Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning/afternoon!

I would like to thank you, family, for welcoming my family and I so warmly into your midst, and allowing me to be a part of this wonderful redeeming community of faith…

Sermon Title : T3 – (Transcending Transitional Turbulence)

Occasion : English Sunday Service

If you’re new to our church and are here the first time, and don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain…

You see, I’ve just been appointed to PLMC slightly more than a month ago, and so if you’re new to this church, you’re not the only one… you’re in good company… I’m new too…

Location : Paya Lebar Methodist Church

So, just as I have been welcoming you to our church, I am in the process of being welcomed into our church as well… perhaps we can go down to the welcome corner and chat over a cup of coffee…

MPP : We have victory over our circumstances in life in God

<Pause>

Good morning/afternoon!

Over the last one month or so, as you can tell there had been many changes in life…

I would like to thank you, family, for welcoming my family and I so warmly into your midst, and allowing me to be a part of this wonderful redeeming community of faith…

If you’re new to our church and are here the first time, and don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain…

I went from being a theological student and serving a church that I had been going to for most of my adult life… to being a pastor, serving in a new church…

You see, I’ve just been appointed to PLMC slightly more than a month ago, and so if you’re new to this church, you’re not the only one… you’re in good company… I’m new too…

These are changes that take time to adjust and because of habit patterns, on days that I am not paying attention, I may find myself driving towards my previous church, or even greet you by saying “welcome to Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church”…

So, just as I have been welcoming you to our church, I am in the process of being welcomed into our church as well… perhaps we can go down to the welcome corner and chat over a cup of coffee…

If I were to do that, please don’t take offense, and don’t be angry with me ok?

Just laugh along with me ok?

<Pause>

Well, just for the record, I’ve actually done something similar, by referring to the wrong hymnal once in my former church and only one person realised my mistake…

Over the last one month or so, as you can tell there had been many changes in life…

The point is… with changes in our lives, somethings we get disorientated because of the turbulence in our lives, with all the different changes… we find it hard to find our footing amidst all the changes…

which reminds me of the time, a few years ago, I was in a ferry, on the way to Bintan on a holiday with my travelling companion (I shall not mention that she’s my wife so as not to embarrass her)…

I went from being a theological student and serving a church that I had been going to for most of my adult life… to being a pastor, serving in a new church…

I’m joking… I already had permission from her to share this story with you…

These are changes that take time to adjust and because of habit patterns, on days that I am not paying attention, I may find myself driving towards my previous church, or even greet you by saying “welcome to Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church”…

If I were to do that, please don’t take offense, and don’t be angry with me ok?

Just laugh along with me ok?

The time of travel was during the December holidays, and because of the monsoon winds, the conditions of the sea was pretty bad…

Well, just for the record, I’ve actually done something similar, by referring to the wrong hymnal once in my former church and only one person realised my mistake…

However, I wasn’t paying much attention to it, and just enjoying the view outside looking forward to spending sometime away from my work…

Then I turned back into the cabin and saw that my wife wasn’t enjoying the trip as much as I was…

The point is… with changes in our lives, somethings we get disorientated because of the turbulence in our lives, with all the different changes… we find it hard to find our footing amidst all the changes…

which reminds me of the time, a few years ago, I was in a ferry, on the way to Bintan on a holiday with my travelling companion (I shall not mention that she’s my wife so as not to embarrass her)…

Her face was pale and had the “do not disturb me” look on her face… then I realise what was happening…

I’m joking… I already had permission from her to share this story with you…

I quickly realised that she was suffering of seasickness and while I was enjoying the scenery outside and actually enjoying the bumps as the ferry was navigating the troughs and crests in the sea, my wife was trying to keep what she had for breakfast down…

And what is the cause of this seasickness?

The time of travel was during the December holidays, and because of the monsoon winds, the conditions of the sea was pretty bad…

It’s because of turbulence in what waters below the ferry…

However, I wasn’t paying much attention to it, and just enjoying the view outside looking forward to spending sometime away from my work…

As some water particles that are trying to go in one direction and others going in another directions and as the water particles interact, they influence each other causing very erratic movement which in turn causes the ferry to move about erratically…

Then I turned back into the cabin and saw that my wife wasn’t enjoying the trip as much as I was…

Her face was pale and had the “do not disturb me” look on her face… then I realise what was happening…

As a result, your inner ear creates havoc to you as the fluid in your inner ear is constantly trying to keep up with the motion that it is subject to, always being slightly behind the motion that your eye sees and because the picture painted by your ear and your eyes do not telly with one another and that’s when you start to get nauseated and dizzy…

And when the age-old advice comes in handy… and what does it say?

I quickly realised that she was suffering of seasickness and while I was enjoying the scenery outside and actually enjoying the bumps as the ferry was navigating the troughs and crests in the sea, my wife was trying to keep what she had for breakfast down…

And what is the cause of this seasickness?

Look at something far away… why?

Because it’s far away, from our point of view, it’s not moving and rather than having both your eyes and your ears sensing movement at different speeds, you have a fixed point and suddenly everything is able to take reference from this fixed point and things start to make sense, and your body is able to now find stability…

It’s because of turbulence in what waters below the ferry…

That was what made the difference between my wife and I…

I was looking outside all the time and my wife was not…

As some water particles that are trying to go in one direction and others going in another directions and as the water particles interact, they influence each other causing very erratic movement which in turn causes the ferry to move about erratically…

Though we were in the same location, the ferry, both being rocked by turbulence, but she had nothing to fix her eyes on, while I had… that made the difference for us…

As a result, your inner ear creates havoc to you as the fluid in your inner ear is constantly trying to keep up with the motion that it is subject to, always being slightly behind the motion that your eye sees and because the picture painted by your ear and your eyes do not telly with one another and that’s when you start to get nauseated and dizzy…

So, this month is for me, a time of adjustment and adapting… it is a time of transition…

And when the age-old advice comes in handy… and what does it say?

Look at something far away… why?

Because it’s far away, from our point of view, it’s not moving and rather than having both your eyes and your ears sensing movement at different speeds, you have a fixed point and suddenly everything is able to take reference from this fixed point and things start to make sense, and your body is able to now find stability…

And when there’s transition, there’s turbulence, because there are parts of you that remains the same… and there are parts of you that are being changed….

There are parts of you that wants to go in this particular direction and other parts of you which want to go in another direction and as they interact with one another, just like water or air, they create a tension within you, some sort of a dissonance… so there’s a level of instability and uncertainty and while you are being thrown about with all the winds of changes and you’re trying to make sense of it all…

That was what made the difference between my wife and I…

I was looking outside all the time and my wife was not…

In fact, this is studied quite a bit and according to just one study done, there is a scale called the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress inventory which plots out the likelihood of someone falling sick, with respect to the cumulative stress as a result of changes in one’s life…

I thought it was quite interesting to point out that even seemingly happy things in our lives can cause stress… take a look at serial number 7, 16, 41, 42…

Though we were in the same location, the ferry, both being rocked by turbulence, but she had nothing to fix her eyes on, while I had… that made the difference for us…

The point is that our life is in a constant flux, sometimes, there’s more changes, and sometimes, there’s less and coming back to our text for today, it was a time of great changes…

So, this month is for me, a time of adjustment and adapting… it is a time of transition…

And when there’s transition, there’s turbulence, because there are parts of you that remains the same… and there are parts of you that are being changed….

You see, 1 Peter was a letter Apostle Peter wrote during the first century which was needless to say, a very turbulent time for the Christians…

At that time, the people of the Roman empire, as Paul pointed out in , were very religious… What he meant was that they had many, many gods, in fact they had patron gods and goddesses at major street and buildings and the residents are known to offer sacrifices to theses gods and goddesses who in turn grant them good fortune and protection…

There are parts of you that wants to go in this particular direction and other parts of you which want to go in another direction and as they interact with one another, just like water or air, they create a tension within you, some sort of a dissonance… so there’s a level of instability and uncertainty and while you are being thrown about with all the winds of changes and you’re trying to make sense of it all…

In fact, this is studied quite a bit and according to just one study done, there is a scale called the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress inventory which plots out the likelihood of someone falling sick, with respect to the cumulative stress as a result of changes in one’s life…

So you can very well imagine, if something goes wrong in the neighbourhood, you can be assured that they will be most happy to blame the “weird” people in their midst … for either they really think so, or they just want somebody to take the blame, they will rationalise that because the gods must be angry with their neighbours who are not participating with the rituals which is why misfortunate is upon the people…

I thought it was quite interesting to point out that even seemingly happy things in our lives can cause stress… take a look at serial number 7, 16, 41, 42…

this is probably more stark because the people in this letter were converts from paganistic beliefs to Christianity and so you see suddenly the very same people who partook of temple sacrifices, office blessings (not Christian blessing, but pagan blessing), worshipping those mini-deities suddenly no longer doing so, and the reason they gave was because they now can only worship one God… thus they were persecuted by the people, ostracised by their former friends and outcast in their society…

The point is that our life is in a constant flux, sometimes, there’s more changes, and sometimes, there’s less and coming back to our text for today, it was a time of great changes…

sounds very familiar right?

I’m sure you’ve heard of kitchen deities, door deities etc…

You see, 1 Peter was a letter Apostle Peter wrote during the first century which was needless to say, a very turbulent time for the Christians…

This is like what many of those even within our community face when they become new Christians, when they are the only Christian in the family and they do not quite know what to do when it comes to occasions such as Qing Ming Jie, or mid-Autumn festival…

Or in companies where the bosses are idol worshippers and they have the altar in the carpark of the businesses and when the boss leads the staff in offering sacrifices to the idols, and if you don’t participate in the rituals… then when the company does not do as well that year, sometimes they get pointed out as the cause of the poor performance in the business…

At that time, the people of the Roman empire, as Paul pointed out in , were very religious… What he meant was that they had many, many gods, in fact they had patron gods and goddesses at major street and buildings and the residents are known to offer sacrifices to theses gods and goddesses who in turn grant them good fortune and protection…

What about the Jewish people?