I am so stressed out for the past 3 weeks - juggling my so-called “work-life” activities one after the other. I am working harder and faster more than ever but I am still not getting at the bottom of my “things to do” list. I usually murmur in between tasks that I have so many things to do in such so little time and because having a vacation could not be my option right now, I took the time out the easiest way I know how - I watched TV.

I was watching this late-night Koreanovela when a sudden realization came to me. The story’s plot is set on Christmas eve and the heroine is preparing to go back to her hometown. In her hometown, her kid brothers and sisters were preparing to portray the birth of Jesus in time for the Christmas eve celebration. As I was beginning to imagine the “usual” manger scene - with Mary and Joseph looking at baby Jesus and the animals standing in awe- the kids started telling the hero that the heroine will be playing the part of the Holy Spirit. I said to myself, “That was new; the Holy Spirit is usually not shown in the manger story”. When the next scene was flashed, there was actually no manger. Only little kids dancing in celebration of their Savior’s birth. At their back is the heroine, portraying the Holy Spirit, leading the group in celebration.

At that moment, I must admit that I didn’t bother with the theological perspective of the Holy Spirit’s presence at the manger scene. What bothered me is the realization that I am still not very conscious of the Spirit’s presence - God’s presence- in my life.

Take for example the reasons for my “everyday” stresses for the past 3 weeks. My “top-of-mind” response is that these are very “human-ly”, work-related concerns that I should not bother God about. Bothering God would mean that I don’t trust Him enough to see me through all my troubles. But trusting God would mean depending on Him and depending on Him means I should be bothering Him for things that concern me because in truth, these very “human-ly”, work-related things are important parts of my everyday life that whenever I come to prayer, my heart shouts of it loud and strong even before I could say “Dear Lord”. And though I could not admit it straight-forwardly, I have been trying to “box” God up and confine Him to my church and “spiritual” issues that I entirely miss the point of being with Him - being in Him. Being with Him and in Him means He need to be involved in all aspects of my life - inside and outside the church - because there is really no such a thing as inside or outside the church. There’s only me and my life. And for that - God is more than enough.

I’ve often wondered how our forefathers walked with their God. My curiosity began when Nikki and I worked on editing a video of our church’s history. Old pictures was sent to us and old names were given by their respective families. While I knew none of them personally, I was able to feel a certain connection.  I sensed a mysterious energy beaming from their faces. I even imagined hearing a very faint whisper coming from their mouth calling: “Live your life. Live your life with Christ”.

It made me reflect on the kind of life they possibly lived during early years of our church. It was probably the most challenging times. Their world was at war and according to history, the Japs were our worst occupators. Lives are being lost ever minute and survival was the way of life. And yet in the midst of it all, a church was born (that’s what I call real birth pains). And while their world was shaped by suffering and trials, their lives bore us the life we now see in our 75 year old church.

I had my eyes watch the rage of Baclaran during the early years of my existence. I have put so much value in it that despite the negative connotations of ignorant men, I have always shielded it, making its aroma sink more to my prosecutors and negate the stinky smell of my hometown to them. Beautiful memories, friends and foes alike, closely-tied relatives and lost acquaintances are all ever-present in it. And as time passed on, its beauty has always held me captive, demanding my entire attention drawn to its beautiful face.

My sentiments toward my hometown are stuffs that I will always treasure. There may be some foolish men trying to brand it with unwanted titles, but still, my heart will always strive to work towards its greater glory. And in pursuing its beauty to be held in pedestal, I got convinced that there are realistic zeroes that I should consider. And one of those is the unintelligible neighborhood. I can and will always accept the fact that those who are living within the boundaries of my fallen Eden are so unfortunate when it comes to education attainments. Many institutions have tried to settle the learning disciplines in the heart of town, but my townsmen acted out of proportion with these institutions. And worse, schooling is something a not-so-valuable activity. The call for survival is so attractive that my place seemed to neglect the part of education in making the breed of human fit for our unfriendly planet. Even the spiritual chambers have not tapped the town’s overemphasis on survival, and we, churchians are partly to be blamed.

Creation

Sa pasimula, nilikha ng Diyos ang langit at lupa. Ang lahat ng Kanyang nilikha ay mabuti. Nilikha Niya ang tao ayon sa kanyang larawan. Unang nilikha si Adan at mula kay Adan ay nilikha si Eba. Sila ay pinamahala ng Diyos sa lahat ng Kanyang nilikha. Sila ay dinala ng Diyos sa halamanan ng Eden. Makakain nila ang alinmang bungang kahoy, maliban lamang sa isang bunga na nagbibigay ng kaalaman sa mabuti at masama.

Fall

Ang tao ay sumuway sa kalooban ng Diyos. Sila ay nakinig sa ahas na siyang tumukso sa kanila. Dahil sa kanilang pagsuway, ang tao ay nag-fall pati ang lahat ng nilikha. Ibig sabihin, hindi lang ang tao ang nag-fall pati ang lahat ng nilikha. Dahil binigyan ng Diyos ang tao ng authority sa buong creation, dahil ang tao ay nag-fall, pati ang creation na pinamamahala sa kanila ng Diyos o under sa kanila, ay nag-fall na rin.

Dumating ang panahon na ang tao ay umabot sa sukdulan ang kasamaan. Kaya sila ay nilipol sa pamamagitan ng baha. Ngunit nakipagtipan ang Diyos kay Noah na hindi na Niya lilipulin muli ang mga tao.

Ang mga tao ay nagkaisa na magtayo ng tore na aabot sa langit upang sila ay matanyag at upang maabot nila ang Diyos. Ngunit sila ay ginulo kaya hindi na sila magkaunawaan.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God saw that all His creations were good. And into His craft, inserted His most precious art, made from His own image, which is, man. Man, made from God’s resemblance Himself, was given all authority over all creations causing every fowl, every green, wave, whistle, thunder to live up their purpose, to declare the majesty of the Creator. God, in His full senses, knew man and gave him an ordinance in his garden that he shall eat of anything except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil and good. As time passed, God saw that it would be better for a man to be with a helper. The woman, as literally taken from the man, was made as the man’s counterpart. They spent their first moments in a paradise, called, the Garden of Eden. Everything was great, fine and seemed to be harmonious. But everything was disarrayed when the most subtle of all animals came and deceived the first two highest primates. Angered by their disobedience, God sent the two out of the paradise and cursed them so as the entire creation under man’s authority was fallen as well. The sole purpose of glorifying God was destroyed. The glory of God was swapped explicitly into a vacuum of a man-glorifying earth. It came to pass that men multiplied, and as expected, evil multiplied as well. God washed His craft with water saving a few souls inside a big cargo ship. A new set of faces drew the notions of the craft. But still, after God’s everlasting goodness, men was eager of making his own face known. Men consolidated a plan of building a civilization and were about to succeed when Heavens smashed them and scattered them into pieces of confused meddlers. Despite of the crooked being of man, God still made ways to restore the original plan. He set a man for Him in the name of Abram, son of Terah, of Ur. Abram was known for his natural fear towards God (given the fact that God really casted him as his own). And He contested Abram’s faith and directed him to the land of milk and flowing honey, the soon to be Israel. Abram, who became Abraham, conceived a promise from God Himself, that from his seeds will the entire creations would be restored. But Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, made it a national pride. Instead of making herself (in reference of Israel), she consoled herself as the nation of the living God. Therefore, YHWH summoned forces and sent Israel into exile. From there, she tried to win back their country using strength by the Maccabees, and power by the Herodial clan. But a promise is a promise, God’s nature of truthfulness had been so wonderful that despite Israel’s stubbornness, He raised a Horn in Judah’s blood. Iesous was conceived by a virgin and was born in the native land of Bethlehem. Iesous or Jesus in His famous name was the seal for Israel’s broken covenant. His death and resurrection signified the once dead creation and jump of it into life. Through Him, the entire world got the heart that hungers for the glory of God. Through Him, the entire creation got the mirror again to reflect God’s glory back. And through Him, we all stand, and live the life wholly again. The completion of all restorations will be in His hands as well. Someday, when all nations have heard of Him, when the definite number of the gentiles meets up that salvation returns to Israel again, He shall return, and make everything back into order again, perfectly.

I really don’t know if I made sense in doing this. Hahahaha..