Travelin' Asian

MISSION QUARTERLY REPORT (January-March 2012)

2012-03-08T12:47:00.002-05:00

(Photo 1: Visit to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Manila, Feb. 8-10, 2012). Advance Party to the Presiding Bishop's Visit. Left to Right: Fred Vergara, Peter Ng, Rev. Margaret Rose (PB Deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Collaboration. At center is The Most Rev. Ephraim Fajutagana, Obispo Maximo of the IFI; Mrs. Julie Esclamado and Bishop Vic Esclamado, IFI President of the Supreme Council of Bishops.

Photo 2: Peter Margaret and Fred displaying the raw and young mango fruits, taken from Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, where one of the Asset-Based Community Development of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines is located.)

EAM OFFICE QUARTERLY MISSION UPDATE

(January-March 2012

Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries (EAM)

Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, Missioner

HIGHLIGHTS

Consultation on Alternative Theological Training (Oklahoma City, January 12-15 ) –Collaborated with Ethnic Missioners in a gathering of bishops, priests and lay leaders for cross-cultural conversation and sharing of alternative education and ordination tracks. EAM presented its Pilot Project on “Doctor of Ministry in Asia-America Ministry” in partnership with the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which starts on June 2012 with initial six EAM clergy. Will also be working on a Christian Education grid towards faith formation and ministry of all the baptized.

Forum on Filipino American Christianity: Like Milkfish in Brackish Water Book (San Francisco, January 27-28) – Led a well-attended symposium of a culture-specific approach to mission and evangelism, a new paradigm of mission in American and global context. Presentation and discussion included “chosenness” as servanthood; Philippine religious history; motifs in Filipino American immigration history; Symbols and stereotypes of Filipino American immigrants. Filipino American Christianity is likened to a Philippine fish called “bangus” (milkfish) for its three characteristics: adaptability, hospitality and versatility. A contextual Filipino American liturgy was held at St. Martin & Holy Child Episcopal Church in Daly City.

Worship on the Way: A Resource – As chair of the Pacific Asian American Canadian Christian Education (PAACCE) of the National Council of Churches, I wrote the preface to this new ecumenical resource authored by Russell Yee, off the press by April 2012. This is a collection of diverse Asian North American contextual worship styles. Liturgy is the work of the people and culture matters. It will become one of the resources for Asian American ministry.

Visit to Asia (Manila and HongKong, February 1-15) – As part of the Presiding Bishop Visit to Asia, involving the Partnership Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Ecumenical and Interfaith Collaboration, I participated in the planning of Concordat Meeting with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. In parallel visit to the Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP), we were introduced to one of their “Asset Based Community Development projects,” which featured a self-help program that turned a problem into an asset. In this project, headed by the town mayor of Cabiao, the water hyacinths which were once a cause of flooding, has been transformed into handicrafts products, deodorizers and charcoal. The community is looking for markets for its products. In the IFI, we visited the Aglipay Central Theological Seminary, which has grown over the years. IFI has now a total membership of around 8 million and needed more clergy to supply pastoral leadership. Upon return to the U.S., I stopped by HongKong to minister to the Migrant Workers at St. John’s Anglican Cathedral and discussed with Canon Thomas Pang, provincial coordinator and Archbishop’s adviser on Christian Education about the possibility of Asia-America Theological Forum in 2013.

Asia-America Theology Forum 2013 (EAM and Asia Pacific Partnership ) – As a result of our Asia Visit, we are exploring an Asia-America Theology Forum to be held at Trinity University of Asia campus on February 2013 to gather representative Asian and Asian American theologians and scholars. With an initial theme “One Host, One Banquet, Many Guests,” our hope is to present many and diverse voices in Asia-America global Christianity. This project will involve multilateral and multidimensional collaboration.

New Community Clergy and Lay Conference (Feb. 29-March 4, 2012)

'New Community Gathering' unites Episcopal ethnic ministries

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Stories of faith and personal witness animated the historic Feb. 29 - March 3 "New Community Gathering" in San Diego of about 300 Asian, Black, Latino and Native American clergy and laity from across the Episcopal Church.Community engagement, mission focus and collaboration ranked high on the agenda for the event, themed "Reclaiming our Mission; Reinterpreting Our Contexts and Renewing Our Communities."Organized through the Ethnic Ministries offices of the Episcopal Church (http://www.episcopalchurch.org), the gathering challenged enthusiastic participants - as well as the wider church - to embrace renewal through creative mission, sharing resources and honoring ethnic and community context.Full story: http://bit.ly/w8PIhu

Future Travel/Events:

Mar. 9-11- Washington, DC: Design Team for Why Serve Discernment Conference for Young Adults of Color to be held in Virginia Theological Seminary sometime September 2012

April12-15: Tampa, Florida: IFI Convention and International Forum on Migrants Ministry

April 16-17: Tampa, Florida: Concordat Council Meeting

April 28- Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry of Long Island, New York Asian Festival and Conference on the theme “Beyond Survival: Ministry in the 21^st Century.”

LENT I SERMON: THE KINGDOM OF GOD

2012-02-26T01:14:00.000-05:00

(Photo of me presiding at Eucharist in the Church of the Primacy of Peter in Tabgha, by the Shore of the Sea of Galilee, site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (Mark 6:30-46) and the fourth appearance of the resurrected Christ (John 21:1-24) where He asked Peter three times, "Do you love me more than these?" and to which Peter replied, three times, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Photo taken, August 2008 Israel, Palestine.)

The Kingdom of God (Mark 1:9-15)

There was a story of a farmer who had a horse. One day, as he was selling his produce in the market, he left his horse tied to a fence. Two thieves stole the horse. Actually, they had a scheme. One of the thieves took the horse away and the other stayed behind and tied himself with the rope of the horse. When the farmer came, the horse was no longer there but he saw the man tied to the fence. The thief told to the farmer that he had committed a sin and God punished him and turned him into a horse but on that blessed day, God has forgiven him and turned him back into a man. The farmer believed this incredible story and though he was sad that he lost a horse, he was also glad that the man was forgiven . A couple of weeks later, the farmer saw the lost horse tied to a fence near a tavern. The farmer came to the horse and said, “My friend, did you sin again?”

The first Sunday of Lent begins our incredible story of human sin and God’s forgiveness played throughout the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In Mark 1:9-15, we learn that the actual ministry of Jesus began in baptism. As Christians, our ministry should also begin at baptism. It is in baptism that Jesus was affirmed by the Father as His beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. Following his victory over temptations, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee announcing the message: “The time has come…The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

What is the kingdom of God? It is the central message of the Gospel. “The kingdom of God” is mentioned 68 times in ten different parts of the New Testament; its synonym, ‘the kingdom of heaven, ‘is mentioned 32 times in Matthews gospel. Because they refer to the same thing, we can say that altogether, “the kingdom of God” is mentioned 100 times in the New Testament. It must therefore be the central message of Jesus.

Jesus did not come to build a church edifice; he did not come to establish a denomination; he did not even come to found a religion. He came to inaugurate the kingdom of God. But what is this kingdom or rule of god? Where can it be found? Jesus mentioned two seemingly contradictory statements about where the kingdom of God is. In Luke 17:20-21, he said, “the kingdom of God is in your midst.” If the kingdom is in our midst, then surely, the kingdom of God is in this world, for we live in this world. But in John 18:36, he said, “my kingdom is not of this world.” If it is not in this world, then it must be in another world. It must be in a place outside of our existential life. It must be …in heaven!

Theologians who studied the meaning of the kingdom of God have coined a phrase to capture a comprehensive symbol of the kingdom of God. The phrase they used is “the already not yet.” To them the important question is not where the kingdom of God can be found; the important question is where it is built and how it is being built in the life of the believers.

The kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal sovereign God over all creatures and things (Psalm 103:19; Daniel 4:3). This kingdom was inaugurated by Jesus. By his life, death and resurrection, this kingdom is already at work among the believers. In other words, we who have believed and who have been baptized, the kingdom of God is already at work. It is seen in the good works that we do. It is seen in the things that we say. It is seen in the relationship that we create. Whenever you speak God’s word and whenever you do God’s work, you proclaim the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is within you! The address of the kingdom is your heart’s address.

This kingdom however is not yet fully consummated. It is already but not yet. We have our one foot already in heaven but our other foot is still on earth. The death of Jesus has saved us from the condition of sin but our flesh and blood remain susceptible to the temptation to sin. St. Paul, confessed at one time saying, “the good that I want to do, I do not do; the bad that I do not want to do, I do. Who can save me from this tendency to sin? Thanks be to God who gives us victory in Christ.”

As human beings, we are not immune from sin; but as Christians, we are offered the resources to repent and to change. We are in the world but we are not of the world. That is why every Sunday Eucharist, we go into a general confession, we receive an absolution, and we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we can be sanctified and be molded in the image and character of Jesus. The Holy Eucharist is therefore both the altar of the world where the sins of humanity are collected---and the banquet of the Lord where the forgiveness of God is being offered free for the sins of the world. In the Eucharist, we stand to sing praises to the King of this kingdom; we sit to listen to His Word; we kneel to intercede for the world. We enter into the presence of the King to worship and we depart to serve.

By the life that we lead, by the relationships that we create, by the love we share, and by the deeds we do in Jesus' Name, we participate in the building of the Kingdom. One of the post-Eucharistic prayers in the Filipino Prayer Book says, “Lord, you are the Bread of Life broken for us. May we, Your children, be like this Bread broken and given for the world.”Indeed. Amen.

LEAPS OF FAITH: Knowing Jesus as Christ and God

2012-01-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

LEAPS OF FAITH: Knowing Jesus as Christ and God

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are they whohave not seen and yet believe” John 20:26.

At a Sunday School class, the teacher asked, “Where is God?” All the kids, having been taught the previous Sundays about God’s omnipresence, replied “God is everywhere,” but Little Johnny said, “Maam, I know God is in the bathroom.” The teacher was curious and asked little Johnny why he said God was in the bathroom. Little Johnny told a story: one morning he heard his Mom and Dad arguing. Then his Mom cried and went inside the bathroom and locked it. His Dad followed behind, knocking and knocking. Then in exasperation, his Dad said, “My God, when are you going out of the bathroom?”

The apostles' belief in the resurrection of Jesus started as a tale and ended as a big leap of faith. They were not witnesses to the resurrection. They were not the first ones to see the empty tomb. They were hiding in closed doors for fear of the Jews; they were talking in whispers; they were communicating in signs. The cruel death of Jesus on the cross was lingering in their memories. They fear that they were going to be next. As it was in the past experience of Israel, when the colonial Roman government would massacre or imprison all those involved in political rebellions, they feared a crackdown on their movement.

But they began to believe in the stories of the women. Mary the mother, Joanna the mother of James and Mary Magdalene told them what had been spoken by the angels. “He is not here, he is risen.” And so they returned to prayer. And when they did, Jesus appeared.

My friends, when things are hard to bear, when situations are difficult, when our lives are hanging by the thread, prayer changes things. By prayer, fear turns to courage; despair turns to hope and sorrow turns to joy, even imaginations become reality. In the words of the psalmist, “you gave me beauty for ashes, an oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That we might be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them.”

From the closed door, suddenly Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace, be with you; as the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The words of Jesus were a revival message of their past commissions. When Jesus was with them in Galilee, Jesus taught them how to pray, how to heal, and how to preach the gospel. Then he sent them two by two in the villages and as they went the Holy Spirit performed miracles through their hands. They all forget about their power when they saw Jesus crucified. And so Jesus again said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; but if you withhold their sins, they will be retained.”

Once upon a time, when people were still travelling across the ocean by steamship, there was a story of a poor passenger from London who went to the United States. He had a ticket with him but unfortunately, he did not know how to read and so he did not know what’s in the ticket. It took at least three days for the ship to arrive in New York from London and this passenger after a day without meal, was getting hungry. He saw that during breakfast, lunch and dinner, the other passengers were eating food in the dining room of the ship but he could only look at them with envy. Finally he summoned enough courage to ask the captain if he could have at least some of the leftover and the captain replied, “You have a ticket alright? Don’t you know that when you buy a ticket, the meals are already included?”

The apostles had tremendous power because they were anointed by Christ. But they did not know that when they are anointed by Jesus in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit is also there. The Holy Spirit enables, empowers and equip them to witness to the life of the risen Christ. And so the appearance of Jesus was a ticket that entitles them to everything because all authority and power in heaven and on earth and under the earth, had been given to Jesus.

But Thomas, one of the apostles was not within them when Jesus appeared and when told of the story, Thomas replied, “Unless I see the mark of nails in his hand and put my finger on the mark of the nails, I would not believe.” Thomas was a typical Episcopalian; he is a man of rationality. He uses his head. For him, to see is to believe. It was at that moment that Jesus again appeared. And addressing directly to Thomas, Jesus said, “Put your finger on my hand and feel the mark; and put your hand upon my side where the spear of the Roman soldiers pierced; do not be faithless but believe.” At this point, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas articulated the highest creedal affirmation ever. The other apostles confessed Jesus as Master, Teacher and Lord. Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. But Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!” It is to Thomas that we first derived the concept of Jesus as “very God of very God.”

But Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” There are therefore three leaps of faith that Thomas learned that day. First, you believe because others have told you about it; second you believe because you have seen it; and third, you believe because you really know it in spirit.

May you know Jesus as a living Reality of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

BAPTISM OF CHRIST IS POWER TO CHRISTIANS

2012-01-07T20:46:00.001-05:00

BAPTISM OF CHRIST IS POWER TO CHRISTIANS

(Homily of the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara on Sunday, 01.08.2012at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, 2197 Jackson Avenue, Seaford, New York 11377. Bible Text :Mark 4:4-11)

“And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 4:4)

I have something to confess. When my wife and I moved here in New York eight years ago, I said to myself “No, I’m not going to adopt the frenetic lifestyle of New York City. I’m not going to run up the stairs to the subway train or run up and down the escalators in Grand Central; I’m not going to rush in Manhattan during non-rush hours; I’m not going to push people from my way; I’m not going to run the red light. Like a good Californian that I was for 18 years, I am going to walk like a Californian. I am going to stroll along the byways; enjoy the sight of nature, stop and smell the flowers on my way. You know what? I lied to myself. Weekly, as I go to my office in Manhattan, I run up the stairs to catch Train #7 in Queens, run up the escalator in Grand Central, and push people on my way from the subway. I have become a New Yorker.

Life is difficult; wrote Scott Peck in his book, “The Road Less Traveled.” And we are not perfect as we should be. St. Paul reckoned it this way, “the evil that I do not want to do, I do; the good that I want to do, I do not do.Who shall deliver me from this life? Thanks be to God who gives me victory through Jesus Christ.,”

For sure, St. Paul as a man of God and missionary beyond compare, had done so many good deeds but he had done so, as he had acknowledged, not on his own merit, but only by the grace of God, working through the Holy Spirit

That is exactly what John the Baptist was saying when he saw his first cousin, Jesus, coming to be baptized. John was a powerful speaker, a very interesting and articulate person. Had he lived in our times, he would have been given a Talk Show. He went into the desert and yet people followed him. They wanted to hear him talk. He went to the mountains and people climb to hear him preach. He went to the muddy river of Jordan and yet people want to be baptized there. Imagine what kind of TV reality show he would put up if he were with us today? But then here comes a man, more powerful than he was, and yet coming to be baptized by him. Here comes Jesus, his first cousin, whom he had recognized by his own prophetic gift, to be more powerful than he is, the thong of whose sandals, he was not even unworthy to untie. And John said to the people, “I baptize you with water but He who is coming, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John did not want to baptize Jesus but at Jesus’ insistence that they follow tradition, he did, and when Jesus emerged from the water, the Holy Spirit came down in the form of the dove and a voice was heard from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The moment of baptism was the moment when the Holy Spirit enters the life of Jesus. And this is also the moment, when we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, that we too, become children of God. During our own baptism, the Holy Spirit readily enters and communes with our human spirit---and we begin to live a new life, a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do you believe this? Yes, we do. Sunday after Sunday, we recite the Nicene Creed---“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and together with the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified.” But do we really believe it? Do the lives we lead and the relationships that we create really speak about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Sometimes I listen with humility to my Pentecostal friend when he said, “You Episcopalians and Catholics, believe the Holy Spirit is resident in you; we, Pentecostals believe the Holy Spirit is not only resident in us, but we also president in us. In a sense, the Holy Spirit is really our presiding bishop.”

A story is told of a circus trapeze that walked on the tightrope attached from one end of the Niagara Falls to another. That would be from the U.S. side to the Canadian side. There was a large crowd admiring his courage and sense of balance. Then he said, “Do you believe that I can carry this log from the US side to the Canada side and back?” And people said, “Yes, we believe.” And so he carried the log and walked on the tightrope from the U.S. side to the Canadian side. And people applauded his achievement. Then he said to the crowd, “Do you believe I can carry another human being with me, from this end to the other while walking on the tight rope?” And the crowd again said, “Yes, we believe.” And the tightrope walker replied, “Then, if you really believe, may I ask for one volunteer?” And the crowd was completely silent---no one volunteered. Their level of belief is only head knowledge.

Faith in God sometimes requires from our lives a total dependence on the Holy Spirit. We walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Abraham left his country and his people and went to the land which God was showing him, not knowing where he was going. Instead of settling in a palace, he lived in tents because he was always ready to hear where God was leading him. Many men and women after him have gone through the same experience. Men and women, boys and girls, even families who walked in prayer and obedience to God and God did not disappoint them. God called them people of faith and even some of them, like Abraham, did not receive the promise, their lives spoke of adventure, of holy experience, of divine visions, because they were looking not for the cities and houses and jobs made by human hands. Rather, they were ultimately seeking for a city, with a strong foundation, whose builder and maker is God.

Perhaps it is symbolic that Jesus had to be born on the winter solstice, when the night was its darkest and the climate was at its coldest. Jesus was to come like a light in the dark, like the heat in the cold. He has come to ignite the fire of faith so that our weak bodies will be filled with energy, our despairing hearts will be filled with hope, and our fearful spirits will be filled with courage and strength. And here at his Baptism, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He will preach Good News to the poor, he will heal the sick, he will set free the oppressed, he will bind the wounded, he will inspire the broken hearted, he will bring peace to those who are troubled and he will bring the kingdom of God to those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Let me end my meditation with these words from the Gospel of John, “He was in the world and world was made by Him and yet the world knew Him not; He came to his own home and His own people received Him not; but to those who received Him, who believe in His name, He gave power to become children of God.”

Friends, by your baptism in Christ, you have received the adoption as children of God. You have been anointed by God in the power of the Holy Spirit. You have power to transform darkness into light. You have power to walk on the tightrope of your life. You have the power to triumph against all evil powers that threaten your existence. By the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will not only survive; you will prevail. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you-- in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

CALLING, CONVICTION, CLARITY: Commissioning of Ethnic Ambassadors

2012-01-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

Calling, Conviction and Clarity: Commissioning of the Ethnic Ambassadors

Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara 12.15.11 Los Angeles, California

Note: On December 12-15, 2011 the Ethnic Missioners of the Diversity Social and Environmental Ministries (DSE) of the Mission Department of the Episcopal Church gathered six leaders from each ethnic faith community of Asian, Black, Latino/Hispanic and Indigenous Ministries in Cathedral Retreat Center in Los Angeles, California. The ethnic leaders were to be trained as ministry trainers with and for their respective communities. Various workshops were given including Leadership, Discipleship, Communication, Power Dynamics, Life-Long Faith Formation, Church Structure and Technology.

The Ethnic Missioners are Sarah Eagle Heart, Angela Ifill, Anthony Guillen and Fred Vergara. We are grateful to the support and assistance of Ruth-Ann Collins of the Faith Formation and our DSE colleagues, Christopher Johnson and Michael Schut and we were blessed by the presence of inspiration of Sam McDonald, director of Mission. In the final day of the training, a Commissioning Liturgy was conducted by DSE and this homily was delivered. The following were commissioned as “Ethnic Ambassadors”:

Asiamerica Ministries: Irene Tanabe, Bayani Rico, Ada Wong Nagata, Isaiah Joo, Ranjit Matthews and Minh-Hanh Nguyen

Black Ministries: Wanda Norris, Jemonde Taylor, Carole Pinkett, Freda Marie Brown and Arlette Benoit

Hispanic/Latino Ministries: Daniel Velez-Rivera, Christina Encinosa, Gladys Diaz, Nancy Frausto and Susan Moss

Indigenous Ministries: LaCinda Hardy, Elsie Dennis-Dofelmier, Martha Allen and Angela Haugen

***********************************

In most of world history, there are three factors that make up the recipe of a people’s revolution: a common experience of pain, a common vision of hope and the emergence of authentic leaders who embody their people’s pains and visions. In the Church, I believe, that it is not the institution that can effect revolutionary change but a group of Christians working together, keenly sensitive to the cry of God’s people, and who, like Mary, the bearer of the Holy Child, would earnestly respond to the will of God.

Some portions of these elements are present among us today, and I prophesy that someday, we shall effect this revolutionary change in our beloved Church. A Chinese proverb says, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” You as leaders from the four ethnic communities have just began to tie up the thongs of your sandals, so to speak, in order to march in the light of Christ, no longer behind, but alongside the enlightened members of the dominant culture---and effect, real revolutionary change. You were trained and you will be trained, as trainers of leaders, present and future, in your ethnic communities to the end that we shall all be ambassadors of the Good News and servants of positive, revolutionary change.

God is still in the business of renewing the face of the earth and rearranging the order of things. “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly,” sang Mary of the Magnificat (Luke 1:52-53). God is flattening authority and distributing delegated power. I am certain that us, who come from the margins, are being called by God to announce repentance and change so that the structures of racism and injustice will be dismantled and the disparity that exists between and among peoples and cultures will cease to exist. Justice and equity will meet together, harmony and diversity will kiss each other.

As a concluding remark to the many lessons that you have already learned these past three days, let me just say three things why I believe why you can be part of a revolutionary change:

First, is your sense of calling: After observing you and listening to how you responded to the presentations of your Ethnic Missioners, I am now starting to believe that it was not us who called you and invited you, but God Himself through the Holy Spirit. I observed that not only that you exhibit a sense of mission; you also demonstrated the various gifts of the Spirit and even more possess the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control. The Church is in need of leaders who balance giftedness of visions and dreams with Christian maturity.

Second is your sense of conviction: I heard many of you expressing your passion for mission and your willingness to be used by God as “bridges”, “conduits” or “broad bands” of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. The time of adversarial and competitive leadership is gone; the time for collegiality and collaboration has come.

Thirdly and finally, is your sense of clarity. This is very important because, I believe the church today is losing, if it has not already lost its message. In this time of anxiety, volatility and complexity, the Church, it seems to me, is experiencing a “fog of mission” or a sense of confusion about its reason for being.

I remember a story about a certain conclave called to elect a new pope to replace the one who died. Unlike the Episcopal Church’s General Convention where election of the Presiding Bishop is an open assembly, the Roman Catholic Conclave is a secret meeting of the College of Cardinals where the cardinals are locked and secluded in the Sistine Chapel. They would retreat to their prayer cubicles, seek discernment from the Almighty and cast their votes. The people gathered at St. Peter’s Square will know if the pope is elected or not through the smoke that comes out from the chimney of the Vatican. When a Pope is not elected, the ballots will be burned and a black smoke will come out. But when a pope is elected, a certain chemical will be poured upon the ballots and a white smoke will appear. Now in this particular election, there was not enough chemical put and so the smoke that came out was neither black nor white but gray----and the people outside were confused. They did not know if they have a pope!

I am inclined to say that much as you will be the “ambassadors of the Ethnic Ministries in the Diversity, Social and Environmental team of the Department of Mission in the Episcopal Church,” you must have the clarity that your primary role as Christians and as Episcopalians is to be ambassadors for Christ, Christ making His appeal through you and entrusting you with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). We do not have a mission of our own; we are only entrusted to become instruments of Christ’s mission. We do not have a ministry of our own; we are only entrusted with the ministry of Christ---that of reconciling the world to God and each other in Christ.

Sam (McDonald), our Mission Director, reminded us yesterday that when all is said and done, our main calling is primarily “the salvation of souls.” John Wesley, the 18^th century Anglican priest and evangelist who co-founded the Methodist Church, along with his brother Charles, once said, “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go always, not only to those that want you, but to those that want you most. Observe: It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring them to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in holiness without which they cannot see the Lord.”

It is this clarity of your message, this sense of mission and your conviction of your calling that would make you as true ambassadors. And so it is proper for us, the four Ethnic Missioners, to now call you our colleagues and fellow missioners. Let our common calling be grounded by faith, let our common conviction be sustained by hope and let the clarity of our message be shaped by Christian love. Amen.

POWER OF WORDS - FRED VERGARA

2011-12-22T19:38:00.000-05:00

POWER OF WORDS – By Fred Vergara

Two cancer patients were given the same prognosis: “you have three months to live.” One negatively said, “Woe unto me, I may die soon!” He died after three weeks. The other one positively said, “I will survive and live forever.” He survived and has been in remission.

Words have power and we must be careful with our words. The words we speak, especially coming from our heart, can mean either life or death. Solomon, the wisest king of Israel said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

When I was a student chaplain, I often visited pre-ops patient and would teach them how to say positive words prior to surgery. I believe that the desire, the will and the words of the patient have a lot to do with the success of the surgery just as much as the skill of the surgeon. If the patient confesses death, then death-consciousness will begin to work in his system. If he confesses life, the body begins to release the natural forces of healing to make his desire or prayer come true.

This is also true among the elderly who have retired from work. When the mind begins to think of itself as old and confesses, “I’m retired now; I am too old to do anything productive,” then the body will respond to these words and rapid aging would take place. The mind begins to lose memory, the body becomes inactive, the bones atrophy. On the other hand, if one says, “my experiences give me more wisdom and I am learning more about life now that I've never known before,” then youthful enthusiasm kicks in, youthful energy is ignited and youthful aging gracefully moves.

Age is more than chronology, it is a state of the mind and is influenced by the things we think and the words we say. That is why we find many active and strong elderly people in church. Church activities make them young. Singing and making melody to the Lord make them remember. Serving, sharing, being hospitable to others make them active. Teaching and learning new things make them alive. Talking with both young and old make them happy. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. A broken spirit drieth the bones but a merry tongue from the merry heart is the joy of the Lord!

One other thing that positive words can change is poverty. I have lived, studied and traveled far and wide to know that poverty is not of God. I believe poverty is a curse of the devil and those who create and operate systems that perpetuate poverty are of the devil. I would not mention the countries, but I have seen many who suffer in abject poverty, struggling to survive just one more day. As a youth activist in the 1970’s, I had seen and experienced slum dwellers near the garbage “smoky mountain” who ate under the mosquito nets because the flies are swarming around the dining area. Oppressive poverty where people are chained in misery and hopelessness is demonic. God desires to deliver His people from the curses of sin, poverty, disease and death. His Son, Jesus Christ came to give us life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

As individuals, changing our self-image is one of the keys to deliverance from poverty. If we create a self-image of being poor, then we will always be poor and in need of other people’s hand-outs. On the other hand, if we create a self-image of being wealthy, then we attract the forces of prosperity. By confessing strength, the weak becomes strong; by confessing wealth, the poor becomes rich. The road to health, wealth and joy begins from the spirit and the mind. By trusting God and working hard to reach your dream, you will be able to lift yourself up from the quagmire of poverty and move into a place where you can share the bounties of the earth---and give enough for the Lord’s work.

Speaking creative and positive words started with God who from darkness said, “let there be light”--- and there was light. Creatio ex nihilo. God created something from nothing. The Bible says that the world, as we know it, was framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. It is another way of saying that the universe came into existence by creative divine words.

Of course, we are not God to create something from nothing. But no matter who you are and where you are, you have at least “some” thing. There is not one person who has nothing. You have at least one thing or two things to start with. All you need is faith: believe in God, believe in yourself and speak your faith. Jesus said that if you have faith even as small as a mustard seed you can say to the mulberry tree, be uprooted and thrown into the sea, and it will happen (.Luke 17:6). In modern parlance, if you have faith like a microchip, you can fly me to the moon. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, the confessing of things we dream of” (Hebrews 11).

The principle of faith operates in the words we speak. So instead of whining and complaining, which are depressive to the spirit, soul and body, why not confess positive, creative and inspiring words? Proverbs 25:11 says, “Words aptly spoken are like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” So begin by aptly saying to yourself, “I am strong; I am healthy; I am wealthy; I am beautiful. I am smart; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Then like Mary, end by saying, ‘Lord, let it be done to me, according to Thy Word.”

Calling, Conviction, Clarity: Commisioning of Ethnic Ministers

2011-12-15T23:49:00.000-05:00

Calling, Conviction, Clarity: Homily at “Train the Trainers” Event

(Commissioning of Ethnic Ministries Ambassadors)

Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara 12.15.11 Los Angeles, California

In most of history, there are three factors that make up the recipe of a revolutionary change: common experience of pain, common vision of hope and the emergence of authentic leaders who embody their people’s pains and visions. In the Church, it is not the institution that can effect real change, but a group of Christians who are keenly sensitive to the cry of God’s people, and who, like Mary of the Magnificat, would earnestly respond to the will of God.

God is still in the business of renewing the face of the earth and rearranging the order of things. “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has shown the strength of His arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.” I am certain that us, who come from the margins, are being called by God to announce repentance and change so that the structures of racism and injustice will be dismantled and the disparity that exists between and among peoples and cultures will cease to exist. Justice and equity will come together, harmony and diversity will kiss each other.

As a concluding remark to the many lessons that you have already learned these past three days, let me just say three things why I believe you can be part of change:

First, is your sense of calling: After observing you and listening to how you responded to the presentations of your Ethnic Missioners, I am now starting to believe that it was not us who called you and invited you, but God Himself through the Holy Spirit. For not only that you exhibit a sense of mission but you also demonstrate the gifts of the Spirit and even more possess the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness and self-control.

Second is your sense of conviction: I heard many of you expressing your passion for mission and your willingness to be used by God as bridges, conduits or broad bands of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation.

Thirdly and finally, is your sense of clarity. This is very important, because, I believe the Church today is losing, if not already lost her message. In this time of anxiety, volatility, uncertainty and complexity, the Church is experiencing a fog of mission and a sense of confusion.

I remember an event when the pope died and a conclave was called in the Vatican City in Rome to elect a new pope. Unlike the Episcopal Church’s General Convention where election of the Presiding Bishop is an open assembly, a conclave is a secret meeting where the cardinals are locked in a room and they retreat to their prayer cubicles, seek discernment from the almighty and cast their votes. The people gathered at St. Peter’s Square will know if the pope is elected or not elected through the smoke that comes out from the chimney of the Vatican. When a Pope is not elected, the cardinals would burn their ballots and a black smoke will come out. But when a pope is elected, they will put a certain chemical and a white smoke will appear. Now in this particular election, there was not enough chemical put and so the smoke that came out was neither black nor white but grey----and the people outside were confused.

I am inclined to say that much as you will be the “ambassadors of the Diversity, Social and Environmental Ministries of the Missions Department of the Episcopal Church,” you must have the clarity that your primary role as a Christians and as Episcopalians is to become an ambassador for Christ, Christ making His appeal through you and entrusted you with the ministry of reconciliation. We do not have a mission of our own; we are only entrusted to become instruments of Christ’s mission. We do not have a ministry of our own, we are only entrusted with the ministry of Christ, like baby-sitters of God’s own children.

Sam reminded us yesterday that when all is said and done, our real calling is the salvation of souls. John Wesley, the Anglican priest who founded the Methodist Church a century or so ago, once said to the clergy and lay leaders: ”You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent on it. It is not by doing this or doing that, but being a member of this organization or that society, but it is by saving as many souls as you can and to bring them up to that holiness without which we can not see the Lord.”

It is this clarity of your message, this sense of mission and this conviction of your calling that would make you as true ambassadors. And so it is proper for us, the four Ethnic Missioners, to now call you our colleagues and fellow missioners. Let our common calling be grounded by faith, let our conviction be sustained by hope and let the clarity of our message be shaped by love. Amen.

where It All Began- A Christmas Message

2011-12-14T03:18:00.000-05:00

As missioner for Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Despite all its challenges, the Year 2011 brought tremendous blessings to us. All the ethnic convocations have met to plan their activities and their representatives have gathered to share best practices and strategize for the future. I am grateful to Jim Kodera+ for serving as EAM Council president from 2009 to 2011 and I pray for Bayani Rico+ who now carries the torch of leadership for the future.

The Chinese Convocation developed their E-Newsletter as an avenue for regular communication. The Korean Convocation started three new ministries in three dioceses: Washington DC, Hawaii and Maryland. The Filipino Convocation continues to grow in numbers with its Las Vegas congregation receiving a grant from Domestic Missionary partnership for expansion. The Japanese Convocation is experiencing a new revitalization. The Southeast Asian Convocation has lifted up Toua Vang as the first Hmong seminarian and a Vietnamese mission has just become a full-pledged parish. The South Asian Convocation is renewing ties with Church of South India, Church of North India and Mar Thoma Church..

The diocesan EAM Commission of California held its first regional EAM Consultation (2011); to be followed by the EAM Commission of Long Island (2012). The EAM partnership with Episcopal Divinity School towards a Doctor of Ministry program from the global perspective of Asian Episcopalian will begin on June 2012. The EAM Young Adults are being reactivated and an EAM Youth Camp on Summer 2012 is being organized by Holy Apostles' Parish in Minnesota

The EAM Network has become more than just a sounding board for ministry and resources. It has become a prayer group, a support group, a Barnabas (encourager) group. We have become a spiritual community, a web of relationships of Asians and Asian Americans, bearing connectedness to our historical past and the homelands we left behind and navigating the challenge of assimilating into the culture we find ourselves. The burden becomes bearable and the struggle endurable because these are lived in the context of collegiality, community and solidarity. The collaboration in mission finds its fulfillment in the confluence of diversity: Asians, Black, Latino/Hispanic, Native American and the Anglo-European communities of the Episcopal Church. We are all streams of water flowing into the ocean of God’s loving embrace.

The Christmas manger is the place where all our journeys really started. The birth of Jesus, the Holy Child, was the first step of that arduous mission to reconcile the world and each other to God. The passion and crucifixion of Christ brought the final touches in the divine masterpiece called the incarnation. The resurrection brings forth the promise of a new and abundant on earth and eternal life in the heavens. Eternity was already signed, sealed and delivered into the hearts of those who believe.

“We shall never cease from exploring,” wrote the poet T. S. Elliot,” and the end of all our exploring is to arrive to where we started and know the place for the first time.” On this Christmas season, let us arrive to where we have begun and know the manger for the first time. With faith, hope and love, love, love.

Fred+

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry

The Episcopal Church Center

Advent Sunday 1 - A New Journey Begins

2011-11-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

ADVENT SUNDAY 1: A New Journey Begins

By the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara 11/27/2011)

(Readings: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37)

The end of all exploring,” wrote the poet T. S. Elliot, “is to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first season in the Christian Calendar. We begin with one of Isaiah’s prophetic statements: “Since ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

Coming from the Latin word Adventus, Advent means “coming.” We are expecting the coming of the One whom we waited for so long. As the Psalmist prayed, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, O God.” The coming of the Messiah is God’s response to the cry of His people. I love one of the Advent hymns which says, “O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here, until the Son of God appears.”

We, human beings are always on search for something, or someone. Often our activities are filled with seeking, with searching, with finding that which was lost---a lost cause, a lost love, a lost coin. A friend of mine said that he has three pairs of eye glasses: the first one is for reading, the second one is for driving and the third one is for finding those pairs of glasses. Yes, we go through life searching. We search for a job, we search for wealth, we search for education, we search for relationship, we search for directions, we search for meaning.

Poets and writers tell us that behind all our searching for the things of this world, what we really search for, deep within, is God. For even if we found that longed-for success, that education, wealth, fortune, fame or power, we realize that our search for contentment eludes us. We realize, as many so-called successful searchers have realized, that no amount of wealth and power can make our lives secure, no amount of human achievement can lead us to peace. St. Augustine aptly spoke this illusion in his prayer, “Lord, thou has made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.” There is indeed a God-shaped hole in our souls that only God can fill. Thus we are told by Isaiah that rather than simply leaving us to search for Him, God decided to act on behalf of those who search for Him. He shall come down from heaven in order to dwell in the midst of His people who wait for Him.

The First Coming

The story of God and man sitting at table, comes to us in the person of Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God-with-us. This is the uniqueness of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation. Carne in Latin means meat or flesh. This God, who is Spirit, has become flesh in the person of Jesus.

Do you know what is an aardvark? You will know an aardvark by looking the word in the dictionary. Dictionary defines an aardvark as a “medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa, that eat ants.” Now you have an idea of what is an aardvark. But you don’t know how it looks like, so you go to Africa or a nearby zoo. Then you would see an aardvark, feel an aardvark and even hear the sound of the aardvark. But yet that is as far as you can go with regards to knowledge. To really know what is an aardvark is to become an aardvark.

That is what incarnation means. Not only that God created us, not only that God studied us, not only that God came down to see us. In His unbounded love and compassion, God became like us. He took on human form, being born like us, growing up like us, living life like ours and dying like our death. The hopes and fears of all the years, the ultimate divine-human encounter, was realized in the person of Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth. Indeed, ‘no ear has heard and no eye has seen, besides God who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.”

Waiting for Christ’s Return

Yet the coming of Christ was not just a historical blip 2,000 years ago. In a sense, God has come, continues to come and is coming. And this is the second meaning of Advent. “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” The actual day of Christ’s return in power and glory, no one knows. That is why we must live our lives with watchfulness. One theologian said, ”We must live our life as if one foot is on earth and the other foot is in heaven.” Another theologian said, “We must plan like we have hundred years but we must live like this is the last day of our life.” Of course, there is another theologian who said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plan.” Yes, our times are in God’s hands. That is why we must learn to live in faith and the only way to live the life in faith is to be aware of God’s coming again. “Be alert, be watchful, be awake,” Jesus said.

So let this Advent season, set you once again to a new search and longing for God. Let us all be seekers of the holy grail and remain faithful in waiting. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:4 “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge…Therefore do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful.”

May this season of Advent set us once again to a new journey to God who comes and will come again to meet us and dwell among us. Amen.

WITH SIGHS TOO DEEP FOR WORDS: A PRAYER IN HARD TIMES - Fred Vergara

2011-11-02T23:43:00.000-04:00

The world today is in crises. We have fallen in hard times socially, economically and environmentally. A Filipino comedian said, “Life is like a rock; it is hard.”

Chinese alphabet (character) always presents “crisis” as both danger and opportunity. You must have heard of the man who found a job at the city zoo playing monkey. Daily he would put on a monkey costume and swing from tree to tree. The job was becoming ennui and he was having self-pity, feeling he was the only one who stooped to this level of work. One weekend, school kids visited the zoo and despite warnings, insisted on feeding the ‘monkey’ with peanuts and bananas. So as he swung from a tree, he felt dizzy and fell into a lion’s cage. Scared to see the lion approaching, he began to scream. The lion roared and said, “Buddy, if you don’t shut up, we’ll both lose our job.” It is comforting to know that in hard times, we are not alone!

The economic hardship is felt by the Church. While Christians are “not of this world,” we realize we are still “in this world”---and not exempt from its worries and cares. At many church denominations, I have seen some of my colleagues losing their job, vital ministries losing their funding and church executives agonizing in making decisions. Restructure here, retrenchment there, lay off everywhere.

Whenever we fall on hard times, it is our instinct for survival that tends to override everything. We are prone to panic, to lose our direction and to give up. Therefore, it is in times like these that we need to remind ourselves that we are God’s people---a people of faith, a people of visions and a people of power.

We are People of Faith.

One of the songs I learned in the ‘60’s had this lyric: “Walk with faith in your heart and you’ll never walk alone.” Faith is the opposite of fear. Fear distracts us but faith anchors us. The Bible says that we should walk by faith and live by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7; Habakkuk 2:4). Those who walk with faith will have direction even in darkness for “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11). Our ancestor Abraham was known as the “friend of God, “because he walked in search of a city not a visible, but one with a strong foundation, whose builder and maker is God.” God promises to “lead us continually,” even in ways we do not know. Rabindranath Tagore said, “Faith is a bird that sings while the dawn is still dark.”

We are People of Visions

On the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy which says, “In these last days, God will pour out His Spirit. The young shall see visions, the old shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28). (I’m middle age, so I guess I’m supposed to have both visions and dreams.)

Visions and dreams are the language of the Holy Spirit. In times of crises, we must see a vision of a great and mighty God, “who sits enthroned amidst the floods.” If your God is big, your problem is small; if your God is small, your problem is big. I remember as a young priest, I joined a Clergy Retreat in Sabah, Malaysia. In our free time, a dozen of us decided to climb Mount Kinabalo. Halfway to the mountain, half of the group gave up. I was one of those who tried to persevere, but while we were about to reach the peak, there was a thick fog which covered our way. Not knowing how far the summit, with our strength ebbing fast, four of us also decided to call it quits and walked downhill, feeling defeated. Only two pushed through the foggy trail. When we returned to the camp, exhausted and spent, we were amazed to find the two successful climbers already there, rested and refreshed, telling their stories. I was amazed at their tenacity but even more amazed at their revelation: It turned out that the apex of the mountain was only a few yards after the fog, and when they were up there, they saw a cable car! In crisis, we should not give up. There is rainbow after the storm…or a cable car after the fog!

We are People of Power

St. Paul said the power within us is greater than the power that is in the world. With all the crises in our lives, we need to know, that in the end, God wins. We are clay pots but within us is a treasure more precious than gold or silver, not fashioned by human hands. Within us is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life. My Pentecostal friends often remind me, “You Episcopalians believe that the Holy Spirit is ‘resident’ in you; we Pentecostals believe, the Holy Spirit is ‘president’ in us.” In crisis or out of crisis, we need to reaffirm with St. Paul that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and that “what lies within me is greater than that which lies behind and or lies ahead.”

Indeed, in times like these, in crises, let us allow the Holy Spirit preside over our thoughts and our lives. And when God take hold of us, we shall not only survive but we shall prevail. As God’s beloved, we are a people of faith, a people of visions and a people of power. And we shall shine like the sun in our Father’s kingdom.

Let us pray:

A PRAYER IN HARD TIMES

Almighty and everlasting God, you are shelter from the storm, light in the dark and rock of our salvation. You sit enthroned amidst the flood and speak peace to the wind. In your still small voice, you calm our fears; by your mighty hand, you lift up our spirits.

In these times of economic, social and environmental crises, we turn to you in humility and faith. You alone can answer our deepest needs, you alone can mend our broken hearts, you alone can wipe the tears from our eyes, and you alone can heal our land.

In these hard and trying times, we ask you to keep our hearts connected to you as the Ground of our being and the Source of all good things. Help us to reach out to those who struggle, especially those who lost their jobs as a result of economic recession. As they transition to new life, help them to see open doors of new opportunities. Give them faith to believe that the power of the Holy Spirit within them is greater than that which is in the world. Give them the hope of new life that lies ahead.

We pray for the leaders of the Church and the nations. Give them wisdom to harness the energy and creativity of the people. Let the power of love overcome the love of power so that justice and peace will flow like rivers and prosperity will return to the land. Replenish the earth and fill this world with your grace and glory, as the waters cover the sea. Amen.

*The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara is Missioner for Asiamerica Ministries of the Episcopal Church Center; Priest-In-Charge of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island; founder of Holy Child Episcopal congregations in San Jose, California; Las Vegas, Nevada and Woodside, New York. He is also Moderator of Pacific Asian American Canadian Christian Education (PAACCE) of the National Council of Churches;He and his wife, Angela, live in Queens, New York.

SACRIFICIAL LOVE:TRIBUTE TO A MOTHER - Fred Vergara

2011-10-26T12:20:00.002-04:00

(My mother with one of her 21 great grandchildren, a few months before she died.)

How do you love your mother? Can you count the ways?

My mother, Clarita Bagao Vergara, was born on September 11, 1922 in Pili, Ajuy, Iloilo, Philippines and died last November 13, 2008 on her birthplace. She was named after a saint. “Clarita” (“little Clara”) refers to St. Claire of Assisi, the female counterpart of St Francis, the patron saint of peace-loving people. Many of you have not seen my mother, but if you have known me, you would have known my mother also. It is because all my good traits, I learned from my mother. The not-so-good ones, I submit, I learned it by myself. How much have I learned from my mother? Let me count the traits:

Filial Piety

The first trait I learned from my mother is filial piety, the traditional Asian respect given to the elderly. The word mother in Philippines is “Nanay,” and my mother had the custom of calling elderly women as “Nanay” and elderly men as “Tatay.” The fifth of the Ten Commandments is “honor thy father and thy mother” and this is the only commandment with a promise---“that you may live long on the earth.”(Exodus 20:12). My mother was the eldest and only daughter in the family of six children and she also lived the longest because she received the biblical promise. I remember as a child, she was the one who really cared for my grandmother when the latter was very old, blind and had Alzheimer’s. Not only that my mother lived long; she and my father were also blessed with 7 children, 22 grandchildren and 21 great grand children.

Education

The second value I learned from my mother is the importance of education. Education is one of the equalizers in Philippine society and Filipino parents would sacrifice to great length to send their children to school. For our family, that was very hard. We were seven children. My father was a wounded veteran of the Second World War but did not receive any pension. It was because just after the War with Japan in 1940-1944, he was conscripted to proceed to the Korean War but my mother insisted that he did not go. My father resigned from the military and worked as a tailor but his income was not enough to send us all to school. So when I reached High School, I stowed away in a ship bound for Manila, became a street kid and finally worked as a janitor in exchange for school.

What motivated me to risk leaving my village and struggled against all odds to obtain education? This is the story: At age 7, my mother enrolled me to Grade 1 at the barrio elementary school. At that time in 1957, there was a nutrition feeding program for the children of indigent families and I was one of those who belong to the category. So at lunchtime, we would line up with our glass bowl to receive nutritious corn pudding and milk. Unfortunately, when the pudding was placed on my bowl, it was too hot that I dropped it. The bowl fell on the cement floor and broke into pieces. I went home crying because that was our only glass bowl. So my mother made me a bowl made of coconut shell! I went back to school but my classmates made fun of me. In our school, a glass bowl or ceramic bowl was like a badge of social status; a bowl from coconut shell was to be the poorest of the poor. So from that time, I hated school but my Mom would patiently talk me to it. And when I became stubborn, she would spank and practically push me to school with this---a broom made from coconut sticks! Then she gave me an advice which I will never forget: “My son, you can be more than you can be, if you study and get education. But if you don’t, my broom will haunt you forever!”

Today, I finished High School, obtained a college degree, two masters’ degrees, two doctorate degrees and I have visited the classrooms of some of the best universities in the world---all because of my Mother’s Broom!

Survival and entrepreneurship

The third value I learned from my Nanay is plain survival. In our barrio, there were only five wealthy families. They were the owners of the farm lands. The rest were farming tenants, fisher folks or poor families. There were only two seasons: planting season and harvest season. The agricultural months of the year were divided into these: June-July-August were planting months; November-December-January were harvesting months; February-March-April were festival months, where the harvested rice are often consumed. Did I miss three months? Yes, they were August-September-October. They were the lean months. Most of the rice in the granaries was running low and we would experience hunger. What did my mother do?

First, to economize, she would cook rice mixed with cassava or sweet potatoes. Second, we would walk miles to go to town and line up for the government’s emergency rice program. At one time, I was almost crushed in a riot of people rushing to obtain what we called the RCA rice. RCA (Rice & Corn Administration) had a smell but it was good rice. Third, she went into cassava cakes business. At night, she would cook cassava cakes; early in the morning, she would go to the fishermen’s wharf and barter the cakes with fish; before noon, we would go up to the farms and barter the fish with rice. So as a child, I would carry for my Mom a large basket of cassava cakes to the beach; two pails of fish to the farms; and a sack of rice back to our barrio. That must be the reason why I did not grow up taller! I carried heavy loads to the sea shore, up the mountain and down the valley. That was the time when child labor was not a crime but simply a family survival tactic.

Unconditional Love

Finally, the fourth value that my mother taught me was love, sacrificial love. I remember a story which my mother told me. It was about a mother and her son. She was a loving mother but he was a stupid son. He fell in love with a woman on the other side of the mountain who told him, “I would accept your offer of love if you can give me the heart of your mother.” Maybe it was just a figure of speech or that the woman was wicked. The boy however thought about it and in a moment of stupidity, took a knife, stabbed his mother and took her heart out. He then ran towards the mountain to offer the heart to his object of affection but he stumbled on the paddies and the heart fell in the mud. He scooped the heart and as he was wiping it, the heart spoke:” Son, are you hurt?”

That story was like a horror movie to me then but when I became a priest, it dawned upon me that it powerfully illustrated God’s love. God also forgave our stupidity in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christ’s suffering and death (like that of the mother’s) was substitutionary. The prophet Isaiah aptly said, “he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisements that made us whole and by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53).

I remember how my mother suffered every time one of us children got sick. Once I was very ill with “El Tor,” a form of dysentery. I lay dying but did not have the strength to take medicine. I would vomit it every time it was spoon fed to me. Then I heard my Mom praying, “God, let the sickness be upon me, for I can’t bear to see my son die.” I was thankful that God, in His wisdom, did not grant her naïve substitutionary prayer but it surely motivated me to take the bitter herbal medicine (boiled leaves and bark of star-apple or kaimito tree!) and cooperated with the healing process. I lived to tell the story.

My mother did not leave us with any worldly inheritance; she and my father brought us up in poverty. But she taught us how to live with honor and dignity. She left us with a legacy of values which can not be bought. She taught us faith and hope and showed us the power of sacrificial, unconditional love. Maybe that is why three of us brothers became ministers. Pepito became an elder of Jehovah’s Witness Church; Alberto became a priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and I became an Episcopalian priest.

So today in the presence of you, my dear friends, I honor my mother. I have no doubt that her soul is now with our loving God, in that place where there is no poverty, no pain, no suffering, no mourning, but only life everlasting. She has returned to her eternal home in the heavens, where she ultimately belongs. Together with other loving mothers like yours, she will help prepare a mansion for me and for you, and for all their sons and daughters who live in faith, hope and love. Amen.

(Eulogy delivered by The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, at the Memorial Service for Clarita Vergara, held at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, Seaford, New York, 12/7/08)

EPISCOPAL ASIAMERICA MINISTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Fred Vergara

2011-10-16T18:08:00.005-04:00

(The Ethnic Missioners of the Episcopal Church at the 2009 General Convention in Anaheim, California: L-R: Anthony Guillen, Hispanic/Latino Missioner; Angela Ifill, Black Missioner; Sarah Eagle Heart, Native American Missioner; Winfred Vergara, Asiamerica Missioner)

ASIAMERICA MINISTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

I am going to make a statement: The 21^st century is going to be the ‘Asia-America Century.’ It means that Asia will join the United States of America as a partner in the global search for a truly free, humane, just and peaceful world community. The Asia-America century will alter the way we do politics, religion and theology.

The Dawn of Asian Century
My faith statement is not without basis. Thirty years ago, as a Filipino priest serving in the Anglican Church of Singapore, I listened to a lecture from a renown economist, Gunnar Myrdal, author of a celebrated book, The Asian Drama. When asked why he wrote Asian Drama and not African Drama or European Drama, he replied, “I got impressed with this idea that the destiny of humankind will come to be decided in Asia because it is such a tremendously large part of humanity.”

That Asia and Asians dominate the geographic and demographic milieu is a statement of fact. Asia covers 29.4% of the Earth's land area and has a population of almost 4 billion - accounting for about 56% of the world’s six million population. Together, China's and India's populations are estimated to be around 2.5 billion people. The dominant languages of the world are Mandarin, Hindi, English, Spanish in that hierarchical order.

China and India also complement each other (yin yang) as the via media of Asian pragmatism and wisdom traditions. Chinese pragmatism is exemplified by Deng Xiaoping who opened China to globalization. As China's foremost leader in 1978-1992, Deng instituted "open door" policy and introduced free enterprise into China socialist economy with such words “It doesn’t matter if they are black cats or white cats, so long as they catch mice, they are good cats.” India’s wisdom tradition is exemplified by one of its many sages, Mahatma Gandhi, who saw God in everything. “To a poor and hungry person, God appears in a loaf of bread,” he said.

Today, both China and India are leading the world in reaping the fruits of globalization. China with its manufacturing industry saturates the world’s retail shops with its products. India, with its developed computer industry, has become indispensable. It is a fact that when Silicon Valley in California had its computer glut in Y2K (Year 2000), the savvy American computer engineers turned to their counterparts in Bangalore, the technopolis of India..

Theology and Ministry
It is my belief that whenever something new happens in the external world, what follows is something new in the internal world. Religion often precedes science but sometimes it is the other way around. The spirit often precedes the flesh but sometimes it is the other way around.

In the Christian world, whenever there is a spiritual awakening, there also follows material prosperity. As a nation seeks the kingdom of God, “all these things are added” (Matthew 6:33). But sometimes the reverse is true. When the world awakens to the truth and expresses it in arts and literature, the church also experiences revival of its own understanding of God.

One example was the renaissance and the religious reformation in Europe. When Italian arts awakened to the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Donatello, Botticelli and the Medici family, the religious realm of Europe also brought the German Reformation of Martin Luther and the English Reformation of Henry VIII.

It is my belief that the Asia-America Century will bring forth a new revival of humanities and the arts as well as new thinking of theology. It was no wonder that Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California is now focusing on Asia as their priority target for seminarians, theologians and thinkers. In the words of David Bundy, the school’s librarian, “The most important discourses in theology and ministry in America in the 21^st century, will be happening not across the Atlantic but across the Pacific.” I wish to join this call for the American Church to “look east” and engage in partnership in mission, ministry and theology with Asia.

The American Church in the Crossroads
Following the Immigration Reform in 1965, hundred of thousands Asians immigrated to the United States. The rapid Asian influx of new immigrants altered the ethnic demographics of the United States. In 1990, TIME magazine published a special issue with the intriguing title, “What would happen to America when whites are no longer the majority?”

Surely it would alter the way we do things. There are many well-meaning Anglo-European-Americans who are beginning to feel the loss of the American society, they once knew. The Eurocentric American education is beginning to lose its status as the ultimate interpreter of history. The meaning of “American,” which used to mean “white Anglo Saxon Protestant” (WASP) is being challenged by the new citizens who assert themselves “We are Americans!” In the context of a country of immigrants and pilgrims, only the Indians (the First Nations) are considered the Native Americans. For this reason, the Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, as well as Mexicans, Guatemalans, Jamaicans, Nigerians, etc. who have become American citizens, equally share the same status with their English, Germans, Italians, and Irish predecessors.

These changing demographics are also altering the American Church. For instance, The Episcopal Church was once considered “lily white.” Now the TEC is peppered with Asian and Latino Episcopalians mingling with their African-American and Native American counterparts in the margins of the Episcopal Church. As they form a “New Community,” they are slowly moving into the mainstream life of the church. It is only a matter of time, when this Anglo-European faith community will become an interracial Church where there would no loner be a single racial or cultural majority.

Certainly this possibility is being viewed differently from within and without. There are those who lament what they see as a “dying church” and there are others who welcome and celebrate, even from afar, a “Nuevo Amanecer,” a new dawn, a new birth of a Pentecost Church, a church that is like a diamond with many facets. I believe with Latino author, Virgilio Elizondo, when he wrote that the American Church of the 21^st century will not be black and white but “mestizo.”

The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry
The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry, in which I am currently the missioner, began in 1973 as a missionary program of evangelism and service to bring people of Asian and Pacific Island background into the branch of the Body of Christ, the Episcopal Church. In partnership with the dioceses of the Episcopal Church, its two-fold goal was congregational development and advocacy.

There are 49 independent nations in Asia, but in the United States, we consider at least 20 racial-ethnic groups that are represented in the U. S. Census, namely: Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Hmong, Burmese, Asian Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Thais, Okinawan, Nepalese and Singaporeans.

Asians are very diverse in races, languages, cultures, ethnicities and faiths. The core vision of the EAM is therefore to give a harmonious voice to the diverse Asian voices and help enable the Episcopal Church to truly become an intercultural Church, “a diamond with many facets.”

As a pastoral and evangelistic strategy, the EAM has grouped Asiamerica diversity into six ethnic convocations: Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian and South Asian. “Asiamerica” is an Episcopal Church invented word to refer both to the Asian-born American immigrants as well as the America-born-and raised Asians.

Each of the six Ethnic Convocations is led by their respective conveners who also compose the EAM Council. With its elected Executive Committee (president, vice president, secretary and treasurer), the EAM Council will work in partnership with the Office of the Missioner of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry.

The mission statement of the OM-EAM says: “The EAM Office builds a network of relationship with, among and beyond Asiamerica communities and provides resources for evangelism and mission, church growth and revitalization, racial justice and reconciliation.

The four areas of priorities are:
1. Congregational Life- the EAMO assists dioceses in strengthening existing congregations and starting new ones.

2. Advocacy – through the EAM Council and diocesan EAM commissions, the EAMO advocates for Asian empowerment at all levels of the church life and their involvement in the secular society.

3. Support Group – EAMO provides support groups that will enable Asian Episcopalians to discern their vocations and support deployment of Asian clergy.

4. Training – in partnership with EAM Council and the Diversity, Social and Economic (DSE) unit of the Episcopal Mission department, the EAMO provides training in leadership and develops creative resources for ministry of all the baptized.

EAM Challenges in the 21^st Century

Evangelism – In Asia, only two countries (Philippines and Korea) are considered Christians. Philippines is predominantly Roman Catholic (85% Christians) while Korea is rapidly growing evangelical (34% Christians). The vast majority are Buddhist, Hindu, Muslims, Taoist and ancestral worshipers. Christianity, as a whole, is a minority in the vast Asia Pacific basin.

In the United States, approximately 80% of Asian immigrants are not Christians. This represents a challenge and an opportunity in evangelism, Christian formation and congregational development. In an increasingly universalistic world, what should be the shape of EAM evangelism?

Mission – According to U.S. Census, Asian groups in the U.S. are some of the richest (South Asian high tech immigrants) but also some of the poorest (Southeast Asian refugees). Asians as a conglomerate group belongs to both the highest and the lowest socio-economic ladders. Many Asians are also victims of human trafficking, sweat shop slave labor, abuses against domestic helpers and ‘glass ceiling’ discrimination. This represents a challenge in mission for the advocacy of human rights, social justice and immigration reforms.

Theological Education – Asiamerica churches are largely served by immigrant clergy who suffer from marginalization in their dioceses and hand-to-mouth salaries from their ethnic parishes and missions. Serving more than just pastoral and administrative duties, they get “stuck” with neither time nor money for continuing theological education that will help them assimilate to the diocesan cultures.

The reverse is true to the Asiamerica clergy who grow up in the American culture and studied in American seminaries. Even when they were sent by ethnic churches, they often do not return to their home churches because their training in predominantly Anglo-European seminaries do not give them adequate skill and sensitivity to the Asian cultures.

The challenge is therefore to seek an Asiamerica theological education that is relevant, contextual, cross-cultural and intercultural. We seek to develop a theological education that will make Asiamerica clergy versatile in serving the multicultural milieu. On June 2012, we are partnering with Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a pilot project on a Doctor of Ministry with concentration on Asia-America Studies.

Asia-America Relations – In the context of a 'glocalized' world (global-local) we seek a closer and deeper relationship and communication with our brothers and sisters in Asia. The Episcopal Church is being served competently by my colleague, Peter Ng, the Partnership Officer for Asia and the Pacific. During the past few years, the TEC have broken new grounds in developing deeper relations not only with the Anglican partners in Asia but also in the Concordat churches, such as the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church), the Mar Thoma Church, the Church of South India and the Church of North India.

Recently the EAM Council has elected new officers to help lead the EAM in this new dawn of synergistic leadership. At its meeting in Colorado in October 11-13, 2011, prior to the Everyone Everywhere Conference (October 13-16, 2011), the EAM conveners elected the following as Executive Committee:

President – Rev. Bayani Rico

Vice-President – Mimi Wu

Secretary – Rev. Irene Tanabe

Treasurer – Inez Saley

It is my hope that together with the six EAM Ethnic Conveners, the EAM Executive Committee will lead the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry community in breaking barriers and building bridges for Asia-America relations towards a reformed and reforming Church in the 21^st century. We also hope that the various EAM Commissions working in the context of their dioceses will continue to make inroads in evangelistic, missionary, liturgical and theological enterprises.

(Workshop delivered at Everyone Everywhere Conference, Estes Park Colorado 10.15.2011)

A GUIDE TO STRATEGIC PLANNING

2011-10-13T00:19:00.000-04:00

A GUIDE TO STRATEGIC PLANNING

(Condensed and adapted by Fred Vergara from Strategic Planning for Church Organizations, Judson Press, 1969. This step-by-step process was used by the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry Council at their national strategic planning last October 12, 2011 in YMCA Estes Park, Colorado.)

Introduction:

Strategic Planning begins with a vision, an imagination of a new future. When God blessed the Church with the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter expressed this event through a passage from the book of Joel, “In these last days, God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young shall see visions, your old shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2: 17)

God intends the Church to be a visioning community, to move from “what is” to “what can be.” With the Holy Spirit present, the visioning work of strategic planning is an act of faith.

I. PLANNING Process (The GIADSIE Steps)

1. Gather key leaders to form a Strategic Planning Team. Who are the key leaders and who will commit to serve on this team?

2. Identify the shared values that unify and motivate the Team. What can build relationship? What values among team members which seems to conflict? How can these values be reconciled?

3. Analyze the situation: what are the needs and the available resources to meet them. What are the felt-needs; what resources do we have; what are those we have not yet gathered? Given our current resources, how will we meet our needs?

4. Define and write the mission statement. How can we tell the world in a compelling manner about what God calls us to do and to be?

5. Set goals and objectives. What are 3-5 goals must we reach in the next 3 years to be faithful to our mission? What are the short-term objectives we will pursue to reach each of these 3 goals?

6. Implement the plan with persons assigned to tasks. Who will take responsibility for each goal; what resources must we provide?

7. Evaluate the results. Who do we thank for the success and how do we recognize the contribution of those who made this possible? If failure, what caused the goal to fail and what needs to be changed to ensure success next time?

B. The IMPLEMENTING Groups (PC-PMB-MP)

1. Planning Committee – a relatively small committee to do the initial work of refining and clarifying the basic assumptions. Environmental assumption refers to our analysis of the physical, e.g. “The world in which we live is undergoing rapid changes affecting the way we do ministry.” Theological assumptions are spiritual statement upon which we chose to act, e.g. “The church is called upon to be a sign of the kingdom of God to bring salvation, love, forgiveness and reconciliation.” The crucial factor for the success of the committee is that it be made up of people who are innovative and willing to work in a collaborative way.

2. Policy-Making Body. This is the body that that appoints the PC and regularly reviews its works and acts upon its recommendations. Its function is 3-fold:

(a) Approve assumptions, objectives and strategies;

(b) Allocate the necessary resources to implement these strategies;

© Review and evaluate progress or revision the plan.

3. Maximum Participation. This is both the bane and the blessing of planning. On the one hand, the more people are involved, the more difficult it is to arrive at consensus. On the other hand, wider participation not only means wider commitment to the objectives but also ensures they are realistic and workable. How this principle works out, depends on each situation. The bigger the goal, the bigger the need for broad participation.

C. PRIORITIZING: A Loose-leaf Notebook

Since the strategic plan is a total list of operation and is continuously under review and revision, it is important that priorities be established to make the work manageable. For example, certain objectives are given higher priority rating at a given moment than others. Those of lower priority or which are future-oriented can be written down and placed in the loose-leaf binder as a constant reminder and then placed forward when the other more important priorities have been achieved.

A timeline in the implementation of priorities may be established.

Steve Jobs: Theologian and Prophet - Fred Vergara

2011-10-06T17:27:00.001-04:00

(This is my tribute to one of the prophets of the 21st Century, Steve Jobs)

STEVE JOBS, THEOLOGIAN AND PROPHET – Fred Vergara

The globalized world mourns today the passing of Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple. He is considered an exceptional high tech guru, entrepreneur, inventor, innovator, visionary and probably the newest richest man in the cemetery.

Aside from being a father to at least four human beings, Jobs is also the father of iPhone, iTunes, iPad, iPod, iMac. While I have only iNap, iSnore and iOwe in my possession, I quite resonate with his life, particularly his disadvantaged family origin; and although he was reportedly a Zen Buddhist, I consider him my new Christian theologian and prophet. I think his one Commencement Speech to Stanford University students in 2005 must have inspired more people (thanks to his high tech, high speed inventions) than any of my 1726 miserable sermons delivered during my 33 years of priesthood.

And so at the risk of making him my idol, I share three points why his life is worthy of emulation:

He learned from adversity

Given for adoption and learning that his adopted parents were not as rich and educated as his biological mother had expected, he made the most of what he had. “At Reed College, I did not have a dorm room so I slept on the floor of friends’ rooms. I returned coke bottle for 5 cents deposits to buy food and would walk seven miles across town on Sundays to get one good meal at a Hare Krishna temple.” He would later drop out of college, to save money for a self-directed learning, including taking a course on calligraphy, which he would later use in his design of Macintosh computer.

He considered love as antidote for failure

A positive thinking pastor, Robert Schuler once said, “success is never-ending and failure is never-final.” Jobs is a prime exemplar of this philosophy. He and Wozniak started Apple on his parents’ garage in Silicon Valley which grew into a 2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. But when it was settling down, they hired a leadership who later disagreed with him and he was fired from the very company he founded. He came back later after proving himself agile in founding NeXT and Pixar, two celebrated successes. On failures, he said, “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love...Don’t settle.”*

He believed death has a renewing purpose

I share with Steve Jobs the trait of being secretive about disease, a thing that most frustrate my own family. As a child, I endured a whole night suffering from food poisoning, because I did not want to wake my mother up. Jobs battle with pancreatic cancer, which ultimately claimed his life at age 56, was kept secret for a long time. St. Francis of Assisi called it “Sister Death” but for Jobs, death is life’s ultimate destiny. In his monologue on death, he said, “Death is the destination we all share…it is the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” *

It would be great to share with Jobs’ audience that his philosophy of life’s journey resembles that of our forefather Abraham who did not settle in villas and palaces but lived in tents because he was looking for a city with a strong foundation, “whose builder and maker is God.” It will also give them comfort to share that the Christian faith offers a view that death is not the final statement for we, Christians, believe that God will raise us (including Steve Jobs), up on the last day.

*These quotations are taken from Steve Jobs Commencement address at Stanford University, California, October 10, 2005

CHRISTIAN TAI CHI: A PRAYER IN MOTION - Fred Vergara

2011-10-05T18:07:00.001-04:00

Due to a number of requests, I am presenting here the texts for this affirmation-prayer in motion, which I called A Christian Tai Chi. If you want a physical demonstration, visit this link in You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf795HXpq9whttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf795HXpq9w

I am a child of God,
I stand on His Holy Word,
I breathe the Holy Spirit.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I push out negative thoughts; I pull in positive thoughts.

I push out weakness; I pull in energy;

I push out sickness, I pull in good health.

I push out poverty; I pull in prosperity.

I push out hatred; I pull in love.

I push out despair; I pull in hope.

I push out sorrow; I pull in joy.

And now I will share the Good News to my family,

to my friends, to my neighbors, to all people I meet

here and all over the world.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

(Jesus Christ is my God, my Master and my Friend.)

My Italian Tour: The Eternal City and More

2011-09-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

Last September 1-15, 2011 my wife (Angela) and I joined with a group of 46 other tourists from all over the world in what is known as the “Splendors of Italy Tour.” It brought us to over a dozen renowned cities and fantastic places in grand Italia. It is amazing that the country, being so rich in culture, history and significance continue to inspire pilgrims who visit it. Trafalgar Tour offered us a variety of optional tours, most of which we took.

Angela has lots of wonderful photos in her Face book (angieverg@aol.com) and I am preparing some reflections on my blog site, www.travelinasian.blogspot.com. While I have been to many places in Europe and Asia, I find Italy to be most fascinating and awe-inspiring.

Our first stop was Rome, the “eternal city,” with its famous St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican and some museums. Even roaming around Rome itself, if you can feel the Spirit, and, if you can see past the pickpockets, the anxious fellow tourists getting lost in the sea of humanity and the constant roaring of the scooters in narrow streets of cobbled stones, you can see God. Of course, for a pilgrim, not a tourist, God is written even in the graffiti of tenement walls. The frescos of Michelangelo was certainly beyond compare.

After Rome, we ogled the frescos (from ‘fresh’ paint), walked along the gardens of Tivoli. The day was hot but when evening came, after a rowdy dinner, just before I dropped three coins in the fountain and made my wished, it rained---and the $3 Euro umbrella suddenly jumped at $5 Euros. The rest of the days were a staccato of fantastic places: Bay of Naples, Castellamare, Bay of Capri, Positano. In the cruise along Lake Como, we were told to watch out for George Clooney and I swore it was my childhood crush, Sophia Loren (she must be a century old by now), whom I saw tending to her lakeside gardens. Of course, no one, including my wife would believe my imagination.

A visit to Assisi, where my favorite St. Francis and St. Claire, come from was a dream come true. I have always admired “brother Sun and sister Moon” but we did not have much time to explore Umbria where they played among the birds and the bees. Of course you know that the twin-patron saints of Italy were St. Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena; I reckoned Claire would be content being the saint of the poor and Francis the saint of the animals, including myself.

The ruins of Pompeii are a poignant symbol that the “city of man will always die but the city of God will never die” as another Italian saint, Augustine (thanks to his mother, Monica and the bishop of Milan, Ambrose for his conversion), would agree in his book, the “Civitas Dei.” Pompeii, a prosperous and cosmopolitan city in the 1^st century was the center of many pagan and bacchanalian feasts. Many of the filthy rich had their Roman holiday villas there, feasting on licentiousness and decadence. The city was completely destroyed and buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., ironically a day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire. Walking among the city ruins (rediscovered in 1749), it was eerie to be told that Mt. Vesuvius is still an active volcano.

Touring by bus can be ennui unless you learn to travel as a family. Our Tour Director, Dominic Harris, was a funny guy. His background as son of an Anglican vicar (he also married the daughter of a Scotland vicar), made him and me kindred spirits. At the bus, I prayed a “9-11 Prayer,” told some jokes and made adaptation of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” into “He Did it Pompei” and “New York, New York” into “Venice, Venice.” I was wondering if stand up comedy or a murderer of ballads would be my lot if I retire from the ministry.

Yes, Venice was a romantic city and still is. It is interesting to note that all the gondolas are now legally restricted to black color. It became a fashion statement and social status in the past, when the rich would have their gondolas in loud colors and bedecked them with gold and even diamond ornaments to set their gondolas different from those of the plebian’s. Venetian government wants them to be blind to socio-economic boasting, without poking their eyes. The visit to San Marco Church (in honor of St. Mark’s the evangelist) was intriguing. Venice is a city built atop a million logs dropped in the lagoon of the Adriatic Sea and it is amazing that it still stands today. “If I can float up here, I can float anywhere; it’s up to you, Venice, Venice,” I would sing. Marco Polo’s adventures speak of his Venetian lifestyle.

Verona was my idyllic place because it is the scene of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the mother of all romantic tragedies. I can still hear Lawrence Olivier intoning the prologue “Two households both alike in dignity…” It has a huge arena not only for Shakespeare’s plays but hey, maybe Lady Gaga’s concerts as well. In Pisa, the Tower is still leaning and I wonder when it will finally fall.

We made an incursion into Lugano, border of Italy and Switzerland, for a peek of Gucci and other temptations. Of course, most of the touristic ladies bought their leather, later, in Florence. Firenze is the capital city of Tuscany and my interest was more on its art and architecture. As a priest, I used my privilege to enter the Florence Cathedral for free, and access to some of the holy places where the lay were not allowed. Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance and been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. The cathedral is undergoing reconstruction but I could still see the iconic statue of David and haunting fresco of Adam and Eve being driven out of paradise, another Michelangelo creation. The statues of Dante Alighieri, Machiavelli, Savonarola and Leonardo Da Vinci speak of the greatness of the Florentines.

The supreme highlight of the trip for me, was, ironically, the descent to the Roman catacombs. I will have a separate reflection about it but suffice it to say that the catacombs were an important signpost to Christian martyrdom (Latin martyrium for “witness”) and the power of God to convert the hearts. Ireneus and Achilleus, two praetorian guards in-charge of cutting off the heads of Christians, became converted and had their own heads cut off as well. An underground basilica was commissioned by Pope Gregory in honor of their martyrdom in the site where those they executed were buried. Talk about poetic justice.

I departed Italy not only with fond memories but a personal desire to study more of its past and its relevance to our contemporary world. Arrivederci Roma. Ad majorem Dei Gloriam.
Fred+

FIRST RATE MADNESS: LINK BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRISIS LEADERSHIP

2011-08-16T21:06:00.000-04:00

A Book Review by Fred Vergara on…

A FIRST RATE MADNESS:

Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness

By Nassir Ghaemi (Penguin Press: New York, 2011)

(I take time off from writing my own thoughts in order to introduce to you this new and fascinating book on leadership.-Fred Vergara)

There is such a thing as an “inverse law of sanity” and great leadership operates this way: “when times are good, when peace reigns, and the ship only needs to sail straight, mentally healthy people function well as our leaders. But when our world is in tumult, in times of great crises, mentally ill leaders function best.”

This is the essential assertion of this book by psychiatrist Nassir Ghaemi. There are four key elements of mental illness (depression and mania) that appear to promote crisis leadership. They are: realism, resilience, empathy and creativity. Ghaemi theorized that “depression makes leaders more realistic and empathic.”

Some well-known and effective he mentioned a having some form of mental illness, include General William Sherman of the Civil War era; Ted Turner of the cable media greats; Winston Churchill of World War II era; Abraham Lincoln, the acknowledged father of the American nation; Mahatma Gandhi, the acknowledged father of modern India; Martin Luther King, Jr. of the American civil rights and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one of the most globally-admired presidents of the United States. These leaders, Ghaemi claimed, succeeded in their leadership, “not despite of but because of, their madness.”

While these abnormal people succeeded as leaders, there were some normal people who failed in their leadership. He mentioned particularly former President Richard M. Nixon, McClellan, Lord Chamberlain, former President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Of course, there are also mad leaders who went the extreme way to infamy such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. These three had severe depressive episodes or egomaniacal behaviors and instead of accentuating the positive side of their mental illness, they veered towards the destructive side. The book also explained the ambiguous effect of the power of drugs. Consider for instance his assertion that John F. Kennedy’s experience with anti-depressant medicines heightened the positive aspect of his mental illness while Hitler’s drugs ironically exacerbated his egomania.The results in their leadership were extremely different.

The author wrote that there are three basic personality traits, namely: dysthymic or introvert; hyperthymic or extrovert; and cyclothymic or in-between, a little of both. That one is mentally-ill does not necessarily mean one is insane, out of touch of reality or psychotic. Most common behavior is not in abnormality of the thinking process but in abnormality of moods. Clinical depression is different from ordinary sadness. “The depressed person is mired in the past; the manic person is obsessed with the future...the depressed takes her life; the manic ruins hers.”

Repeatedly, the author suggests there is a close link between insanity and genius and that the initial stages of depression or mania are sometimes of benefit to leadership in times of crisis. He quoted a German psychiatrist, Ernest Kretschmer who said the best crisis leaders in history were either mentally ill or mentally abnormal and the worst crisis leaders were, ironically, the mentally healthy. “The brilliant enthusiast, the radical fanatic and the prophet are always there, just as the tricksters and criminals are---the air is full of them but they flourish only during crisis. In peacetime, they are our patients; we rule them. In crisis periods, they rule us.”

Science makes probabilities claims; it is not usually about proving that something is always the case, or never the case. Almost all science is about showing a greater probability that something is usually the case. In most scientific matter, especially in medicine and disease, no single exception is a disproof. The preponderance of evidence represents scientific knowledge.

“We will see that our greatest crisis leaders thrived in sadness. When society is happy, they are there seeking help from friends, family and doctors. Sometimes they’re up; sometimes they’re down, but never quite well. Yet when calamity occurs, they are in a position to act, they can lift up the rest of us, they can give us the courage we may have lost temporarily, the fortitude that steadies us. Their weakness is, in short, the secret of their strength.”

Psychologist Jamison put it this way:”in times of adversity, inspired leadership offers us energy, a hope where little or none exist, a belief in the future to those who have lost it, a unifying spirit to a splintered people.” The reason for this is that people who had suffered some form or depression or manic have a better sense of reality, more empathetic and more resilient than those who had none. The experience of suffering makes one become more realistic about the world. For the lucky, suffering is less frequent, less severe, and delayed until it can be avoided. For the unlucky, who early in life endure hardship and tragedies, or the challenge of mental illness, seem to become, not infrequently, a greatest leader.

The author also differentiated three kinds of empathy. Cognitive empathy means thinking another’s thoughts; affective empathy is feeling what others feel; and motor empathy means moving the way another moves. The ultimate empathy is called “pseudocyesis.” For example, a husband who gets morning sickness just like his pregnant wife; his stomach gets bloated like that of his wife; he feels pain and contraction during her wife's birth pangs. This is called pseudocyesis- false pregnancy, the ultimate empathy.

The author spared no great leaders in his list of mild mentally-ill persons. Of Martin Luther King, Jr. he quoted the Rev. Joseph Lowery who said, “To achieve social change, you have to be a little crazy. All leaders of the civil rights revolution were a little crazy, including MLK.”

The book is so fascinating that I read it in one setting right inside the bookstore that I did not have to buy it (sorry Barnes & Noble---but I bought other books too). While reading the book, I remember many years ago when we were moving house in Manila. My brother-in-law who was then president of the Philippine Psychiatrists Association engaged one of his mental patients to drive a borrowed garbage truck to assist us in moving furniture. I was amazed at his driving skill, maneuvering the truck even in a very narrow gate but I could not help but be anxious knowing he was a mental patient . When I expressed my concern, my brother-in-law said, “Don’t worry, he is in his lucid moment.”

A moment of madness, can be a moment of greatness? Read this book to find out more.

TRANSFIGURATION STORY: NO RESURRECTION WITHOUT CRUCIFIXION

2011-08-07T16:44:00.000-04:00

‘O Lord, thou hast put salt in my mouth that I may thirst for thee.’ So fill us now with wisdom and understanding and may the words from my lips and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable to thee, O God, our Creator, Sustainer and Sanctifier. Amen.

Texts: Daniel 7:9-10; 13-14; II Peter 1:16-19; Luke 9:28-36

Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction and reality is harsher than imagination.

A story is told of a man looking for a job in New York City. With the current economic recession, the only job he was able to find was in the Zoo. The job? Pretending that he was a monkey! All he had to do was to put on a monkey costume, swing from tree to tree, eat bananas and peanuts and he will be paid a minimum wage. So that’s what he did. One Saturday, a group of kids visited the zoo and despite the warning not to feed the animals, they insisted on feeding the monkey with so many bananas and peanuts. So he got sick in his stomach and as he swung from tree to tree, he felt dizzy and fell into the lions’ den. He was so scared especially when one of the lions was coming straight towards him. So he began to scream and shout “Help, help.” The lion, roared and said, “Buddy, if you don’t shut up, we’ll both lose our job.”

The story of the transfiguration of Jesus illustrates to us that fact is stranger than fiction and reality is harsher than imagination. The apostle, Peter, in his epistle swore that this was not a cleverly devised myth but an event he witnessed personally.

In this story Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of his disciples, Peter, James and John. In their sight, Jesus’ face shone like the sun and his raiment turned dazzling white like snow. It was like the vision of the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament about the appearance of the One on whom dominion and kingship and glory are given, the One who was to come into the world. Not only that the three disciples saw Jesus transfigured; they also Moses and Elijah, an allusion that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of both the law and the prophets.

The sight was too wonderful to behold that Peter, unable to control himself, offered that they all stay in the mountain and he would build three shrines: one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Resurrection has come on top of the mountain so why should they go down to the valley and into the City of Jerusalem where Jesus would undergo rejection, suffering and death? Like a person who has fast-forwarded a vide tape of a movie and got a glimpse of its ending, Peter wanted to freeze the experience of elation and not go through the whole mess, the twists and turns in the drama of human redemption. In other words, Peter wanted a religion without sacrifice; gain without pain; resurrection without crucifixion.

Undoubtedly, many of us are like Peter. We preach it is wonderful to be Christians but we will not go to all the trouble of proving that creed in the life that we lead and in the relationships that we create. In one recent survey in

America

, it was revealed that the ratio of divorces are practically the same for those who profess to be Christians and those who do not. And the ratio of broken families between liberal Christians and evangelical Christians are the same. It is hard to build community and even harder to maintain it because we do not have the patience to listen to one another and to deal with conflicts in humane and Christian way. The Anglican Communion is breaking because we, who profess to be joined by the “bonds of affection” can be as proud, arrogant, unforgiving and intolerant of one another. Even as we pray the Lord’s Prayer and remember His intercession that (we) “may be one… so the world may believe,” we hold on tenaciously to our theology of self-preservation than put our trust in God who “holds all things together.” As one old country song says, “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die,” not the least to die to ourselves and our built-in resistance to the unpredictable movement of the Spirit.

In many churches, not the least among those which we know, many young people would prefer to be in the pubs and the bars and the night clubs because they sensed more genuineness, honesty and transparency in those secular fellowships. They coached their quest as “spiritual but not religious.” Among the adults, the secular world provides a stiff competition on Sundays as bargain sales and sports and great TV programs are offered. Among the new immigrants, despite their hunger for spiritual comfort, they are attracted working on Sundays because the pay is higher. The value of offering our bodies as “living sacrifices” has lost its appeal in the contemporary church where consumerism and the concept of the good life has been paganized.

So Jesus said to Peter. “Let us linger no more on the top of the mountain. Let us go down to the valley and to the city; for there I shall be rejected, I shall be mocked, I shall be spat upon, I shall be beaten up, I shall be crucified; I shall die---and on the third day, I shall rise again.” It was a summon for self-transcendence and self-sacrifice; it was a call to go down from the fictionalized ideals of a life without stress; a challenge to immerse and embrace the world with all its thorns and thistles. It was a call to take up the cross.

Perhaps what we (the Church) need today is a new transfiguration. We need to die from our self-fulfilling prophecy and self-preserving theology so that we may rise again and live genuinely as an authentic Christian community, a community of self-transcending faith, hope and love, the community of the crucified and risen Son.

The concluding remark from the Transfiguration Story was a voice from heaven, “This is my Son, my Beloved, listen to Him.” Indeed, there is no true religion without sacrifice; no gain without pain; no resurrection without crucifixion. The fact is stranger than fiction and the reality is hasher than imagination. May we listen afresh to the Voice. Amen.

Homily of the Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, Asian American missioner of the Episcopal Church Center,
815 Second Avenue
, New York, NY 10017 delivered at St. John’s Anglican Church, Notting Hill, in the Anglican Diocese of London on August 7, 2011.

Notting Hill is famous as the title of the book whose author, Richrd Curtis, lives just across the church. The book was made into a movie starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

The vicar in this beautiful and culturally diverse St. John's Church is the Revd. Dr. William Taylor and they host the London Filipino Chaplaincy coordinated by Rev. Salvador Tellen from the Iglesia Filipina Independiente.

TRIBUTE TO MY FATHER

2011-06-17T03:44:00.000-04:00

“My children, I wish above all else that you may prosper and be of good health, even as your soul prospers.” (3^rd John 2)

My father was a story-teller, that’s probably the gift that I inherited from him. In the days when there were no televisions, in rural Philippines of the ‘60’s, a story-teller is synonymous to being a talk show host. At nighttime, children from the neighborhood would come to our home and my father would regale them with stories about his exploits during the Second World War, how he eluded the pursuing Japanese soldiers and how he camouflaged by hugging a banana tree, covering himself with its dried leaves. At other times, he would tell us about legends and folk tales: the story of the turtle and the monkey, the fable of the sky and the earth, the legend of a mysterious bird, Adarna. I always know when he would end the session. He would tell an open-ended story: “There was a flock of geese swimming in the river. It was a wide river so let us now turn off the lamp and go to sleep and let’s continue tomorrow when they have already crossed the river.”

My father was a man of principles and a fiercely idealistic person, something which my mother, a pragmatist, did not fully share. She thought that we could not survive on his principles. After the Second World War, he was supposed to pursue his military career by going to Korea to participate in the Korean War. He refused to do so and was penalized by having his pension withheld. He resigned from the service. At “peace time”, he was advised to kowtow with some politicians so he could have his pension but he refused. Instead, he turned to become a tailor, working day and night, drinking away his frustrations with coconut wine (tuba), till he developed tuberculosis.

We were six children in the family and although we were poor, we excelled in elementary school. Every graduation day, my mother would come up the stage several times to pin ribbons for her honored children. When I finished Grade Six, I was supposed to be the salutatorian (second honor) but was demoted to third honor because my father refused to give a contribution of a chicken. It was a tradition that the honor students would each give a chicken for the reception dinner for the visiting school superintendent. Although he would have freely given such a chicken as a gift, he was questioning the morality that it be tied to being in the honor roll. It’s tantamount to a bribe, he said. My mother, behind my father’s back, surreptitiously gave a chicken to the school principal but it was too late.

One night, my father and mother had a quarrel. It was about our future. My mother was blaming him for our poverty. Had he not stood on his principles, we would have enjoyed receiving a military pension. He would have had money to send us to high school. We would not have to miss a meal. We would not have to squat on someone’s land. The argument became so heated that my father decided to leave. He packed up a luggage and headed to the bus station. I followed him, crying and begging for him to stay. It was providential that the bus was delayed. Till midnight, we were looking at each other. My tears dried up and the bus did not come. He finally relented. He took my hand, I carried the luggage and we both went back home. His was the first marriage I saved.

Later it was my turn to run away from home, not to spite my family, but to seek my future. When I read the parable of the prodigal son in the bible, I did not resonate with it personally. I was the runaway but my father did not have material inheritance for me to squander. I suffered being homeless and alone in the big city of Manila but I was fortunate to finally land a job, obtain higher education and improve myself. When I returned home, years later, it was not to regain a gold ring or to enjoy a feast of fatted calf. It was to buy that piece of land for our house, to help my siblings go to school and to pay for the treatment of my father’s tuberculosis. In one of his wartime stories, he talked about his favorite meal in the barracks, “pork luncheon meat.” I brought a whole box of canned pork luncheon meat. They lasted a few months, to his heart’s delight. And he lasted a few more years.

I was a missionary clergy in Singapore when I learned that my father was gravely-ill. I hurried to return home once again but my plane was delayed. I finally arrived but he was gone to be with the Lord. His last words were one of thanksgiving. My youngest brother said he died with a smile for he knew I was coming and we are much better than we were before. I remain a priest in gratitude to God, our heavenly Father, who makes all things possible.

Happy Father’s Day.

Asian Spirituality of Christian Stewardship

2011-06-10T18:34:00.000-04:00

(Keynote Address of the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministry of the Episcopal Church Center at the diocesan EAM Consultation of the Diocese of California, held in Christ Episcopal Church, Alameda, California on June 10-11, 2011)

Introduction

This gathering today, here in this Diocese of California has a triple significance for me: first, it is here, in this diocese where the first national Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry Consultation was held in 1974; second, it is here, in this Diocese, where I was installed as the second missioner for Asiamerica Ministry in 2004; and third, it is here now, in this Diocese that this first diocesan-wide EAM Consultation is ever held.

The end of all exploring,” wrote the English poet, T. S. Eliot, “will be to arrive where you started and know the place for the first time.” Or as one Chinese proverb says, “If you just stay in the same place for as long as you can, you will finally see the world coming back to you.” So I feel like, today, it is “dejavu” – all coming back again, as if, for the first time.

You’ve assigned me to speak on “Asian Spirituality of Christian Stewardship.” Let me arranged this theme on three chapters: first, what is spirituality; second, what is Asian; and third, what is Christian stewardship. Then, I will sum up on how we can arrive at a contextual teaching on Christian Stewardship.

First, what is Spirituality?

A story is told of a parrot which was fond of speaking bad words. The nuns brought it to the convent and trained it to pray. They were so successful that they were proud to invite their priest to come and to see how well they converted the parrot. When the priest arrived, he saw that the parrot had a string attached to each leg. When he pulled the left leg, the parrot prayed the Lord’s Prayer; when he pulled the right leg, the parrot prayed the “Hail Mary.” So he thought to himself, what if I pulled the two legs together? He did so and the parrot shouted, “crazy priest!”

Spirituality is a word that is easy to know but hard to explain. It is like time. St. Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “I know perfectly what time is until someone asks me to define it and I am at a loss.” Or it is like rhythm. Duke Wellington, a famous jazz musician, once said, “ If you get it, you don’t need no definition; if you don’t have it, ai’nt no definition gon’na help.”

So I think the way to define spirituality is to know it in its root word “spirit.” In Hebrew, it is “ruach”; in Greek is it “pneuma”; and in Latin, it is “spiritus” ---and all these words suggest the same image: the spirit is a wind, a force, a breath---that creates, vitalizes and revitalizes whatever it touches.

In Scriptures, we encounter the spirit as a creative force in Creation (Genesis 1); as a vitalizing force in the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37); and a revitalizing power in Pentecost (Acts 2). Moreover the Holy Spirit is personified as the third Person in the Triune God: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. God, the Creator; Son, the Redeemer; and Spirit, the Giver and Sustainer of life. In the context of the Christian faith, the spiritual person is one whose spirit is in tune with the Holy Spirit.

What is Asia?

Asia is different things to different people. For geographers, it is the vast land mass from the Middle East to Northeast Russia; for historians, it is the cradle of faiths and civilizations; for economists it is a mélange of developed and developing countries; for political scientists, it is an emerging new superpower; and for many Europeans, Asia is a way of life, different from the West.

Asian spirituality is deeply rooted in the theology of suffering and hope of Asians in history-nature. The Philippines “theology of struggle” was born in the context of Spanish and American colonialism; the Japanese “pain of God theology” was from their experience of being the first and hopefully, the only victims of atomic bombs; the “Dalit theology” was born out of the struggle of the Dalits, the oppressed and marginalized people who are outside the caste system of India; and the Minjung theology, is the continuing struggle of the underclass from Korea’s rapid modernization.

I believe, however, that by virtue of their being the most populous nations in the world, Asia is virtually represented by China and India. Asian spirituality is therefore, a blend of the practical philosophy of China and the wisdom mysticism of India. It is between India’s Mahatma Gandhi seeing “God in the loaf of bread” and China’s Prime Minister Deng Shao Peng saying, “It does not matter black cat or white cat, so long as it catches mice.”

In some strange way, I imagine Asian spirituality in similar to basic Anglican theology of via media. As former Archbishop Robert Runcie once said, Anglican theology is “passionate coolness.”

Christian Stewardship and Asian Cultures

If culture is defined as the sum total of what we are and do, then for me, stewardship is a culture. It is “whatever is good, whatever is lovely, whatever is worthy of praise” in our faith. Stewardship is how we understand and use the gifts that God has given us--- the time, talents and treasures entrusted to us.

Christian stewardship is the way in which Christian live, love, learn and grow. Christian stewardship shapes the values we share; directs the message we impart; and determines the impact we have in the world. How do we learn stewardship from the Asian culture? How do we intersect the biblical stewardship with that which we learn from Asia?

Asia has myriad and diverse cultures but within these cultures, there is a belief that all we are and do are influenced by five elements of life, namely:

FIVE ELEMENTS
1. Fire –    火    fo
2. Water – 水   sui
3. Earth – 地 tei
4. Wood –    木 muk
5. Metal -    鐵 thit

I would like to posit that they are adaptable to teaching stewardship in the Christian Church.

This “five elements” theory, more pronouncedly in Chinese philosophy, permeates in many fields of human endeavor: medicine, business, politics, architecture and religion.
The Five Elements theory posits that wood, fire, earth, metal, and water are the basic elements of the material world. These elements are in constant movement and change. The complex connections between material objects are explained through the relationship of interdependence and mutual restraint that governs the five elements.

Earth is the nurturing environment that enables seeds to germinate and grow; water is the flowing river that touches and nourishes everything; wood is a walking stick that guides or a spear that wounds; fire can bring light and warmth or can explode and erupt; metal is the solid ability to contain and sharpen objects. When all these five elements are in sync and when proper relationship of interdependence is shared, then health and harmony are produced and life in all its fullness and balance in achieved.

How do we adapt this Asian culture into the teaching of Christian stewardship? Let me adapt the following as arbitrary symbols:

Fire, because of its intensity, can be applied to Mission. We must have a strong sense of mission to save the lost, free the oppressed and care for all of God’s creations.

Wood, because of it being a guide stick or a spear, can be applied to Theology. We can either have a constructive or destructive theology of money (or time, talent or treasure.)

Metal, because of its ability to sharpen and contain objects, can be applied to Vision. Without vision, people perish, the Book of Proverb says. Vision sharpens the community’s ideal of itself.

Earth, because it germinates, nurtures and nourishes the plants, can be applied to Management. Management needs to train, empower and equip leadership for life and growth.

Water, because it flows like a river or drops like rain, can be applied to Worship. Worship is like a symphony that draws our community’s culture to God and vice versa.

Teaching Asian Christian Stewardship
I suggest that you arrange your Stewardship Season with a series of sermons, testimonies and dramatization using the five elements of Asian Stewardship Culture:

Week A: Fire Mission:
We are standing again in the edge of mission in the 21^st century, characterized by four great imperatives:
There is a new challenge for obedience to the Great Commission of Christ. (Matthew 28:19-20)
There is a great yearning for our souls to listed to the Great Compassion (Matthew 9:36) of Christ.
There a great possibility of results in soul conversions and community creation because of the Great Demographic Change (immigration & multiculturalism).
We have the extraordinary tools to seize this Great Missionary Moment (globalization and diaspora).

Week B: Wood Theology:
How do we teach money attitude and values to our congregation? What do we really believe when it comes to material things?
1. Scriptures: Prayer is mentioned in the Bible 500 times but money 2,000 times. What does it say about biblical spirituality? We are not of the world but we are in this world. Will the love of money be the root of all evil or will the message of love be spread out because we have the resources to do it?
2. Tradition: How will tithing in the Old Testament be approximated in the contemporary culture? What constitutes giving of our “first fruits”? What is the practicality of “setting aside an amount” in the first day of the week for God?
3. Reason: “Money is the manure of the devil but it is good fertilizer.” (Cardinal Jaime Sin). What is the relationship between giving and receiving? Money is called “currency.” Affluence (from Latin ‘afluere’) means “to flow to.” Therefore money is not to be hoarded but allowed to flow. Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. (Deepak Chopra)

Week C: Metal Vision
What is the unique vision of your church? Christ’s vision of the Kingdom of God is described in the Hebrew word “shalom.” Shalom is not only peace as the absence of war; it is the healing of all ruptured relationships. Shalom means life in all its fullness. How do we envision our parish in light of this ultimate vision? How can our parish be a shalom in the community? How do you get hold of this vision?
Week D: Earth Management
Parish Management is like running a city: government must provide services but it needs revenues (taxes) to make it happen. The parish does not have taxes but pledges (tithes and offerings) from its members. Its services (ministries) is beyond its members. Where there are more resources, there will be more services; and where there are more services, there will be more harvest. The needs of the outside community to receive must be matched with the need of the inside community to receive.

Week D: Water Worship
1. A worship extolling Grace: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty, you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9. Abundance is having everything you need; scarcity is having none. Jesus on the cross, has taken the curse of scarcity and promised us abundance.

2. A sermon affirming Gratitude: It is not the saying “God gives and forgives but man gets and forgets.” Rather , it is “Yours, Lord is the greatness, the power and the glory. All things come from you, O Lord; and from your own do we give you.”

3. An Offering of Generosity: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." God loves a cheerful giver.

Concluding Summary:
Asian spirituality on Christian Stewardship, can therefore be summarized with these five basic elements:
1. Fire Mission that burns with compassion for the poor and reconciliation for the lost;
2. Wood Theology that balances scriptures, tradition and reason;
3. Metal Vision that holds shalom in community;
4. Earth Management that nurtures leadership and growth.
5. Water Worship that flows with life and creativity;

As Asian Christians we have so many wells we can draw water from. Christianity in Asia dates back from the early apostles like St. Thomas who planted churches in India and the Nestorians who introduced Christ to China. As Asian Episcopalians, our challenge is not to follow and to follow far behind but to walk in pace and to lead. Let us dig from our own wells and contextualize the Christian faith to contemporary Asian cultures. May this example from the stewardship culture help our churches from dependence to interdependence, from maintenance to mission and enable us to grow from grace to grace, from glory to glory.

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara
The Episcopal Church Center
815
Second Avenue
, New York, NY 10017
Telephone: 1212-922-5344
E-Mail: wvergara@episcopalchurch.org
Website: www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm
Blog:http://travelinasian.blogspot.com

APPENDIX:
I. Asian Spirituality Readings:
1. What Asian Christians Are Thinking, edited by Douglas Elwood, c.1978
2. The Human and the Holy: Asian Perspectives, edited by Emerito Nacpil, 1977
3. Asian American Christianity Reader, published by PAACCE
4. Mainstreaming Asian Americans in the Episcopal Church, W. Vergara, 2006

II.Stewardship Book Suggestions:
(Compiled by The Rev. Laurel Johnston, Program Officer for Stewardship
The Episcopal Church)
1. More Than Money: Portraits of Transformative Stewardship (Money, Faith, and Lifestyle Series) by Patrick H. McNamara.
2. Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News about Living a Generous Life by Mark Allan Powell.
3. Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregation by
Charles Lane

4. The Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri J.M Nouwen (purchase at www.henrinouwen.org)
5. Money and Faith: The Search for Enough by Michael Schut (Environmental Stewardship officer for the Episcopal Church).
6. Transforming Stewardship by The Rev. Charles K. Robertson (Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church)
Websites to Wander & Ponder
1.The Episcopal Church/Office of Stewardship: New Resources
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/109299_52625_ENG_HTM.htm
2.The Episcopal Network of Stewardship:
www.tens.org
3. The Stewardship of Life Institute:
www.stewardshipoflife.org
4. Generous Giving:
www.generousgiving.org
5. Ministry of Money/Faith and Money Network
www.faithandmoneynetwork.org
6. Three Simple Rule (Living Wisely Program/Personal Budget Program)
http://www.threerules.org/
7. Stewardship for the 21^st Century (Luther Seminary)
http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/
8. The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
www.nhepiscopal.org/stewardship
Note: Almost Every Diocesan Website has a section on Stewardship.

HOPE OF THE WORLD IN THE AGE OF DESPAIR

2011-05-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

The age in which we live has been called many things: “post-industrial age,” “information age,” “atomic age,” “computer age, ““space age,” “post-Christian age”, technological age,” “globalization age.”

Lately, one label was added---the “Age of Despair.” Certainly if we consider the economic recession TIME magazine even called America the “broke states)), the recent calamities, the specter of terrorism, war, revolutions, famine and pestilence, we find an increasing amount of pessimism. One evangelist swore, “I could hear the four horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping.”

There are many people in this “Age of Despair” who are overwhelmed by this feeling of hopelessness. A story is told of an overseas worker who received a text from his son in a Third World country. The letter said, “Dad, we’re in great need. Send money.” The father text back, “Son, I was just laid off from my job. No money to send. Tighten your belt.” The son replied, “Dad, send belt.”

Another story was about a desperate man who went atop a building to commit suicide. A policeman climbed up and tried to coax him out of it but he would not. Finally, the policeman said “Okay, let’s take ten minutes now. You take five minutes and tell me what’s wrong with the world and why you want to kill yourself. Then I’ll take five minutes and I tell you what is right with the world and why you should go on living.” After each had taken five minutes, they joined hands---and jumped off the building---together!

As the church of Jesus Christ and as followers of the risen Lord, what is our mission to the world in this Age of Despair? How are we to unleash the liberating power of the Gospel in such a way that people will have hope?

Anamnesis! That’s the word, a Greek word which means “memory.” It is the opposite of amnesia, the loss of memory. We are a people of memory, hopeful memory. Every time we eat the bread and drink the wine in Eucharist, we remember: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again! Because Jesus lives, we can face tomorrow!

As a people of memory, we are comforted by the radiant hope of the Christian faith. In the time of Jesus birth, the socio-political and economic conditions of Israel were intolerable. Fifty percent of the people were slaves; most of them were hungry. Those who had jobs were paying 50 percent of their income in taxes to Rome. There were constant rebellion and uprising mostly advocating abolition of exorbitant taxes. When Jesus was growing up, some two thousand Jewish men involved in rebellion were nailed to the cross, with the crosses strung along the road to Galilee.

At the crucifixion and death of Jesus, the apostles scattered in fear. After the resurrection, boldness returned and new hope emerged. The promised Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost and the early Church began to grow. But when the Church was rapidly advancing, persecutions of Christians followed. During the reign of Emperor Nero, thousands of Christians were executed, stoned to death, hanged on the cross, beheaded or fed to the lions. Yet when you read the New Testament, the Book of Acts, the Letters of Paul, of Peter, of James and the Book of Revelation, the whole New Testament is bursting with hope. “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” “Have no anxiety for anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, make you request known to God.”

The lives of the early Christians were harder and difficult than ours, but when we consider their behavior from the scriptures, they were filled with hope. What makes them incorrigibly hopeful despite their situations?

First, it was the quality of their faith. Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move and it will move.” The Book of Hebrews defined faith is” the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The early Christians looked to God as the source of life and the hope of the future. “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. “ In the midst of changes and chances in the world, God remains forever. God’s mercy, love and grace never change.

Second, it was their passion for mission. St. Paul reminded his student, Timothy: “preach the word, be urgent in season or out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, and be unfailing in your witness. Do the work of an evangelist.” Their passion for mission altered the life they lived and the relationships they created, there was the overflowing of the great love and because where there was great love, there were great miracles. Love is what the world needs in an age of despair because “perfect love casts our fear.”

Finally, it was the credibility of their witness to the world. They put to action was what Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before all people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The role of good works is to point to God in whom we live and move and have our being. Good works by Christians, with all good intentions are nothing unless they flow out of love (1 Corinthians 13). We have seen so many social actions aimed at alleviating the poor and the oppressed but poverty remains. We have seen progress in science and technology but human misery continues. Former revolutionaries turned reactionaries; former oppressed turned oppressors; generous givers experiencing “donor fatigue.” The Bible says, “Without God all who labor, labor in vain.”

The message of hope is divine-human cooperation. A story is told of a boy who found a piece of land full of weeds. Moved by a vision, he cleaned the ground, threw away the garbage, cultivated the soil and planted roses. As the roses grew and flowers bloom, it was a lovely sight. A priest passed by and said, “Young man, what a beautiful garden you and God have made.” The boy replied, “Thank you, Father, but you should have seen this place when it was left to God alone.”

God works through us. As the Body of Christ, we are hands, feet, mouths, ears, eyes of God. We are equipped and empowered by the Godhead, through the Holy Spirit to proclaim His saving work, advance His reign by loving God and serving our neighbor. The early Church proclaimed Christ in their own age of despair. We can use this memory of Christ’s resurrection in our own age of despair: “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow!”

(Excerpts from the message of the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara at the EAM Chinese Convocation, in Los Angeles, California, 1.25.2010)

EPISCOPAL ASIAMERICA MINISTRY NEWSBRIEFS: Mission, Theology, Etc.

2011-05-10T18:43:00.000-04:00

EPISCOPAL ASIAMERICA MINISTRY (EAM) NEWS BRIEFS

On Mission, EAM Convocations, Theological Education & News Abroad

EAM Korean Convocation held last 4/7-11/2011 in Seoul highlighted the missionary partnership of the Anglican Church of Korea (The Most Rev. Paul Kim, archbishop) with some of the dioceses of the Episcopal Church. The Korean American delegates interacted with Korean Anglicans and with the Diocese of Seoul sending new Korean clergy to work in the United States. South Korea is now second largest missionary-sending church (sith an estimated 20,000 missioanries), next only to the

U.S.

church. Contact: Aidankoh@msn.com.

EAM Seminarians Scholarships – there are eleven (11) applicants this Fall 2011, making it the largest number in EAM history. Scholarship Subcommittee meets on Friday, May 13 with Dr. Jim Kodera, EAM Council President, convening.

EAM South Convocation will hold a Conference on Dalit Theology on May 18, 2011 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,

37-04 61^st Street, Woodside, New York

featuring Indian theologian Dr. George Massey. Dalit is the term for the “untouchables” of India (those outside its caste system) and the Church of South India (CSI) is composed mainly from the Dalit community. D.T. is the Indian version of liberation theology. Contact: anandsekarjmanuel1@gmail.com.

EAM Commission of the Diocese of California will hold the first diocesan-wide EAM Consultation on June 9-10, 2011 in Christ Episcopal Church,

1700 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda

, Ca.94501. Keynote speaker on the theme “Asian Spirituality of Stewardship” is the EAM Missioner, The Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara. Workshop presenters include Dr. Boyung Lee, the Rev. Deborah Lee, Dr.Russell Jeung, Rev. Michael Yoshi and Rev. David Ota. Visit http://www.diocal.org/. Contact: The Rev. Connie Lam at clams168@yahoo.com.

EAM National Office, EAM Council Executive Committee and Partnership Office for Asia and the Pacific collaborate with Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts towards a contextual Asia-America Theological Education. First Pilot Project will be a special Doctor of Ministry program for Asian clergy. It will consist of brief but intensive academic training followed by distributive, online distance learning that would make it easier and affordable for clergy to stay in their parishes while earning advanced pastoral studies. Contact: wvergara@episcopalchurch.org..

EAM Japanese Convocation will be held on June 16-19 at the Cathedral Retreat Center, Diocese of Los Angeles. Meeting will include a pilgrimage to Manzanar, one of the Japanese Internment camps during World War II. Contact Dr. Gayle Kawahara gnkscdds@sbcglobal.net.

EAM Filipino Convocation will be held on July 8-10, 2011 in Circus Circus and All Saints Episcopal Church in Las Vegas, NV with special emphasis on Filam Youth & Young Adults Ministry. Contact: Rev. Bayani Rico at rector_ascension@sbscglobal.net.

EAM Southeast Asia Convocation will be held on August 4-7, 2011 at Holy Apostles Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota . Holy Apostles is the home of the largest Hmong congregation in the entire Anglican Communion. Hmong are one of the nomadic tribes in the mountains of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China. Holy Apostles recently sent the first Hmong Seminarian to study in Virginia Theological Seminary. Contact: Rev. Letha Wilson-Barnard at revletha@gmail.com.

OTHER NEWS:

The Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP) in its Synod this week, created a new diocese, the Episcopal Diocese of Davao, in southern Philippines

The Iglesia Filipino Independiente (IFI)in its National Convention this week, elected The Most Rev. Ephraim Fajutagana as the new Obispo Maximo (Supreme Bishop) and the Rev. Joselito Cuz as the new General Secretary.

The China Christian Council and the national TSPM will hold a Bible Exposition Sept. 28 to Nov. 19, 2011 at Washington D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Drew University School of Theology recently appointed its first Asian American Dean, Dr. Jeffrey Kuan.

Pacific Asian American Canadian Christian Education Ministry (PAACCE), a unit of the National Council of Churches–USA and chaired by the EAM Missioner, Dr. Vergara, bade goodbye to Dr. Garland Pierce, associate general secretary of NCC-USA who was appointed Associate General Secretary of the World Council of Churches with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Quote of the Month: “Pope John Paul II went all over the world when he was alive; when he died and was beatified, the world came to him.” (Spoken in Rome by Bishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali on the beatification of the first non-Italian pope, Blessed Carol Josef Wojtyla of Poland who, as Pope John Paul II, traveled to 129 countries and logged on over a million kilometers.)

Keep connected; get empowered; be inspired.

Fred+

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

Missioner, Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries (EAM)

The Episcopal Church Center

815

Second Avenue

, New York, NY 10017

1-212-922-5344 (O) 1800-334-7626 Ext. 5344

Website: www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm

Facebook: Fred Vergara

Blog: http://travelinasian.blogspot.com

END OF THE WORLD: WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOPE?

2011-04-26T16:59:00.001-04:00

Bible Study

Thy Kingdom Come: What is the Christian Hope?

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

Introduction

With the frequency of earthquakes, tsunamis, climate change and other calamities that hit Haiti, New Zealand and Japan and the phenomenon of wars and revolutions in the Arab world, one wonders if the “end of the world” is coming soon. This Bible Study is not about the negative connotation of the end-times as it is about the positive meanings of the Second Coming of Christ. Such an eager waiting for Christ return became the standard of the early Church. It is not a call to complacency but to activism; it is not a call to withdrawal from the world but a call to engagement to the concerns of the world; it is not a call to passive spiritualism but a call to a spirituality of action. When we wait for Christ, we wait actively. As Isaiah the prophet said, “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31)

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH CATECHISM

In the Episcopal Church catechism (Outline of the Christian Faith), there is a Question & Answer portion, which says:

Q. What is the Christian hope?

A. The Christian hope is to live with confidence in the newness and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in glory and the completion of God’s purpose for the world. (Book of Common Prayer, 861)

My understanding of this statement is influenced by my study of the Bible and by my diverse exposure to a variety of spiritual experience in the Christian Church. I grow up in the environment of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines; was converted to liberation theology while attending the 5^th assembly of the World Council of Churches in Nairobi, Kenya in 1975; ordained in the Iglesia Filipina Independiente in 1978; became involved with the Anglican charismatic movement in Singapore in the 1980’s; exposed to feminist theology in the Presbyterian seminary in San Francisco in the late 1980's; became Episcopalian in the year 1990 and imbibed its inclusive theology.

Episcopalians are noted to be “thinking Christians” and I believe it is still mainstream Episcopalian to have diverse and even divergent opinions. In fact, if I am asked whether I am conservative or liberal, I might say: I am a “catholic, evangelical, charismatic liberal Episcopalian.”

I think it is inadequate to box a thinking person into just one category, something classical and mainstream Episcopalians would agree. The Anglican ethos by which I subscribe to, is one, whom former Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Robert Runcie, described as “passionate coolness.” Anglicanism has evolved from being a monochromatic Church to becoming intercultural and pluralistic and holding many tensions in balance. Authentic Christianity, in all its pluriforms, continues to thrive because it adapts to the changing world and critically accommodates cultures as “whatever is good, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is holy" (Philippians 4:8) in am imperfect but redeemed world. A living religion must continue to breathe the Holy Spirit within the sphere of human existential realities so that humanity will not simply endure but prevail.

Consequently, the practice of the Christian faith itself, in its essence, continues to evolve as a diamond with many facets. Our attitudes to other Christians are changing, our attitudes to other religions are changing, our attitudes to other cultures. lifestyles and ideologies are changing, even as our faith in the person of Jesus Christ remains. As there are many songs about love, love itself remains constant. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. His mercies never fails, his love never ends and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.

As an Episcopalian, it is against this background that I view the concept of the “Christian hope.”

CHRISTIAN HOPE IN THE “END TIMES.”

The poignant letter of Paul to Timothy sets the stage for our understanding of the Christian hope in the end times. “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award me on that day---and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing”( II Timothy 4: 6-7).

Three Greek words are important in our understanding of Pauline longing for (Christ’s) “appearing.”

1. Eschatos or eschaton – meaning “last.” From this word, we developed a branch of theology called “eschatology,” meaning the study of the last things or the “end times.”

2. Parousia - meaning the “arrival” or “coming.” In Latin, it is called “adventus.” The term parousia is mentioned in the New Testament twenty-four times (24), seventeen (17) of them referring to the second coming of Christ.

3. Kerygma - meaning ‘proclamation” or announcement. In classical Christianity, the kerygma is encapsulated in the formula which is familiar to us because it is included in our Eucharistic liturgy as a proclamation of the mystery of our faith: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!”

A. SIGNS OF THE “END TIMES”

What are the signs of the “end times?”

Matthew 24, considered to be Jesus’ discourse on the “end times,” speak of both external events and internal behavioral change in people’s lives. Verses 4-8 speak about the rise of false prophets, wars and rumors of war, famines, earthquakes and calamities in various places. We do not have to stretch our imagination to know that these signs are present in our generation as they were of the past. Verses 9-14 speaks about persecution of believers, apostasy and “cold hearts” for God. It also says that the “gospel will be preached in the whole world.” With radio-TV combined with the internet and social networks, it is possible in our generation to saturate the world with the gospel message.

The Book of Revelations 6:1-8 speak about the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” which are interpreted to mean war, famine, pestilence and death.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he spoke about the change of human character as part of the phenomenon in the end times. “People will become lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy without love” (II Timothy 3:1-5).

The “end times” seem filled with cataclysmic events and hardening of people’s hearts but also create a deep commitment of believers to make sense of these events. While disasters sometime bring out the worst in humanity, it also brings out the best of humanity. People reach out in solidarity with one another while “suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3,4). The general composure of the Japanese people in the midst of unspeakable devastation from the recent earthquake and tsunami is a case in point.

In the context of the Christian faith, suffering should intensify our thirst for God and should enable us to “eagerly long” for Christ’s return. The vision of a "fully-healed" world like a new (or renewed) earth should spur us to become both responsible stewards of creation as well as not fully attached to the material trappings of a passing stage. We are, in the words of the mystics not material beings with spirits but "spiritual beings with bodies."

B. THE MEANING OF CHRIST’S RETURN

The standard of the New Testament Church was measured by the way in which they believed in the signs of the imminent eschaton (last things); in the way in which they waited for the parousia (Christ’s return); and in the way in which they proclaimed the kerygma (central proclamation). It is this standard that motivated them to order their lives, their relationships, and their priorities.

Their love for one another was so overflowing that it just spilled over the communities around them; their zeal for evangelism was so awesome that Paul would say, “woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel.” Their primordial concern was the salvation of souls and to work towards that "holiness, without which we can not see the Lord" as John Wesley described. The early Church grew rapidly because this proclamation of the gospel of repentance was undergirded by the life they lived and by the relationship they created. They spoke love and lived love.

In the proclamation of the gospel, it is important to address ourselves to the holistic needs of human beings. To speak against injustice and oppression, as the prophets of the Old Testament did, means to address ourselves to “human sin in all its protean forms,” (WCC 1975) but the goal of evangelism has to begin with the conversion of human hearts to be free from infection and corruption of sin. A fish taken out of water dies and begins to corrupt. The solution is not to dry the fish but to have a new fish and let it stay in water. Spiritual rebirth is precursor to societal transformation.

The New Testament Christians believed that spiritual rebirth was important and even more Christ’s return would mark the finality of all their spiritual longings. Christ’s return would mean four (4) things, namely:

Christ’s return will be the “final answer” to human needs.

Christ came that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10) but that kind of life are denied some people due to the structures of injustice and oppression in society. Calamities also bring intolerable human suffering. We must preach repentance and change in human hearts and hope in the future when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. (Revelations 21:1-1) With regards to healing the divisions of the Church, The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, commented: “I see some healing, but full healing will only come at Christ’s return” (message in Pittsburgh, 4/17/2011).

Christ’s return will mark the final consummation of our salvation.

We are “already in the not yet.” This means that the kingdom of God has come near but the best is yet to be. Christ promised that “everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39-54). With the tremendous advance of science and technology in prolonging life expectancy and experiencing better quality of life, we are just beginning to understand an iota of what “eternal life” can really be. If your had been one of misery, there is always hope. And even if your life has been wonderful, the "best is yet to be."

3. Christ’s return will mark the harmony of all creation

This is good news for the environmentalists. Romans 8:18-24 gives the image that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” and so “the sufferings of the present time is not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed,” which is the “redemption of our bodies.” The Apostles’ Creed says in part: “I believe n the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” For me it is both the affirmation that our body is the “temple of the Holy Spirit” and that we shall experience being one with God and with one another, including nature. The prophet Isaiah also gives the imagery that “the mountains and the hills shall break forth in singing and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands” (Isaiah 55:12). If Mother Nature is excited with Christ's return, what should prevent us from eagerly longing for His return?

Christ’s return will mark the completion of shalom, the reign of God. The Hebrew word “shalom” means not only the absence of war but the fullness of life and the depth of life. Shalom is the increase of justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9: 1-7), the utopian image of all that we imagine peace to be: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9). History is replete with human's inhumanity to humans as well as gross exploitation of the whole creation. We have learned to exploit nature but we have not learned enough replenish what we have taken.

C.SHARING/DISCUSSION:

How would “end times” impact our EVANGELISM? In light of the ‘parousia’, how should we order our priorities in the proclamation of the Kerygma: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again?”

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus…and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be urgent in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage---with great patience and careful instruction... endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

How would “end times” impact our relationship with people of other faiths, cultures and ideologies?

“The challenge today for seriously concerned individuals is not merely an absolute theology or religion that brings assurance, but the honest recognition that our worldwide realities of hunger, exploitation, dwindling resources, and ecological devastation, prompt us to join forces in order to build a better world by developing a global practical theology that will transform religions and the world.” – Paul Nagano, Council for Pacific Asian Theology, 2011.

How would “end times” impact our stewardship of God’s creation?

‘At its core, global climate change is not about economic theory or political platforms, nor about partisan advantage or interest group pressures. It is about the future of God's creation and the one human family. It is about protecting both "the human environment" and the natural environment.¹ It is about our human stewardship of God's creation and our responsibility to those who come after us.”-Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good, USCCB, 2001 #3 (US Catholic Conference of Bishops)

FEEDBACK WILL BE APPRECIATED

Woman at the Well: The First Evangelist?

2011-03-27T00:07:00.000-04:00

Woman of Samaria at the Well: The First Evangelist? (John 4:5-42)

A story is told of three men who died and went to heaven. God was in a good mood and so he thought of giving each of them a chance to return to earth in any form they would like to be. So the first man said, “Lord, I want to go back just as I am except that I would be ten times smarter.” So God made him return to earth as a man but ten times smarter.” The next one said, “Lord, I want to be better than the first guy, so make me a hundred times smarter.” So God made him return to earth as a man but a hundred times smarter. The third one said, “Lord, I want to be the best. Make me a thousand times smarter.” The Lord thought for a while and then he made the third guy return to earth---as a Woman!

Today’s reading is about a smart woman whom Jesus encountered at the well. She was a Samaritan woman, meaning she was a mixed race, not a full-blooded Jew. In those days, the Samaritans were a segment of the population called Gentiles, despised by the Jews. The Jews, including the disciples of Jesus, would not like to be associated with the Samaritans and it was unbecoming of Jesus as a rabbi or teacher to be conversing with a Samaritan. But there must be something in the woman, which caught the attention of Jesus. It was the smartness of the woman. She was a good conversationalist. Let us examine the topics of their discussion:

The first topic they talked about was social ethics. How ethical or how appropriate was it for Jesus as a rabbi to ask the woman of Samaria for water? The Samaritans were called by the Jews as dogs and the woman, even a Jewish woman, was a considered second class citizen. To be a Samaritan woman would therefore be worse than a dog. So the woman asked Jesus, “Sir, how is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”

Jesus responded by saying, “Woman, if you only know the gift of God and who is it that asks you for a drink, he would have given you living water.” Now this was interesting and so the woman replied with the second question, which is about history: “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob who gave us this well?” According to history, the Jewish faith come from the progenitor Abraham and handed down from generation to generation. God has been described as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” The woman was not only knowledgeable of the history of the Abrahamic faith; she was also expressing that she and the Samaritans are part of that faith. Why? Because Abraham was not only a father of the Jews but the “father of many nations”---both Jews and Gentiles.

That was a discussion close to the heart of Jesus. When Jesus was born, he took on the Jewish culture and was born a Jew. But his bloodline comes from Mary and Mary as the Jewish girl came from the lineage of David and David comes from the lineage of Jesse, and Jesse comes from the lineage of Obed and Obed comes from the linage of Boaz who married Ruth, the Moabite. You remember the story of Ruth and Naomi when Ruth said to Naomi “Entreat me not to leave you; where you go, I will go; where you die, I will die. Your people shall be my people; your God shall be my God.” You remember that it was Naomi, Ruth’s mother in-law who helped Ruth marry Naomi’s cousin, Boaz? In other words, Jesus was not pure Jew because his bloodline can be traced back to the mixed marriage of Boaz and Ruth!. Do you get the special interest of Jesus here? It was this woman from Samaria, unconsciously, who was reminding Jesus where he comes from. She was reminding Jesus of his true cultural identity! Just like Moses who first thought that he was an Egyptian prince when actually he was a son of a Hebrew slave; so here was Jesus coming to the consciousness that he was a not a pure Jew. While at first he thought he was called to save only the lost tribes of Israel, now he is being challenged to think that he was actually called to be savior of the whole world---Jews and Gentiles alike!

At this point, the curiosity of the woman about the living water intensified so she asked Jesus where to get this living water and Jesus replied, “Go call your husband and come back.” We seem to think that the woman began to flirt with Jesus here when she said, “I have no husband” but Jesus said, “You are right to say that you have no husband, because you have had five husbands, and the one you are now living with, is not your husband.” So Jesus knew the reputation of this woman. Not only that she was a Samaritan; she also was promiscuous and had a bad reputation. But Jesus was not judgmental. Rather, the teaching moment moved to a higher consciousness when the woman said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain but you (Jews), say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

What followed was the most profound, the most important teaching of Jesus about the presence of God.”Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But I tell you, the hour is coming, and now has come, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God cannot be contained in Jerusalem (the City of God for the Jews). God cannot be contained in a mountain (the truth of the animists). God cannot be contained in the temple; God cannot be contained in the church. God is bigger than all of them. “Heaven and highest heaven can not contain thee,” according to Solomon. The spirit of God broods over the whole universe and all nations are like a drop in the bucket. God was not to be a tribal God but a universal God. God cannot be contained in one religion alone; God cannot be put in a box---and if our hearts are not big enough for God, then God’s heart is so big enough for all of us. This is the kind of worshipers that God seeks; they who worship God unrestricted by their ideas about God!

The woman had one final question that makes me believe that she was the first person whom Jesus gave the messianic revelation. The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming---and when he comes he will proclaim all things to us” and to this Jesus replied, “The one who is speaking to you is he. I am the Messiah!” What a tremendous privilege. In such a short and fleeting moment, the woman experienced an amazing encounter with the One whom the world had been waiting for, for a long, long time. Amidst the perplexity of the apostles of why Jesus talked with her, the Samaritan hurriedly left and told everyone she met about this wonderful Messiah, the Savior of the world! Jesus saved her for two reasons: one small and one big reasons. The small reason---that she may have eternal life; the bigger reason---she will be a bringer of the message of eternal life to others!

For me, this simple, sinful Samaritan woman, even a woman of ill-repute, became the first Christian evangelist---ahead of St. Peter, ahead of St. James, ahead of St. John, ahead of St. Paul. It is amazing that God is no respecter of persons; no matter how lowly and sinful we are, God can turn us around and use us as a mighty instrument in His gracious hand! The people, whom the woman had witnessed to, would later experience the salvation of Jesus themselves. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know now, that this Jesus is truly the Savior of the world."

May we, like the Samaritan woman, be used by God, to bear witness to His Name. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, The Episcopal Church of St. Michael & All Angels, Seaford, New York. 3/27/2011. Commnets Below.

Japan-Taiwan: A Human Interest Story

2011-03-25T14:57:00.001-04:00

Every adversity brings a new opportunity; every challenge a new victory; every need a new prayer.

The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry Missioner (Fred Vergara) in close working relation with the Partnership Officer for Asia and the Pacific (Peter Ng) and the Mission Personnel Officer (David Copley) organized the Prayer Service for Japan last Friday, March 11, 2011 that set-off a chain of similar prayer meetings among our network.

A number of churches, seminaries and dioceses here and abroad have reported doing and will do Prayer Services and Benefit Concerts using our liturgical setting.

Here’s another human interest story: The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (EDECR) received a request from a parishioner in Cambria, California asking for a priest to baptize a “brain dead” baby in Taipei. The child’s family were evacuated from Japan due to the earthquake and tsunami. EDECR sent the request to the EAM Office which we readily forwarded to the Diocese of Taiwan and to the Rev. Diane Wong, who was formerly in Taiwan and now is in Boston.

In a matter of time, we received a letter from Rev. Herbert Baker, priest in charge of the English Congregation of the Good Shepherd Parish in Taipei and it says, “Dear Fred; I and (Rev.) Lily Chang, our rector, visited the Carter family this afternoon at Taipei University Children’s Hospital. Baby Karina Carter has received baptism. We offered prayers of blessing for Karina and her sister, Baby Emma, who is hospitalized also for tests to insure that she is not at risk from the still unknown condition that has afflicted Karina…We will continue to provide pastoral care to the Carters and their infants during their time in Taipei. Thank you for notifying us of their need.”

Marybeth Powell, editor of The Kings’s Highway, diocesan newsletter of EDECR wrote in reply: “We. in the Diocese of El Camino Real are grateful for your help and for the worldwide community that so readily responds to a family’s need for their infant daughter. I sit here with tears of gratitude for this gift given to the family and their babies… It is stunning!”

Please join me in fervently praying for a healing “miracle” for Baby Karina and her twin sister, Baby Emma. Let us also continue to pray for God’s divine intervention and mercy for Japan, especially as they are still stuggling to contain and eliminate the danger of radiation from the destroyed nuclear reactors. Pray for wisdom, skill and eneergy for their workers and for those who are still engaged in rescue and recovery efforts.

Please also continue to pray for Christ Church, New Zealand and other disaster areas (including the Middle East) .

I thank the EAM Network for the way in which our prayer chain connects us all with the suffering and hope of people in the world

MORE PRAYER MEETINGS FOR JAPAN:

March 27 at 4:00 P.M. - HOLY CHILD EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 5038 HYLAND AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CA 95127 Contact: Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio at email: ruthcasipit_paguio@yahoo.com

April 2 at 7:00 P.M. - A Benefit Concert for Japan by Christ Church Sei Ko Kai (San Francisco) and Holy Child & St Martin's to be held at 777 Southgate Avenue, Daly City, California. Contact: RevLeonardOakes@gmail.com.

April 10 at 7:00 P.M. - Benefit Concert for Japan Tsunami victims at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, 3241 Brush Drive, Falls Church, VA 22042. Performers include Marcolivia (violin and viola), The Washington Saxophone Quartet, Burnett Thomson and friends, classical FX, Hidetaro and Zeyda Suzuki , emma Respini and Sejoon Park. Contact Marico Hiller at marikohiller@gmail.com

Yours truly,
Fred Vergara

Website: www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm

Facebook: Fred Vergara

Today's Quote: "Prayer is the website which we set up in order to have a more direct contact with God." - Motivational speaker, Timothy Robbins

Guest Column: Reflections on Japan by Dr. Jim Kodera

2011-03-21T10:15:00.000-04:00

(Note: The Episcopal Church Center, through the offices of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry (EAM)and the Partnership for Asia and the Pacific held a Prayer Service for Japan last March 18, 2011 in Chapel of Christ the Lord, New York City. The following is a reflection from Dr. James Kodera, President of the EAM Council in another prayer service held in Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachussetts. More Prayer Services are being planned in other places.)

Vigil for Japan

16 March 2011

Houghton Memorial Chapel, Wellesley College

Reflections by T. James Kodera

It is at times such as these that we see ourselves standing before our Maker, no matter what our heritage. There is so much to say, but we find it difficult to put words to our raw feelings inside. Do we have to say everything for us to be heard by our Make, by each other? A Hindu prayer instructs us: “Oh Thou before whom all words recoil.” We can hear each other out without words. Our Maker certainly knows our helplessness, our cries for help, in the silence we keep, in the tears we shed, in the warm embrace we exchange on this day and the days to come. Our Maker hears us, reaches out to us and comforts us in our solitude but especially through the circle we form that shall not be broken.

It was at this time sixteen years ago in 1995, when I shared with the Wellesley College community what it was like to witness the earthquake of Kobe a day after the city of 1.5 million was reduced to rubble with 6,500 dead. It was the greatest quake since the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 that claimed 140,000 lives in Tokyo and its vicinity. They were magnitude 6.8 and 7.9, respectively, on the Richter scale. The quake that hit the Tohoku region of Japan last Friday was 9.0. Unlike the other two, the Tohoku Earthquake was followed by the tsunami with tidal waves nearing 30 feet. Once the tsunami got going, we are told it accelerated its speed to one comparable to a jet airplane. That is why it took only six or seven hours for the tsunami to reach the islands of Hawaii. We will not know the final toll of this earthquake. The nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture continues to heat up, leaking radioactive fumes and liquid. The reactors shut themselves off when the ground first shook, as so designed. But the structure was damaged so badly that they could not be cooled. Uranium, which is said to simulate the heat of the sun, supplies inexhaustible energy, but also radiation. After the atomic bomb, so we were told, no plant life would ever return to Hiroshima for a hundred years. But today, as the students who were there in January know, the Peace Park in Hiroshima is covered with grass with trees and flowers. Would this happen to Fukushima? Chernobyl remains uninhabitable since 1986, the worst nuclear disaster to date.

Kobe is where I grew up in junior and senior high school days. After walking several hours with train tracks twisted like spaghetti and roads turned into raw sewage, I found my parents and grandmother huddled together in a house with no external wall on one side, just like a Hollywood movie set. And old lady next door was crushed by the heavy roof tiles and died. After a few hours of sleep without water, food or heat, I went to the Ward Office to do volunteer. Because of my height, they promptly put me in charge of telling people at the entrance not to bring any more dead bodies there. My job was to direct them to different make shift facilities where the dead could be properly cremated and buried. I could not return to Wellesley for the start of the spring semester. The College President encouraged me to stay in Kobe as long as I needed. I finally left Kobe for the airport on the back of a scooter, driven by a friend. Since then, Kobe has been rebuilt with the latest technology, guaranteed to withstand another earthquake 6.8 or worse.

Japan is earthquake prone. 20 % of all the earthquakes higher than 6.0 on the Richter Scale have hit Japan. Massive tidal waves are known for their Japanese word, tsunami. This time, the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear fiasco are the worst in Japan’s history. The Prime Minister declared that it was the greatest disaster since the World War II. The Emperor of Japan, Akihito, spoke on television yesterday. No emperor of Japan ever spoke on television. It recalled to many the day after Japan’s “unconditional surrender” in August 1945, when Emperor Hirohito spoke on the radio, commending his subjects who had “endured the unendurable” during the War. This time, his son, Akihito said he was “deeply worried “about the ongoing nuclear crisis at several stricken reactors and asked for his subjects to act with compassion “to overcome these difficult times.” He also thanked over 90 nations that had offered to help.

Natural disasters bring out the best and the worst in human nature. What is particularly moving is that the people of Korea and China, who have legitimate gripes against Japan for its war-time atrocities, were among the first to arrive to help. Endless television coverage has also shown the orderly behavior of the Japanese, even after their loved ones have been washed to the sea or buried in the mud under the rubble, and their houses gone. So far, there has been no instance of looting or fighting. A friend in Tokyo reported that it took four hours to drive eight miles, bumper to bumper. And yet, there was no honking. A Wellesley alumna relayed to me that Diane Sawyer, Wellesley Class of 67, who was in Japan as a television reporter, was offered food by the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Speechless, she simply wept. Some 50 workers at the nuclear plant have been hailed as heroes. They remain at their work place, trying with all their might to cool down the reactors, minimizing the damage to others, while they were being exposed directly to radioactive materials. After the Great Kanto Earthquake 89 years ago, some Japanese turned against the Koreans living in Japan, accusing them of poisoning the well water. And they went on a rampage, killing the Koreans on the streets. It continued until a police officer told the angry mob to bring a cup of the well water poisoned by the Koreans. In front of everyone, he gulped the water. There was no poison. Japan that once sought to equal the Western nations through military buildup and colonial expansion, have since turned itself into a peaceful nation with technology and trade as tools of international competition. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked two days ago: since Japan is one of the most generous nations in the world in times of need, the United States should do all it can do help Japan. And yet, those in Japan who live far away from the areas affected bought up all the food and supplies “just in case.” Perhaps, the ugliest is what we have seen on some websites in the last couple of days. Some Americans have linked the disasters in Japan to Pearl Harbor. For them, it is “pay back time.” Is it, really?

A continent and an ocean away, what can we do? What should we do? That is where we find ourselves helpless, speechless, standing in front of our Maker. Be a friend, comfort one another, renew our hope that love conquers hate, hope overcomes despair. Our good will reach across the globe, and touch those who need us.

Fukushima means the “island of riches.” Today, it is an island isolated and rich with radiation. Tomorrow, it will be an island, rich with affection and hope. Let the circle never be broken.

(The Rev. Dr. Takihiro James Kodera is professor at Wellesley College and President of the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry Council.- Fred Vergara)

PRAYER SERVICE FOR JAPAN

2011-03-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

PRAYER SERVICE

FOR JAPAN

In the Aftermath of the recent Earthquake and Tsunami

and the danger of nuclear meltdown

Friday, March 18, 2011 - 4:00 P.M.

The Chapel of the Risen Lord

The Episcopal Church Center

815
Second Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Prelude

Opening Hymn # 390: “Praise to the Lord..”

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near;
praise him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,

shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
granted in what he ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee; surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,

who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
sheddeth his light, chaseth the horrors of night,
saints with his mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him; Let the amen sound from his people again,
gladly for all we adore him.

Words: Joachim Neander (1650-1680), 1680
trans. Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), 1863;.Music: Lobe den Herren (also known as Praxis pietatis) (Stralsung Gesangbuch, 1665)

Welcome & Opening Prayer

Prayer in Japanese

First Reading: Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and time to build, a time to weep and time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time, He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (The Word of the Lord)

People: Thanks be to God.

Psalm 23: “The Lord is My Shepherd”

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff---they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, my whole life long.

2^nd Reading: Romans 8:18-25

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope, we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is not seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

(The word of the Lord)

People: Thanks be to God.

Sharing: Brief Personal Stories, Newsclips, ERD

Messages from:

The Archbishop of Canterbury

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

The Archbishop of Nippon Sei Ko Kai

Hymn: “Servant Song”

Brother, sister let me serve you; let me be as Christ to you; Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

We are pilgrims on a journey, and companions on the road We are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you, in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh I’ll laugh with you; I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony, Born of all we’ve known together in Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.

(Maranatha Music; Scripture in Song, c. 1986)

A LITANY OF HEALING

LEADER: Let us name before God those for whom we offer our prayers (Prayer needs or names of people, places and events will be announced)

LEADER: God of our Faith, you made the world and everything in it; you formed us in your own image and given us the breath of life;

PEOPLE: We praise and thank you, Lord.

L: God of our Hope, you come that we may have life and have it more abundantly; your will for us is health, healing and salvation;

P: We praise and thank you, Lord.

L: God of Love, you make our bodies the temple of your Holy Spirit; in you we live and move and have our being;

PEOPLE: We praise and thank you, Lord.

L: Merciful God, pour out your compassion upon the people of Japan who suffer from the devastation brought about by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Grant your healing grace to all who are sick, injured, or disabled, that they will be made whole;

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Grant to all who died the hope of eternal rest and enable those who mourn the comfort of your loving embrace;

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Enable those who are anxious, fearful or in trouble, the knowledge of your will, awareness of your presence and the comfort of your word;

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Mend broken relationships and restore those in emotional distress to soundness of mind and calmness of spirit;

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Bless the rescuers, physicians, nurses, and all others who minister to the suffering, granting them wisdom and skill, energy and strength; sympathy and patience;

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Bless the efforts of the Japanese government and the global community to find ways and means to contain and eliminate any further damage or danger to people, land, air and sea and supply them with specials skills and know-how in safety and security.

P: Hear us, O Lord of life.

L: Restore to wholeness whatever is broken in our humanity, in our lives, in our nations, and in the world and give us peace that surpasses human understanding;

P: Hear us O Lord of life.

L: Lord, You are the God who does wonders.

P: You have declared your power among the peoples.

L: With you, O Lord, is the wellness of life and in your light, we see light.

P: Hear us, O Lord of life; heal us and make us whole.

L: Everlasting God, you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice, and you have promised that where two or three are gathered in prayer, you are in their midst; fulfill now, we pray, the longings of your people. Heal the land and people of Japan, rescue those who are in danger and restore the wholeness of your creation. Amen.

Silence As Japanese flute music is being played

Words of Blessing

Closing Hymn #680 “O God Our Help in Ages Past”

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come; Be thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne, still may we dwell secure; sufficient is thine arm alone, and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame; from everlasting, thou art God, to endless years the same.

A thousand ages in thy sight, are like an evening gone

Short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising sun.

Time like an ever rolling stream, bears all who breathe away; they fly forgotten as a dream, dies at the opening day.

O God our help in ages past our hope for years to come

Be thou our guide till life shall last and our eternal home.

Clergy and Lay Ministers Assisting in the Service

Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara The Rev. David Copley

Mr. Peter Ng Mr. John Colon

Mr. Samuel Cheung Mr. Shoji Mizumoto

Ms. Kumiko Buller Ms. Kyoko Toyama

Announcement

The Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry and Partnership for Asia and the Pacific of the Episcopal Church Center wish to thank you all for your presence.

To donate to Japan relief and to support the work of Nippon Sei Ko Kai, please send your check to Episcopal Relief and Development (ER&D) for “Japan Earthquake Response Fund” and send to ER&D, The Episcopal Church Center,
815 Second Avenue
, New York, NY 10017.

Candles are provided for those who wish to light one for your loved ones.

Scary footage: Tsunami waves raging, buildings burn after 8.9 Japan eart...

2011-03-11T09:51:00.001-05:00

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN AND RUSSIA WHO ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING THIS DEVASTATION. THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT TO US BY CHICAKO, ONE OF OUR EAM MEMBERS AND FORMER CONVENER OF OUR JAPANESE CONVOCATION. - Fred Vergara

HEALING 101.1: What is the Healing Ministry?

2011-03-07T13:16:00.000-05:00

Healing Service Within the Episcopal Church Liturgy: Healing is one of the most practical aspects of congregational ministry. In a parish, the first thing I would do is to organize a “Pastoral Team” who will minister to people who need healing. After the Eucharist, I invite those with needs to come and be prayed for with laying on of hands. Those who come may also ask prayers for their loved ones who are sick.

I would pray from the Book of Common Prayer: “N., I lay my hands upon you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, beseeching our Lord Jesus Christ to sustain you with his presence, to drive away all sickness of body and spirit, and give you that victory of life and peace which will enable you to serve him both now and evermore. Amen” (BCP, p.456).

I would also dip my thumb in the holy oil and make a sign of the cross on the forehead of the person and say, “N., I anoint you with oil in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’

Sometimes I would compose my own prayer such as:” Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit, give this person, (N.) the healing of mind, body and spirit and enable him to live the fullness of life in this world and in the world to come, life everlasting. Amen.” The team members serve as prayer support and may also lead in prayer.

This series of teaching will help your team know more about Christian healing and how this ministry can enhance your church life.

Personal Testimony

I discovered my gift of healing in 1978 during my first year as parish priest of the Philippine Independent Church in Dagupan City, Philippines. A month after my first mass, the church treasurer, who operated a boarding house for college students, asked me to pray for one of the students who fell from the ladder and dislocated her joints. She was poor and could not afford to go to the hospital and so they believed that prayer could heal her. I laid hands on her forehead and anointed her with holy oil. The following day, she came to the church to give thanks, offering us with rice cakes that she cooked. She was completely healed! The word spread around, and although I did not really pursue healing as my priority, I was always being called to pray for the sick.

The other experience I remember was about a large family who claimed that they were cursed, “bewitched” or bothered by ghosts. I was requested to investigate the matter and learned that the house they were staying used to be an illegal abortion clinic. They claimed that they would hear babies crying from the concrete walls. A number of them got sick and the doctor could not diagnose their illnesses. I conducted a Requiem Mass and prayed for the eternal repose of the dead. After that memorial service, one by one, the family members got healed. The ministry of healing helped in the revival and growth of that parish.

What is Divine Healing?

Divine healing is God’s gift and work of restoring, often supernaturally, the wholeness, health and holiness of man’s body, mind and spirit. The resources from Scriptures, Tradition and Reason/Experience (often called the “three legged stool” of faith-understanding among Episcopalians), suggest as God is Trinity, the human being is also “trinity.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are spirit, mind and body. Our body (soma) is the seat of our senses: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. Our mind (psyche) is the seat of our thoughts, our wills and decisions. Our spirit (pneuma) is the seat of our conscience, insight, sensitivity, creativity. A healthy person is therefore one who enjoys wholeness of spirit, mind and body.

As disease (dis-ease) is a separation, a disruption or rupture of this holistic relationship, so healing is the restoration of this wholeness. It is interesting to note that in the Episcopal Church catechism, the mission of the Church is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (BCP, p. 855). As Episcopal Christians, we are therefore called to be healers.

Health is the absence of ruptured relationship in this trinity of body, mind and spirit. I believe that in healing prayer, the Holy Spirit first touches our spirit, which then communicates healing to our minds which begin to transmit the knowledge so that our body will respond. Harmonious relationship in our whole being is health and salvation.

3. Biblical Basis of Healing Ministry

Probably the most prominent self-introductions of God in the Old Testament is that He is Jehovah Rapha, “the God who heals” (Exodus 15:28). In the New Testament, Jesus was also introduced as one who “went about Galilee preaching the kingdom of God, healing the sick and delivering people from demonic oppression” (Matthew 4:23; Luke 13:52 ; Matt 11:4).

The healing ministry of Jesus was apportioned to his twelve disciples who were commanded to heal the sick. (Luke 9:12) and who reported many signs and wonders. Later this delegated authority was also given to “the 70 others” who were empowered to heal the sick (Luke 10:9) even as they proclaimed that the kingdom has come near.

The gift of healing was promised to all believers who follow Jesus (Mark 16:18) and believed in His name. The early Church, born in Pentecost (Acts 2) and empowered by the Holy Spirit, generally practiced the gift and ministry of healing. The ministry of healing was a normative and prominent feature of the early missionary movement. The apostles Peter had a tremendous healing power to the extent that people would bring the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats “so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on them as he passed by” (Acts 5:15). Philip preached in Samaria and exorcised many evil spirits and healed many cripples and paralytics (Acts 8:5).

In many instances, healing leads to transformation. The Christian persecutor, Saul, was one of those who stood by when the apostle Stephen was being stoned to death. He was on his way to Damascus to hunt for more Christians, when he was struck by lightning and became blind. It was after his healing that he was changed. From Saul, the ruthless persecutor of Christians, he became Paul, the Christian missionary par excellence (Acts 9:11 – 18). Many healings were attributed to his prayer as well.

Today, healing ministry (and such other ministry of “signs, wonders and miracles”) is still relevant. Despite the tremendous advances of medicine, science and technology, there are still so many who undergo intolerable suffering, sickness and pain. Many physicians believe in the power of prayer to assist the medical profession. Sometime ago a team of professionals from Stanford University Hospital conducted a study and found empirical data that those patients who are praying and have people praying for them had more incidences of speedy recovery than those who had none.

The Bible claims that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Despite the many changes in the world, I believe that God never changes. God’s love, faithfulness and compassion remain forever.

I also believe that in every time and age, God continues to apportion spiritual gifts to the Church, the Body of Christ, through the Holy Spirit. And I believe that if we need it and ask for it, the gift of healing can be ours as well. “These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons…they will lay their hands on the sick and they will be healed” (Mark 16:17-18).

The Healing Ministry can help your church grow as you minister to the needs of the world around you.

(NEXT ISSUE: WHAT ARE THE KINDS OF HEALING AND WHY DID JESUS HEAL?
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS, PLEASE WRITE BELOW.)

Travelin' Asian

MISSION QUARTERLY REPORT (January-March 2012)

LENT I SERMON: THE KINGDOM OF GOD

LEAPS OF FAITH: Knowing Jesus as Christ and God

BAPTISM OF CHRIST IS POWER TO CHRISTIANS

CALLING, CONVICTION, CLARITY: Commissioning of Ethnic Ambassadors

POWER OF WORDS - FRED VERGARA

Calling, Conviction, Clarity: Commisioning of Ethnic Ministers

where It All Began- A Christmas Message

Advent Sunday 1 - A New Journey Begins

WITH SIGHS TOO DEEP FOR WORDS: A PRAYER IN HARD TIMES - Fred Vergara

SACRIFICIAL LOVE:TRIBUTE TO A MOTHER - Fred Vergara

EPISCOPAL ASIAMERICA MINISTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY - Fred Vergara

ASIAMERICA MINISTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

A GUIDE TO STRATEGIC PLANNING

Steve Jobs: Theologian and Prophet - Fred Vergara

CHRISTIAN TAI CHI: A PRAYER IN MOTION - Fred Vergara

My Italian Tour: The Eternal City and More

FIRST RATE MADNESS: LINK BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND CRISIS LEADERSHIP

TRANSFIGURATION STORY: NO RESURRECTION WITHOUT CRUCIFIXION

TRIBUTE TO MY FATHER

Asian Spirituality of Christian Stewardship

(Keynote Address of the Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministry of the Episcopal Church Center at the diocesan EAM Consultation of the Diocese of California, held in Christ Episcopal Church, Alameda, California on June 10-11, 2011)

Introduction

First, what is Spirituality?

What is Asia?

In some strange way, I imagine Asian spirituality in similar to basic Anglican theology of via media. As former Archbishop Robert Runcie once said, Anglican theology is “passionate coolness.”

Christian Stewardship and Asian Cultures

Asia has myriad and diverse cultures but within these cultures, there is a belief that all we are and do are influenced by five elements of life, namely: FIVE ELEMENTS1. Fire – 火 fo 2. Water – 水 sui 3. Earth – 地 tei 4. Wood – 木 muk 5. Metal - 鐵 thit

FIVE ELEMENTS

1. Fire – 火 fo

2. Water – 水 sui

3. Earth – 地 tei

4. Wood – 木 muk

I would like to posit that they are adaptable to teaching stewardship in the Christian Church.

This “five elements” theory, more pronouncedly in Chinese philosophy, permeates in many fields of human endeavor: medicine, business, politics, architecture and religion.

Week A: Fire Mission:

We are standing again in the edge of mission in the 21st century, characterized by four great imperatives:

Week B: Wood Theology:

How do we teach money attitude and values to our congregation? What do we really believe when it comes to material things?

2. Tradition: How will tithing in the Old Testament be approximated in the contemporary culture? What constitutes giving of our “first fruits”? What is the practicality of “setting aside an amount” in the first day of the week for God?

Week C: Metal Vision

The Rev. Dr. Winfred B. Vergara

The Episcopal Church Center

815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Telephone: 1212-922-5344

E-Mail: wvergara@episcopalchurch.org

Website: www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm

Blog:http://travelinasian.blogspot.com

II.Stewardship Book Suggestions:

(Compiled by The Rev. Laurel Johnston, Program Officer for Stewardship

1. More Than Money: Portraits of Transformative Stewardship (Money, Faith, and Lifestyle Series) by Patrick H. McNamara.

2. Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News about Living a Generous Life by Mark Allan Powell.

3. Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregation by Charles Lane

4. The Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri J.M Nouwen (purchase at www.henrinouwen.org)

5. Money and Faith: The Search for Enough by Michael Schut (Environmental Stewardship officer for the Episcopal Church).

6. Transforming Stewardship by The Rev. Charles K. Robertson (Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church)

Websites to Wander & Ponder

1.The Episcopal Church/Office of Stewardship: New Resources

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/109299_52625_ENG_HTM.htm

2.The Episcopal Network of Stewardship:

www.tens.org

3. The Stewardship of Life Institute:

www.stewardshipoflife.org

4. Generous Giving:

www.generousgiving.org

5. Ministry of Money/Faith and Money Network

www.faithandmoneynetwork.org

6. Three Simple Rule (Living Wisely Program/Personal Budget Program)

http://www.threerules.org/

7. Stewardship for the 21st Century (Luther Seminary)

http://www.luthersem.edu/stewardship/

8. The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire

www.nhepiscopal.org/stewardship

Note: Almost Every Diocesan Website has a section on Stewardship.

HOPE OF THE WORLD IN THE AGE OF DESPAIR

EPISCOPAL ASIAMERICA MINISTRY NEWSBRIEFS: Mission, Theology, Etc.

END OF THE WORLD: WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOPE?

Woman at the Well: The First Evangelist?

Asia has myriad and diverse cultures but within these cultures, there is a belief that all we are and do are influenced by five elements of life, namely:

FIVE ELEMENTS
1. Fire – 火 fo
2. Water – 水 sui
3. Earth – 地 tei
4. Wood – 木 muk
5. Metal - 鐵 thit

We are standing again in the edge of mission in the 21^st century, characterized by four great imperatives:

815
Second Avenue
, New York, NY 10017

3. Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregation by
Charles Lane

7. Stewardship for the 21^st Century (Luther Seminary)