The Swallow's Nest

Artifacts

Boston, USA

It’s important to remember.  Americans spent the day yesterday (Memorial Day) remembering loved ones, family, friends, and war heroes that made their way into the afterlife before us.  I couldn’t agree more.  Even painful memories are well worth our exploration.  Traveling here from over 8,000 miles away always causes me to remember.

Spending almost a week in Boston before my brother’s wedding gives me plenty of time to roam around the old house.  In doing so I have come upon several artifacts, special pieces of my history living here at 158 Forest Street.  Like archeologists digging around an historic site I have dug up some nuggets. 

First, is this Children’s Bible!  I saw this tucked away on an old bookshelf in our den and couldn’t resist pulling it out.  In my mind’s eye I could see back twenty-seven years ago to our bedroom upstairs where my Mom read my brother and I stories from the greatest book ever written.  Like any good children’s Bible this had lots of colorful pictures.  As I flipped through its pages this morning I thought these are the pictures that still come to mind when I read the Old and New Testaments today.

This gives testimony to the power of a) pictures versus words, b) story, and c) reading the Bible (or any book for that matter) to children before bed.  As the Bible itself guarantees – the Word will not come back void.  This artifact attests to that!

I can vividly remember the Lord giving Moses the Ten Commandments and
"The Flight Into Egypt" from Matthew 2.  More artifacts are coming in the days ahead.  I think I’ll find it therapeutic to share some of these memories with you.  Right now I need to wrap up, pack up and split this Starbucks (a wireless hotspot, what can I say?) before I get overrun with middle school students on their way home from school.  They are fascinating to observe and listen to, but I don't want to take up any of their precious space.

Cameo?

New York, USA

Will I be making a special cameo appearance in the next Spiderman movie?  When Ling and I were walking the streets of New York City Saturday we attempted to cross Avenue of the Americas, but were stopped by a plain-clothes guy who just happened to be part of a film crew shooting a scene for the next Spiderman flick.

Sure enough when we looked down the street we saw lots of crowds and cameras.  Taxis were flying down the Avenue, fire trucks and ambulances abundant, and a huge camera was in a free fall from about 70-storey building.  We didn’t actually see the masked web master, but there were plenty of extras doing their thing.  It was cool to see loads of debris scattered around the entryway of this building and we look forward to see the film, which we’ll scrutinize to see this particular scene.

The Late Show

New York, USA

Reverse culture shock is always very real for me when I return to the United States.  Standing in line at immigration (Customs in U.S. speak) the other day made me nervous.  I never get nervous entering China or HK at immigration!  Go figure. 

But being in New York there was one American moment that I could not miss, and that was seeing the home of The Late Show with my friend David Letterman.  Whenever I am up late in Hong Kong I always catch The Late Show and laugh my head off at Dave and Paul's antics.  So, on Saturday Ling and I walked to 53rd and Broadway to see it (unfortunately the Ed Sullivan Theatre where he tapes Monday-Friday was closed...next time here we will see his show). 

Dave and I share the same sense of humor and (I know this sounds "New Age") but it's like we have this connection.  It amazes me that this show taped right here is broadcast all the way across the ocean in HK!  I feel like it keeps me grounded in a little bit of Americana that I don't mind.

Next door to the Theatre is, of course, the Hello Deli.  Rupert owns it and is on with Dave pretty much every night.  He's always got Rupert doing crazy things.  While we didn't get to meet Dave or Rupert, we did manage to shop at the CBS Store where I bought a Late Show t-shirt and coffee mug.  Just like the one Dave and his guests drink from (of course)!  What fun.

Here is Rupert Jee and Dave Letterman in the early days!  For Hong Kongers the show can be seen Tuesday-Saturday at approximately 11:20pm (later some nights, bless HK t.v.) on ATV World.

Most Meaningful Insight of This Past Week

Poignant words from Pope Benedict at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland today:

"To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man, is almost impossible -- and it is particularly difficult and troubling for a Christian, for a pope from Germany," he said.

"In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence," he said, "a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent?"

Jetlag

Here's how the dictionary sees it: "A temporary disruption of bodily rhythms caused by high-speed travel across several time zones typically in a jet aircraft."  Yep, and I have it.  But one great thing about jetlag is this: no sleep, of any kind, will ever be as great as jetlag sleep.  ZZZZZZZZZ!  Wow, it's good while it lasts and the ensuing energy is also quite powerful.  4am meetings - yes!

New York, New York!

New York, USA

Ling and I began our travels with a quick stop over in New York Friday evening-Saturday morning before continuing on to Toronto (for Ling) and Boston (for me).  Our 15 hour flight from Hong Kong was uneventful, as most flights are, although I was able to catch the film Glory Road (not bad - in the mold of Hoosiers and Coach Carter).  After landing Friday evening we did not have much energy, but with jetlag kicking into high gear yesterday morning we hit the streets hard.

Frank Sinatra wasn't kidding when he sang about the greatness of New York.  Ling and I both commented that we would like to live there before we die.  It's rich in history and current events and chock-full of buildings to see and famous streets to walk and squares to see.  Let me give you a brief feel for about 5 hours we spent there.

The day started by exiting our hotel on Lexington and 51st where we walked to the set of NBC's Today Show (my dream job of anchoring a morning show got a boost...not too big before Ling brought me back to earth!).  Here we attempt to get as close as possible to Foreigner (yes, they were singing "Waiting for a Girl Like You"), musical guests for the morning.  The crowds really come out for this show at Rockefeller Center (a shot at getting on t.v.), but less so at the Fox News studio down the street.  Since we get Fox & Friends in HK I was all set to call David Smith on my cell phone to see if he could catch me on the tube waving should the hosts come out to the sidewalk for a set.  Again, Ling brought me back to earth and we walked to Times Square before my one second of fame could begin.

Weaving our way through this famed city we observed cabbies cutting each other off and cursing each other out, a NY deli for lunch, a street full of artificial and real flowers and plants (Ling thought she was in heaven for a few moments), sidewalk & Soul food, homeless men and women barely getting by, and to think we didn't even (on this visit) see Wall Street, the UN, Central Park, the site of the World Trade Center Memorial or the Statue of Liberty.  Our time was too short.

These photos are of Times Square, the Empire State Building (with that King Kong feelin' that never goes away), Madison Square Garden, some famous street names, Trump Tower, and more. 

The city is electric.  Energy is on high all the time.  We want to live there.  It was (truly) sad to leave.  Is Hong Kong the New York City of Asia?  Somehow I just don't get that same rush walking the streets of ole HK, but that could be because I live there.  The grass, in this case the glass, may always be better on the other side!

A Different Way to Think About the Eucharist

If you have not read Piers Paul Read’s thirty-two year old book Alive (it was first published in 1974), then it would be well worth some time this summer to do so.  I just finished this account of the real life story of survival for sixteen passengers of a Fairchild plane that crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972.

In order to live the survivors were given no choice but to turn to cannibalism.  Towards the end of the story Read records the moving testimony of Pancho Delgado who, after being rescued, meets with the media on behalf of the other survivors to defend the eating of human flesh high in the snow covered mountains.  Here is what he said:

“When one awakes in the morning amid the silence of the mountains, and sees all around the snow-capped peaks – it is majestic, sensational, something frightening – and one feels alone, alone, alone in the world but for the presence of God.  For I can assure you that God is there.  We all felt it, inside ourselves, and not because we were the kind of pious youths who were always praying all day long, even though we had a religious education. 

“Not at all.  But there one feels the presence of God. One feels, above all, what is called the hand of God and allows oneself to be guided by it…And when the moment came and we did not have any more food, or anything of that kind, we thought to ourselves that if Jesus at His last supper had shared His flesh and blood with His apostles, then it was a sign to us that we should do the same – take the flesh and blood as an intimate communion between us all. 

“It was this that helped us to survive…”

It had not occurred to me before reading this stirring account that we could think of Jesus’ sacrifice for us in this most graphic way.  I found it intriguing that at a time of desperation, riding the thin line between their own life and death that these men would call to mind Christ and the Eucharist*.  That in the flesh and blood of their previously perished friends (that died when the airplane crashed), they found life.  This is, after all, precisely what all of us who partake of the Eucharist experience with Christ– redemption, life!

It is for us like sitting high, high on the mountain, stranger to human life.  We may feel alone, except that God is there.  That in the Eucharist one feels the presence of God and this is that which “helped us to survive.”

In the words of Jesus in John 6:53: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

*Theologically, of course, correlating cannibalism and communion has its difficulties – big ones. 

New York Minute

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson once starred in a movie New York Minute.  No, I haven’t seen it!  I did think about the film’s title this morning as Ling and I prepare to embark on a 15-hour direct flight to New York City.  I wish we could get to NYC in a minute…a New York minute!

We’re gone several weeks to North America and Europe.  So, for the next three weeks this blog will turn to travel.  Let’s see what adventures we can get ourselves into and what interesting people we can meet along the way!  I hope to write and post pictures regularly.

This is the bird that will flap its wings for those 15 hours (we hope)!

Creatively Contextualized

Recently the South China Morning Post ran a story about a Hong Kong man, Cheung Manwai, who is a cartoon artist and owner of a sketch production company that recently released the first edition of Bible.  This comic book tells the story of the gospel in a way that is both contextualized and creative.  By contextualized I mean placing the gospel in a particular context.  In this case, comic book readers that are unlikely to just pick up a Bible and starting reading one day.  And what makes this really cool is that it's written and sketched by a young, Chinese man and not imported from overseas.  Finally!

Here is how Cheung Manwai put it: "In my experience, Christians don't read comics, and comic readers will rarely read the Bible.  But some Christians don't understand all the words in the Bible. With comics, we hope to raise the level of understanding and also reach a different sector."

I thought of this today when I was traveling up Nathan Road on a crowded bus.  The young woman (no more than 18) standing in front of me was deep into her comic book and, by being just a little nosy, I observed this was not the gospel story.  It did include one aspect of the gospel story - evil.  The book looked dark and, frankly, so did the girl reading it.  In my mind I imagined that somehow that girl got a hold of one of the 26,000 copies of Bible now available in Hong Kong and "flying off the shelves," according to the Post article.

Can you imagine the difference that could make in this girl's life? 

This is what I call an example of contextualizing the gospel in a creative way to reach more people with this piece of great news: Jesus is real.  He is relevant to you.  And he makes a darn good comic book character, he and his shaky band of believers.  People just like you on the #2 bus driving up Nathan Road.

DaVinci's Dribble

OK, OK, so the Da Vinci Code movie was not very good.  In fact, the opening half hour or more was downright pitiful, Hanks and Tautou never connected (Hanks should be ashamed of himself for that kind of performance from a seasoned actor), Ron Howard simply and unethusiastically walked us through the motions, and if it weren't for an alarmingly good car crash (when Sophie's family is killed in a flashback) or a surprise dive across the screen for Silas when he reaches for Langdon, it would if have been 100% predictable.   

As my friend Bob said while leaving the theatre, "What's harder?  Buying into all that dribble or actually believing Jesus was who he said he was?  Good grief!"  All this being said, the theatre was full of riveted fans.

The Asian Wall Street Journal had these statistics yesterday: "Despite calls for boycotts from some religious groups, 'The Da Vinci Code' delivered a powerful punch around the globe, selling $147 million of tickets overseas.  The combined $224 million total ranks as Hollywood's second biggest global debut, behind 'Star Wars: Episode III'...which took in $253 million."  As usual with these boycotts, the church probably did more to encourage people to go by calling for them to stay home!

Some people are clearly buying into Brown and Howard's (the movie added to the mess) baffling ideas of history and bogus theology because it gives them a way to express their gripes with the church (and don't try to excuse yourself if you happen to be a Protestant, thinking this only applies to Catholics).  I was gobbling down a sandwich at Mix earlier this week when two ladies to my right (one Chinese and the other a Westerner) got to talking about The Code.  I swear I was not eavesdropping (they were well within earshot)! 

Westerner: It really is quite popular.

Chinese: Yeah, I read the book and I will see the movie, which is not supposed to be very good.  When I was a kid we went to Catholic school and all I remember is one day sitting in a theology and philosophy class and we asked the teacher a series of hard questions.  You know, meaning of life type stuff and all she said was 'just believe.'  Just believe.  And we were all like, but how can that be.  And that was all she could say.

Westerner: I know.  It was similar with me.  That is all people can say. 

This is a harsh reality and a very honest perception that a great deal of people the world over have about the gospel, theology, and the church.  People are seeking truth of some form, but the "just believe" response isn't cutting it.  That and the suggestion that Christians will lose their faith if they see this film!  Take this letter to the editor from yesterday's South China Morning Post:

"One needs to be wary of statements such as the following from [the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association] vice-chairman, Anthony Liu Bainian, 'I think there is definitely a need [to warn people about the film] because we need to protect our followers' religious faith and not let outside influences interfere with it.'

"This statement concisely embodies why I am suspicuous of any establishment's attempt at moulding my mind with some supposedly God-sent dogma.  The content of The Da Vinci Code may be total nonsense, but that is beside the point.  The fact that the Catholic establishment is paranoid about a film that purportedly digresses from biblical 'fact' is testament to its inherent intolerance for contrary interpretations. - Estella Hung"

Think about Estella.  Her gripe is not with Catholicism's theology per se and she is not agreeing with every little piece of Dan Brown's "theology."  What she does take issue with is her church's assumption that the flock needs to be protected and cannot interact with the ideas The Code raises without somehow compromising their faith.  The dialogue at Mix and this editorial need to be taken seriously by all churches everywhere.  As I have written before, we need to get real, get our cowering selves out from behind the pews and into the coffee shops, theatres, and newspapers where this being bantered about.

P.S. If you really want to see an opinion piece that got me worked up along the lines of what I just wrote about, then see 'Code' Not Benign at USA Today.  Wow.  Ted, my friend, you're way off.