Last week and Home!

15/12/2009 by paul.

Well I’m writing this from a rather chilly, wet and miserable looking Manchester office - but it is what I’ve come to call home!

Although its only 36 hours since I left come dear friends in Taipei, my last week there already seems like a distant memory. Some of the highlights of the last week included the final English Bible Study, looking at 1 Peter 5. I was given authorisation to lead the group through communion on Tuesday night, and it was a joy and privilege to do so. The group has really grown together over the last few weeks, and it seemed right to conclude in sharing not just our thoughts and faith, but also sharing in a meal at the centre of which is the foundation of our fellowship together - the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. To help in continuing our fellowship I also prepared a five-week study session looking at Paul’s letter to Titus - and my e-mail address!

Thursday was the last Taiwanese Bible Study that I would get to, and the topic was focussed on shining like stars (aka Philippians 2). Friday consisted of lots of preparation for Saturday (more to follow!) and a wonderful evening meal at a very nice hotel courtesy of one of the elders. Saturday evening was really busy. It was the last English Class, and I Was presented with lots of cards (and a chocolate yummy starbucks) to say thank-you, and then afterwards I led the Young Adults Fellowship. We shared in a Bible Study looking at the role of Sheep and Shepherds in the Bible. Do you know that more than half of the books of the Bible refer to sheep? There is a really deep imagery associated with sheep/lambs/rams in the Old Testament,

someone’s wealth and prosperity being measured in the number of sheep you own,
a ram being offered as a replacement sacrifice for Isaac,
lambs being killed on the first Passover evening,
lambs being slaughtered and spread and burnt all over an altar,
the dedication of Solomon’s temple with the sacrifice of 120,000 lambs,
to the re-dedication of the new temple after the exiles returned with 400 lambs.

But the shepherding imagery in the Old Testament is also strong

David was a shepherd and so the Psalms he wrote reflect this, including the well-known Psalm 23
Ezekiel in his image of the exile, saw the priests of the temple as bad shepherds, but that the restoration of the land would come as God became the true shepherd.
In the pre-amble to the New Testament context we also hear JEsus say that the people of Israel are like sheep without a shepherd.

We look at many of these passages, and then the paradoxical nature of the Bible study came out - in Jesus (particularly from John’s gospel) we have both the Lamb of God AND the Good Shepherd. Jesus is both the perfect sacrifice, and he is also the perfect guide and leader. John hints at the paradox here twice, first in his gospel, he says that the Good Shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep. Practically this doesn’t make any sense - sheep are there ultimately to give life to the shepherd, but the paradox here is that the shepherd would die for the sheep! We see the paradox once more in John’s Revelation, where he see the angels around Jesus proclaim that the Lamb will be the shepherd of his people. The paradox is rich and none more so than by considering the brutality of killing lambs a 120,000 lambs in the temple, to the rather tamed-down images of Christ that we often see on the cross. The cost of sin should be clear for us all to see - then we will know the true joy of the grace of God.

But the Bible goes further than this, because the imagery doesn’t stop with Jesus. The baton is passed to us - well two batons actually - Firstly, will we let Jesus be our shepherd? IF he is our shepherd, what are we - lambs? If indeed we can liken ourselves to lambs then we need remember that image form the old testament - sacrifice and dedication. Are we as lambs ready to sacrifice ourselves - we don’t need to physically die to do this, but perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. Secondly, again in John’s gospel, after the resurrection Jesus asks Peter three times, ‘Do you love me?’ (mirroring the three times Peter denied knowing JEsus at the time of the crucifixion). Each time Peter respond positively, and then Jesus responds, ‘Feed my sheep’. This is Peter’s commission to be a shepherd of God’s people. So the baton is passed to the apostles. But in 1 Peter Paul addresses the elders of the church and tells them to be shepherds of the people - and so God appoints people to be shepherds in our churches - will we follow, and/or will we lead? How? How do we do both?

I apologised at the end of the study for giving people more questions than answers!

Sunday morning eventually came round. Hsinte switched from Ephesians to consider the branch of Jesse in Isaiah. I amde some presentations and suddenly discovered that the word ‘thank-you’ is used far to often in everyday language to be actually able to express my feelings towards the people and friends that I have made in Taiwan. Trinity church have made me feel so welcome and have constantly provided for me, and have really shown me God’s love and grace in abundance. ‘Thank-you’ doesn’t really seem to say enough. After the final choir practice, and handbell practice, I finished my case, and headed downstairs. Many members of the church had stayed around till 4pm to see me off, and sang an impromptu ‘The Lord bless you and keep you’ as I carried my case down the three flights of stairs to the car. It was sad to wave goodbyes to some dear friends, but I also have unerlying feeling that it may not be too long before our paths may cross again. In the meantime I hope and pray that Trinity church will remain focussed on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the the Lord would indeed bless them richly, and that through them ‘knowledge of God would cover the earth’.

In somewhat of a daze and confusion of emotions I found my flight at Taipei airport and said my farewell to my hosts Hsinte and Margaret. Earlier in the church I said that while the whole congregation had welcomed me to Taiwan, it was only possible for me AND Jo to experience Taiwan because Hsinte had so openly welcomed me into his home. I hope this is the start of a long and wonderful relationship between two ministers on opposite sides of the world. With the same proviso as above, ‘Thank-you’ Hsinte and Margaret.

Three flights, twenty four hours, and I was suddenly in Jo’s arms at the airport. Despite the hug, it is incredibly cold (brrr) and suprisingly it feels quite dark! But I can reassure everyone that the sun is shining, even if it is on Taiwan.

It will no doubt take me some time to settle into British culture again. Two observations though - the man next to me on the plane from Hong Kong was suggesting that we could ask for compensation because the t.v.’s didn’t work for half an hour; and more people voted in X Factor on Saturday than voted for Labour in the last election. Both are utterly British and I’m sure would be distressing to Taiwanese culture!

Thank-you for journeying with me through my meanderings and my blog. I hope you have found it interesting. If you would like me to come and share my thoughts, some photographs or anything about Taiwan with you, your church, or any other group then please do let me know: webman@pjr-robinson.co.uk

In the meantime, keeping checking the blog, because even though this journey has finished, the journey of faith continues as I try to be both a sheep and a shepherd.

God Bless,
Paul
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