Dear friends,
This week is a hectic week – we don’t have one, not two but three announcements in our bulletin. The first is from my partner-in-ministry Pauline who is going to Hong Kong, the second is from the cell group Zion who are organising the Charity Cafe this Sunday, and the third is from Rev Yap who managed to invite a distinguished guest – Prof Farid Esack – to speak at our church in the afternoon.
——————————
Dear friends,
I am writing to ask for your prayers for me as I leave for Hong Kong this Wed, 22 Mar 2017.
I’ve been invited to speak at an event called Pride & Prejudice: Business As A Catalyst For Change organized by The Economist on 23 March. This event addresses how LGBT diversity and inclusion is increasingly becoming a business priority, and how the issue intersects with politics and religion in the region. I was invited mainly because of my involvement in last year’s Pink Dot video series as a clergy person, and my experiences and interactions with various ones after that. For those of you who are interested, the event will be live streamed on Economist.com and the recording will be on Youtube.
Coincidentally, it is also my father’s 70th birthday this week and I thought I might have to miss his celebrations. After some discussion, I decided to bring my parents along and go on a short trip with them. So I won’t be in FCC this Sunday for Charity Cafe and other exciting activities but my thoughts and prayers are with you!
Do pray for me as I try my best to do what I can in these various spheres and do let me know if there is anything I can be praying for you about too?
Thanks and God be with you.
——————————
This Sunday (26 March) Charity Cafe returns in aid of Harmony Home, an HIV shelter in Taipei for children and adults who are HIV positive.
The residents of this shelter suffer severe stigmatization which cuts them off from participation in normal everyday life. The children, whose parents are mostly foreign workers in Taiwan, suffer the double whammy of being stateless from birth and rejection by other regular children’s homes because of their HIV status. The adults suffer from poverty and social ostracization, especially when their illness progress and they face difficulty finding employment.
The funds we raise from this Charity Café will be used for such daily needs as diapers, milk powder, food, clothing and other necessities that most of us take for granted. Please join us this Sunday and enjoy the food that has been lovingly prepared by some of our own church members. And please give generously.
Love
Zion & Friends
——————————
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM – TOWARDS THE DECOLONIZATION OF GOD
Eminent Farid Esack, Professor in the Study of Islam and President Emeritus, International Qur`anic Studies Association at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa sent me an email last night and wanted to visit the Church. I immediately scheduled him to speak at Free Community Church in 1, Commonwealth Lane,#02-02 this coming Sunday March 26, 2017, 2:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. He will speak on the theme: “Religious Pluralism – Towards the Decolonization of God.”
Professor Esack was here in Singapore a few years ago to deliver lectures on the issue of Diversity at the Singapore Management University. I had invited him to address the members of the Singapore Interfaith Network on Aids. He is an activist on HIV-Aids in his country.