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UKM Medical Fellowship Alumni Retreat 2010

|posted 1 Sept 2010| read more

more Spiritual Formation

 

Run with the Horses

Text: Jeremiah 12:5

 

Text

5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (NIV)

 

Sermon Statement

God is with you, will give you strength and will not let you face problems more than you are able to overcome

 

|posted 29 August 2010| read more

 

more Sermons

 

 

Eighty Corollaries You Should Know About Christian Spiritual Formation

 

 

  1. Christian spiritual formation is not behavioural modification, programs to complete, doctrinal indoctrination, religiosity, embracing Christian cultural legacy, warm religious feelings but is in continually developing a relationship with the Triune God.
  1. Christian spiritual formation is the process of partaking in the perichoresis of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.
  1. Christian spiritual formation is the continual process of allowing the Holy Spirit to install updates and synchronising with Christ’s character in the operating system (OS) of our spiritual life
  1. Christian spiritual formation is relational; developing and deepening relationship with God, with other people and with our self (Mk. 12:29-31).

|posted 16 August 2010| read more

more Spiritual Formation

 

Book Review on McColman’s The Big Book of Christian Mysticism

 

I read Carl McColman’s The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality (2010, Hampton Roads Publishing) while on a long flight from Singapore to South Africa, and reflected on the book while I was on safari in Kruger National Park. Amidst the raw chill of a morning on the African savannah plain while watching a glorious sunrise, adoration for the divine fills my heart, and I had a glimpse of what the mystics of all ages have been trying to explain to us.

 

|posted 12 August 2010| read more

more Spirituality

 

Jeremiah - The Call to Be

Text: Jer. 1:1-19

 

 

 

Sermon Statement

Jeremiah is called to be a prophet to the nations and God empowers him to be one in the face of oppositions and suffering. We are called to be the people of God and we are empowered to be that people in the face of oppositions and suffering.

 

|posted 26 July 2010| read more

 

more Sermons

 

The Lamentations of Jeremiah and the God of Jeremiah

|posted 18 July 2010| read more

more Sermons

 

Standing on Crossroads

Crossroads are busy places. They are chaotic places of noise and busyness. Often at the junction of four or five feeder roads, crossroads are where the traffic of people and cars merge and disengage, for a fleeting moment meeting, and then going their separate ways. Many of us find ourselves standing at crossroads, some more frequent than others, at different times in our lives. We stand in the chaos, amidst the noise, confusion and uncertainty, as we scan the various roads that lead away to decide which one to follow. Crossroads are places of decisions. They are scary places because we know decisions have consequences. How do we find our way out of the crossroads of our lives?

 

|posted 15 July 2010| read more

 

more e-Reflections

 

 

 

Should Malaysian Christians Emigrate?

In 2007, according to census, about 35% of Malaysians who emigrated to Australia are Christians. This is significant when only about 9% of Malaysians are Christians. Bishop Hwa Yung in his article Should Christians Emigrate? published in Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Berita NECF suggests that Malaysian Christians emigrate because of the attraction of the West, the lack of professional fulfillment, racial and religious factors, and erosion of confidence in the “ability and integrity” of the government.

 

|posted 01 July 2010| read more

 

more Glocalisation

 

 

The Influence of Globalisation on the Christian Spiritual Formation in Churches in Malaysia and Singapore

 

The technological advances in telecommunication and the Internet have shrunk the world into a global village. Malaysia and Singapore are actively involved in the globalisation process and its subset glocalisation. While there is no agreed definition of globalisation, it is often understood to have the following characteristics: increasing speed in communication, the interconnected world become smaller, the blurring of national borders, reciprocity, manageable risk, and presence of trust. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the influence of globalisation on Christian spiritual formation in the churches in Malaysia and Singapore, and suggest some possible measures for these churches to enhance the positive effects while limiting the negative ones.

 

|08 June 2010| read more

 

more of my articles on Glocalisation

 

 

A Grandmother, a Mother and a Son

Growing Sincere Faith

Text: 2 Timothy 1:5

Text: 2 Timothy 1:5

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also (NIV).

Sermon statement

Timothy’s sincere faith was nurtured and developed by his grandmother, Lois and mother Eunice. The matrix of faith formation is by teaching about the faith, living out the faith, and growing one’s own faith.

 

|posted 9 May 2010| read more

 

more Sermons and Parenting

 

 

Abortion: Slaughter of the Innocents

 

Sermon statement

Abortion is never justified except to save the mother’s life

 

Abortion is an important issue to discuss in churches today. I shall approach this topic by considering when human life begins. By identifying when human life begins and estimating the time when abortion is done, we shall come to an understanding on whether abortion is taking a human life or not. We shall also look at some Bible verses and derive some biblical principles that may help us to thinking about this subject. We shall end by discussing in what ways we shall deal with abortion and the people involved.

 

|posted 02 May 2010| read more

 

more Sermons

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A CRITIQUE OF THE SCHOOLING-INSTRUCTIONAL PARADIGM AS THE FORMATIVE TOOL IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION IN CHRISTIAN FAITH COMMUNITIES IN MALAYSIA

 

In the last century, certain concerns have arisen concerning the effectiveness of the schooling-instructional paradigm, especially in Christian spiritual formation in Christian faith communities. It is the aim of this article to critique whether the schooling-instructional paradigm are still effective as the chief means of pedagogy in Christian faith communities in Malaysia or whether a new formative approach is needed. The strength of the schooling-instructional paradigm is in gathering people together in one place specifically for the imparting and acquiring of content or knowledge.

 

|posted 28 April 2010| read more

 

more Spiritual Formation

 

 

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION IN CHURCHES IN MALAYSIA

 

General education in Malaysia is deeply influenced by the state schools system in Britain and the church Sunday school movement. The state schools in the British Isles, which adopted the schooling-instructional model, were developed in 1870s to efficiently train a workforce to be minimally literate for the industrial revolution. Australian educator Brian Hill calls this “schools for the industrial society” (1985, 42). The Sunday school movement was started earlier in the 1780s and was influential in teaching children how to read, write and numeracy skills as well as learning about the Christian faith. In the nineteenth century, after its formation the state schools began to take over the function of the Sunday schools in teaching the children in the 3 Rs (writing, reading, arithmetic). The Sunday schools gradually began to focus solely on religious education.

 

|posted 28 April 2010| read more

 

more ChristianEducation

 

The Jesus Prayer


Prayer is something we talk about a lot but seldom practice. Few of us have set times of daily prayers and even fewer keep to them. Our most intense period of prayers is when we or our loved ones are in grave needs. After that period is over and the crisis resolved, many of us find it difficult to lead a consistent prayer life. For many of us, the concept of persistent prayer blows our mind.

|posted 26 April 2010| read more

more Spirituality

 

Book Notes on The Kingdom Life

Alan Andrews (ed.), (March 2010), The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation, Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

It is heartening to note that there are many new books on spiritual formation that moves beyond teaching spiritual disciplines and a contemplative life to engage on the theology of (Christian) spiritual formation. In September 2002, a group of theologians, pastors, authors and church leaders got together to form the Theological and Cultural Thinkers (TACT) group to serve as a think tank on spiritual formation.

 

|posted 25 April 2010| read more

 

more Spiritual Formation

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Practice Resurrection: God’s Calling; Our Living

Text: Eph. 4:1

 

 

Sermon Statement

When God’s calling and our living fits, we are growing up in Christ: God’s calling; our living. We can only appreciate fully the wonderful gifts of God if we are living our lives in a worthy manner.

 

|posted 12 April 2010| read more

 

more Sermons

 

The Role of Worship in Christian Spiritual Formation

Leiturgia (prayer/worship) is an important part of the Christian life and an important formative process.  Prayer and worship are the characteristics of God’s people. Worship may be understood as “pure adoration, the lifting up of the redeemed spirit towards God in contemplation of his holy perfection”

 

|posted 1 March 2010| read more

 

more Worship

 

Reframing Christian Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Formation and Discipleship

 

There has been much confusion about the meaning and usage of these words: discipleship, spiritual formation, and Christian spiritual formation. These words are sometimes used interchangeably by some teachers while others offered a more nuanced definition. Here I will offer some definitions of these terms.

 

|posted 20 February 2010| read more

 

more Spiritual Formation

 

A Transfiguration of Love

Text: Luke 9:28-36

 

Sermon Statement

The transfiguration of Jesus Christ is a God-event which affirms who Jesus is and encourages him to the cross. We can draw encouragement from a God who loves us that he plans for our redemption through his son, Jesus Christ.

 

|posted 15 February 2010| read more

 

more Sermons

 

 

Paul Long's Keep in Step

My blogger friend Pastor Paul Long is back with another installment of his lectio divina with my book. Paul's meditation and 'ramblings' are always insightful and interesting reading. His blog is Paul Long Ramblings.

It has been an interesting "lectio divina" exercise for me. Upon deeper reflection, I then felt that if I were ever in such a situation, I would do the right thing and not think so selfishly. That was a relief. But then later upon even more further reflection, I thought that I would probably want to come to an agreement first with the "other party" so that it would be clear that "I will first feed you, but I am doing this with the understanding that you will then also feed me." Oops ... my selfishness and insecurity wells up again!

|posted 28 January 2010| read more

More Paul's reflections on the above book here

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Sitting on the Seats of Mockers

 

Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man, who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers” (NIV). The first verse of the first Psalm is an interesting sentence. The action words of walk, stand and sit indicates a sort of progression. This will parallel with wicked, sinners, mockers. Often we are able to identify the wicked and sinners readily, sometimes too readily. But mockers? Other bible translation offers scornful (NKJV), and scoffers (NRSV) as an alternative to mockers.

|posted 1 February 2010| read more

more e-Reflections

 

Don't Forget How to Dance

The notion of dancing has been twirling in my mind. Not that I am a dancer or anything. It is the notion that that dancing as a celebration of life. God is also known as Lord of the dance. Perichoresis or the relationship of the Persons in the Trinity is liken to a dance. So dancing as a celebration of life and of God.

|posted 20 January 2010| read more

more e-Reflections

 

What I Learned in 2009

This is the year my eldest daughter got married and my youngest daughter graduated as a medical doctor. I also published another book. Actually Spiritual Formation on the Run came out in December last year but its publication date is January 2009 so I guess that counts. There are many highs and lows in the year but I wish to testify here to the goodness of Our Lord to my family and me. Here are some of the lessons and reflections of the year 2009.

 

|posted 31 December 2009| read more

 

more e-Reflections

 

The Blessings of Spiritual Friends

 

Spiritual friendship, according to the great twelfth century English Cistercian Abbot, Aelred of Rievaulx is “mutual harmony in affairs human and divine coupled with benevolence and charity” (Aelred, Spiritual Friendship, Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications). What he meant is that spiritual friendship is the love of the Christians given by God that combines goodwill and charity and is only possible between those who resist sin and seek to follow Jesus. There are certain characteristics that make up spiritual friendship.

 

|posted 20 December 2009| read more

 

more e-Reflections

 

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Some Recent Postings

 

Surfing the Tsunami Wave of Change

Spiritual Formation for Shalom

The Child with Fits

Gifts of Healings

Cough in Children

On My Pastor's Retirement

Courage Under Fire

Essential Ingredients for Spiritual Growth

Living in the Fullness of Christ

Spiritual Discernment and Decision Making

Deepening Christian Spirituality

Reflections on A Call to Spiritual Formation

Prayer of the Father of the Bride

'Thou Shalt Commit Adultery'

Knowing God, Knowing Self

Movie Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[click on picture]

How to be the Greatest Mum in the World

Star Trek the Reboot

Notes on Confucianism

 

A Philosophy of Action

or Why the Batman will not kill the Joker

Teaching of Values in Higher Education

Notes on Taoism and Chinese Folk Religions

 

Depression and the Christian Life

Boy's Brigade Enrolment Service 2009

Consuming Fire

Spiritual Formation on the Run: Meditations to Build a Busy Life

The Sign of Immanu_eL

Walking on Water

 



 

 

 

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Dear friends,

Welcome! Come on in, make yourself a cup of coffee and let your mouse do the clicking. Look around and may you find rest for your body , nourishment for your mind and refreshment for your soul.

Join me in a continuing dialogue on Christian spirituality, spiritual formation and transformation, spiritual direction, theology, Christian education, biomedical ethics, Star Trek, postmodern parenting and science fiction. I enjoy reading and watching movies.  I write and preach in churches, speak in conferences and lead retreats. My other vocation is as a paediatrician and a medical educator.

 

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                                                                                                                                               updated 01-Sep-10 06:15:14 PM

 

                      

 "spiritual forming disciples of Jesus Christ with informed minds, hearts on fire and contemplative in actions"  

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