with detailed charts, time lines, arguments, and counter arguments.

On top of being able to argue well about what I believed, I needed to know and understand what others believed in. Enough so I can proof them wrong. Which usually meant misunderstanding those other systems of beliefs enough to exaggerate and belittle them.

There is no question that I applied myself diligently, but a few problems took place with all these complexities in my life. One, the more and more I mastered what I wanted to believe that more I was fatigued. I don’t think I saw any spirituality in any of this. There was no Christlikeness or fruitfulness in my life or in the life of others. In fact a lot of the members in my past church and Christians I met, the more they knew the meaner they got. It seemed that all of their knowledge was just to use it as ammunition, which made them dangerous and not pleasant to be around with.

In conclusion, I pray and hope that as a Christian I can overcome my Pharisee way of life. I hope, and God willing PSR may equip me so I can reach out and minister to the prisoners of this world as an honest and spiritual Christian. Jesus words come to mind when he speaks to the crowds, “Woe, to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert , and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matt. 23:15 NRSV) This is not exactly the religious Christian I want to be and spend my life as. I pray that this time back in America and my start as a Seminarian will be a time being awake to God and his aliveness, and to be at home in the universe connected and at peace with everything.

back in america

I am long overdue with this post. Especially since my last post was in South Korea where Rebecca and I lived for three years. That was in March which makes it about four months now since our move back home to America. Since our move back home, I still find myself wondering when I am going to experience what people call reverse culture shock.Maybe its because I was aware of it too much of how it might strike me, and so for whatever reason I was not affected by reverse culture shock. Maybe it will happen much later than usual. Either way, its great to be back and it has been wonderful not having much to do while we live at my mom’s house, in Merced, California for the summer, until we move into our own apartment in Berkeley. Most important I am joyful to make a full circle in life and be back in my home state of California after leaving it in 2003. I am excited to see what kind of post’s will bring from living in California. What a journey it has been, and excited for the new journey to unfold.

last post in the land of the morning calm

Three years ago Rebecca and I were anxiously waiting to start our new lives in S. Korea. Now,  we anxiously wait to head back home and embark on a new life in California. So, as this past week passes by and we get ready for a new life in America. I reflect about my life in S. Korea. A life I never could have fathomed in the past living. There is no doubt that our decisions to move to S. Korea was a good one. There is so much that I experienced, but I will share three major highlights about my time in S. Korea.

First, my experiecne with Buddhism was very minimal before I lived in S. Korea. The only knowledge I had about Buddhism was what I learned at the Univeristy in my world religions class, and that was very minimal. Living in S. Korea I came in contact with Buddhism at a personal level. I encounter various monks who were kind to Rebecca and I. Also, I got the chance to spend a good amount of time inside Buddhist temples where it was always peaceful. The times I spend inside the temples with ten feet golden Buddhas will always be a major highlight for me in S. Korea. Mostly because it reinforced my idea of being comfortable with the unknown. As a Christian in the past I always felt the need to have answers to everything, but a few years ago, while I was still a Univesity student, I realized that it is ok to be a Christian and not have all the answers. That realization brought peace to my life, and that was reinforced more inside Buddhist temples. Mainly because Buddhism is such a mysterious religion and being able to spend inside the temples and appreciating my surroundings without knowing or judging the religion was calming to my spirit. To be able to just respect and appreciate how the monks and Buddhist showed their respect and dedication to Buddha was always inpisring and emotional. Their dedication and commitment to spiritual growth was always moving, and encouraged me to learn more about spiritual practices in my own faith.

Second, Korean food is delicious. There is so much variety in the food here, that I don’t have the time now to share what they are. Because I am so familliar with Korean food and have eaten the food the past three years everyday. I feel that it has become like Mexican food. Since I grew up with Mexican food, I will always say Mexican food is the best and will always mention how delicious Mexican food is. In that same sense Korean food has become like Mexican food, now Mexican food is still the best, its just now I have another food that I am familliar with and that will always bring me back to my time in S. Korea which was my home for three years. I will miss Korean food a lot.

Finally,  the third major highlight of S. Korea is my love for tea. I never cared for tea or knew anything about it, but now that is all I want to drink. Especially green tea. What is interesting is that S. Korea is not really known for their tea, and there are not that many tea houses. Actually coffee is what people love here. I was surprised how many coffee shops there are here, but they are everywhere. If you want coffee, just walk around for about a minute and you will come across one, or three of them right next to each other.

Now, the things I regret during my stay in S. Korea. I regret not learning the language, not climbing the mounatins that surrounds all of Korea, and not doing a temple stay

S. Korea land of the morning calm, you will be missed.

martin luther king jr. day

Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the best examples there is to being a Christian in America in our time and in the past. Yet, he is usually not revered by white Christian Evangelicals. Why is this? I am not sure, but my guess is maybe they don’t even consider him a Christian, but rather a civil rights leader only. Also, maybe they don’t want to be reminded about not supporting Martin Luther King Jr. during his demonstrations and not-violent resistance, because they were afraid it would create civil disobedience; or Evangelicals were simply racist and again, figure he wasn’t a true Christian because he was speaking against a government Evangelical revere so much and are nationalistic about. What is a fact is that Evangelicals in the past had the opportunity to march and demonstrate along with Martin Lither King Jr., but didn’t. They dropped the ball and failed to understand their responsibilities as Christians to their fellow brothers and sisters of the faith.

So, while Martin Luther King Jr. was a great civil rights leader and extraordinary man who fought hard to stop segregation. Lets remember his courage and convictions come from the teachings of Jesus. A major ingredient to his heart and believe in the rights of all people, no matter what race one is from. Therefore, while I could easily have shared a quote or a speech that will honor Martin Luther King Jr. on this day as a great civil rights leaders. Instead I hope we can remember Martin Luther King Jr. as a Christian, and a pastor. This is usually not what people think of him first. So, let’s not forget that he first and foremost was a follower of Jesus. A Christian Baptist who clearly understood Jesus’ teachings and believed that social justice was a key component of being a follower of Jesus. May his spirit to fight the struggles of life and the injustices that exist in our country and around the world be passed to us one day and never die.

 

 

matthew 25:34-50

It is not common these days to hear about Christians doing remarkable works for the faith. I believe that there are no Christian leaders today that I can look up to and wish I was them, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Although, there are some amazing people who are doing great works to reach out to those who are experiencing injustice in their lives. Such example is Catholic Priest Alejandro Solalinde who runs a shelter, for traveling migrants, called “Hermanos del Camino” (Brothers of the Road) in Ciudad Ixtepec, Mexico. Father Alejandro is a 65-year-old priest who protects traveling migrants who are traveling from all over Latin America trying to make it to the Unites States. That is because many migrants while in Mexico waiting to catch the next train; are targeted by human traffickers, organ thieves, and drug gangs who are looking for traveling migrants to capture, rape, rob or harass in the train yards. Unfortunately, these traveling migrants are also targeted by the government authorities and find themselves being extorted for their money or sex.

With this knowledge Father Alejandro spends his days at the freight train tracks offering the tired migrants a meal and a place to stay before they continue their journey to the US. At the same time, he is fighting for the protection of undocumented workers and pleading for any kind of help to make sure that these migrants are safe. This struggle for the protection of traveling migrants has landed him in jail. Not only do the migrants get no protection from the authorities, they also don’t protect him as a Priest.

In the mist of danger and 65 years old, an age where many Christian Americans are thinking about where to retire and how to live more comfortably, Father Alejandro Solalinde is doing God’s work by feeding the hungry, providing water for those who are thirsty, and ultimately providing a place to stay to complete strangers. I pray that one day I can have the courage as Father Alejandro has done and do God’s work to those that are marginalized in the world as these traveling migrants are and continue to be. Also, I pray that many more Christians in American will have the same spirit and compassion as Father Alejandro has to protect undocumented workers who currently live in the US.

Any one who wish to help Father Alejandro Solalinde can take action by signing a petition here.