Unity in Sports for Nation Building

Binhi sang Pagtuo

October 26, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Last Saturday, October 24, 2009, the 14th National University Games started at Central Philippine University. The campus is now teeming with athletes from various schools all over the country. The theme of this event is “Unity in Sports for Nation Building.”

What lessons can we learn from sports that can help us in nation building?

First, we must trust each other. Team mates need to trust each other. During game time each one should trust each other to perform their respective roles. One should never abandon his/her task and play the task of another. One must have the confidence with his/her team mate that he/she should be in the designated spot when you pass the ball because if not, then indecisiveness comes in and consequently mistakes will happen.

Filipinos should learn to trust each other. This is one way that we can help our country.

Second, we must listen to each other. Every player needs to listen to the advice of his/her fellow players, and especially to the coach. Yesterday, my players in Table Tennis learn this lesson the hard way. I have to call a timeout and tell them the gameplan once again. It nearly cost us the game but we prevailed against our rival in Negros. Hopefully, we can duplicate our win in the next games.

Filipinos should learn to listen to each other. Nobody has the monopoly of bright ideas. We also need a coach. The coach can be our leaders. The coach can identify the weaknesses and strengths and points us to the right direction. But of course the best coach is God, and the gameplan is the Bible.

Third, we need to have determination, intensity, focus, passion and enjoyment. These are the keywords that are repeatedly heard in the game courts. Coaches, team mates and fans shout these words as a reminder to those who are playing. The most popular words in the duration of the game are “kaya mo yan” and “focus.” Most often, the intensity level of the players is heightened when they concentrate and give the best that they can. The result is a good game with no or little regrets.

Filipinos oftentimes have the mentality that a foreigner is better than him/her. He/she does not believe in him/herself. Filipinos sometimes resigned their fate to whatever will happen next, and not making his/her own destiny. We need to be determined, and be passionate. We need to bring back the pride of being a Filipino – “kaya natin to!”

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

Commitment to the mission of God

Binhi sang Pagtuo

October 19, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Yesterday, October 18, I celebrated my birthday. A friend asked how old I am, and I jokingly answered, “the age in which Jesus died on the cross.” Later, I reflected on my remark and noticed that Jesus died as a young man, yet fully confident that he has finished his mission in life.

I then remembered yesterday’s early morning incident while I was searching for my coffee mug in which I accidentally broke the handle of my wife’s mug. She said that I have to fix it. I mixed an epoxy and fixed the mug. BAM! I got a birthday message from God – Jesus was telling me, “My body was broken at 33 years old so that your broken life can be mended and used for My mission.”

During the Baccalaureate Service for the 1st Semester’s graduates at the University Church yesterday, I heard the acceptance speech of a student encouraging her fellow graduates to commit themselves to nation building especially in such a time like this. I was moved by her boldness to commit in such an endeavour.

Let me end this reflection by a poem written by Jennie Claire Adams, one of the missionaries who were executed during World War II.

“Let me live bravely;

For life has many battlefields, Where valor must be shown,

Many darkened corners, Where pain and fear are known,

Life calls for sacrifice, To share the highest good,

To serve courageously, Sometimes to give life’s blood.

As others lived and gave, Let me be brave.

Let me serve faithfully;

Content with work to do, Whatsoever life may bring,

I’m serving others well, Thus do I serve my King.

May I not weary grow, When tasks seem burdensome,

Nor turn aside distraught, Before life’s work is done.

As others served, proved true, Let me be faithful too.

Let me die heroically;

Steadfast in faith and calm, When that great day is near

Knowing no hour of dread, Feeling no anxious fear,

For death is but a door, Closed tight on pain and strife,

A door that opens up That we may enter Life.

As heroes die, Still brave and true, Let me die, too.” (Centralite, 1946, p.24)

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com

Let us connect with our past

Binhi sang Pagtuo

October 12, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

This coming October 16, 2009, the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches will be choosing its next General Secretary. The fifteen members of Board of Trustees will meet and decide on who that person will be.

As we continue to reflect on the Foundation Day celebration of CPU, let us remember the Baptist roots of our alma mater.

Let us read some of my historical notes:

In 1935, when the American government granted a commonwealth status to the Philippines, a great milestone in the history of Philippine Baptist churches occurred…Representatives of the Philippine Baptist churches and the American Baptist missionaries dissolved the WVC on May 23, 1935 to give birth to the Kasapulanan sang Bautista nga Pilipinhon (Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches).

The significance of this new development was described by Nelson and Herradura. Their words deserve a longer quotation,

“This new organization changed the status of Central Philippine College from being an institution of the Foreign Mission Society to a cooperating entity of the Convention (CPBC). The by-laws specified that the corporation members should be members of Convention-related Baptist churches, elected by the annual assembly of the Convention, and that two thirds of the College Board of Trustees should be members of Baptist churches. With this development, majority control of policy-making passed from American to Filipino hands.

Consequently, the campus of the college was leased to the Convention as the field body responsible for its oversight. All requests by the college for appropriation, missionary personnel, and other related needs had to be coursed through the Convention Board of Trustees, to the Society. Furthermore, proposed changes in the constitution of the college or its by-laws must be ratified by the Convention in session before they could be enforced.” (Linnea A. Nelson and Elma S. Herradura, 1981, p. 45.)

Going back to the New Testament, Paul was reminding Timothy to remember the genuine faith that he has which was passed on by two generations – his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. Paul was telling Timothy not to put to shame the faith that he has inherited.

In the Filipino culture, we always tell our children not to put into shame our family name. We always tell them that we cannot give them money but we can give them a good name – a name that they can carry with pride because it has a good reputation.

Here at CPU it is common to have 3 generations of Centralians. We even have up to 5 generations of Centralians. This is so because the old generation trusted CPU to pass on the faith to the next generation.

Are we still passing the faith of the older generation to the latest generation? Foundation Day celebration is good time to remember our heroes of faith, the past American Baptist missionaries, and Filipino pastors and leaders. Are we remembering their names, their ministries and their words? Or are we disconnecting ourselves from the legacy that they have started?

I hope that CPU will continue to connect with the past so that the faith that they have will be passed on to us.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com

Decalogue of Central Philippine University

Binhi sang Pagtuo

October 5, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from CPU campus!

Last week on October 1, 2009, CPU celebrated its 104th Foundation Day.

Let us reflect on the Central Decalogue*:

1. I believe in Central Philippine University because she believes in the future of the Filipino youth;

2. I believe in her democratic spirit;

3. I believe in her emphasis on scholarship and character;

4. I believe in her teaching that the human personality is sacred and its dignity should be upheld over and above the arrogance of wealth and the tyranny of power;

5. I believe in her educating the poor in order to lift them up and free them from the shackles of social and religious prejudice, ignorance, and superstition;

6. I believe in her educating the rich in order to imbue them with high social conscience for imaginative vision, generous attitudes, civilized humility, and sacrificial dedication to the welfare of the people;

7. I believe in her classroom instruction which insists that students must be free to explore honestly any area of knowledge and push back the horizons of their intellect and educate the emotions of the heart;

8. I believe in the freedom and fearlessness of her professors to discuss ideas and issues without imposing their will, but guiding the youth along the path of broadmindedness, independence, self-reliance, and creativeness;

9. I believe in the necessity of research in the atmosphere of freedom because a university is not truly a university unless it carries on research;

10. I believe that a university with a Christian base and a Christian orientation should be more progressive and more daring in pressing ahead of its times in all things, to the end that the human spirit will come to full flowering under constant ferment.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

*published in the 1960 Student Handbook, reprinted in The Central Time 1905-2005, 2005, p.122. The original version of the Centralian’s Decalogue can also be found in the 1946 issue of the Centralite, p. 22.

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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com

The warning of the Flood

Binhi sang Pagtuo

September 28, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

Last Friday, September 25, 2009, Bagyo Ondoy visited the country. In the afternoon, a siren was heard in Jaro and people started going home from the CPU campus. Lopez-Jaena Street is beginning to flood. Later, news coming from Luzon broke our hearts. Disaster struck our fellow Filipinos.

The 8 hours of continuous rain brought flood in many cities in Luzon. The last big rainfall that fell in the Philippines was on 1967. The rain brought by Ondoy is so far the biggest, even bigger than Bagyo Frank. Some reports said that the rainfall is approximately equivalent to 6 months of rain. The flood reached more than 12 feet in height.

In the midst of this situation, we can raise a question, why did God allow this to happen? Is God deaf, not to hear the prayers and pleas of our fellow Filipinos? Or is there really a God? Is God dead?

Romans chapter 8 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord – be it trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword.

I may sound callous but I am reflecting that the flood is a big warning to all of us. Tropical Storms are normal occurrences but floods like this one are abnormal. We reclaimed lands that are normal pathways of water. We dump garbage in the river. Industrial wastes go to the river also. Graft and corruption in the making and cleaning of canals are rampant. We cut trees that are essential in holding big amounts of water. We are killing our environment. No wonder we are all experiencing the fruit of our own labor.

God always brings a way out of this situation. He sends people like Noah. We ridicule people like Noah, people who are always giving warnings. Are we listening to warnings?

Let us remember to go inside the ark. The ark symbolizes the church. Sad to say, like in the time of Noah, only a few are inside the ark. The animals even outnumbered the people. How about us? Are we inside the ark?

After the flood, there is a rainbow. It symbolizes hope. Hope is what propels the Christians faith to go on. And faith is what pushes us to continue in loving one another, to make actions that will make planet Earth, our only home, a better place for the next generation. Let us not lose hope.

The flood is a very costly reminder. Let us listen to its warning.

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com

Freedom!

Binhi sang Pagtuo

September 21, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from Iloilo!

37 years ago, September 21, 1972, Martial Law was declared in the Philippines. Centralians struggled against the dictatorship of Marcos. They engaged in “parliament of the streets.” Some Centralians and Baptist pastors were imprisoned, and some were sadly killed.

Let us reflect on some historical notes:

Rev. Moley Familiaran, President of CPBC 1976-1978 reflected on the May 1977 CPBC Assembly theme: “Life Worthy of Human Dignity” held in Capiz:

“The life worthy of human dignity is the Christ-like life. It is free. It is true. And it is the only way to live. On the editorial pages of the Bible we read the Good News that Jesus Christ gives light to the darkened eyes; he removes resentment that breaks the heart; he sets them free, those who were bound by many invisible chains; and he announces the arrival of the new age – the age of liberation! In everyone of us there is a Christ going to be. Dignity is only one of the flowers of that Christ-seed. It is the flag flying in the brilliant sky proclaiming Jesus’ sovereignty over a human life. Where there is no freedom, there is no dignity.”

Through the leadership of Rev. Dr. Domingo J. Diel, Dean of the College of Theology in 1975, CPU put forward a new approach on theological education in the light of the contemporary issues during that time. The statement says,

“We believe that theological education should help in preparing Christians serve God through service in the world. As such, theological education should start where the people are. It should take on account the people’s desires and aspirations, their struggles, and most of all, their needs. It should be able to understand the ‘hows, whys and wherefores’ of the people that it may be able to apply the Christian message relevantly to the lives of the people, and the community wherein they live. We believe that Theological Education can do this when it opens itself up and enters into dialogue with the world – its cultures, ideologies and religions.”

“Theological Education should promote a living involvement in the life situation of the people. Having understood the hows, whys and wherefores of the people, it should seek to put into practice such understanding in terms of involvement in actual life situations of the community, participate in its struggles and become a motive force in the shaping of history.”

The struggles of our foreparents bore the fruit of freedom. Most of them are still alive. They are a continuing visible reminder that pricks the young generation’s insincerity, insensivity, indifference and passivity. They are not yet the “clouds of witnesses” that cheers us to go on. They are in the midst of us – continuing the struggle for liberation. Let us march with them.

May God bless us all.

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain

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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com

Let us listen to our grandparents

Binhi sang Pagtuo

September 14, 2009

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the CPU campus!

Yesterday, churches in the Philippines celebrated Grandparents Day!

Our reflection for this week comes from Ruth 4:13-17. It is the story of a grandmother – Naomi.

Ruth was the daughter in law of Naomi. She had no children with Naomi’s son. Ruth and Naomi soon became widows in the land of Moab. They eventually decided to go back to Israel. Ruth remarried through the prodding of Naomi. Ruth and Boaz were blessed by God with a son named Obed. Now, Naomi became a grandmother. She took care of Obed to the point that the neighbors were calling Obed as Naomi’s son.

The significance of this story is that Obed is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of King David. And in the line of King David comes our messiah, Jesus Christ. Indeed the prayer that the line of Obed will be great became a reality.

We can learn two lessons.

First, Grandparents should be the storytellers of the family’s history and legacy to their grandchildren. They must also be the roots that strengthen the faith of their grandchildren. In Hiligaynon we call this “apostolic” ministry (the root word is “apo” – grandchild).

Lois Wyse said, “Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” The relationship of grandparents and grandchildren is the chain that links the past and the future.

When grandparents retired, this does not mean that they are very tired already. It means that they have another tire. God gives them a brand new tire so that they can play with their grandchildren.

Second, Grandparents, like Naomi, are given by God a second chance. Naomi felt that she was a failure with her children. Now, she gave it all to her grandson.

A quotation says, “A Grandmother is a wonderful mother with lots of practice.” And “A grandfather is a father who has a second chance.”

Young parents should listen to the words of grandparents. We must not reject “the strength and wisdom that time and experience have given them.”

May God bless us all!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on
Assistant Chaplain




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Chaplain's Office Website: http://www.cpu.edu.ph/chaplain
Audio Sermons of Binhi sang Pagtuo: http://binhi.4shared.com
Blog: http://cpuchaplain.blogspot.com