Planning Ahead

After 3 days in Sabah over a long week-end of election fever, I am now feeling exhausted from my travels and exertions. I was not involved in anyway with the election except to cast my vote dutifully as a citizen. I did not attend any political ceramahs/rallies when I was back in Sabah (I attended 2 political rallies in Singapore before the Singapore's GE 2 years ago), nor celebrated or commiserated with winners and losers after the election. On my way to the Kota Kinabalu International airport on Monday, I stopped over for lunch with an old friend. It has been work and more work since Monday night for me in Singapore. After yesterday's final Greek class I had to attend to other duties including marking NT 2 essays and there are many more to grade.

University is about Teaching, not Research Papers

I read this article from Sydney Morning Herald with great interest. It was written by an exchange student from Georgetown University who is studying at Sydney University. I could not agree more, especially so in the context of theological education. It's about real-life experience and practical ministry experience that count more than research papers as far as training the next generation of Christian leaders is concerned.

Greek's Class No More

It's been my pleasure and the occasional stress that I shall be giving my last lectures in Introduction to Greek next week. I shall not miss getting up at 6am to prepare for Greek lectures, making sure I could teach to the best of my ability. As I saw one of my students taking a photo of the class yesterday, I thought for memory's sake, I will take one as well. This new academic year beginning in July, another lecturer will be teaching Greek after I have taught the subject for 5 years in a row. A welcome break! I may still offer Greek exegesis like LXX Gen 1-3 and Philippians in Greek (2015?) and a MTh module, Revelation in Greek (2016?).

Research & Publication?

Looking over some old documents in a file put away some years ago I came across my external examiner's report for my doctoral dissertation. Several weeks after receiving the report, I received a 3-page hand-written letter from the external examiner containing 5 major points of my dissertation beside several which he highlighted in the report. If I were to write another monograph on Revelation, I will certainly take these points into consideration. But alas, I am barely keeping my head above water, let alone having time for research and publication.

Return to Destiny

Today's Sunday service was one of the best I attended. The Lord woke up early and by 8:35am I reached the church in the city for its first service. The preacher was walking out when I walked in, perhaps to get himself ready for a great sermon later on. I was ready to worship the Lord. People matter. Song leaders matter.

Essay Topics on John's Gospel

Essay Topics:

1)            Pilate said to Jesus: “What is Truth?” (John 18:38). Discuss the concept of truth in the Gospel of John.

2)            Explain how irony is used to great effect in the encounters and conversations of Jesus with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman respectively in John 3-4.

3)            John’s use of the Old Testament is more subtle and nuanced beyond citations of biblical texts. Discuss the use of the OT with reference to 3 or 4 instances in the Gospel of John.

4)            How do the “I am” sayings contribute to our understanding of the person of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John?

5)            John’s Gospel depicts several groups or entities that are opposed to the work of Christ including “The Jews”, “the Pharisees,” “the world”, and “the devil”. Why was Jesus hated?

6)            Explain how John develops Jesus’ teaching on the Holy Spirit in the Fourth Gospel.

7)            The relationship between the Father and the Son is the key to understanding the concept of God in John’s Gospel. Explain how this relationship is portrayed in the light of these two sayings of Jesus: “My Father and I are one” and “My Father is greater than I”.

I have graded some 30 essays and reviews and in the process of grading the rest of the essays on John's Gospel. I must say that I learnt from my students as much as I hope they have learnt from me by the grace of God, trusting in the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth who will guide us into all truth.

Last Lectures

By the grace of God, since the break I managed to get through 5 weeks of intense lecturing, 9 hours a week, 3 hours each for Greek, The Gospel of John and Intro to NT. I gave my last lectures on John's Gospel yesterday as next week is Labour Day, a public holiday, a well deserved rest for those who labour for the Lord. Today I spoke on 1 & 2 John and simply ran out of time for 3 John. When I reached 1 John 2:11ff on the three stages of Christian growth, I shared how 31 years ago yesterday I felt my sins to be forgiven and as a little child I came to know the Father.

"My kingdom is not of this World" (John 18:36)

I have had a long day preparing for my lectures on John 17-19. At 6pm I wrote about politics in Malaysia as a diversion, while at the same time reflecting on Jesus' answer to Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world". If Christ's kingdom is not of this world, are His followers going to be concerned about what happens in earthly governments or affairs of the State?

Preacher & Interpreter in Tandem

Some people think I simply dish out an old sermon when I preach from one church to another. But I never to do that, not when I wait on the Lord for days and weeks and there is always something fresh from the Lord for His people. Nowadays when I have a full load of teaching week-days, it means I have only the week-end to prepare my Sunday's sermon. In actual time spent, it is about 10 hours, writing up the outline and preparing the slides but another 15 hours or more meditating, reflecting on the passages concerned for a week or two before setting pen on paper.

Sabah, Tanah Air-ku (My land of origin/birth)

I have been in my office since 7am. I thought I settled a few things before preparing for my lectures on John's Gospel and NT 2 on James. I have finalized the elective for next July. I may have to teach a third course for the Master of Ministry programme. Busy busy Semester coming up.

In the past several months, I could not help thinking and praying about my future ministry. My homestate, Sabah will be celebrating its 50th year independence within the federation of Malaysia on the 16th Sept 2013. I was born barely 10 months after Malaysia Day and I am a true child of Malaysia, born and bred a Sabahan. My heart often  pines for my native land - Sabah tanah air-ku negeri kita yang tercinta. But whether it's the Lord's will for me to return for good is another matter, a subject of intense prayer in the next few months. As Sabah is in its Jubilee year, I am not getting younger. Where are you, Lord for me in the next decade? I see that my strength is not like before and I know there are 10 or so good years that lay ahead of me and after that sunset years will come sooner that one would imagine.

Calvin by Willem Van't Spijker

I am burying my head in books on Calvin. In the past couple of weeks, I had taken out about 10 books on Calvin from the library. For first-timers, I would recommend Spijker's Calvin: A brief guide to his life and thought (2009). It's only about 185 pages long and within 3 or 4 sittings I have almost finished reading it. One thing that caught my eye is as early as 1537 (aged 28) Calvin already called himself as "Professor of Holy Scripture in Geneva" (p. 34, Spijker). Interestingly, Calvin had never undergone formal theological training as had Luther. Luther earned a doctorate in theology and Luther was equally proud of his title as "Doctor of Scripture."I would not begrudge Calvin for calling himself as Professor as such tender age because by then he had published the first edition of Institutes which would become the summary of the theology for the Protestant movement in the 16th century and beyond.