George Martzen "georgos"

At a couple minutes before 8:30 Saturday night I shook hands with Ben Witherington with a muttered "Thanks so much" and "God bless" as we traded positions at the Wesley Methodist Church pulpit. He had just concluded a stirring sermon based on Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 - "A Vision of Worship", which was partly a critique of consumer-oriented worship so common today. Peter Teo was waiting in the wings to send him to Changi Airport and the next stop on his world tour - Ephesus. I then stood in the pulpit to lead the congregation in singing "Not by Our Might", a hymn written by Bishop Solomon with a dynamic tune by Jusuf Kam. I was generally impressed by Dr Witherington, his erudition, his great sense of humor and his ability to connect to the audience. Some of the feedback I got was that he made people feel as though he were speaking directly to them. He is a good New Testament scholar, the kind that makes me want to go back to s...

Two very important things happen this Monday in Singapore. First of all, it's a public holiday (Vesak Day), so everyone gets to sleep in, unless you are a devout Buddhist celebrating the ancient prince's birth, enlightenment and Nirvana. Second, and more important for me, it is the beginning of Aldersgate Convention . It runs from from Monday until Saturday night at Wesley Methodist Church, with five evening talks and two morning seminars all culminating in the Aldersgate Service on Saturday night. The theme for this year's event is "The Road to Glory: The Future in Wesleyan Perspective." The two featured speakers are Ben Witherington, III, from Asbury Theological Seminary and Ezra Kok, Semari Theoloji Malaysia. Dr Kok will speak tonight and tomorrow night in Mandarin, while Dr Witherington will follow on Wednesday. Both will speak on matters relating to eschatology. Dr Witherington has written numerous commentaries, including one on Revelation, which has also bee...

Mother’s Day and Pentecost falling on the same Sunday this year offered an interesting mix. Which should get the greater attention in Sunday worship? One church engaged in a certain American 40 day program saved itself the trouble by mentioning neither. In another service the two were mentioned only obliquely during announcements and a pastoral prayer. I attended the Global Day of Prayer at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the evening. There the timing and theme of church rightly celebrated aspects of Pentecost. I think there was a prayer honoring mothers. I grew up in a family oriented church that celebrated Christmas, Holy Week and Easter as family affairs, I knew nothing of the other Christian holy days until college. Of course Mother’s Day was one of the best attended services of the year as the three or four major clans crowded the pews to assure their matriarchs got the best honors. There is some commonality between Mother’s Day and Pentecost. As we celebrate the women who gave u...

The first day of May in Singapore is Labor Day, a national holiday in honor of Singapore’s labor movement. There are about 70 trade unions and associations in Singapore affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). While the government and NTUC provide in many ways for the individual workers, there is no codified minimum wage. The economy favors business enterprise. In the Christian calendar Ascension Day fell this year on May Day. The challenge of Jesus in Acts 1 is a kind of call to be co-laborers in God’s mission in the world. God’s mission is to establish the Kingdom, and all of us have a role in that effort. In various ways our task is to bear witness to the good news of God's kingdom. I like the economy of the kingdom. In Jesus' story of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, everyone gets the same wage, regardless of whether they started at the beginning of the day or the end. The parable was probably not intended to advocate fair wages. But every tim...

The psalmist teaches us to count our days in order to gain a wise heart (Psalm 90:12). Not everyone counts their days in the same way. My peers in the west seem to like marking 50 years, as well as almost every childhood year, with a fun birthday party. I have memories of some of my childhood birthdays, as I hope my son will too, since we've given him a party almost every year. Chinese see 60 as significant, not 50. And as for childhood birthdays, some of my Singaporean colleagues remember only getting extra noodles or an egg for their birthday, if anything. Not that they were deprived. It just wasn't considered significant. Anyway, my wife, Y u Chin Cheak, and I, recently celebrated a birthday. Guess who. Suffice it to say that it was a good excuse to fellowship with friends and eat nice food. I think the author of Ecclesiastes said something about that. And come to think of it, our Lord was often found enjoying table fellowship. One of the helpful skills that I have gained w...

Last week nearly all of the pastors of The Methodist Church in Singapore gathered for a retreat in Johor, Malaysia. Bishop Willimon of the North Alabama Conference of The United Methodist Church was the speaker. Bp Willimon is a good writer and preacher. He is one of those who still believes in the power of the spoke word to make a difference. He doesn't use powerpoint or any of the other hi-tech gadgets that modern day speakers lust after. In fact, his American southern wit and pacing exhudes meaning that goes beyond the words. Theologically, Willimon follows Barth over against the Niebuhrs. To him it is more important to declare the distance between humans and their cultures than to falsely close the gap. But it is the Mennonite theology of John Howard Yoder, et. al., that has put the radical edge on his thinking. The Christian's first identity and loyalty should be the Kingdom of God. He challenged the Singapore Methodist pastors to preach the radical gospel of Jesus, no...

Today as I strolled along busy Orchard Road in downtown Singapore, I was reminded of another orchard in a land far, far away - East Orosi - the place where my mother grew up. Today is the fifth anniversary of my mother's death. She passed away about a year after my father and about a year and a half after I entered missionary work. That other orchard is quite a bit different from the one I was walking through today. This touristy shopping centre is seeing property values go through the roof. And the pace of new building indicates the joy of the developers. The pace of shoppers starts picking up mid-afternoon. Locals race past, tourists gawk and snap pictures. Trees and other greenery soften the lines of the high-rise shops, hotels condominiums towering over the street, and remind the eye of the tropical location, one degree north of the equator. That other orchard had nothing towering over it, save the massive granite uplift that forms California's Sierra Nevada mountain ...