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| Jesus enters Jerusalem and the crowds welcome him, by Pietro Lorenzetti (1285-1348) |
Sixth Sunday in Lent
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 5, 2020
Matthew 21: 1-11
The Triumphal Entry
An excerpt from a letter by John McCall, mission co-worker based in Taiwan
This past weekend, I was invited to speak at a joint church youth event on Saturday evening and preach at a joint church renewal service on Sunday. I took the tilting train (which tilts on the curves so it can keep up a fast speed) from Taipei to Yuli, a small town on the East Coast. I was greeted at the train station by Yueh-Han, Ali, their daughter, and their three grandchildren. We stopped to get fresh mango smoothies at a local shop and then headed through the mountains to the Pacific coast. It took us about an hour and a half to arrive at their village.
When we arrived, we drank tea, and slowly youth from neighboring villages arrived for the youth event. Many of these youth are going to school in Taiwan’s cities and come back to their villages for the weekend. Several of my former seminary students, who are serving churches in the area, brought the youth from their churches. It is always a joy to listen to former students and see how God is at work in and through them.
I am always grateful for the opportunity to be with youth and to encourage them to live into their identities as God’s daughters and sons. The aboriginal youth love to sing, and it is always an uplifting time to see them return to their roots in the villages and be with other aboriginal young people who understand them.
As I had the opportunity to hear from Yueh-Han and Ali about their lives and ministry, I was struck by all that they have had to endure, and yet they are pastors of hope and faith. Yueh-Han expresses no rancor toward the man who shot him and confined him to a wheelchair. He and Ali have joined with their daughter-in-law to share their faith with their three grandchildren. They deeply miss their son, but they trust that he is in heaven and one day they shall meet again.
So often I am invited to aboriginal churches to share the Good News of the Gospel, but as I watch and listen to my aboriginal brothers and sisters, they share the Good News with me by the power of the witness of their lives.
Fonte: Presbyterian Mission - PCUSA. Disponível em: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/
Rev. John McCall
John McCall is a mission co-worker serving in Taiwan. He teaches courses on ministry and spiritual formation to pastors and lay leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCUSA) and works with pastors by facilitating one-on-one mentoring relationships and helping them develop intentional communities.
April 5, 2020
Matthew 21: 1-11
The Triumphal Entry
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
An excerpt from a letter by John McCall, mission co-worker based in Taiwan
This past weekend, I was invited to speak at a joint church youth event on Saturday evening and preach at a joint church renewal service on Sunday. I took the tilting train (which tilts on the curves so it can keep up a fast speed) from Taipei to Yuli, a small town on the East Coast. I was greeted at the train station by Yueh-Han, Ali, their daughter, and their three grandchildren. We stopped to get fresh mango smoothies at a local shop and then headed through the mountains to the Pacific coast. It took us about an hour and a half to arrive at their village.
When we arrived, we drank tea, and slowly youth from neighboring villages arrived for the youth event. Many of these youth are going to school in Taiwan’s cities and come back to their villages for the weekend. Several of my former seminary students, who are serving churches in the area, brought the youth from their churches. It is always a joy to listen to former students and see how God is at work in and through them.
I am always grateful for the opportunity to be with youth and to encourage them to live into their identities as God’s daughters and sons. The aboriginal youth love to sing, and it is always an uplifting time to see them return to their roots in the villages and be with other aboriginal young people who understand them.
As I had the opportunity to hear from Yueh-Han and Ali about their lives and ministry, I was struck by all that they have had to endure, and yet they are pastors of hope and faith. Yueh-Han expresses no rancor toward the man who shot him and confined him to a wheelchair. He and Ali have joined with their daughter-in-law to share their faith with their three grandchildren. They deeply miss their son, but they trust that he is in heaven and one day they shall meet again.
So often I am invited to aboriginal churches to share the Good News of the Gospel, but as I watch and listen to my aboriginal brothers and sisters, they share the Good News with me by the power of the witness of their lives.
Fonte: Presbyterian Mission - PCUSA. Disponível em: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/
Rev. John McCall
John McCall is a mission co-worker serving in Taiwan. He teaches courses on ministry and spiritual formation to pastors and lay leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCUSA) and works with pastors by facilitating one-on-one mentoring relationships and helping them develop intentional communities.
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