“Acting as though our talents are responsible for spiritual change is like a messenger claiming credit for ending a war because he delivered the peace documents.”

Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic), 30.

“Not to defend God or to speak for God, but simply to represent the presence of God.”
– Ed Dobson

Previous post on him trying to live a year like Jesus.

Related posts:

1. Spending a Year Living Like Jesus

Three pastoral acts are so basic, so critical that they determine the shape of everything else. The acts are praying, reading Scripture, and giving spiritual direction. Besides being basic, these three acts are quiet. They do not call attention to themselves and so are often not attended to. In the clamorous world of pastoral work nobody yells at us to engage in these acts……

The three areas constitute acts of attention: prayer is an act in which I bring myself to attention before God; reading Scripture is an act of attending to God in his speech and action across two millennia in Israel and Christ; spiritual direction is an act of giving attention to what God is doing in the person who happens to be before me at any given moment.

Always it is God to whom we are paying, or trying to pay, attention. (3-4)

He also warns us:

Pastoral work disconnected from the angle actions — the acts of attention to God in relation to myself, the biblical communities of Israel and church, the other person — is no longer given its shape by God. (5)

Fellow pastors, if you find it useful, feel free to download this poster (300dpi, letter size) and put it up on the wall of your office (or home). Read the book too.

其實本人由今年三月開始，已經在加拿大 AM1320 的霹啪 959 電台節目中，每月一次負責一個叫做「牧牧讀讀」的環節。除了我以外，還有幾個本地「牧」者，嘗試在這五至十分鐘的廣播空間裡，分享一些我們對牧養或信仰反思的「讀」白。

以下是過往的錄音，有興趣聽聽吧。（注意：本人已盡量叫自己不要講得那麼「木木獨獨」了。仍待改進中，請見諒。）

• 2010-11-28：Photoshop 神手
• 2010-10-31：人生ＧＰＳ
• 2010-10-03：假動作 Head Fake
• 2010-09-05：値唔値？抵唔抵？
• 2010-08-08：跑步操練靈修
• 2010-07-18：向家人傳福音
• 2010-06-13：信仰火熱的利與弊
• 2010-04-04：敬拜 – 體驗與更新
• 2010-03-14：從洗碗看事奉

繼續收聽「牧牧讀讀」：

• 在溫哥華的朋友，逢星期日下午 4:30-5:30 (PST)，打開收音機 AM1320
• 在加拿大以外的朋友，亦可網上現場收聽
• 想用 RSS feed 訂閱的話，請按此。
• 想用 Email 訂閱的話，可用 feedmyinbox.com 這網上服務。只要將這網址 “http://www.pp959.com/pastor.xml” 連同你的 Email 一起 submit 便可。

Great article. Very well argued. It is true that life is full of tensions and complexity. There is no easy way to resolve them with simplistic formulas. I really agree that case-by-case spiritual discernment is a skill we really need to develop. After all, we are people of the Spirit, not people of rigid priority lists.

That being said, I have heard of one additional compelling reason why family should come before the church: You can always find substitutes in ministry, but your wife has only one husband and your children has only one dad. No one can substitute your role in your family.

Agree or disagree?

True humility is to be able to look deeply into one’s own soul, be aware of one’s hidden and apparent sins, be honest about it, be willing to confess and apologize to others, and know when it’s time to say “stop” and retreat. Moreover, he blessed his church that God may make it better than ever during his leave, fully trusting that God is the one who sustains the church, not him. Now that’s true humility.

Related posts:

1. Conan exits with humility, grace, and truth

Although there were times when I wanted to give up, there is always this gentle affirmation from God that kept me going forward. I always keep worrying about my abilities, my weaknesses, and my worthiness, but God keeps telling me: “It’s not about you, it’s about Me. Just come follow Me.” I hope I can live up to this calling that when I get ordained, following Him daily into servanthood.

“If you look at nature and the way things grow, they grow in silence. You look at the trees and the flowers, and even at human beings, they grow in silence. A vocation is very similar. A relationship with God is very similar. And it grows in silence, in an environment where one’s inner ears are opened to hear God who only speaks in silence.” (@5:22)

短短的二十分鐘訪問裡面，陳兆焯已經總括了很多牧養上的智慧，尤其是道成肉身的牧養工作 (incarnational pastoral care) 所需的原則。

我可總括為以下十點：

1. 不以個人成就得失為事奉目標
2. 清楚自己呼召
3. 著重建立關係
4. 拒絕功利主義：不要只懂得問「有甚麼用？」
5. 全情投入、不離不棄地與人一起同行
6. 對人常存盼望：今天的失敗，不等如明天沒法改變
7. 體恤人有個別差異的需要，不以大方向或發展理由壓倒一切
8. 塑造分別為聖的群體，顛覆 (subvert) 世界的價值觀
9. 相信團隊的判斷和能力，不由上而下強行改革
10. 容許人犯錯，從而讓人學習承擔和責任的功課

從陳校長身上真是學到很多。

我們甚至不曉得究竟這兩個字是否仍然存在，究竟現在沉迷打機的初中生還會否用「升呢」兩字，抑或是用其餘更新穎更順口的詞彙取而代之呢？卒之，到近年，我再一次遇見「升呢」兩字，這不是匆匆的重遇相見，而是氾濫式的「撞口撞面」。陸永開騷用「升呢」入題，月餅廣告勸我們送禮要「升呢」，連關心英語文法的特首也用「升呢」來指出香港經濟不可停滯不前。一瞬之間全城「升呢」，大家都齊聲說，「升呢」是潮語，是這一輩年輕人愛用的語言，甚至我之前在某傳媒機構實習，上司也要求同事們，多用潮語（她卻舉不出除「升呢」外還有什麼潮語），用以表現我們年輕的形象，爭取年輕一輩的認同。而我，作為這年輕一輩的其中一點，卻總無法從這些大人口中的「升呢」得到任何，哪怕只有一點的認同感。你們說得沒錯，「升呢」是潮語，但僅僅是因為你們將之反覆使用的緣故，它才成為潮流，而不是我們這些人愛掛在口邊的詞語。

可否別再升呢 – 張亞果 (明報 2009年11月15日)
(H/T: Eric Cheng)

這亦是為何我認為教會沒有必要盲目爭取年輕一輩的認同，不停套用合潮的產物吸引他們。因為正當你以為自己追上了潮流，你可能已經 out 了，並且 out 了很久。尋找與年輕一代溝通的語言是必需的，但不可盲目跟風，處處後知後覺。

每每社會出現一些哄動一時的事物（例如甚麼斷背電影、密碼小說），香港教會機構便會紛紛走出來評論一番，搞一些「抗衡歪風」的活動，出書出碟大量印製產品回應那看似燒眉之急的情況。但究竟有多少人真的看完那部電影讀完那本小說後還會繼續深入思考那些疑似歪理的東西呢？老實講句，一般人看過就算。對於他們來說，那些始終只是片刻的娛樂而已。

再者，那陣「歪風」過後，豈見得教會機構會繼續正視那些長遠的問題呢？沒有，因為他們已經繼續撲蝶去，尋找另一樣熱潮歪風來回應。

追潮流不但不能搏取年青人的認同感，反而會令他們覺得你根本沒有甚麼可以 offer 他們。年青人最需要的，是那些能夠幫助他們面對這驚恐世代不變的真理，以及擁有知慧的前輩與他們同行，適時給予鼓勵和幫助。

真正要「升呢」的，其實是那些沒有東西 offer 卻只懂追潮流的大人。

P.S. Marva Dawn (唐慕華) 在 Regent College 曾有一個講座叫 “The Church’s Gifts for the Millenials“，討論到教會能給予 Y 世代的年輕人，其實不是更多的知識，而是如何在逆境中活出堅毅生命的屬神智慧。值得一聽。

After some serious studying of the Scriptures, I found two arguments that are helpful to bring clarity to this problem:

Hello, where’s God in the picture?

Most commentators agree that Exodus 15:22-18:27 is a clearly bounded literary unit describing five problems the Israelites faced during the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai. The following structure is taken from the ESV study bible:

1. Water problem: Marah (15:22-27)
2. Food problem: manna (16:1-36)
3. Water problem: Massah and Meribah (17:1-7)
4. Passage problem: Israel defeats Amalek (17:8-16)
5. Judgment problem: Jethro advises Moses (18:1-27)

After I re-read these five sections once again, I noticed that whenever the people grumbled, either Moses faithfully turned to God begging for help (Ex. 15:25, 17:4), or God was actively present giving Moses instructions how to solve the problem (Ex. 15:25-26; 16:4-5, 11-12, 28-29; 17:1, 5-6, 14)…… all except the last one – the judgment problem. In the entire chapter 18, the Lord was silent and uninvolved. It was only a private conversation between Jethro and Moses.

More interestingly, there is no indication that Moses was complaining about his job as the judge of the people. He seemed fine with it. He just did what he had to do. It was only Jethro who saw the situation and thought it was no good (Ex. 18:17). It was an unsolicited advice.

Okay, even if Moses was truly burdened by the sheer amount of work, why didn’t he cry out to God and ask for help, as he always does? Strange, isn’t it? Why did Moses obediently accept an unsolicited advice from his father-in-law, who may not even be a legitimate channel of God’s voice? Who is Jethro that Moses should listen to anyways? (We can also explore the intricate dynamics of in-law relationships here…… but I won’t go there.)

God’s way of alleviating stress

If you go to Numbers 11, there is a parallel story of how Moses dealt with the grumblings of the people during the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai. Here Moses was so stressed out in dealing with the people’s complaints that he cried out to God saying: “I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” (Num. 11:14-15)

So God said to Moses: “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.” (Num. 11:16-17)

What is the difference between God’s way of alleviating Moses’ stress and Jethro’s way?

Jethro’s way (Ex. 18:21-22):

1. Look for able men, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe.
2. Set them up as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. (This is known as typical Ancient Near East military formation.)
3. Only great matters they shall bring to Moses, but small matters they shall decide themselves. (First of all, how can they properly distinguish what matters are great and what matters are small? Also, is there a hint of increasing autonomy and independence?)

God’s way (Num. 11:16-17):

1. Specifically instructed to select seventy elders of Israel.
2. There was a personal encounter with God at the tent of meeting.
3. God took some of His Spirit that was on Moses and distributed it to the other seventy elders.
4. Even Eldad and Medad who were not obedient (for they were the extra two who did not go to the tent but stayed in the camp), but they also received the Spirit and prophesied, which led to Joshua’s jealousy (Num. 11:26-30). This only highlights the endowment of the Spirit as God’s pure grace, not contingent upon the piety of the elected.

It is very clear that one is based on human wisdom and the other is based on divine appointment and empowerment.

Conclusion

Remember when Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”, he appointed seventy-two disciples to go ahead of him to towns and villages to preach the Kingdom of God (Luke 10:1-20)? I suspect the Gospel text is echoing the story we saw in Numbers.

In Luke, Jesus is the new Moses leading the new Exodus, appointing seventy-two disciples who are empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the load of His work. The seventy-two are not chosen based on their ability or piety, but by the Lord’s appointment. They go out in pairs and come back reporting to the Lord directly. They need not report to a hierarchy of chiefs above them. When they are legitimately commissioned by Jesus, they receive the full authority to judge the people who receives or rejects them. There is no need to separate matters into categories of “great” or “small”, treating them differently. Jesus affirmed their ability to judge authoritatively by saying to them: “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16)

Now that’s God’s way of doing delegation.

So are you convinced that Jethro’s advice maybe problematic?

I hope my investigation can serve as a new perspective among all the other views that typically praise Jethro’s advice as wise and appropriate.

Any comment or feedback is welcomed.

Related posts:

1. Obey My Voice