Charing's play ground of theology

  Date: November 17, 2024 Occasion: Transgender Day of Remembrance with Candlelight Service Location: United Church of Hyde Park Scripture: Daniel 12:1-3 Sermon title: Those Shall Wake “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart     be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Amen.   “Daniel was called Belteshazzar” (Dan 1:7) by the palace master, as well as Daniel’s three other Jewish friends. Although Daniel and his friends were captured by the Babylonian King, they insisted not to comply with the eating regulations they were asked to follow. Daniel started to interpret King’s dreams because God has given Daniel vision and wisdom during the diaspora. Daniel’s three friends did not comply with the mandatory worshipping code – to worship the Golden Image made by the King, they were thrown into the furnace that was heated up seven times more than was customary. But, they survived. The King was shocked to know that they we...

  Sermon: Faith that crosses beyond barriers and regulations Scripture: Isaiah 56:1-8 and Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 Date: August 20, 2023 Location: United Church of Hyde Park   0. opening In the past several days, the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions held their annual conference at McCormick Place in Chicago. The theme this year is “ Defending Freedom and Human Rights .” [1] There were more than 10 thousand participants representing around 200 different religions. This year is my first time to be at this gathering. Before I attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions, I always assumed the largest gathering of multiple religious people was AAR (American Academy of Religion) or SBL (Society of Biblical Literature). Apparently, I was wrong. I noticed there are so many differences among people there: their religions, skin color, cultural background, the way they worship, and food they eat, and the clothes they wear. I felt I am but a member of a larger g...

  Sermon title:   "the gate of heaven" Scripture: Genesis 28:10-19a Date: July 23 2023 Location: United Church of Hyde Park   0. greetings Today, we will read this scripture through cross-cultural readings. And hopefully, this effort can bring us new perspectives and further understanding of the scriptures. 1. “Stairway” in Amis’ Genesis story (time of the beginning) (Taiwan) [1] There are 16 aboriginal tribes so far recognized by the Taiwan government. Because their languages, cultures, patterns of textures, and symbols are original and distinguished from one another. There are still 32 tribes on the waiting list to be recognized officially by the central authority. Amis is one of the 16 tribes. Today I would like to share two interesting stories from “The Book of Genesis of Amis”. The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Tokyo, Japan ( 東京人類學會雜誌 ) [2] published an article in 1910, titled 台湾のプユマ蕃族の族の族制一班 (Taiwan no puyuma banzoku no zoku no zokus...

Sermon title: Face to Face with G*d Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35 (cf. Luke 9:28-36, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2) Location: United Church of Hyde Park Date: February 27, 2022 (Transfiguration Sunday)   1. greetings and opening Today is Transfiguration Sunday. Transfiguration Sunday also means the end of the season of Epiphany and the preparation for the season of Lent. In the US, this is the last Sunday of African American History Month. Our church integrates related messages in our services, newsletters, and social media platforms. By doing so, we want to demonstrate the essence of systematic discrimination against our African American siblings in the past, how we are working collaboratively now, and the vision of an equality that we want to provide in the near future. In Taiwan and around the world, today is the day some Taiwanese Christians will host memorial services for those who were murdered on February 28, 1947, the so-called “228 Massacre,” and the 43-year white te...