God’s Purpose is our Priority and our Plan

God’s purpose is our priority and our plan

Khen Lim





Image source: Crosswalk

Many Malaysians go through life believing they understand what their priorities are. In many cases, parents make sure their priorities for their children’s future are the same as their own children. “Study hard” is one. “Get a good job” is another. “Get rich” is definitely on the cards. “Look after us when we’re old” is the inevitable one.

It doesn’t matter what you end up studying, just study hard and get as many grade A’s as there are to score. It doesn’t matter what job you end up doing so long as it's worth our effort sending you to college. Make sure you can get rich and buy a big house, go on international holidays and drive a European car. As long as you do all of these, don’t forget that you need to ‘pay back’ your parents for all that they have done to bring you up.

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

By Administration



Image source: theatlantic.com

To our Chinese readers around the world

A very Happy Chinese New Year to you and your loved ones. There will be no Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly for tomorrow. In fact at Hosanna EFC in Ipoh, there will not be any Sunday Service as well since most of our congregation will be spending precious time with the family members who would have returned home. Some have gone interstate where their ancestral homes are.

Tonight is Family Reunion, which is the Chinese equivalent of the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a day (called chú xī and written natively as 除夕) where family members have all returned to their parents’ homes to share their dinner together for that one time a year in a traditional practice that has been staple for more than a thousand years. In an increasing number of cases, reunited families will also be having their reunion bashes in Chinese restaurants for practical and convenient reasons – so be forewarned, this is NOT the day to casually walk into a popular Chinese diner and expect to find an empty table!

The Chinese take their traditions seriously (Parts 1, 2 and 3 here) and Chinese New Year’s Eve is no exception. Family members from abroad are also likely to make their way home, which is why travel-bound Chinese from all over the world will have been busy scheduling their flights home in the last number of days. They may come from America, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand or Canada but their destinations will be China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore or whichever country that you find an ancestral Chinese population.

In Ipoh (Malaysia), residential streets will once again be clogged up by cars of returning family members including those from our southerly neighbours, Singapore. For that one time every year, these will be days when simply coffeeshops with Ipoh’s legendary noodle dishes will be chockablock full of ‘tourists’ and ‘annual visitors’ and so there will be no places left for locals.

Not just that, prices will skyrocket beyond reasonable expectation. A simple iced Chinese tea drink will go up from 0.50 sen (US0.12/AUD0.17) to anything like RM1.00 (US0.24/AUD0.34) or even more. That’s a minimum of 100 percent price hike, if not more! For some of us, the best places to eat during the Chinese New Year season might be the Indian curry houses where the prices don’t go up at all.

For my family, Chinese New Year 2016 will be an entirely different experience altogether. It will be the very first time, my mother won’t be around. Having passed away only recently in October 2015, we still miss here. That hole in all our hearts will take time to heal. It will also be the first time that we have brand new additions to our family to usher in the New Year. Our newborn twins, Heather and Bridget, will bring us joy while we remember our beloved mom.

I have included a very special video that was sent to me by a relative only a few hours ago. It would provide our non-Chinese readers a very good idea of how the Chinese value the little things in life that bring their families together. For our Chinese readers, the video might be a good reminder of what such values are that we should treasure.

For reasons unclear to me, I have had difficulties uploading the video to the website so that you can view it directly here. This means that the best I can do is to provide you with a link to the video clip, which I have uploaded to MediaFire. Whatever it is - and I apologise for the inconvenience - it is well worth watching.

Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/ms757smact8o03o/VID-20160207-WA0002.mp4

Have a memorable Chinese New Year.

Khen Lim

Happy Chinese New Year 2016

Administration

As Chinese New Year falls on February 8 this year, this means that the Family Reunion day that is its Eve will coincide with what would otherwise have been a usual Sunday Service. So ‘regular programming will resume on February 14 instead.

Christian Standpoint to Chinese New Year (Part Three: Final)

By Khen Lim

Seeking the right balance

Image Source: bryanlyt.com

It is true that many of the contemporary Chinese New Year celebrations focus far too much on the temporal earthly life and the tangible notions of prosperity that are, at times, too vulgar and excessive.

In Malaysia, the custom of ‘yee sang’ has become so rife and popular that the neo-tradition has even caught on in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.

According to Mazlan of the Great Stuff Hubpages website, ‘yee sang’ is explained as a “raw fish salad” that is often eaten at a shared table as a way of ‘unity in common pursuit of prosperity’ during Chinese New Year.

A Christian Standpoint to Chinese New Year (Part Two)

By Khen Lim

The Practical Perspective

Over the decades, Chinese Christians have had much to do in trying to come to terms with the Chinese New Year. Early-generation Christians have sought to understand how their faith can and cannot intertwine with this celebratory event. Being so interlaced with superstitious elements, this is not surprising but it has not been easy for any of us to know exactly how much of Chinese New Year we can and cannot retain.

As we have looked at a little more than a dozen suspect features of the Chinese New Year, we can appreciate all these potential pitfalls but more importantly, it’s knowing what we can do that is more crucial.

Sunday Service to Resume After This Weekend

By Administration




Image Source: cometothewell.org

Owing to the predominantly Chinese composition of our church congregation, it has been unanimously decided that service for this Sunday, February 22 2015 will not be available as it coincides with the traditional celebration of Chinese New Year.

There will also be no Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly published this coming Sunday. In other words, there is no PDF version available for download as well.

Service and all forms of programming for the church including matters concerning the running of our Lux Mundi website will resume after this weekend. However stay tuned to the publishing of the three-part article on The Christian Standpoint to Chinese New Year, which continues throughout the week.

Do not also forget that we are now right into the starting stages of Lent, leading to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As it stands, Ash Wednesday has commenced yesterday and with it, the 46-day countdown to the resurrection of Christ Jesus. 

We regret any inconveniences caused by the temporary cessation of services. At the same time, we also take this opportunity to wish our non-Chinese readers a safe and meaningful holiday. 


The Administrative and Pastoral Staff
Hosanna Evangelical Free Church
Ipoh, Malaysia

Happy Chinese New Year 2015

From the staff and members of Hosanna Evangelical Free Church, Ipoh, Malaysia, we wish our Chinese readers from all parts of the world a Happy and Blessed Chinese New Year. 

May you be safe in the world, healthy in every way and a blessing to your family and everyone around you.

A Christian Standpoint to Chinese New Year (Part One)

By Khen Lim



Image Source: mozzarellispizzas.com

Chinese New Year is that one time in the world when the Chinese diaspora celebrate in unison. It’s that one event that unites them as a single race with a common reason to celebrate. Chinese New Year has endured over four thousand years and remain the most celebrated of all annual festivities in the world.  

For the Chinese, New Year is a time-honoured tradition steeped in thousands of years of understanding and acceptance but for Christians, the complications are punctuated by the turn of paganism that transformed its origins.

Introducing a Three-Part Chinese New Year Blockbuster

Simply put, the Chinese New Year comes closest to being the largest occasion in welcoming an incoming year as we bid farewell to the old one. It is a happy and joyous event celebrated by billions of Chinese throughout the world and there is so much to see and learn for anyone who is new to this annual ethnic event. 

However in the midst of all the colour, fanfare and gaiety, every Chinese New Year irrespective of where it is held, is also full of little minefields for the faithful Christian. Look left, look right, look ahead and the back, there is a litany of symbolisms, root histories and tales, iconic facsimiles and plenty of semblances that shout back one word clearly to us - PAGANISM. When you know where to look, they are obvious. It becomes a problem when you don't know.

For this Chinese New Year, we are publishing a comprehensive three-part article where we share in some depth, a clearer understanding of this annual event but from a Christian perspective. We begin the first one today and we call it A Christian Standpoint for Chinese New Year.

We hope you enjoy reading it.

God bless.