Glass on the Ceiling

When you go to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, you will see wonderful exhibits filled with beautiful, vibrant colors. I expected to see amazing things, and I did -- even in the cafe! The ceiling of the Taste of the Gardens Cafe is a ceiling sculpture designed by famous artist Chihuly. See how beautiful the glass flowers are! Now imagine eating delicious foods sitting underneath such beauty...

Lent 2010: Meditations and Reflections on the Baptismal Covenant

As I begin thinking about the upcoming Lunar New Year, I am reminded that following close on the heels of the Tiger (Tet Canh Dan) is Ash Wednesday (February 17th) and the liturgical season of Lent. There is much to do, and even more to meditate on. For those who are interested, I offer a series of weekly meditations and reflections which I crafted by combining our baptismal covenant with our church's selected Focus Scriptures for each Sunday of Lent. Consider reading the text first, and meditate on it daily throughout the week (you might also try the practice of lectio divina). Consider how you might weave this reflection time into your chosen faith ritual throughout the Lenten season.

To see all lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary for the entire Lenten season, visit the Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.

1st week of Lent: Feb. 21st – Into the Wilderness/ Luke 4:1-13

Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

Share and discuss one or two examples that you have witnessed in your life which you might define as “evil powers”. How have you experienced these negative forces at play in your life? What tools might you draw upon to renounce and reject these forces of wickedness and evil powers? Where have you experienced the “desert” of your repentance?

2nd week of Lent: Feb. 28th – Luke 13:31-35

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

In this week’s focus scripture, we hear Jesus refer to Jerusalem as the city that violently rejects its prophets and visionaries. In our baptismal covenant, we are asked to accept, not reject, the power which liberates us to live fully as children of God, and to accept the freedom that calls us to create a just, peaceful, and joy-full world of equality. Share an example of a time or place where/when you experienced the overwhelming power of God’s love, mercy, and grace in your life; Give thanks for this experience. Name one or two examples of obstacles or challenges that stand in the way of your resistance to evil, injustice, and oppression; Lift them up in prayer.


3rd week of Lent: Mar. 7th – Isaiah 55:1-9

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?

We can often find saints in our lives who fully embody the Love and Mercy of God as exemplified and fleshed out in Jesus the Christ; these are the people who promise to serve God all their lives, in different ways; or, perhaps in only one or two instances, they demonstrated God’s grace. Share and discuss one or two examples of people whom you know to demonstrate unfailing trust in God. How have they witnessed to you and to others about God’s faithfulness, God’s abundant blessings? In prayer, give thanks for their presence and lives. God invites all who are thirsty to “come to the waters” (Is 55:1). In which areas of your life have you experienced unquenchable thirst? Lift up in prayer a time when you might have heard such an invitation. In what ways might you as a person of faith re-iterate/re-issue such an invitation to others, or help them recognize and respond to such an invitation to come receive the life-renewing waters of baptism?

4th week of Lent: Mar. 14th – Lost then Found / Luke 15:1-3,11b-32

Will you nurture the children of God in Christ’s holy church, that by your teaching and example they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly, and to lead a Christian life?

This week’s focus scripture presents, on the surface, a narrative of a parent who welcomes home a child with feasting and celebrating, demonstrating forgiveness and loving grace. Share one or two examples of when you experienced a sense of being loved and accepted as a child of God. Give thanks for those experiences and for those who embodied for you God’s compassion. In our contemporary context, how might you as a member of Christ’s holy church “nurture the children of God”? Our baptismal covenant asks us, as Christians and as Methodists, to enrich the lives of others through our teaching and by example through our living. Are there people whom you know who might welcome the chance to “be found”? Lift them up in prayer.

5th week of Lent: Mar. 21st – Doing New Things / Isaiah 43:16-21

Will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in this world?

As members of God’s global faith community, we are called to hold lightly onto our traditions and beliefs, and we are also asked to steadfastly change the world for the better – to seek justice, equality, peace. By striving to show God’s love, justice, and mercy to the world, we are God’s church. Wherever you have been, and wherever you are headed, how have different communities of faith transformed your life? Pray for the communities of which you are a part, and also pray for the communities that you have moved from. Isaiah’s text in 43:16-21 recalls the exodus from Egypt, when the Lord “made a way through the sea”, by essentially carving “a path” not on land but through water. Constructing such a new thing, and traversing that walkway, takes miracles and faith. Share and discuss one or two examples of when you, as Christ’s representative, attempted a new thing. Pray for courage, energy, and faithfulness as you continue to represent God’s church in this world.

6th week of Lent: Mar. 28th – Luke 19:28-40 (Palm or Passion Sunday depending on which lectionary text you decide to focus on)

Do you, as Christ’s body, the church, reaffirm both your rejection of sin and your commitment to Christ?

As disciples of Christ, sometimes we are asked to fulfill tasks that appear, to us and to others, as quite absurd – not unlike the situation of the disciples who were asked to go find a colt for Jesus to ride on (Luke 19:28-40). To complete these tasks, to commit to accomplishing our work in bringing forth God’s good news, we often must address what others perceive as ridiculous or meaningless. Have there been times when it is difficult to remain committed? Have there been times when commitment requires, for you and for others, too heavy of a sacrifice? Discuss, then lift them up in prayer. For our faith community, in what ways might we as a group reaffirm our commitment to Christ? Pray for strength and vision so that you can join in with “the whole crowd of disciples” who are eager and ready to “praise God in loud voices for all the miracles” (Lk 19:37).

Easter Sunday: April 4th – John 20:1-18

Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include one another in your care?

For many of us, the spiritual journey may appear like it is a solitary one. It is not unusual to think that we must walk the path -- however circuitous, however fragmented -- as individuals seeking our own communion with our Creator. At times, it might even seem strange to think of traveling the road communally, as a member of a diverse faith family. Our selected text for Easter Sunday comes from John, and in it, we are reminded of the band of disciples who, upon hearing the shocking news that Jesus's body was gone, had trickled one by one by two by threes toward the tomb where Jesus had been buried. This scene, in whatever way you imagine it, is echoed by the question of our baptismal covenant, asking us to nurture and include one another in our quests for truth and hope. As members of a faith community, we are invited, nay, challenged, to attend to each other, to nurture and provide, to protect and not exclude, to share and to encourage. The desert of our repentance, our pathways to the new and the truth, need not be solitary. In seeking, we must also share -- like the disciples who grabbed one another saying, "Come, see for yourself..." Think of one or two individuals, or perhaps one or two communities, that recently transformed your ways of journeying. Lift them up in prayer.

Dates for Tet Through 2020

Here are the dates for Tet (Lunar New Year's Day - dates given according to the Gregorian Calendar) from 2010 through 2020:

Water Buffalo (Suu): Jan 26, 2009
Tiger (Dan): Feb 14, 2010
Cat (Meo): Feb 03, 2011
Dragon (Thin): Jan 23, 2012
Snake (Ty): Feb 10, 2013
Horse (Ngo): Jan 31, 2014
Goat (Mui): Feb 19, 2015
Monkey (Than): Feb 08, 2016
Rooster (Dau): Jan 28, 2017
Dog (Tuat): Feb 16, 2018
Pig (Hoi): Feb 05, 2019
Rat (Ty): Jan 25, 2020

Additional info on Tet herefrom the American Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City:

Tet Customs: this is an excellent synopsis of Tet celebrations.

Tet symbols

Banh Tet, Banh Chung: COOKED!!

Here are more photos of the deliciousness that I'm about to consume tonight... You might say this is a bit of premature celebrations, considering that the year of the Tiger (Tet Canh Dan) won't be arriving for a few weeks; however, we can never tire of feasting and tasting, yes?!

Goi Banh Tet, Banh Chung: Tet Rice Cakes

Tet Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year in Viet Nam) is fast approaching... It will fall on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14th, 2010, so it feels especially auspicious. All new year celebrations include feasting, and that means banh tet and banh chung! Yummy... So, here are some photos to entice you. They are made by my lovely parents, and I am pleased to find out that a huge box has been FedEx'ed to me overnight so that I, too, can enjoy the delicious sticky rice cakes... TONIGHT!!!

And, just so you know, you can eat them as is, or, slice them very thinly and fry them 'til crispy. Serve while crispy & hot with spicy chili sauce (Sriracha is best), pickled garlic and cu kieu. I promise, they are the most delicious foods you will ever eat for Tet!

Traditionally, banh tet and banh chung are wrapped in banana leaves. If you wipe them down with a cloth and warm water, that should do the trick. But, I just heard recently that you might want to soak the leaves in water, instead, and then wipe them dry before packing in the rice and fillings.

Banh tet and banh chung can be sweet or savory. I LOVE both. For a sweet filling, you can add bananas. For savory, you can add pork and mung beans.

Whenever given the option, I would not choose beans with my rice dishes. However, in banh tet and banh chung, you MUST have beans. It is no exception. The rice cakes would not taste the same without them -- sweet or savory.

Here are the rice cakes, wrapped and ready for cooking. The banana leaves are on the inside, followed by several other layers, and the final layer is tinfoil, tied together with red strings for luck. I love seeing all these lines and curves of the fat and full cakes, along with the color contrasts -- all laid out for us to enjoy visually before we partake of them!

Note that round, log-like rice cakes are called "banh tet" (and the word "tet" is used here differently than "Tet"*) and the the square shaped cakes are called "banh chung".

*The word "tet" as used in "banh tet" has different diacritics from, and therefore is pronounced differently than, the word "tet" in "Tet Nguyen Dan". When referring to rice cakes, spell "tet" with an accent aigu above the "e". For example: T E ' T. When referring to the festival, Tet, then spell it with an accent circonflexe and an accent aigu above the "e". For example: T E ^ ' T.

Haiti

My heart goes out to the Haitian people in the aftermath of this terrible earthquake. My heart squeezes closed whenever I see photos and read about the survivors sitting on sidewalks, or victims being buried alive under collapsed buildings.

I want to help. You can, too. Here are some opportunities:

UMCOR: Assemble relief supply kits. According to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, there will be a great need for volunteers to help rebuild once the initial crisis is past, but it is not safe or possible for volunteers to go to Haiti at the present. However, UMCOR’s two relief supply warehouses are asking United Methodists to provide health kits that will be sent to Haiti. Instructions for assembling and shipping health kits are available here. Or, go here for Health Kit Assembly and Shipping Instructions.

Online donations through UMCOR: If you are unable to assemble the health kits yourself, you can also donate funds that will enable these kits to be assembled. United Methodists have had a long-standing relationship with Haiti through the Methodist Church of Haiti. The strong ties between the Methodist Church of Haiti and The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) helped in facilitating the opening of the UMCOR Haiti field office in 2005. 100 percent of Advance gifts made will go to support relief and development efforts due to emergencies in Haiti.

Action by Churches Together: ACT works to respond as quickly as possible to emergencies as they occur across the world. One of the resources available to ACT members is a centrally managed Rapid Response Fund (RRF) to support members responding to small emergencies with up to US $60,000. Go here if you would like to contribute to the RRF.


Heifer International: “It’s essential that we prepare to follow the important work of first responders [...] While they provide emergency food, medical care and aid, we offer our hopes and prayers for the victims and the families, but at the same time, we must prepare for the next wave of help -- giving people the tools and the ongoing help to rebuild their lives and their livelihoods.” Funds raised in this appeal will be used in the recovery and rebuilding effort in Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. Any funds that exceed the level needed to provide relief in this rebuilding effort will go toward the disaster relief fund and for the entire mission of Heifer International.

The ONE blog provides an EXTENSIVE list of groups and organizations that are responding in Haiti. Go here to see how groups like American Red Cross, FEED, World Food Programme, or Yele Haiti, are providing relief.

Moms Against Climate Change

For all my friends who are moms, godmothers, grandmothers, guardians, etc., please take a look at the website Moms Against Climate Change. I would prefer that it be called Moms Speaking Out About Climate Change... but, regardless of what it's labeled, the cause is a sound one. I stumbled across this old link from another link from another website, etc., and although the website creators were trying to impact the summit on climate change in December 2009, the website is still a great example of ordinary people doing all they can to change the world -- for the future generations. What might WE do to spread the world about climate change and fulfill our responsibility as stewards of God's creation?

Meijer Gardens: trains and buildings

Happy Family

Family gatherings are always filled with good talk, good laughter, and good food. We over-indulged in all three kinds of deliciousness and were well-nourished from beginning to the end. Indian curry, quail, clams, Thai hotpot, cakes, and much, much more. Blessings in abundance.



By the way, la busche de Noel was baked and decorated by my mum. Naturally, I enjoyed more than one slice.

Snow and Sand Tiramisu

There are first times for everything, and last week, for the first time, I saw sand and snow frozen together in a beautiful, rugged swirl not unlike tiramisu. So beautiful.

Snow

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know our planet is slowly dying. In certain places, the earth is rotting, crumbling, drying out, eroding at rates faster and more deadly than we can anticipate. Yet, there remain many spaces where we can still witness the beauty of God's creation. This winter, I visited one of those places. Nowhere spectacular, just some little frozen lake, surrounded by trees stripped bare and park benches with inviting seats. Come see for yourself...