Reclaiming Joy

reclaim |riˈklām|

verb [ trans. ]
1 retrieve or recover (something previously lost, given, or paid); obtain the return of : he returned three years later to reclaim his title as director of advertising | when Dennis emerged I reclaimed my room.
• redeem (someone) from a state of vice; reform : societies for reclaiming beggars and prostitutes.
• archaic tame or civilize (an animal or person).

2 bring (waste land or land formerly under water) under cultivation : little money is available to reclaim and cultivate the desert | [as adj. ] ( reclaimed) reclaimed land.
• recover (material) for reuse; recycle : a sufficient weight of plastic could easily be reclaimed.


Elizabeth and I are entering into a new stage of our lives. I have chosen to name the first step "reclaiming joy." I especially like the second definition: bring (waste land) under cultivation. We have a lot of work to do, and some practical steps to take. I am beginning this process by cultivating an acute awareness of the joy God takes in welcoming each one of us into relationship. This joy is expressed in wonderful ways, in tears, laughter, relief, and beaming smiles.

We will have much more to say on our reclamation project as it continues. . .

curiosity piqued?


Love,

Seth

Karaoke Mountain

Cold Mountain, Brokeback Mountain, and now. . . Karaoke Mountain!

A few years back, the advertising slogan for the University of Colorado College of Music (our alma mater) was "Music to Match our Mountains." Very cute and alliterative. Well, today, Elizabeth and I stumbled upon one of the most bizarre and joyous cultural events in Taiwan.

It's a story we're calling: "Karaoke to match our mountains."

Elizabeth and I have been wanting to get out of Taipei for weeks. We finally took the opportunity today to hike the Jiantan Shan trail. This trail is accessible by subway and basically scales a mountain overlooking the city. It's a beautiful day hike and was just what we needed. . . peace and quiet, solitude, relaxation.

And then we started hearing voices on the hillside. Amplified voices. In the middle of the woods. Apparently the North side of Jiantan mountain is covered with small permanent shelters, very much like picnic shelters at most U.S. public parks. However, these shelters are owned by families, marked very much like U.S. ranches and include badminton courts, a storage shed, and most importantly, electric generators to power televisions, microphones, and a sound system.

On our way up the mountain we passed at least 6 separate families singing karaoke. At full volume. Without a care in the world. It was incredible, bizarre, fun, and surprising. We have a video of the experience, but it is too large to upload on this blog. Which means we'll have fun home video time when we return to the U.S.!

Hiking in Taiwan is stunning. The flora and fauna are lush and colorful and vibrant (in December!!!). Hiking here is quite similar to hiking in Boulder. Most of the trails in Taiwan start from sea level and immediately climb up into the mountains. Therefore, the trails are steep and give great views overlooking Taipei. It reminds me a lot of hiking Flagstaff and seeing the red tile roofs of the CU campus or going up to Red Rocks and looking out over Denver.

More mission writing next time and less travelogue, I promise. But until then, enjoy the beauty of Taiwan:

On the Bus

At times it seems like most of my time is spent traveling. I travel at least an hour and half every day, not counting walking to NTU and to Chinese classes (about 20 minutes away from the cathedral). For the most part, I don't really mind. Most people probably have jobs they secretly would like (perhaps just for a day). A favorite "dream" job of mine is long distance semi-driver. I really enjoy watching the scenery go by, and I get some of my best thinking done while in the car, or bus, or train, or subway. . .

This week I have been thinking about convenience. This thought is closely tied to transportation. I'll get there soon. . .

In the days after the presidential election I was asked by many people in the U.S. what the reaction was in Taiwan. Overall, I got two reactions: #1: Most Taiwanese don't care about U.S. politics and #2: Obama ran a really slick ad campaign. I wish I had more to report. Keep in mind, these results are not statistically significant or even remotely reliable as an indicator of the Taiwanese political mindset. Although uninterested in U.S. politics, over the few months we have been here I have discovered an issue the Taiwanese will discuss with passion: convenience.

Convenience is usually how the value of things are gauged. Consider these (not-so) hypothetical scenarios:

#1: I am talking to a student at NTU who is from Kaohsiung (southern Taiwan).

Me: Do you like living in Taipei?
Student: I guess so. It's very convenient.

#2: Discussion with cathedral members about English Bible Study

Me: We are holding the Bible study at 7:30pm on Tuesdays. Late enough for students coming from classes and early enough for students to return to study.

Cathedral member: Thursdays are not convenient times for students. Maybe a weekend will be more convenient?

#3: Taiwan has more than 4,000 7-11 convenience stores. Plus almost as many Family Mart and Hi-Life convenience stores. Taiwan is an extremely small country. It takes 4 hours by train to go from northern to southern tip.

Back to transportation: On the evening bus ride from NTU to Xindian (where we live), the bus is always packed with middle and high school students. These students leave school anywhere between 4 and 9pm at night. The students then travel by subway or bus often 30 minutes to an hour each way to their homes. (This is true because the school system here is run completely on tests. These tests decide what school you go to. Students are tracked into vocational or college-prep high schools by the time they are 13/14 years old)

Perhaps convenience is so highly valued by college students and adults because they spent half of their own childhood traveling back and forth to school. Or maybe they are simply exhausted by going to school for 12-15 hours per day (plus Saturday school in high school). I can understand the appeal of getting a good job and wanting everything (and 7-11's have just about everything) within arms reach.

But is this the reward for such hard work and intense traveling for 18 years? Convenience? Are we allowing convenience to decide our quality of life? Students like college because it is convenient!? Students only go to Bible study because it is convenient?

If there is one major thing I have learned this year is God is not convenient. Jesus spoke of a narrow path and the eye of the needle, not convenience. Certainly not the easy life.

What does this mean? For many emerging church writers, this means a revolutionary way of living. For some like Shane Claiborne, this means living the Simple Way. Simple, but not convenient. This means working on long-term relationships, reaching out, traveling, stretching ourselves into new ways of living, being, interacting. We (I) have to be willing to take a bus 15 minutes, transfer to the Subway for 20, walk for 30 minutes, talk with strangers for 2 hours about the love of God and then make the journey in reverse. And then wash, rinse, and repeat for the next 8 months.

That doesn't sound easy. And it certainly isn't convenient. It's not even fun. But it is what God is asking right now, in this place. So I'll get back on the bus tomorrow and keep praying for love, not convenience, to take over.

Love,

Seth

The night time pictures are from our excursion to the Opera! The CKS Memorial Hall is pretty at night. And, I got to wear my jacket! The video is a man playing the harmonica outside the hall. I think he was better than the opera! (I'm serious, very very serious. It was a bad opera. . . and the harmonica man is pretty good.) Also, we had pasta with marinara sauce and garlic bread for the first time in over 4 months! It was absolutely breathtaking. Good enough to post online!

Christian Calisthenics

In the good 'ol Episcopal Church I have often heard the up and down of the liturgy, the standing, kneeling, and sitting referred to as "pew aerobics" or "Christian calisthenics." Well, I have news for those of you who might consider yourselves high church and in love with such exercises. . . you wouldn't last a week in Taiwan.

This past Saturday, Elizabeth and I took part in the National Council of Churches in Taiwan Christian Sports Day (colloquially the NCCTCSD). We arrived a little bit late and walked in right in the middle of the opening ceremonies. Now, Taiwan is no world sports superpower, but they must have paid close attention to the opening ceremonies in Beijing. Each denomination (Lutheran, Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, YMCA, YWCA) was lined up in military precision lines, all wearing denominational uniforms and chanting church slogans in unison (I am totally not making this up). After a few prayers where denominational leaders invoked the competitors to play fair and try to remember some principles such as love and grace, we all did group warm-ups.

When I say warm-ups, I mean they had a team of calisthenic leaders up front with headset microphones leading the entire crowd of 1500 out of shape "athletes" in deep knee bends, stretching, jumping jacks, and about 20 more minutes of intense aerobic exercise.

I for one was extremely thankful for the warm-up. After all, I was signed up to play billiards at 10:30am. And Elizabeth was signed up to play tug of war at 1pm. All I am saying is, I'm sure the stretching paid off.



The rest of the day I believe can best be described as chaos. After calisthenics the churches broke up into teams for basketball, table tennis, billiards, squash, and tug of war. I was the third leg of the Episcopal Church's 9-Ball pool team. Which meant I didn't play because the first two guys lost. Oh well. Victor, Elizabeth, and I played on our own later and I got to show off my concentration face.

The featured sport was table tennis, but the most exciting event of the day was tug of war. The tug of war divisions were split into men, women, and co-ed. Elizabeth and Victor (our friend from the cathedral) were put onto the Episcopal Church co-ed team. Let's just say short and skinny aren't necessarily the best reasons to put someone on a tug of war team. Fortunately, they had a great coach. Daniel, the campus minister at St. John's University is shown here demonstrating proper tug of war technique.

Alas, our intrepid band of Episcopalians were no match for the Catholics. As you can see from the picture, the Catholics (in yellow) were not only far more intense, there team was also entirely made up of farm workers from the southern part of the country. Our two rounds against the Catholics lasted a total of about 1 minute. They were a force to be reckoned with. And as you can see, the rope burns. The Catholics creamed every team they played against, taking the championship of all three divisions. Maybe next time the Episcopalians stick to table tennis. . .











at least this guy looks like he is good:

Well, that's all for now. Elizabeth, Victor, and I are going to the world premiere of an opera on Friday called the Black Bearded Bible Man. It is about George Mackay, the first Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan. It is also the first opera to be written in Taiwanese and English. It is being performed at the National Theater with the National Orchestra, so I hope it will be good. At the very least, it will be in Taiwanese so we don't have to feel bad that we don't understand.

Peace,
Seth