A Season of New Beginnings

From 10 February

Acrobatic Lions in KK - Jan 2012

On Monday, February 6th, a month of New Year celebrations came to a close here in Kota Kinabalu.

What began on January 1st with fireworks exploding over the skies of Sabah concluded with gongs and cymbals and a final round of lion dances bringing prosperity and blessings to the shops along the waterfront in this new Year of the Dragon.


It has been a month marked by the sharing of mandarin oranges and red envelopes, by acrobatic lions and dragons, and by time spent visiting and feasting with family and friends. It has been a month filled with reunions and remembering, by celebration and new beginnings. It has been a month in which an acknowledgment of change has hung heavily in the air.

A Christmas Witness

From 26 December

A Christmas Carol in Sandakan - Dec 2011

A votive candle was burning brightly near the entrance to the house next door, its flickering light dancing across the carved red and gold surface of the family shrine. Children's faces were pressed against the security grill, trying to get a look at the visiting group of strangers visiting their neighbor. The scent of joss sticks and incense lingered faintly in the night air.

Dressed semi-formally in dark pants, white shirts, and ties, we arrived in a small convoy of vehicles. With (almost) military precision, we entered our host's compound and took up formation. With the strum of a guitar and a "1-2-3 . . ." we began to sing.

This is how the BCCM-Sandakan English congregation goes a-caroling. Over the course of three nights in mid-December, the homes of nearly sixty of church members, friends, and neighbors all across the city are visited. To accomplish this remarkable feat, the carolers are split into two teams of 15-20 people making about ten house-calls each night.

At each stop, the carolers sing of Angels and Shepherds and of a Savior born Away in a Manger and prayers are spoken for the family and its members. At each house the carolers are received hospitably -  sometimes with a handshake and a smile, sometimes with a veritable feast.

In each of these acts, public expressions of Christian Faith and Hope and Love are shared with one another and with the neighbors who, like the children next door, press their face to the grill yearning to hear more.

This is no accident.

Dissonant Images

At the Nativity Hut: A Mixed Crowd Gathers - Dec 2011

On Monday night my apartment was rocked by fireworks.

If you've been following news feeds coming from Malaysia over the past couple weeks you'll have noticed an increase in national anxiety levels - or, at the very least, at least an increase in reporting about national anxiety levels.

There's been the Peaceful Assembly Bill that would clamp down on protests and other public gatherings; the ongoing 'trial' of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim; unresolved tensions around the use of the word Allah, fears of 'Christianization' and the JAIS raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church; reports of difficulties churches face organizing Christmas Caroling excursions; and, on Wednesday, a report in the New York Times that reads 'For Malaysian Christians An Anxious Holiday Season.'

Each of these issues, in its own right, is potent. Put together, they are (potentially) highly combustible. And yet these were not the fireworks that I heard . . .

Adventureland

Pieces of Family, Pieces of History - Oct 2011 [From my Cousin Kelley]

The Indiana Jones Adventure changed my life.

At 26 years old I entered Disneyland slightly jaded about the supposed 'magic' of the place - scoffing at the overt commercialization of an utterly manufactured Main Street U.S.A.

Those sentiments of superiority were squashed by Indy and our trip through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Whether it was looking into "Mara's Eyes," encounters with fireballs, snakes, poison darts, and a giant boulder, or the fun of screaming beside good friends, the fact of the matter is that I left that ride and entered back into the park a different person.

Instantly I was a kid again and saw the world as full of possibility. I was geeking out in Adventureland.

True, the claim that a theme park ride (as impressive as it still is) changed my life is a bit of an overstatement. More accurately, the experience stirred up something deep. It tapped into core narratives, values, and memories that have shaped, and continue to shape, my world view.

On the surface it was an immediate reminder of Sunday nights spent watching the Wonderful World of Disney, snuggled up next to my mother and my brother , completely wrapped up in both a scratchy afghan blanket and tales of the Swiss Family Robinson, Captain Nemo's voyages beneath the sea, and the pirates of Treasure Island.

It brought me back to hot summer nights stretched out on the worn green carpet of my grandparents' living room. I can still smell the air, thick with Wisconsin humidity and the distinct scent of dust burning off the lamp of the slide projector. I can hear echoes of the the mechanical click of the advancing carousel interrupting the quiet hum of the fan as images of their travels to Egypt, Europe, Turkey, and China progressed across the screen.

The thrill ride resonated with those stories and formative moments with my family and I was filled with wonder.

Ordination: Re-Entry & Re-Orientation

From 20-22 May

Ordination and Commissioning - May 2011

At half-past eight on the morning of Friday, May 20 the Opening Worship of the Saint Paul Area Synod's annual Assembly began. Accompanied by a mixture of Nordic, Latin, and African music, the processional cross entered the sanctuary at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, MN in a celebration of the multi-cultural diversity promised to and expressed by worldwide community that composes the Body of Christ.

Nearly 45-minutes later, surrounded by family, friends, colleagues, and the gathered community I was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Commissioned to serve as the Country Coordinator for their Young Adults in Global Mission program in East Malaysia.

Little more than thirty hours earlier I had been standing on the streets of Shanghai.