spectacles n (plural) 1formal GLASSES; 2 unusual or strange things or situation that you see; 3 an impressive public scene or show
These are the lenses by which I look at my world; these are the spectacles that help me to truly open my eyes, for there are times that they are open but I am uncomprehending. These are my hearing aid that shouts at my ears for the whispers of eternity. These are my microphone, allowing me to amplify my small voice in a world full of noise. These are my senses fine-tuned to perceive the mundane and the spectacular in every day.
Back in College, I started a personal project called Project Deconstruction where I explored skepticism and doubts about the Christian faith. I remain a Christian, although I no longer hold some of the views I used to. What these are, I'll explore in my next posts.
The danger with deconstruction though is that after you take everything down, what would be left? When all that's left are the fragments of your faith, what do you do? If I stopped there, I would have been depressed and would have chosen the path of agnosticism.
Yet, I dare not stop at Deconstruction. I need to reconstruct.
In a way, my Project Deconstruction is a "de-learning", yet after purging myself of what I no longer want to believe, then I have to start rebuilding and reconstructing the faith that I accept.
That is why the story of Nehemiah came to my mind. Nehemiah used to be a cupbearer to the King of Persia after the city of Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians long time ago (err, I dunno exactly when), but when he became aware of the pitiful condition of Jerusalem with broken down walls, he fasted, prayed, and set out to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Rebuilding is not an easy task, as Nehemiah's story shows. There will be oppositions, and it usually takes a long time to build. But the efforts are worth it.
It’s been quite a while since I went to my
home province. There could be a lot of changes there now but I’m not sure. The
lifestyle is laid back and the nights are very quiet. It is very cold there
now. I will need my thick jacket. I’m looking forward to it, actually.
Just a while ago, I pressed my clothes for
almost two hours. I’m bringing home some of them to the province. I’m doing
this for two reasons. Some of my poor cousins need some clothes so I’m giving
some of my old ones. My other reason is a bit more indulgent, I want to be
forced to buy a new set of wardrobe. Hahah.
As a fulltime freelancer, I barely go out
of the house anymore. When I was working for a multinational, I used to travel
for around 30 minutes everyday. At least, I saw a lot of people in the jeepney
and I saw a lot of them when I walk from E. Rodriguez to my former office at 14th
street in New Manila.
I guess that’s the tradeoff of being a
freelancer, sometimes I feel as if I were Dr. Robert Neville in the movie “I Am
Legend”. Good thing, I have my housemates helping me keep my sanity. At least I
don’t have to deal with vampires or any monstrosity like Dr. Neville in the
movie.
I’m packing up my bags tonight and
hopefully by tomorrow night, I’ll board one of the buses going home.
Sometimes, we make a lot of commitments that we forget other important longings in our hearts.
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One Sunday in September 2007 after attending the Ilocano church service at Good
Samaritan United Methodist Church along Quezon Avenue, I went to the
Victory Liner terminal at Kamias-EDSA. My dad was going to our hometown
in Isabela to look after the planting of corn. He still had to prepare
his things after preaching at his church assignment in Novaliches. I
waited for him at the waiting area in the terminal–a place I am very
much familiar with. Back in College, whenever I need to go home to
Isabela, I rode the buses of Victory.
I bought a newspaper and read while waiting for my dad. After almost
two hours of waiting, I spotted him approach from EDSA. He was wearing
a green shirt. I can’t remember the last time I saw my dad, but
yesterday when I saw him approaching the terminal, his white hair was
more pronounced and the lines on his foreheads are deeper than they
used to be. Man, when did my father become old?
Both my father and mother are already old. I just realized (again)
my role in the family as the eldest son. As of now, we still do not
have our own house, we are still renting although we own a small tract
of land in the province. My brother is in second year high school, and
I might have to support him soon. Boy, oh boy, when did I grow old?
I can’t stop it, I guess. The only alternative is to become mentally retarded! But then, I don’t have that option!
It's a bit difficult to manage a number of blogs. So today, I have decided to delete every other blog that I have except this one and my Ilocano blog at www.penstalker.blogspot.com. My pagerank is affected and at the same time, I find it difficult to write for so many sites at the same time. Oh well... I gotta transfer some of m previous blog posts, including some poetry I've written over the past few years.
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I need to write more. That's not my new year's resolution because I don't have any. What I need are goals and a commitment to implement achieve these goals. I actually write a lot of articles everyday just to ensure that I still have plenty to eat and I can pay for my bills. Yet, I need to express my views, my thoughts, and my ideas. After all, I dabble in writing.
It's just that I feel my literary writing skills slipping away for lack of practice. Tamad kasi! Busy. Lazy. Maybe afraid. Afraid to admit to myself my deepest fears and the things that I care most about. It's like putting my name and my neck on the line. As one of my friends wrote about in her Infernal Blog of Doom, I owe it to myself to write and be honest about what I feel, what I think and what I want to do. Otherwise, I would just be cheating deluding myself.
Nope, I am not cynical. Or at least, I no longer am. But cynicism is definitely better than not caring at all. I owe it to myself, to my faith, and to my world, to write.
Ten days into 2008 and I haven't even posted a new article here! Oh well, I've been busy. As always. Heheh.
This year seems to be full of promise and hope. But I guess, every new year is like that. It's like the start of a new journey, start of change for most people through their New Year's resolution, and it's a chance to restart one's goals and plans.
I don't really believe in new year's resolution. However, I see every new year as a part of my journey and as Bilbo sang when he was about to leave the Shire (in the Fellowship of the Ring):
The road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began But far ahead the road has gone And I must follow if I can Pursuing it with eager feet Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet And whither then? I cannot say.
Well, it is indeed a new year. Lotsa plans, lotsa goals. And I'm sure that my road is going to join with the paths and the errands of more people. God has been faithful in 2007, and He will be for 2008.
Just click play to listen to a podcast of this poem.
I installed Audacity, a sound editing software in my laptop. Don't you just love freeware?! I now have the capacity to record podcasts and post them here on my blog.
So, I'm planning to post some podcasts of my poetry. Poetry reading online. I have not really written poetry since I can't remember when. As a way of catching up and inspiring myself, I am reading poetry and post them on my blog. Hahah. It's kinda selfish, I know, but, as I told my girlfriend, we have to appreciate art every now and then. (I also told her to appreciate art, especially if I wrote it. heheheh).
I have also signed up at Imeem to host the mp3 files I churn out for my poetry reading. I'm gonna start with the next post.
The Word, the Web and the Youth: Making God’s
Word Relevant to 21st Century Filipino Youth: By Mighty C. Rasing
Paper Presented at the First Philippine Bible Forum Philippine Bible Society U.N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila November 19-20, 2007
The Bible is the timeless word of God
(Isaiah 40:8, NIV). Through the Bible we gain wisdom, guidance for our everyday
lives and solace in times of trouble and grief. More importantly, it helps us to
know God more deeply. This paper seeks to describe the characteristics of
modern young people and their culture. The internet, Friendster, blogs, online
communities, video games and other online platforms affect the social skills,
the learning processes and the spirituality of young people. Undoubtedly, the
Bible is still relevant in the lives of young people. But do they perceive it
that way? This paper will present a cursory glance on the issues being faced by
young people and the relevance of the Bible to these issues.
A set of strategies will then be proposed
in order to make the Bible more relevant to young people. Three main principles
will be used in proposing this set of strategies. First, creative, “out of the
box” methods should be used in presenting the stories and message of the Bible.
Interactivity is the language of this generation so any effort to reach young
people should have this element. Finally, practical and contextual issues will
serve as gateways in teaching “deeper” spiritual truth to young people.
Lastly, this paper will call for the establishment
of a think tank body or a network that can help recognize the trends in youth
culture and how churches and ministries can present the Christian message more
effectively. The Philippine Bible Society, together with other youth and campus
ministries can assist in setting up this body.
A church in Colorado has been attacked by gunmen several times in the past few weeks. Is this simply an uncoordinated attack? Or is there conscious and coordinated effort? Read the full story from Yahoo.
Four people died at Colorado Springs because of the attack. Most of the time, violence directed against churches can only be heard about in countries where there is religious persecution against Christians yet in the United States, we now read often about people and even violent kids shooting at Christians.
Sigh. We are all hoping for a better world yet somehow it remains an elusive dream. Maybe not until Christ returns.
The Division on Ministries with Young People of the United Methodist Church has funded a project of the UMYFP and the UMYAFP in reaching out a community in Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac.
I just wanna share a slide show of this project. Enjoy watching it.
