Our stories are both human and divine. When we are opened to seeing that in almost every human event, God is present, then our stories become God\u2019s stories. These mighty stories have lasting impact on our lives because they breathe meaning and rituals to guide our living. Allow me to introduce you to three life stories that begin with my story but are universal so that these are your stories too. You will get a chance to hear my story, then you will be invited to hear each other\u2019s stories, and lastly, we will ritualize them together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For over 20 years, coming home meant getting on 422 to 202 south, getting off at the Paoli exit which is Route 252 south, make a right on Route 30 going west, at the fork past the Dairy Queen on the right and the Seafood Shanty Restaurant on the left, bear left, go four blocks and Crumley Avenue is on the left. 6 Crumley Avenue is the fourth white house on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming home today means going up Sacramento St. until Nob Hill, make a left, go to Pine St., make a right and continue until Masonic, bear left. Go across Geary, make a right on Turk, a right on Arguello and back my car into a very narrow driveway opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all eventually learn how to get home from our new places of employment. And gradually our home places begin to take on special meaning that nurtures and inspires our lives. In Pennsylvania where we lived before, when we drove up our short street on Crumley Avenue, we immediately can feel the sweltering hot, hazy, and humid days of the summer cool down because of the large shady trees on our street. Coming home literally meant cooling off from a long day at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living on Arguello Boulevard is quite different for us today. It\u2019s city life. From our living room window, we can catch all the action that\u2019s happening up and down Balboa Street. The overhead wires for the trackless bus trolleys flicker regularly reminding us of lightning that comes with thunderstorms. The traffic light just outside serves as a city-subsidized night light that was also an urban Christmas tree blinking red and green all night long. But the best thing about the view from our window is that we have an \u201cocean-view.\u201d You can just imagine that the Pacific Ocean is at the end of Balboa Street! And it is kind of ironic that it was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer in 1513 who claimed to be the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming to San Francisco is truly like coming home for Joy and me. When Joy and her family emigrated to America forty years ago, the first thing she associated America with is sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. When my Grandfather came to the U.S. in the early 1900s, he worked in San Francisco Chinatown. When my mother and brother eventually came after World War II, they were detained on Angel Island for 3 months. And most of you know that our son, Greg was born at the French Hospital on Geary Boulevard, only five blocks from where we live today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel that these connections are not coincidences but a part of God\u2019s larger plan for our lives. Coming home to San Francisco has felt good and we know that God has placed us here for a purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is \u201cComing Home\u201d for you? Is there a special place that you would call \u201chome?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Biblical Story: Read Gellman\u2019s Moses story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ritual: Imagine this is the SF Bay Area. Go and stand where you currently live. Introduce yourself to your \u201cnew\u201d neighbors. Perhaps you can car-pool into work together or come over sometimes for a pot-luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ng household in Malvern, PA was comprised of Mom, Dad, one boy, and one girl. We couldn\u2019t have been any more of a \u201ctypical storybook\u201d family than if you planned it. Although we didn\u2019t have a dog or a cat, our daughter does have a water turtle named, Truman, after Truman Capote, the writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably the most grievous part of our move to SF is the thought of leaving our two young adult children back east. Our son, Greg, a graphic designer lives in Boston, about 6 treacherous hours driving on Route 95 of the Northeast Corridor. Our daughter, Lauren, who came to visit at Christmas is a junior at Oberlin College in Ohio. When we moved, our son said to us, \u201cWhen you lived in Pennsylvania, we knew that with a little effort, we can come home to visit.\u201d Now that we live in SF, it requires a great deal of money and planning for him to come home. Just the thought that it was possible to come home and be with family was reassuring. Being a family, like the way we have been familiar with is not easy to maintain in these times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since we have been in SF, we are developing and forming new family networks. We were adopted by the Choy family for Thanksgiving and the Hom family for New Years. Our new family fellowship group is the Sojourners, people turning 50 with high college debts. At the Sojourners Christmas gathering two weeks ago, there were over 70 people in attendance. We traded a small nuclear family for a big family system!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does \u201cbeing family\u201d mean today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n First of all, the definition that FCBC has always had about \u201cbeing family\u201d is still relevant today. It extends beyond our individual nuclear family households. It is like the Sojourners. It is like the ETCs. Loving and caring people who invest in each other\u2019s lives so that what we may not have in our own immediate households, we have in our extended family fellowships. At FCBC, we teach our children to call adults \u201cUncles and Aunties.\u201d When we live this way, our lives are enriched in multitudes of ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We go camping together. We have prayer chains. We celebrate one another\u2019s birthdays and anniversaries. We do church together. Sometimes, we become in-laws. And, in time, we grieve with each other when our days come to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus belonged to a fellowship group. It was made up of his twelve disciples, the women, Mary and Martha, and perhaps many others. They did what you and I are doing tonight: having something to eat and sharing in fellowship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is being a member of the ETC family mean to you? Who are some of the persons who have made a difference in your life for whom you are thankful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read John 15:1-17 Jesus is the True Vine<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Jesus, we are friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ritual: Sing \u201cHere is My Hand, Here is Another\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was in high school, I felt that I was destined to become what every Chinese American kid had been in my generation, that is an \u201celectrical engineer.\u201d I enjoyed taking things apart. I had the math classes. I went to a college bound oriented high school. And worst of all, I looked the part!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In college, I was a psych major and I thought I was going to become an Asian Abraham Maslow or an Erik Erikson. But God\u2019s plans for my life in retrospect have always been toward Christian ministry. From the very beginning, when the FBC of Boston co-sponsored with my father to help my mother come to America, my destiny was already established. I would not have been born if it weren\u2019t for First Baptist. During my youth years and college days, I remained a church mouse\u2014spending evenings and weekends at church for BYF, teaching Sunday school, planning children\u2019s programs, and preaching Youth Sunday sermons. I was destined when my first paying church job was to ride the church bus throughout the streets of Boston picking up kids for Sunday school. I was paid $10 a week and had my name on the bulletin: Church School Developer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the word was out that Jeff Sharp was leaving FCBC to become an ABC missionary in Hongkong, I felt a knot in my guts that I couldn\u2019t untie. When I left in 1978 to accept the position in Valley Forge, I realized that I left too soon. There has always been a hope in my heart that God may once again grant me an opportunity to serve him and the saints at FCBC in ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I realized that I would not know where God may be calling me unless I become opened to his leading. With many things that were unsettled such as a place to live when we have been living for twenty years in one place, we knew we can trust God. After I became convinced that God is calling us to SF, I needed Joy to feel the same. The day when Joy and I flew into SFO, she knew that it was God calling us to this place for home and ministry. The rest is history. And today, we are making history together again. Today, I\u2019m untying that knot in my guts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God has a special plan for each of us. What is God calling you to for today? How is you life fulfilled with the things you do and the people you are with?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read: Robert Fulghum\u2019s Barking Pig<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ritual: Prayer together<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Gracious Father God, we pray tonight to offer our thanksgiving for your constant blessings that you have showered upon our lives. Our lives dedicated to your Christian service have been enriched throughout the years because of the love and support that we have received from you. Challenge us to be open to new directions for our lives\u2014trusting you that all things are possible in Christ. May this brand new year of 1999 and the approaching new millennium present us with surprises and miracles of your power and will in earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Abide in us as we abide in you through Jesus Christ as the ETC fellowship. Help us to support one another through the good days as well as the bad ones. Ignite our hearts to light up the days when life turns dark. Nourish our souls with refreshment of love and compassion that we give to each other so that we can give it to our suffering world. May this \u201choly day\u201d in the life of the ETCs be remembered for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Precious God, we are grateful for the homes that we have for shelter and for extending hospitality. May we welcome the stranger to come in. Enable us to invite you into our homes so that others will see that in both words and in deeds, we bear witness to our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our stories are both human and divine. When we are opened to seeing that in almost every human event, God is present, then our stories become God\u2019s stories. These mightyBeing Family<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Being Called<\/h6>\n\n\n\n