Thoughts from Corinthians Adventures

I was looking forward to attend this module even as I was doing the pre-course work. While reading through 1 Corinthians and doing the reading-reflection log, I begin to appreciate the importance for understanding the historical background and literary context when studying the Bible. There were a few challenging passages in 1 Corinthians that I need to refer to resources in order to make some sense from them. One of them includes the passage 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 on head covering in worship. After much searching for the context, there doesn’t seemed to be a definitive understanding of whether the covering refers to hair or an external head covering. The initial feeling was of a bit of frustration, however, after some reflection, some principles seem to emerge from the readings:

Traditions practiced in Church which does not violate God’s Word and holds good sensible values in the cultural context of the community is not necessarily wrong. However, it should not go against God’s creation order and should make sense and relevance to the church. However, such traditions should not be held as authoritative practice as those clearly taught from the Bible.

While we discuss the application of the passage in class, some of us raised the issues such as the use of drums in worship service, the use of technology such as lighting, sound and video system in service, etc. These seem to be issues that fall into this category of practice. However, if the focus of the service becomes issues related to these areas, e.g. whether the drummer played well enough, made mistakes, or the lighting/sound/video is too dark/soft/entertaining enough, etc., it may become the ‘idol’ and wrong focus instead on God presence and the worship of His people to Him.

Doing group work during the 2 weeks can be both a challenging as well as a rewarding experience. Some project work were not so nice and some were pretty fun and fruitful. The group assignment in the Corinthian class has been pretty fun and fruitful.  Teammates were helpful to add to one another actively and willing to work late nights to complete the work. I also get to know the team mates better as we worked and shared more about our lives. Sarah, one of the students who was doing audit, even volunteered to be involved in our team presentation and she did a such a great job that people believed in her sharing although she was playing the role of a missionary! I have been so blessed by the team! Thank God for all of you!

The lesson on 1 Corinthians chapter 14 regarding speaking in tongues by brother Casey has shed some light regarding my view of the subject. Paul did not forbid the speaking in tongues in the Corinthian church but was addressing how it has been used. He was encouraging the Corinthian church to ask for the interpretation of the tongues when it is a message from God for the church spoken in tongues. When brother Casey spoke of the balance between allowing the using of tongues and the need for orderliness in the usage, he shared that some people who may swing to one end of being rigid and instil so much restrictions and rules in practising this gift that people becomes so fearful to use so much so that they restrain and stop speaking. People may be so fearful that faith is dampened to exercise that gift.  However, the freedom to use the gift should not swing to the other end where praying in tongues is done throughout the prayer time alone by everyone on top of their voices, creating a confusing and chaotic time. However, each person’s tolerance could be quite subjective and this needs to be seen in light of the practice of the church. However, all gifts should be practiced on the basis of love.

One of the reminder I got from watching the presentations by the various groups of people in class is the impact of creativity in communication, especially in the use of visual, audio and kinaesthetic elements. Team A’s creativity in using the well-edited video with all the people acting in different roles and even trying to imitate the accent of an African, and tying the African traditional head dress, etc. really open the hearts of the audience before the message of the Uganda project fund raising was shared. Team C’s effort in incorporating the ‘game show’ concept and ‘live reports’, involving the crowd to participate reveals the thoughts put in to make the presentation more engaging. These little details show the deliberateness of the teams to want to communicate the message well through the presentation and I believe they did achieve its purpose in helping the people to receive the message of giving more impactful. As I learn God’s Word, I pray that I will also learn to be creative in communicating His Word to make the learning fun and impactful.