Podcasts about two sundays

Two Sundays ago we concluded our series on the book of Ecclesiastes called Smoke and Mirrors. Today, Jonathan gives us some of the material left on the cutting room of the floor. This is the Extended Edition of our Ecclesiastes series. JM's Album Of The Week: Ken Pomeroy - Cruel Joke Bradford's Book Club: Telling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age by Joshua D. Chatraw

Two Sundays ago and last Wednesday, we began looking at the events that took place after Easter. First we saw Jesus meet his disciples in their doubt, offering peace and calling them to believe ( John 20:19–31 ) ) Then last time, we witnessed Jesus restoring Peter after his denial, proving that His love…

If you listen to these podcasts, you know I get some of my best inspiration at church. Some of the sermons leave indelible imprints on my heart. Two Sundays ago the minister asked this question: What kind of vision does God have for your life?That question made me think about what kind of vision I have for my life. I know I'm not living in darkness or denial. But I think it's probably time for me to think about my vision for Joanne. In this short podcast I want to get you thinking about some of the questions I've been asking myself. They may be useful as you delve deeper into your vision for your life.

Romans 5:6-8, 13:1-7 | 10/27/2024 | Pastor Matt Jones. Two Sundays ago, we acknowledged our local law enforcement on Faith & Blue Sunday. Today is First Responder Sunday, where we commemorate firefighters, paramedics, and others who leap to action in dangerous circumstances. Jesus is the ultimate first responder who responds to our greatest and most pressing need: our sinfulness that separates us from God and incurs His wrath.

We are coming down the backstretch in our Dreamer series on the life of Joseph. Over the last couple of chapters, however, we've actually spent most of our time with his old and dying father Jacob. And what he's been up to is a lot of blessings. Two Sundays ago he blessed Pharaoh and last Sunday he blessed his two half-Egyptian grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh. His blessing work continues today with his twelve sons.  https://midtownchurch.com/

Two Sundays ago, we looked at the parable of two brothers who are both just as lost, one through moral license, and one through moral conformity. This Sunday we look at what both brothers need to be brought into the Gospel feast, and how the Gospel feast is brought to us in different ways.

The two times "Sunday" appears in Sunday in the Park with George the lyrics are the same but the intention is different. James Pinneri returns to discuss that and other stuff in this intermission episode.Follow James' personal page on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_pinnizle/Or his work as a singer: https://www.instagram.com/james_pinneri_baritone/Listen to Kyle's appearance on the Broadway Breakdown podcast here: https://broadwaypodcastnetwork.com/podcasts/broadway-breakdown/the-book-of-mormon-w-kyle-marshall/193Send feedback to puttingittogetherpodcast@gmail.comKeep up to date with Putting It Together by following its social media channels.Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/puttingittogetherpodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/sondheimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sondheimpodcast ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Two Sundays ago, after the Christmas Pageant, one of the children in the cast came up to me in the fellowship hall. “I have a question,” she said. “What's your question?” “So, Jesus is alive?” I nodded. She thought about it for a moment. Clearly this hadn't been her question. “Well,” she said, “if Jesus is alive, then how come we can't see him?” I knelt over and I leaned in towards her and I whispered, like this was a secret too special to share. “Actually,” I said, “you *can* see him; in fact, you *did* see him just last Sunday.” “I did?” I nodded. “Yes, of course,” I said. “He was that bread on the table and the cup next to it. Jesus is alive and that's the form – one of them, anyway – his body takes now.” She nodded. “Oh, cool,” she said. And then she ran off as quickly as a magi from the manger.

We took an unintended break last week, as Tim was having his heart broken on live TV. We are in the thick of our Advent programming at both Lakeview and Safety Harbor. Tim had to reschedule an event due to weather. Andrew is attending school programs that his kids are not even in at this point (and skipping the one his firstborn is in.) We both went to Disney, and have had WAY more meetings than usual. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/morningafterministryshow/message

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A warning on this story; It may give you a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach, when you realise it could happen to you, even if you think you're smarter than that. Imagine you get a call, they say its your bank and they're ringing cause someone is cleaning out your account right now, spending thousands around town. But dont worry they can stop it, if you follow their instructions; but is really your bank? Just this week BNZ released research saying 9 out of ten New Zealanders had been targeted by a scam in the past twelve months. Many of us have had the faux texts or emails coaxing you to click a link, but this is next level sophistication. It involves a goup of scamsters, some standing by at different cash machines ready to draw out your money as soon as they crack your account. Lilly knows first hand. Two Sundays ago she got that call; someone claiming to be from her bank, they knew her name and talked a good game [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6333985006112

We both had chaotic weeks, but for very different reasons. Tim's role has expanded at Lakeview, while Andrew has a construction project wrapping up at Safety Harbor. We both have done memorial services in the past few days, and Tim is still in mourning over his Jags. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/morningafterministryshow/message

Are we under the Law of Moses (Mosaic Law/Sinai Covenant/Old Covenant) today? There is so much confusion amongst followers of Jesus as to what from the Old Testament In this podcast, we will look at Acts 11:1-18 where Peter explains what happened with Cornelius and a group of Gentiles in Acts 10. We will also look at Acts 15 where under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, we learn exactly what God required of Gentile believers. We will also see that as the 1st century progressed there was in fact a shift from the Old Covenant (Mosaic/Sinai) to the New Covenant as there was no longer any way for Jews to carry out the requirements of "the Law" that was given to Moses because there was no longer a Jewish Temple. Jesus FULFILLED the Law and the Old Covenant was deemed "obsolete".Summary of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)GENTILES DO NOT HAVE TO KEEP THE MOSAIC LAW – ceremonial, civic, dietaryNO SEXUAL IMMORALITY (moral law) – fornication, adultery, homosexuality, etc. NO CIRCUMCISION (from Abrahamic Covenant)NO DETAILED DIETARY LAWS (only blood, strangled animal meat, meat sacrificed to idols)NO SABBATH OBSERVANCE COMMANDED (ceremonial)NO FESTIVALS COMMANDEDWhat LAW are we commanded to obey today? The Law of Christ – His Teachings and His Apostles“If you love me, you will keep/obey MY commandments” – John 14:15(9 of the 10 commandments repeated in the New Testament – the MORAL LAW)Confusion about Biblical CovenantsHow many are there?  Who were they made with? Who did they apply to?  What were/are the conditions?Which still apply TODAY?  Which commandments are we supposed to obey?What commandments/regulations/ordinances are “perpetual”? (“everlasting”/ “forever”) Were any commandments “temporary”?Seventh-Day Adventists / Messianic Judaism (*for Jewish background)(Some) Word of Faith Prosperity Teachers – blessings, curses?Hebrew Roots / Torah Observant – “Lawlessness”?Biblical Covenants - Are there 4? 5? 6?Adamic (?) / Noahic / Abrahamic / Mosaic/Sinai (Old Covenant) / Davidic / New Covenant 1. Noahic – WHO? all mankind (Gen 8-9) / SIGN? Rainbow2. Abrahamic – WHO? Abraham and his Seed (Gen 12, 15, 17, 22) / SIGN? Circumcision3. Mosaic (Old) – WHO? Nation of Israel (Exodus 19-40, Deuteronomy) / SIGN? Sabbath4. Davidic – WHO? David & his Son (2 Sam. 7, 1 Kgs. 2 & 9, Ps 2, 89) / SIGN? Throne5. New Covenant – WHO? Jews & Gentiles (Jer. 31:31-34, Ez. 36) / SIGN? BaptismJeremiah 31:31-34 - 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”Prophesied in the Testaments of the PatriarchsTestament of Reuben - “Therefore, I command you to obey Levi, because he will know the law of the Lord, and will create ordinances for judgment and sacrifice for all Israel until the time of Messiah… We will worship his Seed, because He will die for us in wars visible and invisible and will be among you an everlasting king.” Testament of Levi - “After the Lord punishes them (corrupt priests), He will raise up to the priesthood a new Priest, to whom all the words of the Lord will be revealed…there will none succeed Him for all generations, even forever. In His priesthood the Gentiles will be multiplied in knowledge on the earth and enlightened through the grace of the Lord. In His priesthood all sin will come to an end,…He will open the gates of paradise, and will remove the threatening sword against Adam. He will give to His saints to eat from the tree of life, and the Spirit of holiness will be on them. Belial will be bound by Him, and He will give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits. Testament of Benjamin - ‘In you will be fulfilled the prophecy of heaven concerning the Lamb of God, even the Savior of the world. He will be delivered up spotless for transgressors. He will be sinless, yet put to death for ungodly men in the blood of the Covenant, for the salvation of the Gentiles and of Israel. He will destroy Belial [Satan], and them that serve him.'”Old Covenant vs. New Covenant - Relevant New Testament PassagesHebrews 8:6-13 - 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.  When? Death/Resurrection? AD70? Book of Galatians – Abrahamic & Mosaic Covenants FULFILLED in Christ. Good news? NO MORE CIRCUMCISION! Gal. 4:9-11 - 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.Colossians 2:14, 16-17 - 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. …16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.Old Covenant vs. New Covenant - The Church in the 2nd Century ADFor this reason, four principal covenants were given to the human race: The first was under Adam, prior to the deluge. The second was the one after the deluge, under Noah. The third was the giving of the Law under Moses. The fourth is that which renovates man, and sums up all things in itself by means of the Gospel.  Irenaeus (AD 180)God thus shows that the ancient covenant [Mosaic] is temporary only, when He indicates its change. Also, when He promises that it will be followed by an eternal one [New Covenant].  Tertullian (AD 207)The epistle that we also allow to be the most decisive against Judaism, is that in which the apostle instructs the Galatians. For we fully admit the abolition of the ancient Law. We hold that it actually proceeds from the dispensation of the Creator. ...Christ marks the period of the separation when He says, “The Law and the Prophets were until John.” [Lk. 16:16] He thus made the Baptist the boundary between the two dispensations of the old things that were then terminating and the new things that were then beginning.  Tertullian (AD 207)The Old Covenant ENDED (was abolished) with Christ & the Destruction of the Temple (AD 70)i.e. NO MORE - Circumcision, Dietary laws, ceremonial laws, civil laws, the Sabbath, the blessings & cursesWhat about Christians who are still keeping the 7th Day Sabbath (Saturday)?Exodus 31:12-17 - Sabbath Commandment in Old Testament12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'”All 10 Commandments are re-affirmed in the New Testament except for one? Sabbath (Saturday) or Sunday in the New Testament?+ Jesus ROSE from the dead on Sunday+ 1st Two Sundays after the Crucifixion - On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. - John 20:19-20 + A week later disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” - John 20:26-28 + Continued to meet on Sundays - On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. - Acts 20:7+ Evidence from the Church at Corinth - 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. - 1 Cor. 16:2NO EVIDENCE in the New Testament that Christians (even Jewish background ones) were having their worship on Saturdays!Sabbath (Saturday) or Sunday - What did the Church do in the 2nd & 3rd Centuries? + ...no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day [Sunday].  Ignatius (AD 105)+ Their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision, and their fancies about fasting and the new moons...are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice. ...And to speak falsely of God, as if He forbade us to do what is good on the Sabbath-days—how is this not ungodly?  Letter to Diognetus (c. 125-200) + Is there any other matter, my [Jewish] friends, in which we Christians are blamed, than this: that we do not live after the Law...and do not observe Sabbaths as you do?  Justin Martyr (AD 160)+ There was no need of circumcision before Abraham. Nor was there need of the observance of Sabbaths, or of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses. Accordingly, there is no more need of them now.  Justin Martyr (AD 160)+ We do not follow the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food nor in their sacred days.  Tertullian (AD 197)+  … the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary.  Tertullian (AD 197)+  For concerning [the Jews Sabbath], Christ himself, the Lord of the Sabbath, says by His prophets that “His soul hates.” In His body, He [Christ] abolished this Sabbath.  Victorinus (AD 280)Early Christian Practice Summary+ Considered the Mosaic law as having been abolished/ended (AD 70?)+ therefore, NOT following the Mosaic Law+ ...NO Sabbath observance – considered “temporary”+ Worshipping/gathering on Sundays - (Not a 4th Century pagan 'change')+ NOT following the dietary laws, festivals, fasts (Christians shifted to Wednesdays & Fridays)+ not circumcisingWhich Covenant is for the Jewish people today??? THE NEW COVENANT!!!  Jer. 31:31, 33 -  I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daysIs Sabbath observance for Gentile Believers today? NO. Why? (a summary) “…the Old Testament regulations governing Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of the law. As such, they are no longer in force, but have passed away along with the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and all other aspects of Moses' law that prefigured Christ.”In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul explicitly refers to the Sabbath as a shadow of Christ, which is no longer binding since the substance (Christ) has come. It is quite clear in those verses that the weekly Sabbath is in view. The phrase "a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day" refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy days of the Jewish calendar (cf. 1 Chronicles 23:31; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 31:3; Ezekiel 45:17; Hosea 2:11). If Paul were referring to special ceremonial dates of rest in that passage, why would he have used the word "Sabbath?" He had already mentioned the ceremonial dates when he spoke of festivals and new moons.The Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 31:16-17; Ez. 20:12; Neh. 9:14). Since we are now under the New Covenant (Heb. 8), we are no longer required to observe the sign of the Mosaic Covenant.The New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath.Early church worship service in the New Testament: the church met on the 1st day of the week (Acts 20:7).Nowhere in the Old Testament are the Gentile nations commanded to observe the Sabbath or condemned for failing to do so. That is certainly strange if Sabbath observance were meant to be an eternal moral principle.There is no evidence in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands in the Bible to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai.When the Apostles met at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15), they did not impose Sabbath keeping on the Gentile believers.The apostle Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but breaking the Sabbath was never one of them.In Galatians 4:10-11, Paul rebukes the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days (including the Sabbath).In Romans 14:5, Paul forbids those who observe the Sabbath (these were no doubt Jewish believers) to condemn those who do not (Gentile believers).The early church fathers, from Ignatius to Augustine, taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week (Sunday) was the day when Christians should meet for worship (contrary to the claim seventh-day sabbatarians who claim that Sunday worship was not instituted until the 4th century).Sunday has not replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. Rather the Lord's Day is a time when believers gather to commemorate His resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week. Every day to the believer is one of Sabbath rest, since we have ceased from our spiritual labor and are resting in the salvation of the Lord (Hebrews 4:9-11).Additional Podcasts about “Hebrew Roots”Since there is a growing influence in certain Christian circles advocating that all Christians (including Gentile/Non-Jewish background) are to be following the Law of Moses (including Sabbath observance, Tithing, Old Testament Dietary laws and even observing Jewish feast days), this is a relevant topic. I will include several good podcasts that I've listened to on this topic. These questions were settled in the 1st century and followed by the Christians who succeeded them. Mike Winger – Hebrew RootsPart 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR7xTYhXEbo&t=1s Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhn6Mn9jESo Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI5wiDTHpgE&t=3998s Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2leBGyp9RgRemnant Radio – A Kosher Response to Hebrew Roots - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZX_K-EHBew 

Two Sundays ago we spoke about being fired up and having the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in us

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you had your schedule planned out just to have it derailed within the first part of your Monday? Two Sundays ago, I had finally taken the time to plan out everything that needed accomplished all to have it pushed to the back burner when I woke up sick on Monday. I have to admit I wasn't completely surprised because I swear every time, I try to get myself together, something disrupts what I have planned leaving me to feel behind and a bit overwhelmed. One thing I did a little differently this time while being sick is I actually took the break. I got a lot of good sleep in-to the point I feel like I have nearly caught up from 10 years ago when we first had our twins and I can't help but think, maybe getting sick had to happen in order for me rest for the busy days of spring that lie ahead. Have any of you thought about how you're going to be spending the next few months of Spring? In today's podcast, I'm going to be sharing what we have been busy doing around the Homestead in effort to prepare of the busy season ahead. {Let's Connect} Find me on Instagram @farmhousestoryteller Visit my website www.farmhousestoryteller.com {Let's collaborate} Email Danielle Foulk at Thefederalfarmhouse@gmail.com It's my hope to inspire others to discover their pursuit to happiness and live a more authentic and enriched life. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/danielle-foulk/support

Two Sundays ago, Cam Newton made his dramatic return for the Carolina Panthers, and helped lead them to a win over the Arizona Cardinals. Then, this past Sunday, in his much-anticipated first game back in Carolina, Newton and the Panthers came up short against the Washington Football Team. Today, we're joined by The Athletic's Joe Person to look at why the Panthers made the decision to bring him back now, and the impact that his larger-than-life personality could have on the rest of the team. Follow Joe Person's coverage of the Panthers: https://theathletic.com/author/joseph-person/?source=theleadpodcast See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode, we hear from Alex Cauthen-Zach, UUCC member and a coordinator with Turning Circle, an eclectic Pagan community within the UUCC congregation. Two Sundays ago, Alex and other leaders from Turning Circle led UUCC's Sunday morning worship service, sharing reflections and rituals for Samhain. For Alex, the service was a chance to connect Turning Circle to the larger UUCC community, and to introduce UUCC congregants to what Turning Circle is all about.  “People flip out when I tell them I am Pagan,” Alex says. That's why she sees herself as an envoy for Paganism in the world, challenging preconceived notions, stereotypes, and assumptions about what it means to be Pagan. According to Alex, the Neopaganism of Turning Circle draws from ancient roots, but it's a modern religion that is about peace, the earth, and making things better for all of us. Today, she and Sara chat about Alex's favorite season, the challenges of walking a Pagan path, and why she identifies as both Pagan and Unitarian Universalist.

Reflecting on magical events in Waterville's Sacred heart church, J.P. Devine sees a future there as colorful as the past.

The boys open this weeks episode by discussing their recent trips to Home Depot and Joe's unhealthy habits with gum. Joe opens up to Christian about how it felt to watch his team lose the Super Bowl. The two gambling fiends discuss their winnings and losings at the game, and talk about why it feels better to have bets paid in cash then on Venmo, proving the pairs greed knows no end. Joe discusses his new custom darts and how he is hoping to begin playing again. Finally, in an attempt to repent for his greed, Joe pleads that everyone out there at least try to do more than the bare minimum for their partners this Valentine's Day. This episode was recorded on 2/12/22. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Two Sundays in one episode, both with a watery theme. The boys enjoying the water - at Bodiam boating station and then swimming at Falling Sands.

Judge Jeff’s in town.Corey’s return to camp, the Earl Thomas situation, Isaiah Wilson “situation”, Trevor Semian?, The “home field advantage,” a punt return shake up, somehow Vince Young, and how we can take advantage of a strange season.

Migrant workers carry a disproportionate burden of Covid 19 infections. The conditions of workers in construction and manufacturing industries have grabbing international headlines. But the plight of Asia's foreign domestic workers has largely remained invisible. In this episode Petrina and Laurindo shed light on the systemic migrant labour issues that Covid 19 has helped to illuminate with guests Eni Lestari Andayani Adi - chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance, Ramasamy Madhavan - filmmaker of $alary Days, Bhing Navato - helpdesk volunteer for HOME and Eli Nur Fadilah - winner of Migrant Worker Storytelling Competition 2018. ***** TRANSCRIPT Petrina Kow: [00:00:00] Hi and welcome another episode of Inclusively, in the series, we're asking, how has the pandemic changed people's lives and what lessons have we learned that could make a post pandemic world more inclusive? I'm your host Petrina Kow. Laurindo Garcia: [00:00:13] And I'm Laurindo Garcia. Petrina Kow: [00:00:14] Today, we shine the spotlight on migrant workers. Now, I think in Singapore, this has been one of the biggest issues that have come up for us in the last few months. When Covid hit Singapore and I think, you know, looking at it as a whole now, it I mean, I'm I'm not sure I'm right in saying and I'm glad, but I'm really, in a way, sort of grateful that the situation that we've seen in Singapore has allowed us to really sort of sit up and pay attention to the people who are most vulnerable right here in Singapore. Laurindo Garcia: [00:00:52] From a personal perspective, this this conversation is coming at a time when, at least globally, there is much more heightened consciousness about who are most vulnerable during the pandemic. We've got protests in the United States, in the UK, in Australia that are really exposing systematic racism that is contributing to two people getting sick and not having what they need to to to be able to survive the pandemic. And at the same time, we're also at least very aware that for a migrant, if you're a migrant in many places, it's very difficult for you to stand up and to make your voice heard because you're oftentimes you are a guest in the in the country. Your situation about your your ability to stay and integrate into side into society is also a challenge as well. And so it makes it very difficult for for migrant workers, for for migrants as a whole to be part of this process and trying to work work out some of the challenges and the problems in these systems. So I'm really excited that we've got a chance to talk through some of these issues with a fantastic panel today who one of our guests is Ali Noor Fadhila. She's a domestic worker in Singapore from Indonesia. She's also a volunteer with an Invisible Hands Singapore and a winner of the migrant storytelling competition here. Welcome to the show, Eli. She's also our artist in residence today, and she'll be offering us a poem later on in the show. So please stay with us. Also joining us is , who is an engineer from India who works here in Singapore's construction industry and Singapore. And Madhavan was also a director of a short film called Salary Days as well, which has gotten a lot of people talking and really gaining a greater understanding of the situation for construction workers here in Singapore. So welcome to you to Madhavan. Petrina Kow: [00:02:53] And we also joining us on the show we have been Novato, who's a volunteer here who works in one of the crisis hotlines for the Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economics, also known as Home. And she will also be offering her perspective. And she's also been a foreign domestic worker, here in Singapore for many, many years. Plus, we're also very fortunate to have Eni Lestari Andayani Adi joining us from Hong Kong. Any is the founder of the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers and the chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance. Welcome, everybody. Laurindo Garcia: [00:03:28] So Eni let's start with you. Thank you for joining us from Hong Kong today. And they know Sunday's are a very busy day for you, but I'd love to just find out how you are. I mean, tell us how where are you joining us right at this moment? Eni Lestari Andayani Adi: [00:03:45] Well, yeah, I'd like to thank both of you for inviting me to join the discussion. Really, in the past months, we have been trying to make our voices visible in the discussion of Covid 19, as you know, that the migrant workers are really being put sidelined. And until that is a big case in Malaysia or maybe in Singapore, then our stories would never been found in the news. So for me, the Covid 19 has been very challenging. Honestly, it changed everything. Our way of life. Every day, you know, like you have to limit your time to go out personally because I'm also a domestic worker here so I can't go too much outside. And that's mean I have to work a lot from the house. I can we can not organised now. We can't not gather together. You know, in Hong Kong at least we have weekly holiday right. So Sunday domestic work would have gathered in the park, under the bridge or every, you know, every public spaces. But now, since the Covid 19 line been it was like a gone. It was disbursed. With the Hong Kong imposing social distancing by 4. Now by 8. That means that even if you have 20 members, you can not get together. So that's really becoming a big challenge for us now. And and in the past three months, there have been other major issues. And yet our issue now is to put a lot of domestic workers about different policies. That has been changed. Like for example immigration, with Covid 19, you know, you don't have to go out to extend your visa. You can renew it in Hong Kong. But we can not do this. The problem is because we can't not even meet them regularly. So now we are changing our style of using social media or Facebook to send our news. So we organise a weekly community fact community on this issue. With me, I'm still okay. My employer is doing good. And he really have a lot of understanding it. Just give me a lot of warning about, you know, being clean and careful, you know, you know, like wearing the mask all the time which is mandatory. But he doesn't impose any unnecessary requirements. Laurindo Garcia: [00:06:09] It sounded like as a well, number one, it's great that you've got an understanding and supportive employer that enables you to do all this other work. But at the same time, as an organization, you've had to learn very fast how to change the way that you're delivering services as well and doing a lot of this online. And so you were you were saying to me before before we joined today's show that normally on a Sunday you would be out in the park. Right. So so how does that work within the context of social distancing? So you're still able to be out there. But so how does that work? Eni Lestari Andayani Adi: [00:06:47] You know, one of the funny part of this. You know I would like to go to the negative consequences first. Since the Covid 19, a lot of employers are getting, they are too afraid to even let the domestic workers to go out. They said that, you know, you might bring virus to my house. So that even though they workers us not to go out, even on Sunday, and you can imagine after six days a week being confined in the house, that's the only day that you can breathe. You know, you've meet with friends. You can go to the church, you can go to the mosque. And this is even denied. So in our survey maybe even found out 50 percent of the domestic workers. We have 400000 domestic workers in Hong Kong. Half of them were actually denied holiday. So some even two months without holiday. So that's one of the consequences. The second is those with holiday. They have a shorter time, shorter hours. You know, they usually go out by 10:00, 11:00. And they have to come back by 5:00. So even our own members we cannot meet them, you know, so. And a lot of them are forced to stay, you know, within the employer premises, like the park nearby employers your house so they don't have to travel that far. And then they don't have to consume so much time. So that means even the half a day off, as organised, said I can meet them. So it's getting so challenging for us to even meeting our own members. So what we do not. Even when you can get together, you have to remember all the time, sit by for sit by 4 and don't get together sometime. You forgot. And then you can not eat, usually the Indonesian, I'm sure in other nationalities, especially in South East and South Asian, we eat my hand, right. We we like to share. And then I would tell everyone don't eat by hand, you know eat by spoon, something like that. So it's kind of education, you know. It's the other side of that, the positive side. It's also an education about hygiene that the people, you know, I mean, not that I'm not clean, but sometimes we don't mind all this hygiene issue. But this is the time that you have to be clean. So now to do organising, the way we do it is we actually group our leaders or our officer said into small group, usually three through four people. And this four people are the one going around different places in Hong Kong, you know, meeting different people, giving away flyers like. Because the problem also the information we have, Covid 19 and other policy are in English and Chinese. So that translated to Urdu to translate it to Thai or Indonesian. Even Filipino, not everyone can really understand what it means. Right. So as organiser, you are being challenged to even translate that into your own language, putting it very simple, direct to the point and print in it. And unfortunately, I can say the additional funding for this kind of program. We are the one raising the money, talking to our different supporter to give us money so we can bring in thousand thousand of this information. So one of the gap that I really find in this Covid 19 is a gap in information. We do not know what is going to happen. Yeah. And a lot of our members, we they learn about Covid 19 through the employer because the employee is watching the media, you know, and they don't understand what, you know, in Chinese or Cantonese. So it's the employee who tell them. Or you don't go out. You only stay by four. They learn it from the employer. You know, it's this is very unfortunate. So we have been very critical to Hong Kong Government for putting us aside. Now we are being blamed whenever we gather more than four. They say that you don't follow the rule. How can you even follow the rule? We don't understand the rule. So that's one of the biggest gap in terms of information. And the second issue is also there is no support in terms of mask, sanitiser, or even cash. We get nothing. So in our survey, we found out 35 percent of the domestic workers in Hong Kong were not given mask and sanitiser. So in the first two months of this Covid 19, you know what happened to us? We keep collecting donations of mask, sanitizer and we go around different park and places in Hong Kong to give away free mask. And this is something that the government has done. You know, it's just like it. Give us a double work. But that's how we try to cope up. I mean, the positive lesson of this Covid is really the lesson of solidarity. A lot of Hong Kong people who really care, they give us a box and box of mask and that they'll ask, please give it to your fellows because they know exactly many of us were not given. And then for us, we have to rely to the most leaders who are given holiday by employer without any condition. And that means out of 50 members that we have, we only rely on to 10 people. Something like that, you know. So our number is very small now. And you have to split them and put them into different places. So is that a lot of adjustment. Honestly, for me, I feel very exhausted. I feel more exhausted during this Covid 90 than before the Covid 19. And I'm sure everyone feels that even, you know, you don't have to be migrant domestic workers or migrant workers to be exhausted, but migrant workers, because we are left behind in any assistance. You have to work double, triple, just to raise the mass, sanitiser. And now when the government is given away cash to the Hong Kong people, including Hong Kong resident. Domestic workers, refugee community are not given at all. So, I mean, we spend more money, during Covid 19. You have to buy mask. You have to buy sanitiser. You have to buy food that will keep you healthy. But none of the cash is given to us. So that's the, you know, the setback of this. Laurindo Garcia: [00:12:33] Thank you for sharing the situation in Hong Kong Eni. And I think that there's a lot of echoes with this experience here in Singapore and other cities and places in the region there. Please stay with us and we will be coming back to you in a moment. I do want to then invite Madhavan to join the conversation now. How are you Madhavan? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:12:54] Yes, I'm good. Laurindo Garcia: [00:12:55] I got to know your work through the film that you made called Salary Days. So for our listeners who may not have seen it. Can you give us a bit of a. Just share a bit about what your film was about. Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:13:06] Salary Days about the life of migrant workers in all over the world? I just take the concept from one of my poem about the migrant life. In his first month salary on the day what he do. How he tally the money for different expenses. He need to send money to family. To pay back agent fees. And also for the monthly food. And then mobile top-up. Then for groceries. Balance eight dollars in hand. Then he look for good food in some restaurants. After that, he decided to go for haircut rather than taking the food. Then for haircut seven dollar gone. Then balance one dollar in hand. Laurindo Garcia: [00:13:54] That's right. So that's. That's really illustrates how very little money that a construction worker or migrant worker here has to live on after money is being sent back home where you're supporting your families back home. So I've got two questions for you. So, number one, what has been the response from form your film? And secondly, your film when it was released in April? And then what have you been observing since the film was released in relation to the pandemic? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:14:28] I received almost ninety nine percent positive feedback. Everyone supporting me. Many. Many bigger people in Singapore appreciate it. Art Science Museum contacted me and they are ready to share my short film in their webpage. It's Raining Coats founder Deepa contacted me. She also appreciated it. Many people appreciated through Facebook and YouTube comments. One or two people questioning me about that the film is not up to the level because of lack of technical items missed out. But they forgot to catch the story. Petrina Kow: [00:15:23] Yes, they miss the point, isn't it? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:15:26] Yes. Laurindo Garcia: [00:15:27] There's always critics. Right. But it sounds like it's great. It's great that there's a overwhelming response, a good response, Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:15:33] As a film acting skill is a bit less. The technical part is a bit less. I don't want add music something. Because I want to take the raw footage. With the minimal resources, available resources. We. Me and my friends doing this film. Zakir was there and Say Peng is the main person whoo do this film. The main content is the what he film tells. They forgot to notice this. Laurindo Garcia: [00:16:05] And since it was released. And as the situation the the you know, the situation for construction workers in Singapore has. Has gotten worse. You know, what were some of the things that you have observed amongst your your co-workers and your friends and how the how when what is the response that you've seen from from local. From the local stakeholders? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:16:30] From the local people, they also mention it's like my story. They commented like it's my story. And I also I send my you. My film link to Dubai friend. And he shared in the Facebook. Some of the Dubai friends, the calculated in KD, maybe the Dubai Dollar. The one guy calculated in how he spent. Kindly he left only 2 KD. The people who work in construction and also domestic worker also appreciated it. They also mention it. It's like. Our. My story. Thank you. Thank you. Petrina Kow: [00:17:11] I mean, I think that's just. Yeah. I remember watching your film actually was the opening film for another and during the film festival last year, and it was really moving. So thank you very much for that, that film. And I personally thought I didn't need anything else. It didn't need to have fancy lighting or, you know, the point of it was, you know, and and I really felt for the guy when he looked at how much he had left and he decided, no, I think I need a shave and a haircut instead of, you know, having a fancy meal. Thank you so much, Madhavan, for that. I think to now bring on Bhing who she's been, somebody I really had the privilege of getting to know a couple of years ago when I organized the migrant workers storytelling competition. She's been a domestic worker here in Singapore for 25 years, and she's a single mother of three. A grandmother of seven, though. And you look at her, she just has this wonderful youthful beauty. She's also an active help desk volunteer to HOME, which is dedicated to supporting and empowering migrant workers who suffer abuse and exploitation here in Singapore. Welcome to the show Bhing. How are you? Bhing Navato: [00:18:27] Hello. Yes. Yeah. Petrina Kow: [00:18:31] So. Bhing Navato: [00:18:31] Yeah I'm doing great. Petrina Kow: [00:18:33] Wonderful. Maybe you can tell us perhaps first is your own your own personal experience with how, you know, the whole pandemic has affected the way your movements in the house are. Perhaps, you know, whether or not you've been allowed like off days and things like that. Just just your make your own experience for now. Bhing Navato: [00:18:54] Yeah. You know, before this pandemic. We we move freely. Like my Sunday. Also, busy as always. Doing my volunteer, going to church, meeting up friends and doing my activities. So every every Sundays was like that for 25 years and suddenly Covid 19 happens. We were like, what will happen next? You know, we I'm I was even questioning myself. Like, when will this end? During the Covid 19 we're used to going out. Like full day being out of the house, but now we are stuck at home, you know, our rest day is at home now being with our employers. Which is good because we get to know them really well. We have conversations. But for me, it is a new. It is true that this is a new normal for everyone, even even for domestic workers like me, because we stop meeting friends, we stop going to church, we stop everything that we do. So it is something that really difficult for us because our work is at home. Six days a week. And normally the Sunday, the only time we can go out and do whatever you want to do. To run our errands. But now, even on Sundays, we just stay at home. That's why I always find the odd when when the Minister of Manpower will send messages before, you know, since March 21, I always remember that day because they started saying that domestic workers must stay home on their rest day. But they never even really think that many domestic workers don't have a place to live to take a risk, because not all of us have our own room. And many domestic workers here also like on their rest day, they need to work. Even with even, you know, without employers telling them. But because I think that is our instinct that since we're at home, we need to do something. I agree. I agree to that. I mean, even my friends are doing the same thing, too. Like, most of their have the most of their off days are on half days now. Because they need to do something. We cannot stay on our bed the whole day. It will give us headache.   Petrina Kow: [00:21:41] Yeah. It's kind of like if you're there, you're like, oh, I might as well just vacuum the floor or I might as well just fold the clothes. I know the feeling. Bhing Navato: [00:21:49] So it will be like that. And and then be getting used to the routine, especially on the first month of the circuit breaker was really difficult because that time we are uncertain whether we can go out or not. I mean, we see people, we see locals and some other like not the domestic workers are outside or doing exercise, but because of the notice of the Ministry of Manpower that when our rest day we must be at home, we can do our errands. But after doing your errands, like sending money or buying your your essential things, you need you need to go back home. No need to meet up with friends or any other things. So that time I was uncertain. Like, can I go out for a walk? Can you know, can I just go for for exercise. That's why the time I wrote an article asking, like, are we allowed to exercise like the other people here in Singapore? So that was. Yeah, that was difficult. It changes a lot. It changes a lot because not only for my routine, but I think for many domestic workers here that their work has doubled. And I think there are more stressed, I think not only us, but also our employers are also stress because we're getting used to being. To seeing everyone at home all the time. So it wasn't easy. Petrina Kow: [00:23:22] Yeah. I mean, I guess, you know, we we just so sort of take for granted, you know, in in a in a way, I'm so glad to hear that your employer has been really understanding. But I'm I'm just not sure that this is the same for, I don't know, 80 to 90 percent of the domestic workers in Singapore where the employers are being very kind of strict about no, put it down, go and rest or watch TV or, you know, go out for a walk or something. You know, I think very often they would just sort of either leave you be if you want to do the work, you do it. Hey, I'm getting extra work for free. You know, I'm not paying you extra, you know, that type of thing. And it's a really fine line. So I feel like, um. Do you have any statistics or have you seen an increase rate in the number of calls for help or, you know, more distress calls from the domestic workers here in Singapore through to home? Bhing Navato: [00:24:18] Yes, the calls have been increased like 20 to 25 percent. It is like a distress call. Like everyone. Most domestic workers will call because they if they ask for. Do we still have an off day? Are we allowed to go out? When can we go out? Are we allowed to go out with friends? Is it true that M0M said that we cannot go out? So I need to clarify with them and notice. That the notice said we have a rest day. It depends on your communicate and how you communicate with your employer. Like if employers say, can you work on your rest day and then they need to pay you, you know, when you work on that day. But but if you initiate to do the work at home, then I think it's fine because you feel like you're doing not doing anything. But there are many employers now that that. Mainly are expat, but mostly are locals. So it's fair to say that. But I receive a lot of calls that employers were saying that MOM said that you cannot go out. On your rest day you need to work because you're not allowed to go out. Then they will. When they asked me, I said that's not the notice. They said, you can go out. You can send money. Do your errands. But you need to come back. I mean, it's for your own safety. So I need to explain to them what this notice about. But then still, because their employer said so. So they will comply with that. Then they will just stay at home. I have one caller who showed me a picture of just one chair because she has no room. She sleeping in the living room. So Sunday morning, everybody's up and she has no place to go like. She asked to go for a walk. But the employer said no you cannot go out. What if you get the virus outside? So those are the things. So I explained to some people like how employers should allow their domestic workers to be outside, even for just a couple of hours, that they will use the time to call their family. They will talk freely. They can show like how how they feel, their emotions. You know, they can do that outside. Or they can call their friends, you know, at least for two hours. Just let them breathe. I mean, it is very important because I think our employers will feel the same thing, too. Right. So I have one call. I was very alerted into that. When she said she wants to commit suicide already because her her employer told her that I will treat you like a robot. So literally like you cannot rest, you're not allowed to talk to anyone. She used to have her phone, like, at night, 10:30 at night. And then the employer will take it back at 6:00 a.m. But the employer can see from the CCTV that she's spent like three hours on the phone at night. But how can she? Because that's the only time she can talk. So they started, you know, confiscating it again and give it to her like on weekends. But if she will make a mistake, they will not give back her phone. But finally, she ran away. Two Sundays ago. But because I was really worried that, you know, when she told me that I just want to die if I cannot go out, I just want to die. Yeah. So it is really. There are so many calls. It's why when when the news few weeks ago said that they only received like two calls during this call, it said, no, it was not like that. I received like ten calls. My other volunteer friends received more calls. And what about other NGOs? So we keep receiving calls. The problem with the, with the ministry, I think, is that there is no one to answer their phone. Because for, for me, for me, if I cannot you know, there's no advice left for me to say to to person. I will say can you just call MOM. I think you will be directed. And then they will tell me they will call me back and said that nobody's answering the call. You can only e-mail, but not all domestic workers know how to send e-mail. So that's the problem. So there is like a 20, 25 percent raise of calls. Petrina Kow: [00:29:05] That is just, you know, so heartbreaking to hear because, you know, already without the pandemic, when I hear stories of employees in Singapore and the high rates of just the inhumanity and the abuse of these domestic workers suffer and then using the pandemic as an excuse. Right. To exploit them even further is unconscionable. And and it is just I can't I have no words. I'm so sorry. Bhing Navato: [00:29:35] There are there's there's so many of them. That's why when when I had an interview a few weeks ago, I said we're thanking the Ministry of Manpower for taking care of the male, my migrants, because you know what's happening to them right now. But don't forget the domestic workers, because we are the hidden one. Like, no one will know once we're inside the house, no one will know what's happening to us. And sometimes they can ask for help because their phones are confiscated or during not even allowed to go out. So those are the reasons. I think once Phase Two started. There will be many domestic workers will run away. We're waiting for that. Petrina Kow: [00:30:19] Oh dear. And I mean, I want to say, you know, good luck. What? Like, I don't know what else to say except, you know, I hope that they find the help that they can get and that we're here to support you guys here. Thank you. Thank you for that Bhing. And and for constantly and so diligently, you know, showing up and being being the voice of the people whom you who who have no voice. So thank you for that Bhing. We'd like to invite also our next foreign domestic worker, Eli. She's from Central Java. She also volunteers at Voice of Invisible Hands here in Singapore, most other places. And she's also one of the winners of the migrant workers storytelling competition two years ago. Eli, are you here with us? Eli Nur Fadilah: [00:31:03] Yes. Connection just in and out. Petrina Kow: [00:31:05] No problem. So I wanted to check in with you as well. If you're doing okay and if you're, you know, you being well looked after. And I think because you are a writer and a poet, that you probably turned some of your experiences here into verse. So tell me what that experience has been like for you. Eli Nur Fadilah: [00:31:26] Yeah. For me is the opposite from anybody else. I am grateful that I always met, like, beautiful people. I always blessed in many ways. But during the pandemic, my employer she usually not around. But see decide to stay the border is about to close. So she came here before the circuit breaker. So she had stay for fourteen days stay home notice. And then after that, everyone is staying at home. And see like to eat our restaurant food. But the kids don't like to eat restaurant. So I have to go outside and I go outside, buy more than three times a day. So it's like I worried about myself. Like if I don't wear a mask, I met a lot of, like, strangers. And what will happen to me? Like, I'm I really scared, but I keep telling myself I will be okay. And I should be okay. And I keep. I'm not skipping taking the vitamins. I mean, so I will not worry about it until there is one cases in the nearby apartment. And then then she reduce ask me me to go. But still after I go out to bring her like one packet of noodles and then come back to cook for the kids dinner. And then go out again to buy something else. So yeah, it's the opposite of the others. But it's scary because outside is like scary, right? There is almost no people on the street. But I also feel like those people are working on the construction that time, are still working. Those are like. Maybe hurry to finish up the route work or something else. I was wondering, like, how do their work without wearing a mask? Right. There is no hand sanitiser beside them. Even the water and the glass is just beside the stand and and the dust and everything. I mean, how hard can they keep their faith? Like, how do they're not worried about everything. Petrina Kow: [00:33:42] Yeah. No, no. Thanks for sharing that. You know, alternate point of view. That whilst a big group of of our domestic workers are being held at home. They might also be another group who are constantly being sent out to run the errands. The employers don't want to do themselves right. As like we'll expose you instead. We don't have to expose ourselves, right? Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks. I mean, it is. And, you know, if you're afraid, you can also sort of say, I don't feel like going out to buy your food today. Can I cook you a meal? Eli Nur Fadilah: [00:34:20] She will say. I'm craving for this. Petrina Kow: [00:34:24] Yeah. There's also Deliveroo. I introduce her to the app. Eli Nur Fadilah: [00:34:29] And her most our favourite restaurant is out of the range. So it's like something in Bebod. Something in Lavender. And I was in East Coast. Right. Petrina Kow: [00:34:40] So no, I mean, I tell you what. Look, whatever it is, you know, we we think about, you know, who we've come to deem as essential workers and front line workers. Right. People who have to keep going out there every day, risking their lives to make sure the rest of us can function. And we just. You know. Like our, our food delivery drivers. You know, our essential worker is in health care, you know, and and the people, you know, serving our food, we we we you know, they're out there every day, you know. So with the faith and with lots of extra cleanliness measures, I think that's how they all do it. But thank you so much, Eli. I look forward to hearing your poem in a while. At this point. We'd like to kind of open the floor up to everybody. And here's where we kind of, you know, threw the question open to whoever would like to sort of weigh in. What do you reckon? Lau. I mean, do you know I've been thinking about this and something you said Eni earlier really struck me, which was. The in times of, you know, crisis like that, like the pandemic. It's like a war on information, isn't it? And and I feel like especially for our most vulnerable. The access to information is something that is I don't know whether it's deliberate or is just a blind spot for a lot of people. So I'm not sure where to take this, but I'm happy just to to hear, you know, your perspectives. You know, some things have come up that have been positive. But I think, you know, this particular in this particular situation, a lot of the issues have been there for very long. It's just that I think for the general populace to sort of kind of go, OK, OK, we we we see you now. You know, so how can we move forward from this and how can we be more inclusive of your voices? And, you know, how can we make working here in Singapore better for everyone? I mean, everyone, any or maybe maybe you can give us a little perspective. Eni Lestari Andayani Adi: [00:36:58] One of the good thing, when I because I've been chairing the International Migrants Alliance is this actually a grassroots alliance of them immigrants, migrant workers and refugee community in the world. So we have like hundred eighty members in thirty five countries. So we've been talking a lot of the Zoom, of the Skype before we. In fact, during those Covid 19 we keeps. A lot. We have a lot of exchanging from Canada, U.S., Europe and so forth. And what I can say. There really commonalities. Commonalities in the sense that what has been experienced by migrant workers, regardless of our sector, whether you are in construction, whether you are in plantation, on whether you are domestic workers, has been existing for years. This is not the first time we are suffering. The issue of low pay, long working hours, awful work, you know, denial of us and other thing has been part off the system. And that's one thing that before Covid 19, many people just take for granted that, you know, this issue is not even visible. You know as well, I should say, domestic workers, migrant workers are happily, you know, with happy faces on Sunday. You think? Everything is fine, you know. And then they take it for granted that, you know, the road is clean, migrant workers can eat, and everything is fine. They do not go beyond the wall. They don't go beyond factories. They don't go beyond that, though, you know, the gadget that this workers are holding, because, you know, when migrant workers is holding this iPhone stuff, you know, everything, suddenly you are you are so well, you know, so you have no problem. So that kind of assumption is really very strong. And I think this is also added because off with, you know, the exclusion, you are using the the language of inclusivity. In them. For decades, the migrant workers in the different part of the world has been excluded from the society in the sense you are excluded within the law. So you are not, many of us are not even under the labor ordinance. You don't have even a rest hours or, you know, working hours. You don't have minimum wage, what you have is a market wage, you know, so you will be price. You have a price tag according to your nationality. So that is kind of sad, you know, because you look like an animal. You know, you whether you are a cow or you are a pig, you know, you have different price. And that's how we we that's how the migrant workers for many decades has been treated. So within the law, we are completely excluded. That example, domestic workers. It's not even within the labor ordinance. Migrant workers in general are not. Until you it's like, semi professional or even professional, you call it expat, then you are within the law. Otherwise, when you are falling under the informal sector, you are not protected by any law. If your government do not fight for any memorandum of agreement with that country, then practically you are under the radar. So this is the the reason why our conditions become very invisible within the context of the regulation. Now within society you can see that we are living in isolation. The domestic workers in employer houses. You don't see them until Sunday. You don't even see them on Sunday if they don't go out. In Taiwan, it's not even mandatory to have holiday. Right. Actually, within Asia, only Hong Kong has a weekly mandatory holiday. But again, if you don't fight for it, you don't pursue it. Government, employers, you don't get even 24 hours. You get on like 10:00 am all the way to 5:00, and that's all. How many hours is that? It's only, eight hours. That is your rest hours. You know, so it's not like the right that has been given is is is there if you don't fight for it there, nothing yet. Yet when you see construction workers, plantation they are hidden. You know in the case of Singapore the are in the dense, cramp and very unhygiene dorms. And who put them there? The companies. Do you think government don't know about that? Of course they know. They legalised their dormitories. But what do they do about that? Nothing. You know, so. So what you see is actually maltreatment, abusive treatment. We call it modern day slavery treatment. Forced labor. Name it. You know, to migrant workers. And yet there is a strong denial in the part of government to even be there for the for us. You know, something like that. Not only the Singapore or Hong Kong government, even our own government. Now, in fact, during Covid 19 what has been found in common. The time when a lot of people being deported, terminated, our own government is not even ready to accept us back home. Some government even tell their people oh stay abroad. I'll send you the food, I'll stay abroad. I'll give you some money. You know, I mean, it's so sad. It's sad. Like, I need to go home. Yeah. I mean, Laurindo Garcia [00:42:03] You're referring to the Indonesian. You're referring to the Indonesian government there? Is that what you're saying? Eni Lestari Andayani Adi: [00:42:07] Yeah. But you can see in other countries also. We find in the case of Bangladesh or even in Latin America, many home government, our own government. I mean, I'm not an Indonesian. I'm I'm talking about the rest of our sending government. Are not even ready to welcome their return migrants. And that is very sad. And one of the things that we notice whenever we were forced to go home for any reasons, there is no social subsidy. The fact that you will be unemployed for at least six months to come, maybe by end of the year, you can only do this the only time you can look for another job abroad. You will be unemployed for six months and yet no subsidy to your family. Why? Because most countries treat migrant workers as no longer poor families. So that's one of the thing. So when you ask about so what to do to move forward for the inclusivity, we'd be one of the biggest lesson for me. I find it during Covid 19 is the realisation and awareness among the people. A lot of the workers, the migrant themself actually now acknowledge if they don't come together and they don't say something about that condition forever, they will suffer under the misery. So now you can see a lot of migrant workers, just the social media. And, you know, they are in the plantation and say, hey, I'm hungry can you send me food, you know? They don't have to wait until they die to do that. Now, the workers inside the camp are also doing that. The refugee is doing that. So you can see there are more voices. People have no choice but to take it publicly. Now, among the community, you know, whether you are in receiving or sending government in Singapore, Hong Kong, the the people actually now start acknowledging. Yeah. This migrants, man. They've been with us forever. They live and grew up with migrants. In fact, their children actually being brought up by the domestic workers throughout, you know, 20 years, maybe 30 years. And they never really understood understand yet until Covid 19, came that this people are really, really suffering. No one is taking care of them. They have to take care of the families. They have to be healthy. They have to be strong. With very low wages. But no one is caring and for them. So a lot of Hong Kong families here or even Hong Kong people are realising that. And I think I believe even in the case of Singapore. How they support? Many of them call us. Okay. I have this cash, use it for your community. I have this mask, use it. Oh. What do you need for us to help you? The church coming to us. The mosque is doing something. So now we don't have to ask. Hey, hey, guys, help us. Now they are coming voluntary us to offer assistance. And that's one of the beauty we see within, you know, this Covid 19. That the local also acknowledge that cannot live without migrants. And the migrant also acknowledges they don't say something about their condition, nothing will change. Petrina Kow: [00:45:09] Yeah. That. Thank you for that Eni, because you you summed it up so well, you know. And I'm just I'm just in awe of you really. And how you managed to, you know, do all his activism and all this, you know, work on top of the work that you do in Hong Kong. And I tell you what, every time I look at Hong Kong and I look at the the way they are protesting for their rights. Right. I mean that the young people of Hong Kong and they really give me hope. Like I love I love what they're doing. I love that they're, you know, getting out there and. Yeah. So thank you for that. You know, I hope, you know, us and Singapore can take some you know, can look at Hong Kong as an inspiration and and kind of get there some one day. Some day. I have hope. Bhing or Eli or Madhavan do you guys want to weigh in on that? Of something that you've noticed or how we can be more inclusive. Ya Bhing. Bhing Navato: [00:46:10] Yeah. Yeah. Eni was right. I think for for for Hong Kong, at least. Some people most people they realising importance of the migrant workers presence in their country. But I think for Singapore now, they only realise how important male migrants are. You see how they care of them. They had you know, they have a singing together the other night for them. So those those are the things they saw, the importance. Like who build this country, who build the buildings that will build the houses? These are the male migrants. But I think for now, they're still forgetting the presence of the domestic workers who have been helping the employers. You know, how how can they work if no one is taking care of their children, taking care of their parents? So they need to realise that the you know, in order to lessen the abuse. Like to, just don't tolerate anymore. I have written in one of my articles that if if only we can be like, act as a team during this, especially this situation of Covid, then I think we can survive this situation successfully, like our employers will do to work at home, because most of the most of the people now do stay, work from home. So just just be a team. Like I will take care of your kids. I will cook your food. You do your own work at home. I'll make sure that it will be quiet. If the kids are noisy, I'll be downstairs. You know, those are the things that they need to realise this. Many domestic workers are doing these without employers realising how important to be their presence must be in the house. And I have like, for example, I have these people who called me like, because her employers are busy working during the day and they have a sick parent at home. So the helper must stay with the father inside the father's room overnight because they cannot take care of their father. But still, when she asked for a rest day, the employer said, no, you can take a rest like at this time. Or you can break your you're off day into like two hours every day. So how can how can you do that? But I think I think that's very important to do, get to know who's in the house. Because I think for every domestic workers, that's what we're trained to do when we're at home with our employers, we're trying to create a conversation so that at least everybody will be in a good mood, you know, try to avoid arguments and everything. But even even we do that if our employers will, you know, show stress, everybody's stressed like. I used to think that there's one complaint and then the employer said because I'm stressed, that's why I vented on my domestic worker. But we're stressed too. But we don't vent it out to you or  your child. Petrina Kow: [00:49:39] Absolutely. Bhing Navato: [00:49:40] Yeah. Petrina Kow: [00:49:41] And I think I think parents of all around the world having to deal with home based learning are really understanding this this issue right now in a very, very real way. Thank you so much being for sharing that, Madhavan. Did you share anything? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:49:56] I heard the story around 1995 or something. The worker. The person who working in Singapore as a migrant worker shared their stories with the family. Usually in the villages most people in the neighborhood are gathered with that discussion in the evening with my Dad. One uncle, mentioned that if you earn one day's salary in Singapore, you can get one gram of gold during 1995. But now you cannot get the same one gram of gold. Petrina Kow: [00:50:35] Did you say one gram of gold? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:50:37] Yes. In 90s, if their one day salary, they can get a one gram of gold. But now also the salary is same. Same 18 dollar, but the one gram of gold is 63, 65. Petrina Kow: [00:50:51] I understand what you mean. So basically we have not. I mean, with inflation, everything goes up, right. And everybody salaries goes up at the same rate. But you know that the growth of the salaries of our, you know, foreign workers have not grown together with everything else. They've kept it low. And I mean, I think that's really where we're beginning to understand where there are a lot of these exploitations happening by the companies who are hiring you guys and getting you guys here on big, big promises of wonderful things. But I think it's so systemic because it should not be a case where somebody can exploit and earn money from the situation. I think that's. And because in the first place, your rights as workers here are not protected. You're obviously easy targets, you know, for people to exploit you. So once again, I I'm just I mean, I'm learning I've I've come to know about the situation. You know, of human trafficking, because I got to know a woman who who started an organisation here called Emancipasia Sylvia Lee. And she was educating me on the human trafficking situation here in Singapore. And and for me to have kind of linked that to this idea of human trafficking here in Singapore was very shocking to me about, you know, 10 years ago when I when I learned this. And then as the layers are coming, coming off. And I think with everything that is kind of blowing up around the world, people are really sitting up and wanting to know. So for me at least, I feel like this pandemic, at least a silver lining is that people are really. Hang on. Hang on. What? What? What? Tell me about. Tell me more. You know, I want to learn more. So I don't know if. And I'm really hoping that we don't go back to the new the old ways or like I want things to be back to normal again. And then we forget all of this happened. But I really hope that with elections and with, you know, putting our leaders and making our leaders accountable, that we will continue to speak up for the people who cannot be heard. You know, I think that's that's really important for all of us. And it's not just the voices that, oh, you know, I'll just do one article. Thanks. And then that's it. You know, I hope we continue to have the conversation going so that we can continue to make sure that systemically something happens. I mean, what do you think Lau? Laurindo Garcia: [00:53:31] Yeah, definitely. I think it's. What has happened over the last few months. It's been more of a symptom of a bigger problem for sure. And the solutions are not going to happen overnight either. It's going to be a long road ahead. And I think what would help our audience is perhaps some ideas of what, you know, our listeners should be looking out for. What what they could be trying to have conversations about with, you know, their their their fellow residents, their their employers or just their friends and their family about what a more inclusive world would look like. And so with that, I want to open up the discussion to a segment that we have in every episode where we ask our guests to imagine that they were bestowed with a magical power, a magical wand. Right. And by waving that wand, you could change the way that societies work. And so imagine you were given that magical power to change the migrant labor system after the pandemic. So my question to you, to each of you is what is the one thing that you would do to make migrant work more inclusive with your magic wand? And so I'd like to start off with you Eni, what is that one thing you would do with your magic wand? Eni Lestari Andayani Adi: [00:54:57] Is recognition to our contribution. And also recognition to our human rights. You don't have to think of us or any other thing. Just think of as a human human means you have to work and earn money and contribute to the society. And we've become very useful to the development of any, you know, country where we stay. So just recognise us as a human, which also including as I workers, as a woman. Second is inclusion. It's very important. We just we don't want to be any thing about the society. We don't want any privilege. We just want an equality within the law and within the treatment. That means inclusion within the law and inclusion in any type of program that given to the people, specially during Covid 19 and even after, should also be given to the migrants. And the last thing is also aspect of our rights. As some foreigner that means that we have right to stay, to work. Of course, right to settle. You know, because if we consider how many years we already live abroad, maybe more than half of our life is really abroad. But yet you cannot be a normal person in this host countries because you have been you know, you have been pushed down. You know, you have been denied your human rights. They just want our labor. They just don't want our human rights. So it's time to respect our our basic rights, see, you know, respect us. If people believe in religion, in humanity, you know, in in justice this is the time for everyone, whether are in the government, whether they are in the in the you know, in the society, whether they are in any type of element of the society, it this time for us to show that in time of crisis like this, we we we we we we learn to show that we are really a human. That means we have to treat everyone like us. You know, if you are, if you are hurt, then we are also hurt. If you are hungry, we are also hungry. If you are exhausted, we are also exhausted. And just imagine that it happen could happen to you. It also could happened to us. If you don't want that kind of treatment, then you better start treating others, you know the way you treat yourself. Laurindo Garcia: [00:57:26] Thank you. Thank you, Eni. How about you Madhavan? Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:57:29] I have two opinion. One is to increase the salary. The other one is. I don't think everything change. So I decided to get one gun with three bullets. Wanted to shoot the God who created this cruel world. Second bullet, shoot the whole world because I need to punish the. All the person who behaved with inhuman, without humanity. Then the person who behave with humanity and social response, I want to take them rest. To relive from the world. And last then. Last bullet for me to shoot myself. Laurindo Garcia: [00:58:07] Oh dear. Okay. Petrina Kow: [00:58:09] This sounds like a movie. Madhavan. This will be your next movie. This should be your next movie. That was that was incredibly graphic. Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:58:24] Because everyone running for money. Nothing won't change much. In India also the migrant worker face many problems. Petrina Kow: [00:58:32] Yeah. Ramasamy Madhavan: [00:58:33] When compared to Singapore, Singapore is much better. If I had a chance to meet someone who may take some action in Singapore, they must consider domestic worker and sex worker also. They also suffered a lot. Petrina Kow: [00:58:47] That's right. Thank you for raising that Madhavan. How would you Bhing? What would you do with your magic wand? Bhing Navato: [00:58:53] Yes, I will make all the migrant workers be part of the labor law. So everybody, all of us will be treated equally. We will have our rest day. We will that we can take leave. Because we cannot take leave. We are not part of the labor law. And, you know, everybody will treat us as decent workers. Petrina Kow: [00:59:16] Thanks for saying that. And how about you, Eli? Eli Nur Fadilah: [00:59:19] I am so excited for this segment. I love magic. So if I given the power did change the world, you know, is to erase this stigma and the gap between the blue collar and the white collar workers. And I wish there is no migrant labor in the world. Every country, can taking care of their people and everybody can just happily working side to side with their loved ones, without suffering being away. In this pandemic we suffer emotionally a lot because we worry about how is our family doing? Are they okay? How if anything happened to them and we are busy taking care of others family. Wow we as a domestic worker, taking care of other family and foreign worker, construction worker building of someone else's home when, well, they don't know whatever happened in their own home. I have no words for this. Petrina Kow: [01:00:17] Thank you for sharing that, Eli. And very soon you'll be sharing with us the poem that you have written, inspired by all that's happened around us. So thank you all so much. A big warm thank you to all our guests, Eli Nur Fadilah, who we'll be hearing from in a moment. Mr. Ramasamy Madhavan the director of Salary Day. Bhing Navato from HOME and Eni Lestari Andayani Adi, the chairperson of International Migrants Alliance. For more information on our guests and their work. Make sure to check out the Inclusively website for details. Follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify or YouTube, and you'll be notified when new episodes are out. And of course, if you heard this podcast up to here and you like it, do submit a review and tell us how what you like and how we can improve. We always welcome any feedback. That's our show for today. Until next time. I'm Petrina Cow. Laurindo Garcia: [01:01:07] And I'm Laurindo Garcia. And now we go over to you, Eli, our artist in residence. And we invite you to recite your poem and take us out for the show. Thank you. Eli Nur Fadilah: [01:01:18] Today I would like to read my poems. Based on my inspiration and my experience during this pandemic. I wrote this first poem when I feel tired and I feel. Miss my family so much about I cannot meet them. And also my friends. I cannot be with them. So. The title is When This Will End. When this will end? I'm sure you do feel sad. Though we all know the world too feel bad. Like those sick patients in hospital beds has nothing but hope of health that will come back. When this will end? I'm sure you do feel the pain, though, we actually can strongly stand like mahogany tree facing the rain, feel the blazing and the power that we will gain. But who can answer when things are unsure? Nobody. Now one. Only when we united together by heart, we believe. All shall pass. When it's time. We'll back. Holding each other hands, seeing along the mahogany tree under the rain, happily waiting for the sun to shine again. When it will end? Soon, as soon as we believe we strong and we can. Keep praying. Keep believing. Tighter your hands onto your faith, because the ray of the God grace waiting. Thank you. So and this is my second poem. I wrote this when I miss my special person. My favourite person, so. I Fear What You Fear is the title. I fear what you fear. Remembering to have spent time together. We share spirit, joy and laughter. With you, my path getting clearer. Although our distance is not near. Honestly, I miss you. But I fear what you fear. That's why I choose to not stay near. I really wish you were here because the night is getting colder. Without you. Oh, how I miss your laughter. Even only through network wire. You know that I fear what do you fear. It's not possible to run the you and get closer. Can I just hug you in my prayer? Thank you.

The God Who Is Isaiah 6:1-8 and St. John 3:1-17 by William Klock Five hundred years ago, John Calvin famously wrote in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, that the human mind is a perpetual forge of idols.  Our minds, he writes, are stuffed with presumptuous rashness and so we forget the God who is and create gods suited to our fallenness.  We ignore the God who has revealed himself in the Scriptures.  We ignore the God who has revealed himself in Jesus.  And instead we imagine gods for ourselves that affirm us in our particular sins and failures, that affirm the heresies and false ideologies we hold to, and that, on the other hand, stand against everything we don’t like.  Have you ever had one of those conversations where someone interrupted and said, “Well, my god isn’t like that” or “Well, my god would never condemn such-and-such.” We reject the God who is, the one who revealed himself to Moses as “I am”, and we reconstruct God in our own image.  This deity we call “My god” never challenges us.  He—or it—gives us whatever we want.  It doesn’t embarrass us with its demands.  It affirms us as we are.  It boosts our ego.  In our Old Testament lesson this morning we read about Isaiah’s encounter with the Lord and how he could only respond by falling on his face and declaring not only his own unworthiness, but the unworthiness of his people.  “My god” never prompts that sort of reaction, because “My god” is home-made, a myth, and ultimately just a means to worship ourselves.  “My god” rarely inspires us to feed the poor, let alone preach good news to them.  “My god” doesn’t inspire missionaries to sacrifice everything to proclaim its gospel to the nations.  “My god” typically affirms us in whatever we’re doing—particularly if whatever we’re doing isn’t worship and service of the God who is I am. And now, on Trinity Sunday every year, the Church confronts us with the living God, the God who is, the great I am.  The Church reminds us that even though we spurned the God who is so that we could serve our idols and ourselves, he still desires us.  Today we wrap up the first half of the Church Year.  We began with Advent—anticipating this God’s coming among us—and then at Christmas, his birth, his incarnation, his taking on our flesh and becoming God as one of us and God with us.  We saw this Jewish Messiah revealed to the Gentiles at Epiphany, reminding us that the God of Israel is also the Lord of Creation.  We walked with him through Lent and watched his ministry to the outsiders and outcast.  We knelt below the Cross as he was crucified on Good Friday and then worshiped with joy on Easter, remembering that he has risen from grave, conquering sin and death.  Two Sundays ago we celebrated his Ascension to his throne and last week we recalled that he has sent God’s own Spirit to indwell his people, fulfilling the promise the Lord had made through the prophets, to renew the hearts of his people and to dwell in their midst. This sequence, ever year, not only reminds us of the great story of redemption, but it also reminds us of the God who is and just who he is.  He’s not the god we imagine, but the God who comes in humility, the God who confronts the idols of his people, the God who gives his life for his enemies, the God who says, “Never think that you have chosen me; it is I who have chosen you.” And now, at the end of that sequence of Sundays recalling the God who is amongst us, the Church confronts us with this God as Trinity—with this God who is one in three and three in one.  It’s complicated.  It’s not easy to grasp.  Christians for two thousand years have tried to come up with analogies and they always fail.  Why?  Because there is nothing in Creation like God.  He is the Creator and he is totally and entirely other.  This isn’t the God we humans would ever invent.  As an avid reader of fantasy novels, I’ve run across plenty of authors who have developed their own mythologies and written into them some sort of god who manifests him- or herself in multiple ways or persons or forces.  But none of these authors would have come up with these ideas if it weren’t for the fact that there was an actual Trinity that provided the inspiration.  The doctrine of the Trinity isn’t something that the Church Fathers constructed at Nicaea as if it was a theological laboratory.  There is certainly a sense in which the process involved something like doctrinal algebra as they sought out just the right language to describe who God is and at the same time making sure they were also very clear about who and what God is not.  But they didn’t construct the idea.  They were, so to speak, solving for “x” and “x” was already there.  They were simply working out how to express the divine equation in human language with all its limitations.  No, the God who is, this three-in-one and one-in-three doesn’t fit into our boxes.  And so the Trinity calls us to walk in faith.  This is the God who truly does reveal himself, but when he does, there’s only so much of him we can comprehend.  We fall on our faces in humility and in awe and in worship.  And then he picks us up—or like Isaiah touches that holy coal to our lips and purifies us—and says, “I’m sending you.  Follow me in faith.”  It’s remarkable.  We can only fathom his depths so far, but he knows us deeply, through and through.  We want a god created in our image, a god we can know, a god who gives us what we want, but the God who is, is beyond our full knowing, but still calls us to bear his image, and gives to us not what we want, but what he knows we need—even when it hurts like a coal on the lips. But why does it matter what we believe about God?  Why do we have, for example, the pages-long Athanasian Creed spelling out the Trinity and the Incarnation in details that seems so unnecessary to so many Christians?  Why does it matter?  And what difference is it going to make? Brothers and Sisters, all we have to do is look at the world around us.  Why can we find the funding for trillions of dollars to make war, while turning “peace” into a political dirty word?  Friends, it’s because we’ve been worshipping Mars instead of the Prince of Peace.  Why is pornography the most lucrative business on the Internet while poor people starve?  It’s because we’ve been worshipping Aphrodite rather than the living God.  Why are we so keen on converting everyone to political causes and parties, but can’t be bothered to proclaim the good news that Jesus is Lord?  It’s because we’ve been worshipping Caesar rather than Jesus. You see, what you believe about God is important.  It makes a difference in how you relate to him and to the world around you.  The problems is that so much of our misunderstanding and misbelief about God is part of the cultural water we swim in.  We have to stop and think and ponder on these things sometimes—which is why the Church confronts us year in and year out.  If we would only listen.  But I think we can get a sense of the problem if we think about the way so many people in our culture think about God today.  For most people he’s remote.  He’s the “man upstairs” or he’s some kind of “great spirit”.  People acknowledge that he had something to do with creating the cosmos, but he’s been pretty much hands-off ever since.  Even our cultural understanding of redemption is essentially justification—not by faith—but by death.  If God does judge it’s on rare occasions—only when someone really evil like Hitler or a serial killer comes on the scene.  But for the most part this god has left us to look after our own interests.  And as good as this sounds to a lot of people, all you have to do is look at the chaos, the strife, the violence around us to see that we’re not doing a very good job of it. But, you see, this is the god the Eighteenth Century Enlightenment thinkers wanted.  This was the god they were talking about when they said “My god” is such and such.  In their case “My god” was a divine clock-maker.  And how they thought of this god had a profound effect on how they related to him and the world around them.  This is the god who only demands—if he demands anything at all—that we worship him for an hour on Sunday mornings.  The rest of Sunday, not to mention the rest of the week, we can do our own thing.  And when this is what we think of God, even when we do go to church on Sundays, worship and ritual lose their meaning and the focus turns to self.  It’s all about “me” anyway, so the focus of church should be on making sure I feel good about myself.  That’s “My god”.  He doesn’t confront our sin.  He doesn’t confront our idols.  He doesn’t require we change.  And this is why world is such a mess. The problem is that when we banish God to the far-away reaches of space, other gods will always fill the void.  We worship Mars and Aphrodite.  We worship Caesar and Mammon.  We worship self.  And we think we’re so smart and we build this world that we call civilisation.  We think we’re so much more sophisticated than the primitive people who came before us and who had this idea of a God who dwelt in their midst.  And yet this great civilisation we’ve built without God has brought us two world wars, nuclear bombs, Communism and Fascism, eugenics, a sexual revolution that has destroyed our families and culture, and a genocide of the unborn, the most innocent amongst us.  This is what we get when we worship “My god” instead of the God who is. So what happens when we do acknowledge the God who is, this Trinity?  If these doctrinal propositions are so important even though they often seem so finicky and esoteric, then affirming them—even celebrating them—must have some kind of positive working out, right? First, Brothers and Sisters, doctrine is important.  We live in an age when many people think it’s not.  This is part of why so many people who call themselves Christians are perfectly happy talking about “My god” and then describing a god of their own making, not the God who is.  We live in an anti-intellectual age, which doesn’t help either.  We think that it’s not so much about what’s in the head, but what’s in the heart.  As long as you’re sincere, that’s all that matters.  But, Friends, it’s not.  Do you remember—it was quite a few years ago—when I sat on a box here?  It looked pretty solid, but what happened?  It collapsed under me.  If you were here, you’ll remember that it collapsed under me even faster than I anticipated it would!  You see, it’s not our faith that saves.  It’s the object of our faith.  All the faith in the world that a carboard box will support me won’t change the fact that it can’t.  It’s the object, not the faith itself.  This is why Jesus said that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed.  Our faith has no power of itself.  The power lies with the God in whom we put our faith.  All the faith you need is the faith that causes you to trust him, to rely on him, to ask him and then to trust in his good and perfect will.  Faith is not our god.  God is our God.  And so we’d better be putting our faith not in “My god” but in the God who really is, in the Three-in-one and One-in-three. But, too, remember that Christianity is not defined by race or sex or nationality or even by the things we do.  Remember our study of Romans?  The Jews defined the people of God in terms of what they did.  They were circumcised, they observed the Sabbath, they followed certain dietary rules.  And Paul said that all that was fine and good, but that it wasn’t what truly defines the people of God.  What defines the people of God is faith in God himself and in his promises.  It all comes back to God and so it’s vitally important that we put our faith in and worship the one, true God.  And this is why we recite the Creed together every time we gather to worship—to remember and to affirm that this is the God in whom we trust.  Church history shows us over and over again that whenever we sideline doctrine and deny its importance we stray into heresy.  At the root of every cult is some misunderstanding of the Trinity or the Incarnation.  This is why the Fathers worked so hard to hammer out the creeds with such precise language.  Without theology—“theology” comes from the Greek for “study of God”—without it, we will eventually forget the one, true God and fall into idolatry. I think the second thing to remember is that the doctrine of the Trinity recalls the God who is as he revealed himself in the Old Testament.  It’s very common to hear people say that the Trinity is a Christian invention—not something Jewish at all.  But this isn’t true.  The Jews believed in a God who was very much other, but who also had once lived in the midst of his people and, one day, would live in their midst again.  He breathed his Spirit into various people at various times—people like King David and the Prophets and even the craftsmen who built the tabernacle—and he inspired them to speak and to act and to make beautiful things all with his authority.  His word had been there in the beginning as the agent of Creation and his wisdom continued to guide his people.  The Jews saw the God who is in all these things and in all these manifestations.  The first Christians didn’t reject all this in order to come up with something new called the Trinity.  They simply found these Jewish ideas coming into sharp clarity when they looked at the risen Messiah Jesus and when they saw God’s Spirit indwelling his people.  It’s a tragedy that rather than resting mainly on the language and ideas of the Old Testament, the Fathers later used the language of Greek philosophy to define the Trinity, but the doctrine is there nevertheless in the New Testament itself.  It’s there when St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself”.  It’s there in our gospel as Jesus said to Nicodemus that that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.  While the language used by the Fathers to define it came later, this doctrine is not some late addition to the faith or corruption of Judaism and the Old Testament.  It’s there through and through both the Old and New Testaments and sits at the core of our faith.  This is the God who is.  This is the object of our faith. So where does this take us?  If we’ve got this part right, what sort of worship should flow from it?  What sort of people does it make us as we go out to our families and our workplaces and into the world?  What priorities does it give us? Brothers and Sisters, to affirm the doctrine of the Trinity is to affirm that the God who is, is a God of love and of mercy.  Yes, he is distant and utterly other, but he has also drawn near in Jesus, taking our flesh on himself in humility.  And why?  Because he “so loved the world” as we read in our Gospel.  The God who is has given himself—his very self—to reconcile his enemies to himself.  In our Epistle from Revelation we get a glimpse into the heavenly throne room.  God sits on his throne in all his majesty.  He is the judge.  He is the one whom we finally see in Revelation setting his Creation to rights, coming in wrath to wipe away every last bit of evil that has corrupted his Creation and then making all things new.  The God who is judges, condemns, destroys.  And yet, if we were to flip two chapters ahead, we also see the Lamb at the centre of that heavenly worship—the Lamb who gave his life that his enemies might once again be his friends.  The God who is will judge the earth—and if you really think about it, that’s a frightening image for a sinner and idolater to behold—but he is also the God who loves his Creation and his creatures so much that he will one day set it all to rights and has given himself so that we can have a part in that new creation, rather than being destroyed on that day when he wipes it clean of sin and evil. Brothers and Sisters, the doctrine of the Trinity declares to the world that the God who is, is both the judge to be feared and the saviour to be adored, who has entered into his own creation to share and to bear our pain himself for our sake. The Trinity affirms that Jesus is one of the three persons of the Trinity, but it also affirms that the Spirit is one of them, too.  The God who is has sent his Spirit to apply to his people the work done by his Son.  To affirm the doctrine of the Trinity is to affirm that in Jesus, God came to bear our pain and our wrong and to set Creation to rights.  It’s also to affirm that God comes today in the Spirit to enliven his people and to send us into the midst of the pain and sin and brokenness of the world with the good news about Jesus and with renewed hearts ready and eager to bring the gospel of Jesus to bear on the pain and wickedness of the world.  And so our affirmation of the God who is—not the god we might make in our image, but the one, true God who is—shapes who and what we are and how we serve and worship.  He is the one who lies behind our prayers even as we reach out to him with those same prayers.  He is the one who fills our hearts with gratitude and love for the mercy he has shown to us in Jesus and who makes us stewards of his grace for the sake of the world.  He is the one who gives us a vision of creation set to rights and who inspires hope as we stand at the empty tomb and look ahead to that future and then work for justice and peace and goodness, pulling God’s future into the present that this world of idolaters might have a glimpse of the God who is. So to affirm the Trinity is to look up to the God who is, but it’s also to go out into the world in the name of the God who is Father, Son, and Spirit and to bear his image, restored to us by Jesus and the Spirit.  We affirm the doctrine as we recite the sometimes strange-sounding words of the Creed, but maybe even more importantly, we affirm the God who is as we receive his invitation and come to his Table.  Here we celebrate the life of the God who is, given in Jesus the Messiah, God with us, as we receive his gifts of bread and wine blessed and made holy by his Word and Spirit.  Brothers and Sisters, the bread and wine remind us that we’ve not only been redeemed by the God who is and saved from our sin, but that we’ve also been given his life as he has filled us with his Spirit.  Here we meet the God who is.  And here the God who is reminds us that you are his temple and that I am his temple.  And that means that we, his people, are now the place where this lost world meets the God who is. Friends, we cannot come to the Lord’s Table and be reminded of the love and compassion, the mercy and grace, and the life he has given to us through Jesus and the Spirit without then going from this place to make that same love and compassion, mercy and grace, the very life of God known to the world.  We Anglicans don’t very often use the word “Mass” to describe the Lord’s Supper, but it’s an apt word nevertheless.  It comes from the Latin word for dismissal.  Having met the God who is in word and sacrament, he now sends us out into the world as stewards of his grace.  The world wants “My god”.  The world wants god in its image.  But the God who is wants the world—wants to flood it with love and mercy and grace and forgiveness and life—and you and I are his means of taking it to them. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith, we pray, not merely in our heads and not merely in our hearts, but also in our hands and our feet, our eyes and our ears that we might also be steadfast in making you known to the world as stewards of your grace.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns together with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

The post 03/12/19- Bishop Campbell- Weekly Reflection: Gospels of Temptation in the Desert and Transfiguration, first two Sundays of Lent, begin pilgrimage of repentance and conversion and end with call to Glory of God. Christ’s message of repentance and sacrifice. appeared first on St Gabriel Catholic Radio.

In this episode, we enjoy a conversation about biblical manhood and womanhood. Two Sundays ago, our church bumped into 1 Peter 3:1-7, and we wanted to linger on the text and the truth a little longer.

A letter this week from a listener who says he's hungry for community with like-minded secular people is just the latest one like it. But this one couldn't have come at a better time, or landed on more fertile soil.Two Sundays ago, Bart Campolo and a team of like-minded people held their first content-driven gathering at his new house in Cincinnati. The theme of the event was, 'Paying Attention.' They have decided to hold these meetings once every 2 weeks, with a different theme each week. Bart has a hunch that their material may be of interest to the wider Humanize Me community, and his team are excited to share their format.In this episode, producer John Wright reads Phil's letter, and Bart answers by talking about what they're doing in Cincinnati and what he thinks may be of use to the wider community. If you'd like to read the letter Bart sent out to local friends describing the vision for the gatherings, go to bartcampolo.org/2019/02/letter. If the content was supplied by Humanize Me, would you be interested in running your own house gatherings? Let us know in the Facebook poll at https://www.facebook.com/bart.campolo/posts/1364973810312278.—Follow this podcast on Twitter or Instagram to stay up-to-date:Twitter: @HumanizeMePodInstagram: @HumanizeMePodcastYou can also join our Facebook Group. Not a supporter on Patreon yet? Join up at Patreon.com/HumanizeMe and get extra content for it!Got a question for Bart to answer in a future show? Call the ‘Q Line’ at (424) 291-2092.Humanize Me is hosted by Bart Campolo and is produced by JuxMedia.com.

Two Sundays straight I am hella late with another later episode. I dive into Jill Scott’s (SENSUAL) viral performance, NXT Wargames review, College Football, NFL scores, R2J’s Top 5 and The Thanksgiving Edition of Dumb News of the week. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Louie from Morningstar Community Church in Oregon about a Q&A Panel he does in his ministry. Once a quarter Louie brings in pastors and leaders from the church to answer serious and silly questions from the 4th and 5th graders. This allows leaders in the church to see how deep the 4th and 5th graders are thinking. It also allowed the preteens to see different leaders and levels of pastors and leadership coming in to invest in them. Louie has done this for the last couple of years once a quarter and the event is always themed. One of the events was pastors, and he brought in pastors like the Senior pastor, youth, worship, college, pastors from all areas of the church. Another event was living out their faith in school and Louie brought in teachers from the church. Two Sundays before the panel Sunday he will have the preteens write down their questions so that he has them ready for the panel, also allowing him to weed through the questions. Most of the time Louie has just sprung the questions on the panel the day of, but this most recent event he sent the questions to them ahead of time because they were deeper, and he wanted scriptural backing for the answers. Louie is the moderator of the questions and he also reminds the students that they brought the panel in to answer the question, so the students don’t attempt to answer. Having this type of event allows the pastors and leaders to become more real to the preteens and it opens the eyes of the pastors and leaders to who the preteens actually are. Here are some of the questions Louie’s preteens asked during the last Panel: Did Jesus have a choice to love us? How long did Adam and Eve live? How do I know other people believe in Jesus? How does God know us all? Why is the cross shaped like that? How do you know if someone is growing in God? When did you accept Jesus? Is it possible to come back alive? How did Jesus come back alive? Will I pick my age in heaven? What's heaven like? Is it true that heaven has golden streets? How do we stay connected to Jesus? Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A36-49&version=NRSVACE (Luke 24:36-49) Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Two Sundays ago, we celebrated the greatest day of the year for the Christian Church – Easter Sunday. All around the globe, church pews were filled with people singing glorious hymns and announcing to one another, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!” We also reviewed the story of Easter – the empty tomb, the stone that was rolled away, the angelic news that Jesus, who was crucified on Friday, was now risen and alive. We remember the implications His resurrection has for us. Death is defeated. Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. I have a promise in Him of eternal life with God. Death cannot hold me. Jesus' promise – I am the resurrection and the life – is true! “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die,” Jesus said in John 11:25. So I place my trust in Christ and what He has done for me. Not only that, but forgiveness is also mine now, a restored relationship with God. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. God raised Him from the grave as an affirmation of that sacrifice. Jesus was vindicated. God's stamp of approval was upon His ministry. By repenting and trusting in Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness and a restored relationship with our heavenly Father from whom we were separated. By the way, because of the resurrection, not a single moment of my life has to be lived alone. Christ has promised, “I won't leave you orphaned. I will come to you.” (John 14:18). “Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). He is present to strengthen, comfort, and encourage, teach, and even change us. He loves us as we are, but refuses to leave us that way. He has plans for us, to give us a whole new life and a whole new outlook on life. The good news of the Easter message is the linchpin of our faith. The resurrection of Jesus from the grave fills us with the promise of eternal life with God and forgiveness as we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ. But now that we have celebrated this major event, next comes the question, Where do we go from here? My question today is, So what now? A few years ago I was having a conversation with my father-in-law, Homer Larsen, about church and Easter celebrations at our congregations. We were sharing stories about the great attendance and what our sermon themes were that day. When there was a pause in the conversation, Homer said, “Well, Steve old boy, we've seen Him through His birth and ministry, we prepared ourselves for the cross and Lent, we watched Him get killed, and we celebrated His resurrection. So what now?” I think Homer was probably asking what my sermon series was going to be. But as I was thought more about it, I realized it is a great question for the Church and for each individual believer to ask. So what Now? Christ is risen. What's next? This same question, I think, had to be running through the minds of those disciples that first Easter. We see them in our reading today. They are discussing the events of earlier that same day – the empty tomb and His appearances. They are comparing notes and seem a bit overwhelmed, confused, surprised, afraid, and uncertain about all they had seen and heard. Some, like Peter, said they had seen Him. He has to be alive! Others had to have been thinking, Are you sure? Really? Maybe Peter saw a ghost. You know, our minds can play tricks on us, especially after such a trauma like we went through. Others may wonder, What are the Lord's feelings toward us now? After all, we let Him down. Is He mad at us? Others – maybe all of them – were thinking, So what's next for us? What does this mean for us now? What are we supposed to do? Where do we go from here? What now? Jesus didn't leave them – or us – in the dark as to the answer to the question. Let's take a look at His...

The Liturgical life of the Church and the evnets and people of the Bible transcend time and always remain relevant. This is especially the case during the two Sundays before Christmas.

We will look at how we are to manage the resources that God has given to us. Two Sundays ago we asked the question: Can I trust God? Last week we looked at another question: Am I trustworthy? Can God trust me with the resources He has given to me? This Sunday and the following Sunday we will be looking at what I call the "Trust Test". This sermon will take two weeks as we work through this whole issue of trust. We'll learn about the Trust Test and see how we do. It's at that Trust Test line that we either grow spiritually by crossing it and saying, Yes, I'm going to trust God, or we back away from that line and begin to shrivel in our soul. We never reach the potential as a child of God. All because we were unwilling to let God take control of our life. Don't miss this life changing truth this week at CCW.

      Learning to walk in the Steps of Abraham’s Faith Pt 3 Sunday 27.7.2014 Two Sundays ago we began a new series of teaching on how to live by faith.  The principles of faith need to be heard over and over again, so:

After sitting on our backsides watching the Tour for 3 weeks we felt it was time to sit on our backsides and talk about the Tour.  So in the middle of an alpine-like thunderstorm in Sausage Roll City we bring you our 2013 Tour de France review.

Summary of today's show: Fasting is one of the three pillars of Lent and of the whole Christian life, including prayer and almsgiving. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell talk with Andy LaVallee of LiveTheFast.com and Msgr. Charles Murphy, author of the book “The Spirituality of Fasting”, to talk about rediscovering the practice, the spiritual fruits it provides, the practical aspects of fasting, and a one-day retreat this weekend open to all. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell Today's guest(s): Msgr. Charles Murphy, Andy LaVallee Links from today's show: Today's topics: Rediscovering spirituality of fasting 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O'Connell to the show. He said it was a big day at the Pastoral Center where Cardinal Seán celebrated the Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter to reflect on the ministry of Pope Benedict and of all popes and to reflect on his own ministry. The homily from the Mass will be posted on tonight after 9pm. Cardinal Seán said we'll be learning from Pope Benedict's speeches and writings for lifetimes to come. Fr. Mark said he knows that the attention placed on Cardinal Seán weighs on him and embarrasses him. Scot noted that every Boston media outlet was present for the Mass today. Scot said there will be 116 cardinal-electors in the conclave, where one Indonesian cardinal is too ill to travel to Rome to participate. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andy LaVallee and Msgr. Charles Murphy, from the Diocese of Portland, Maine, to the show. Msgr. Murphy had formerly been rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. They talked about how Pope John Paul II visited the college on this date many years ago after he was first elected pope. Msgr. Murphy talked about how the pope stayed for dinner and he was instructed to serve on bread and soup for Lent. He talked about their conversation over dinner. Among other things they discussed why fasting and abstinence has gone away. Since that time, Msgr. Murphy has written a book on the topic . The short answer to the change was that before Vatican II, fasting came under canon law and moral law and was connected to the idea missing the fast as a sin. Pope Paul VI tried to make it more positive and connected it to charity, but that ended up losing the sense of its importance. On the types of fast, Msgr. Murphy said there is total fast and partial fast. We used to fast from all food and drink from midnight before Sunday Mass to totally empty ourselves to prepare to receive the Lord. Jews fast like this for Yom Kippur. Partial fasting is abstaining from some food and drinks for a more extended period. This has to do with having our sins forgiven in confession, but having the effects remaining in us. Fasting counteracts the selfishness and other effects of sin in us. Andy didn't appreciate the power of spiritual fasting until a few years ago and since then he founded LiveTheFast.com to promote fasting. He said fasting is the remedy we want for our society, whether it be addictions or abortion or what's happening to our family. The website promotes the prayer of fasting together through nutritional breads and a spirit of community. Fasting is something that happens in all faiths, but in the Catholic Church fasting has become a lost art. On the website they promote books about fasting and send out emails every Wednesday and Friday to help people. They now send books and bread to 28 different states. Scot talked about the decline in Catholic identity and culture which correlates with the decline in fasting. Msgr. Murphy has been asking how do we bring this back in the Church. Pope Benedict has been strong on fasting and integrating body, mind, and experience as all parts of our existence. Families need to make a decision to do this together or a parish or even a whole diocese can call people to practice fasting. He doesn't think it will happen in the whole Church through canon law. Andy said people are telling him that for the first time ever they can fast without feeling ill because of the nutritional fasting bread. They even had one man who ran the Boston Marathon while fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays. Scot said he's heard fasting described as praying intensely with your whole body. Andy said you should always start in prayer and then always have an intention you're praying for. He also said one should drink plenty of water while on a fast. He said you can't drink enough water. And it's always easier to do this when being done with others. Msgr. Murphy said in his book's sixth chapter he uses the Eastern Church's model of fasting. Two Sundays before Lent, they give up meat for all of Lent and the Sunday before they add dairy. Wednesday is a fasting day because it's the day that Judas betrayed the Lord and Friday because it's the day of the crucifixion. Andy said there aren't enough modern teachings on fasting and the Church's need for it. He often hears questions from people who are looking for recipes or who have questions related to health issues, like diabetes. He recommends people talk to their doctor and spiritual director. Msgr. Murphy said the biggest obstacle is that people's lives are in disorder. People aren't sharing meals together like they used to, so he asks people to eat a family meal together at least one night per week. Eating has to become a thoughtful exercise. Andy said when one eats fasting bread it's important to chew for 60 seconds or more to get the fullest effect of the nutrition in the bread. Andy said a fast day starts with prayer, a roll in the morning, plenty of water, go to Mass. He has two or three more rolls or 6 to 8 ounces of bread total in a 24 hour fast. Msgr. Murphy said families can fast together by designating Wednesday and Friday as days to fast together. They can do it together as a mutual commitment. He thinks fasting has to be a whole regime of putting order in life. Fr. Mark asked what age should one start fasting. Andy said one can fast from other things like giving up TV or something else until they're old enough to fast from food. They talked about kids fasting from things they really enjoy and offer it up to God. Andy said fasting is all about sacrifice and controlling our desires. Msgr. Murphy said prayer, fasting, and charity are three pillars of our faith that comes to us from Judaism and talked about by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. He thinks it leads to a mystical experience of God. Andy said through his fasting he became a daily Mass communicant, started praying the rosary and was able to have what he calls a maximum re-conversion. Tomorrow, they are having a retreat called Equip for the Wilderness at St. Mary Parish in Waltham. Andy said they ran a similar retreat in Advent. It's about bringing back awareness of prayer and fasting through four speakers. The speakers are Msgr. Murphy, Fr. Michael Sevigny, and Mother Olga Yaqob. Find a link to the retreat at the top of this page. Andy said you won't be forced to fast. LaVallee's Bakery is providing cookies and special croissants among other things. He talked about how the first retreat had only a few people had fasted before, but at the end of the retreat they signed up 60 people with fasting kits. Msgr. Murphy related how he met some Buddhist monks who were trying to encourage the Japanese people to bring their faith into their homes. They started a skip-a-meal program in which they pick a day to skip a meal, to spend the time praying, and to give the money saved to charity. Andy said you get so much joy from fasting that you start to look forward to the next fast day. Scot asked Msgr. Murphy about his many encounters with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his work on the Catechism of the Catholic Church before he was elected pope and asked him about his thoughts on the recent news. He recalled seeing the Holy Father a few years ago and told him how proud he was to have worked with the Holy Father on the project. the Holy Father became very animated and said he was proud of that work too. Scot asked what he will be remembered most for. Msgr. Murphy said it will be his first encyclical, God is Love (Deus Caritas Est). Its message was that our faith is a positive message, not condemnatory. Andy said the Pope's 2009 Lenten message is an incredible message on fasting in which he said fasting is a great aid in avoiding sin. Andy said the second encyclical “Charity in Truth” is also great for Catholic businessman especially. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. First Reading for the Second Sunday of Lent (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18) The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” “O Lord GOD,” he asked, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.” Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent (Luke 9:28b-36) Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen. Scot said the moment of the transfiguration was important for the Apostles to experience even if they didn't understand it at the time so they would know who Jesus was. Msgr. Murphy talked about being at Mount Tabor on a pilgrimage, sleeping on the mountaintop and experiencing a cloud that covered the mountain like in the Gospel. The goal of the Christian life is to be transformed. In eastern spirituality, it's divinization in which we take on God's divinity. That's the goal of prayer, fasting, and charity. That transformation of Christ is something that should happen in our lives as well. While Jesus predicts the Passion, he also reassures them by showing them what will happen on the other side of the Passion. Scot said you can sum up Christian discipleship by repeating, “Listen to Him.” Andy said we need to put down the phones, get in silence, and listen to Him. He recalled the Wedding Feast at Cana where our Lady says, Do as He tells you. Fr. Mark said the readings have journeys that aren't easy that lead to a powerful experience of God, which goes well with the discussion on fasting.