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Bangkok at night
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Bangkok sights, day
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The world they leave for Song Sawang
I have heard a lot of Palm Sunday messages. Preached a few, too. But this year I encountered something very different.
It's not just that I was in Bangkok. Nor simply that the service was in Thai--one of the many thousands of languages I don't speak. Nor that the congregation was almost entirely made up of women. Nor even that most of them had been delivered from the bondage of prostitution.
No, what really touched me was the inspired resourcefulness of Pon, the woman who preached the good news of Jesus to her small but highly engaged congregation. As Pon worked with the Palm Sunday passages in the Gospels and prayed about the women to whom she would be preaching, the Lord opened her eyes to see and use a part of the story I had never before heard anyone focus on in quite the same way.
The donkey. Mark and Luke both mention that the donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem was one that had never been ridden before. The inexperienced donkey.
Pon--actually, Panompon Uthaisri, Director of the Night Light Foundation--had spotted a point of contact between the donkey and the women in her congregation. It's not that they were entirely "inexperienced," since the account of their experiences of abuse and exploitation would break anyone's heart. But these women of so many negative experiences had only recently entrusted their lives to Christ. So, when it came to living as faithful followers of Jesus, they felt very inexperienced. Worse, because of their histories, they felt terribly inadequate.
But Pon noticed that the inexperienced donkey was chosen by Jesus to play a key role in the story. All four evangelists tell the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem for the final Passover week of his life. All four mention the donkey.
Pon encouraged her listeners to focus not on their own inexperience and (real or imagined) inadequacies. She urged them to focus only on the love and the call of Jesus. It was Jesus who had delivered them from prostitution, and it was Jesus who would use their lives and talents for the glory of God.
It was a good message. And not just for the women of Song Sawang ("Send the Light") Church. It is a good message for all of us.
Take it from the donkey: our limitations are not decisive; the redeeming call of Jesus is. May you also be set free to hear and respond to the call of Jesus, not only on Palm Sunday, but every day.
Blessings,
Stan
p.s. Song Sawang Church is a new congregation that has grown out of the ministry of NightLight, an innovative and multifaceted work of redemption among people in prostitution, led by Annie and Jeff Dieselberg.
p.p.s. I'm off to Prague this week for the semi-annual meetings of the Board of Trustees of the International Baptist Theological Seminary. Please pray for wisdom for all the Board members and staff.
It's not just that I was in Bangkok. Nor simply that the service was in Thai--one of the many thousands of languages I don't speak. Nor that the congregation was almost entirely made up of women. Nor even that most of them had been delivered from the bondage of prostitution.
No, what really touched me was the inspired resourcefulness of Pon, the woman who preached the good news of Jesus to her small but highly engaged congregation. As Pon worked with the Palm Sunday passages in the Gospels and prayed about the women to whom she would be preaching, the Lord opened her eyes to see and use a part of the story I had never before heard anyone focus on in quite the same way.
The donkey. Mark and Luke both mention that the donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem was one that had never been ridden before. The inexperienced donkey.
Pon--actually, Panompon Uthaisri, Director of the Night Light Foundation--had spotted a point of contact between the donkey and the women in her congregation. It's not that they were entirely "inexperienced," since the account of their experiences of abuse and exploitation would break anyone's heart. But these women of so many negative experiences had only recently entrusted their lives to Christ. So, when it came to living as faithful followers of Jesus, they felt very inexperienced. Worse, because of their histories, they felt terribly inadequate.
But Pon noticed that the inexperienced donkey was chosen by Jesus to play a key role in the story. All four evangelists tell the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem for the final Passover week of his life. All four mention the donkey.
Pon encouraged her listeners to focus not on their own inexperience and (real or imagined) inadequacies. She urged them to focus only on the love and the call of Jesus. It was Jesus who had delivered them from prostitution, and it was Jesus who would use their lives and talents for the glory of God.
It was a good message. And not just for the women of Song Sawang ("Send the Light") Church. It is a good message for all of us.
Take it from the donkey: our limitations are not decisive; the redeeming call of Jesus is. May you also be set free to hear and respond to the call of Jesus, not only on Palm Sunday, but every day.
Blessings,
Stan
p.s. Song Sawang Church is a new congregation that has grown out of the ministry of NightLight, an innovative and multifaceted work of redemption among people in prostitution, led by Annie and Jeff Dieselberg.
p.p.s. I'm off to Prague this week for the semi-annual meetings of the Board of Trustees of the International Baptist Theological Seminary. Please pray for wisdom for all the Board members and staff.