{"id":2856,"date":"2005-10-08T13:13:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-08T17:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2020-12-19T13:14:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T18:14:52","slug":"time-to-remember-125th-anniversary-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/time-to-remember-125th-anniversary-banquet\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to Remember: 125th Anniversary Banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Time to Remember<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exodus 13:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 8, 2005\u2014Anniversary Banquet, 6:00 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Post-Its were invented, people used to tie strings around their fingers to remember something. If you were to sit in my car, you would see that I have little Post-Its on the dashboard that say, \u201cmilk\u201d and another says, \u201cjuice.\u201d They remind me to stop by the grocery store on the way home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our society today, we are often more caught up with instant messaging than reading old letters. We are micro-waving instead of baking at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. We rather jet to LA than to drive for 6 hours. Our news stream across our computer screens instantly as they happen that we find little time to remember what happened yesterday, let alone what happened 125 years ago!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Old Testament, God told the Israelites that remembering is a spiritual discipline. God calls the people of Israel, about to walk free from generations of slavery, to remember this day of leaving because it was Yahweh who is bringing them out. God is bringing them out and giving these men, women, and children a new way of being. They are no longer slaves, but are God\u2019s chosen people. They can only know of themselves as free people as they remember Yahweh\u2019s involvement in their lives, and to come to know Yahweh as the freedom giver and provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Exodus 13:14, Moses said, \u201cWhen in the future your child asks you, \u2018What does this mean?\u2019 you shall answer, \u2018By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.\u2019\u201d We tend to choke back telling our children about our past. We want them to only focus on the present and the future. But when we deprive our children and ourselves of remembering our past, we can also forget how God\u2019s mighty acts of deliverance and salvation have also come to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical Remembrances<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this 125th<\/sup> Anniversary Celebration, we remember that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*In the 1840s and 1850s when China was an inhospitable place to live during the Opium War with England and floods and drought led to famine, and Chinese saw California as \u201cGold Mountain,\u201d is when Baptist work began with J. Lewis Shuck in 1854.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*In 1862 when California enacted the Anti-Coolie Act that forbade the importation of \u201ccoolie labor,\u201d and while at about the same time the Central Pacific Railroad Company began the first transcontinental railroad in 1865 is when John Francis and R.H. Grave worked with the Chinese under the American Baptist Home Mission Society in 1860.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*During the period of intense anti-Chinese activities from 1970-1885 when Chinese were limited to housing and employment options, queues were banned, and \u201cChinese Must Go\u201d rallies that led to violence and abuse, E.Z. Simmons worked with the Chinese that led to a small band of Chinese Christians to pray in rented quarters in 1874.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*When the Workingman\u2019s Party\u2019s candidate, Dennis Kearney ran for mayor\/governor using anti-Chinese political ads in 1880 and in the wake of the US Congress enacting the Chinese Exclusion Acts banning Chinese immigration and prohibiting Chinese from becoming citizens in 1882 is when Jesse B Hartwell, returning from his missionary work in China led to the formation of the Chinese Baptist Mission consisting of nine members meeting in quarters on Washington Street on Oct. 3, 1880.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*When the \u201cChinese School\u201d was renamed the \u201cOriental School\u201d in 1885 so that not only Chinese but Korean and Japanese students could be assigned to the school, the Chinese Baptist Mission called Tong Kit Hing from Portland, Oregon to serve as its first Chinese pastor in 1886.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*After the first church building was built on a lot that cost only $10,000 in 1888 only to be destroyed by the 1906 SF earthquake and fire, the Chinese Baptist Mission was rebuilt in 1908 after a national fund-raising campaign was mounted across the Baptist churches in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*At the end of World War II and the Executive Order 9066 when 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were removed to concentration camps, the Chinese Baptist Mission became the First Chinese Baptist Church on Feb. 19, 1945 that ended missionary dependence and the calling of James Chuck as the pastor in 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*1n 1977 when San Francisco Chinatown was threatened by Chinese youth gangs leading to the Golden Dragon Restaurant shoot-out that left 5 persons killed, 11 wounded that included one church member killed and one injured while they were innocently dining at the restaurant led to the recommitment of our church to sponsor summer day camp and youth camp programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*When the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area, the church was resolved to remain in Chinatown to continue its historical mission by renovating and retrofitting the entire building for $1.3 million in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have children, youth and adults here tonight because we will not choke back telling ourselves how God\u2019s mighty hand has been placed on this church to continue preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today we ask ourselves, \u201cWhat does this 125th<\/sup> anniversary mean?\u201d We will answer, \u201cBy strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Remembrance of Me<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As believers and disciples of Jesus Christ, we celebrate the Lord\u2019s Supper every first Sunday of the month. When we recall the events in the upper room and the pending trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we recall Jesus words for us \u201cDo this in remembrance of me.\u201d (Lk. 22:19) We are to remember the new covenant in his blood. We are invited to tell our children what this means so that at that time in their lives when they are ready for themselves to claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they will be able to do this as new believers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members with One Another<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word, \u201cremember\u201d has two parts: \u201cre\u201d and \u201cmember.\u201d In 1 Corinthians 12, we read from Apostle Paul that the body doesn\u2019t just have one member or that one member is superior to the others. Rather, there are many members all working together as one body. Every member of the body has a special function that is essential to the body to work properly. And if any one member is missing, we\u2019re not working together as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason why we are here tonight is to re-member. We are here to rejoin the many members and friends who have been apart and to once again affirm in the name of Christ and in the sight of God and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that \u201cwe were all baptized into one body\u2014Jews and Greeks, slaves or free\u2014and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time is given to us to remember that inasmuch that it was Yahweh who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt; God also brought our ancestors from not knowing Jesus Christ to the founding of the First Chinese Baptist Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time is given to us to remember that God so love the world that he gave his only Son in Jesus Christ so that we may have eternal life that we come to the table of the Lord every week to remember and to seek forgiveness of our sins and to receive God\u2019s grace and mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time is given to us to remember that we are the body of Christ and individually members of it. Let us serve God tonight and everyday by never forgetting but always remembering that \u201cBy the strength of the hand of the Lord, he has brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery\u201d so that we may today abound in thanksgiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O God, by the strength of your hand, you have brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery. We thank you tonight for bringing us out of a time when we did not know Christ to today when we are one in the Spirit with the Lord. We celebrate this time of homecoming and the renewal of friendships. May this time of remembrance lead us to become faithful and dedicated disciples in your kingdom on earth. All praise and glory to Christ who has made us one with you, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time to Remember Exodus 13:14 October 8, 2005\u2014Anniversary Banquet, 6:00 PM Before Post-Its were invented, people used to tie strings around their fingers to remember something. If you were toContinue readingTime to Remember: 125th Anniversary Banquet<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-2856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message","tag-fcbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2857,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2856\/revisions\/2857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}