Chasing Stars – Reflections from participating in the Sunday School Talent Workshop
【2022 God’s National Camp Report】
The Kingdom of God Cultural Practice Camp, which has been suspended for two years due to the epidemic, will finally return to physical camps in the midsummer of 2022. In the past two years, the world has changed and people are not used to "gathering in groups". But when we returned to Paradise Town, Pennsylvania, USA, we saw the full ears of corn being blown by the wind and swaying like waves. The students at the Messenger Training Center cherished this gathering every day with a humble and teachable heart. Study the new (heart) ideas in Sunday school seriously, and sing and praise God loudly (music workshop). What remains unchanged is... God’s promises are still there. The following is what students shared -
As a senior Christian, it is easy to put yourself in a safe zone because most of your friends are Christians. You are accustomed to hearing "spiritual jargon" and gradually lose the ability to talk to "people of other races", thereby indirectly blocking the spread of the gospel. Channels of the Gospel.
This time I participated in the Sunday School Talents Workshop, and the main theme was how to preach the gospel to fellow seekers. The idea I hold is that in addition to reviewing the past and learning new things, I also hope to return to my original heart. In class, two teachers, He Mingzhi and Qian Wentao, served carefully prepared special dishes for us to enjoy!
▲Teachers He Mingzhi (second from left) and Qian Wentao (first from right) from the Sunday School Talent Center presented special dishes to the students for a feast.
The course mentioned Pastor Lai Ruohan's ten-step Bible exegesis method, which uses inductive Bible study to summarize God's will through comparison of time, background, and characters, and then understand God better. Taking Matthew 2:1-12 as an example, teachers and students jointly read many new ideas that they had never seen before.
It's interesting right from the start. King Herod was in the "precious land" but did not know that Christ Jesus had been born. Compared with the wise men who came from afar and came with the three treasures of gold, frankincense and myrrh, it was really a huge difference. The wise man's question, "Where is the king?" made Herod uneasy. What's strange is that the people in the whole city feel uneasy? Shouldn't we feel rejoicing? Herod's plot failed because the wise men were instructed by God in a dream to return by a different way. After meeting the true king, of course he will never listen to the false king again!
Regardless of the possibility that these wise men were pagans and did not know the identity of Jesus as the "Savior" at first, they traveled over the mountains and mountains to meet the "King of the Jews" with reverence. Herod's hypocrisy contrasts sharply with the sincerity of the wise men.
The scriptures take the route of the "star" as the main axis. The wise men were experts in astrology, and God used "stars" to guide them. This star stopped just above the destination they were looking for. It was so miraculously accurate! I think everyone should have an area in which they are best at and willing to invest in. This is also the bright "star" that God uses to guide you and me. As long as we truly seek it, I believe that He will use the method of "chasing stars" to lead us to "that" land"! If I were to give this passage a title, I would title it "Star-Chasing Attitude."
How do you implement what you learned at the camp into your daily life? After the Talent Workshop, I met some sisters and came to Boston, where I live, for a "stop and rest." On Sunday, propose a sacrament meeting in the name of the Lord in the hotel room.
After the Amen was agreed, the manager who was good at coordinating the event took the lead in planning and transporting the speakers; a musician who carried a folding electronic keyboard acted as the pianist; and a gourmet expert prepared the Holy Communion and post-meeting refreshments. Sing hymns, read scriptures, pray, and receive Holy Communion together... I believe that this four-person worship will be a wonderful worship in each other's memories. By the way, the information I shared that day was exactly the "star-chasing attitude" of learning and selling now.
Each of us has used the areas in which we are best at and are willing to invest in, just like the "stars" used by God to guide us. Although there is no gold, frankincense, or myrrh, each one offers his sincere heart to worship the Lord Jesus who loves us and whom we love.
Zhou Lanhui,painter. Make good use of colors and personal symbols to tell life stories with God, people, and nature.