Binhi sang Pagtuo
January 25, 2010
Dear Centralians and Friends,
Greetings from the campus!
The CEW celebration has started this morning with Rev. Jerson Narciso as the speaker. From Tuesday until Thursday the new format of CEW will be implemented. There will be four simultaneous convocations for the college in four different venues in the morning, and another four in the afternoon. This is to ensure maximum attendance.
The method of delivering God’s message this 2nd semester is through a lecture with ample time for open forum. The three main topics are Live like Jesus in your 1. Prayer life. 2. Faith and Integrity. 3. Stewardship and Commitment.
We covet your prayers for our invited speakers: Rev. Cris Amorsolo Sian, Rev. Jerson Narciso, Rev. Dr. Melvin Mangana, Ms. Faith Nava, Rev. Dr. Bernabe Pagara, and Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Fabula.
Let us reflect on some aspects of the model prayer of Jesus found in Matthew 6:9-13, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (KJV)”
The first word in the prayer is “our.” This word is communal rather than personal. This is later affirmed by the following words: “us,” and “we.” Jesus is reminding us that God is the God of everyone. God is not exclusive but inclusive.
In this regard, Jesus is questioning our tendency to make God exclusive to only one denomination, and that God is not present on others. We tend to domesticate God like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. Steve Mosher, former CPU Theology teacher, in his commentary on the book of Romans wrote that when we domesticate God, we reverse the spelling of God. God becomes a Dog.
Exclusivist attitude is quite rampant now in our churches. It is as if we own God and that anytime we can put him inside our pockets and when we need him, we take him out of our pockets again. Let us do away this personalistic tendency and let God be God. Our personal faith should not be over-emphasized to the detriment of our communal faith. Let us remember that this model prayer of Jesus later evolved to be a confession of faith by the church.
The last portion of the prayer speaks about the boldness of the declaration of Jesus that it only God who is the king of all creation and therefore has the power and the only one that deserves the glory. This is very revolutionary because it contradicts the prevailing religious atmosphere that brought by the Romans. The emperor has declared himself a deity and colonized areas must adhere to emperor cult worship. Those who did not worship the emperor faced severe punishments even death. The challenge for us is to make their declaration, that God alone is to be worshipped, be our constant declaration also.
May God bless us all!
Sincerely,
Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on
Assistant Chaplain
p.s.
Thank you for your prayers and support to the just concluded 69th national assembly of the Convention Baptist Ministers Association at Camp Higher Ground attended by more than 600 pastors. I covet your prayers because I was unanimously voted as the new president of our association. This is an honor yet a great burden for I am the youngest president of CBMA at the age of 33. If you want to get in touch with Baptist pastors, kindly email me at fnjalandoon@yahoo.com
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