twe12th

unfoldingslowly:

It was a cosy gathering last Friday as Richie led on with Grow Up Part. 2 “How to Drink The Spirit”.

I found out two things which were really new to me.

So Jesus goes to a well and asks this Samaritan woman for a drink. Now back in those days Jews and Samaritans didn’t mix* and neither did Rabbis and women but Jesus starts a conversation. Soon drinking living water becomes a hot topic and the lady wants what Jesus can give. So he says ya, sure, go and grab your hubby first. Then she says stuff about how she doesn’t have a hubby. Rabbi Jesus does his super cool thing and shows her what she’s been thirsting for in the past - love and affirmation**. Then he tries to show her what her REAL THIRST is -  Eternal life, love and affirmation from a God who loves unconditionally.

Jesus shows us what we used to thirst for and what we’re REALLY THIRSTY FOR. That’s new.

Our own twe12thfloor Rabbi Wu did his little demo where he guided us into the office toilet and made us ooh and aah over a bucket. Essentially, we are the bucket and God’s spirit is the living water which He wants to pour continuously so that our bucket/ we overflow. There was more to it but later my mind starting ticking and tocking. If we are a bucket, sometimes we’re already filled with living water, but then along the way grime, dirt, flotsam and gunk also fall into our bucket. Our lives are peppered with mistakes and wrongs. But once we start letting God pour his living water/spirit onto us and into our bucket then the flotsam and gunk start spilling out. The living water pushes the junk out of the bucket and our once muddy water slowly begins to get cleaner and purer.

Try it out the next time you wash dishes. Fill a cup with your leftover food, soup, spaghetti sauce whatever you’ve chewed on. Start pouring water into the cup - you’ll notice the clean water starts pushing all the food out of the cup and into the sink… soon you’ll have clean cup with clear water.

* Richie just told me that Samaritans were seen as low-lifes by the Jews cos they had broken the law by “inter-breeding” with the Assyrians which was an absolute no-no.

**Most people would see this lady as an immoral woman, and adulteress! Shock! But in those days men would often divorce their wives if they found that they could not bear their children. (no baby making machine = possible cause for divorce).

unfoldingslowly:

I really enjoyed this year’s Worship Central. It was really relaxing and less stressful and less busy than last year. 2009 felt like I needed to stretch out to be with God. This time God was saying “Be still, bask in my love, that’s all you need to do.” So that just made the two days really chill. So chill that I could make illustrated notes :)

My wife makes the most amazing notes.  I should make you guys pay for these…

Worship Central was a huge blessing to be a part of.  

Thanks for coming guys :) 

Sarah’s been writing some amazing stuff lately.  Check out this piece from her blog and let us know what you think.

unfoldingslowly:

When I was young I read books, all day and all night. I think my poor eye sight is part hereditary and partly from reading under the covers with a torch light past my bed time. Enid Blyton was a childood favourite, soon Mario Puzo, Agatha Christie, Grisham and Margaret Atwood graced my bookshelves. Then came all the books about God, the poor and saving the planet. A few years ago I got lazy with my fiction which is sad because they bring so much imagination and creativity into our lives.

Today I am trying to read more books. I have a public library card and I borrow laminated hard-cover books from Sai Kung. The paper is musty, browning and the text isn’t crisp. There is no back light to my page, I have to rely on a lamp shade but there is a sensation of goodness and truth when my fingers have to get to work, place the thumb at the edge and lift that thick, almost grainy page across to the otherside. And the next page breathes new life, a familiar smell, a curiousity and child-like eagerness.

In my quest to read more books I have also downloaded an iphone app called “Classic Novels”. I can change the font, the font size and flip virtual pages with my thumb. Austen, Tolstoy, Baum, Carroll, Mark Twain, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Dumas, Forster and another 100 classics greet me as my iphone scrolls down through this hand held library.

It’s not the same. I get frustrated when I have to “flip” the page several times because it couldn’t read y finger properly the first time. I miss the smell of books, I miss the touch of paper, I miss placing my bookmark from where I left off. It’s not the same.

It’s hard to tell young kids that phones, computers and play consoles are not the same as conversing face to face, holding a book or playing boardgames. I’m glad that I live in-between and can see the good and evil of this new world ahead of us. Would others be able to say the same in the future? Or would it all be lost? Would the joys and innocence of the tangible and real be lost to screens and virtuality?

Scary thought. I’d like to bring up my kids with books. That’s why my bookshelf still has Ronald Dahl, A A Milne, Calvin & Hobbes and Captain America :)

photo taken by me

TWE12TH is the youth group of Faith Community Church in Hong Kong.  We’re a family of kids from different places and perspectives.  As twe12th we’re about loving God and loving people.  We’re Christians, which means we’re dealing and living with Jesus and his Way…plus His Father and the Holy Spirit to boot.  Which is kinda complicated but pretty awesome if you think about it. ’ Cos that means our God is one being, yet within his very being there exists relationship…and that’s a model for our life as a community.

Often we get asked, “What does ‘twe12th’ mean?  Is it just a random name?”  No. Not random.  Many years ago we chose the name “twe12thFloor” because we were located on the twe12th floor of a building.  So everyone THINKS we were named after a floor number.  Which is partly true…but it ain’t the whole shmoley.  (For the record now we’re on the second floor.)

We’re named twe12th because the no. 12 is an evocative, symbolic number in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.  Twelve symbolizes God’s people; God’s family; God’s community in this world.  Israel had twelve tribes and Jesus’ had twelve disciples—a carefully chosen symbol of the new people of God he intended to create.  And we are “twe12th”: one part of that twelve—a local expression of God’s new and renewed humanity in this world.

We ARE local.  We meet weekly at two locales, and you should contact us to know where we are meeting on a given week.  The first locale is our new youth centre at Sheung Wan.  The second is at Sparrow House, where our youth pastor Richie and his awesome wife Sarah live.   Do come by and visit us—we’d be honoured and blessed to know you :)

Twe12th usually meets on Fridays at 5pm, but has been known to occasionally meet on Saturdays for special events.  Contact us to find out where we are this week!