Sermons

Reflection May 21st, 2023

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1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11/ Acts 1:6-14/ John 17:1-19

In the World, Yet Not of the World

Jesus and John the Baptist

What is the difference between Jesus and John the Baptist? It is very possible I have already told you this. A lot of scholars believe that Jesus used to be John’s disciple, which means they started from the same theological position. They both preached about the kingdom of Heaven (or “kingdom of God”), and believed in spiritual purity. The reason why Jesus left John’s group and started a new movement is explained in the difference between those two.

What did Jesus do that John didn’t do? John and every religious sect that stayed in the desert away from the villages and towns did so because they believed that they had to be separated from the society in order to maintain spiritual purity. Jesus, on the other hand, believed that God’s people should live in the society, yet not belong to it.

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Reflection May 7th, 2023

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1 Peter 2:2-10/ Psalm 31/ John 14:1-14

Discipleship is a Lifestyle

Religious Lifestyles

This past week, I thought of different religions and people who convert to one of them. Christianity has members all over the world and from many different ethnic groups, but not all religions are like that. Judaism and Islam are mainly for specific ethnic groups. While visiting a synagogue in Montreal, I witnessed a non-Jewish (a.k.a. “Gentile”) woman converting to Judaism because she was going to marry a Jewish man. I knew that this woman would have to change her lifestyle to live as a religious Jewish person. She would have to follow the teachings of the Torah, including the Sabbath law and the kosher diet. Belonging to a religious community usually demands a lifestyle change as well as the change of beliefs. Converting to the Islam faith would also require a drastic lifestyle change. Today’s keyword is “lifestyle,” and we will reflect on what it entails to be a Christian, to belong to the Christian community of faith.

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Reflection April 23rd, 2023

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Acts 2:14a, 36-42/ Psalm 116/ Luke 24:13-35

Community of Breaking Bread

Eating Together

While reading today’s scriptures, I imagined what it would have been like at the Last Supper, teacher and disciples sharing a Passover meal. I have dated a Jewish person, so I have been to a Passover meal. It was 3 hours long and we had to drink 5 glasses of wine. I don’t drink that much, so I switched to grape juice in the middle. There was a lot of storytelling and conversation. I haven’t witnessed or experienced this level of connection at a meal table even before the invention of smart phones.

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Reflection April 9th, 2023 (Easter Sunday)

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Jeremiah 31:1-6/ Colossians 3:1-4/ Matthew 28:1-10

Choose Life (-Giving Lifestyle)

Choose Life

“Choose life” is a catchphrase from the movie Trainspotting. It is about a young man who initially doesn’t choose life, which contains job, house, family, and material possessions. He and his friends are drug addicts. After constantly getting into trouble, in the end, he decides to choose life with all the ordinary things in it. Of course, when I say, “Choose life” in the Easter context, it doesn’t mean jobs, house, family, and so on. Instead, I am going to say, “Choose a life-giving lifestyle.”

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Reflection April 2nd, 2023 (Palm/ Passion Sunday)

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Mark 11:1-11/ Mark 15:6-47

God Who Knows Our Suffering

Gospel of Mark

During this Season of Lent, during our story time, we have been learning about the Gospel of Mark. We learned that the purpose of the Gospel of Mark was to comfort the original audience, early Christians, who were living in fear of persecution and death. The many miracle stories were intended to show them that Jesus had enough power to save them from their trials. The passion stories were intended to show them that God understands their suffering and can relate to them because Jesus went through similar experiences. We examined some stories from the arrest and suffering of Jesus. Today, we continue to examine the story of his suffering and death, and what happened after his death.

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Reflection March 19th, 2023 (Lent 4)

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1 Samuel 16:1-13/ Psalm 23/ John 9:1-41

Blind As Sheep: True Sight

Finding Hidden Objects 

There is a game that I play on my tablet, which is a common and popular game: finding hidden objects. This type of game requires sharp eyes and focused attention. My game has several variations of the classic hidden objects games. My favorite is finding 30 or 50 of the same objects that are peppered throughout the image. I go through the image from corner to corner while picking out the designated object, but almost always, at the end, I realize that I haven’t found all of them. Then, my next step is to zoom in the image and pay closer attention to every inch of it to find what I have missed the first time. Often, I realize that the ones I missed were hidden in plain sight. I am sure we all have similar experiences of not seeing something in plain sight. Sometimes, on TV, we see a character looking for their glasses when they are actually on their head. We laugh at them, but we can also relate to them, can’t we?

Today’s keyword is sight. We will learn today that true sight is not what we can see with our physical eyes.

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Reflection March 12th, 2023 (Lent 3)

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Exodus 17:1-7/ Psalm 95/ John 4:5-42

God’s Love Flowing Like Water

Pass It On!

There was a Doctor Who episode called New Earth. In a distant future, in a society ridden with diseases that cannot be controlled, a group of nuns in a medical mission artificially grow humans and infect them with all the diseases in the world to get the cure. The doctor thinks it is not natural that patients with severe illnesses can be cured in such a short time, and investigates.

The villain of the episode who finds out the same truth as the Doctor tries to blackmail the nuns for money, but when it fails, she opens the doors where the artificially grown humans are kept in a quarantined area. Those disease-ridden humans get out and infect everyone they encounter just by touching them. Those who are touched by these artificially grown humans get all the diseases in the world and die almost immediately. To solve this problem, the Doctor pours all the IVs that contain cures into the hospital elevator’s disinfecting shower.

He lures the artificial humans into the elevator and activates the shower. To those who come into the elevator where the disinfecting shower is pouring out with the cure for all diseases, the Doctor yells, “Pass it on! Pass it on!” They get out of the elevator and touch each other with the cure still on their body. The artificially grown humans get rid of the diseases with which the nuns infected them, the nuns are arrested for their unethical medical practice, and the artificially grown humans will be categorized as a new breed of humans.

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Reflection March 5th, 2023 (Lent 2)

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Genesis 12:1-4a/ Psalm 121/ John 3:1-17

Pilgrims of God’s Reign

Journey as a Metaphor

Today’s keyword is “journey.” We use the word ‘journey’ in both literal and metaphorical senses. We often speak of life as a journey. Throughout my life, I have been to a lot of different places, both literally and metaphorically. When I look back at my life so far, it was full of drama, both good and hard, and I recognize that God was always with me. When I was a student pastor in New Jersey, I learned an activity from my church’s youth group. We used to share how our week has been, identifying the high and low points of the week and where God was in both places. I learned to recognize how God has been present in my life through good times and bad. I believe I stopped complaining to God ever since I started recognizing God’s constant presence in my life. Life is a journey with or without physical travelling involved.

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Reflection February 19th (Transfiguration Sunday)

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Exodus 24: 12-18/ Psalm 99/ Matthew 17:1-9

Being Transformed So We May Transform

Mount Kenya

When I was living in central Kenya, I lived not too far away from Mount Kenya. Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest mountain in Africa. Since it is high, there is snow on the summit all year round. Since it never snows in Kenya, Kenyans don’t know what that white stuff is. So, there is something mysterious about that mountain. But if you think about it, mountains have always been a mysterious place for our ancestors. In a lot of cultures, mountains have been thought to be the dwelling place of their gods. Maybe it was because mountains are high and often unreachable. Even today, when I see clouds covering mountains, I think of our ancestors who thought gods lived there. Mountain is a mysterious place.

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Reflection Feb. 12, 2023 (Black History Month)

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Deuteronomy 30:15-20/ Psalm 119:1-8/ Matthew 5:21-37

Walking in God’s Ways

Piety vs. Hypocrisy

Today, we reflect on what it means to be holy or pious. Throughout the Christian history, there have been a lot of pious people who led a holy life. Some became saints or went down in history for their admirable faith that they lived out. Other so called “holy” people were hypocrites. How does one tell the difference between true piety and hypocrisy? We have to check if their lives AND hearts reflect the teachings of Jesus without contradiction.

Nobody is perfect and we should remember that even the most pious people of God have sinned. King David didn’t become Israel’s ideal king for being perfect. Remember when he sent a soldier to the battlefield to die because he wanted the man’s wife? What makes him a great man of faith (which is separate from David as a great king) is his humble heart. When Nathan the prophet was sent to rebuke his sin, instead of killing him with rage (“How dare you talk to your king that way?”) he humbly repented his sin. Truly pious people have the heart of Jesus. They show hearts of humility and compassion, rejoice at doing and seeing good, and their inside and outside match.

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