The big weekend - Saturday evening
The first of the Chinese arrived at 5 to begin the preparations for the meeting - that is to begin cooking !
I went in a lower room to do a bit of trombone practice in order to clear my head and blow away the cobwebs a little.
Peopel arrived from about 6 and we ate delicious food then sang in Cantonese before handing over for the talk.
We had planned that this would be in French, but a few people had little French so in the end I spoke in Englich with Mandarin interpretation from François Liu. The message was from Mark 7 - on the need for real purity in the heart, not ritual purity from ceremonies or restrictive laws.
I committed a faux-pas when referring to verse 19 - where Jesus declares all foods clean. One girl said "but not blood, right?"
I said ,"All foods clean."
"Yes, but not blood."
I was afterwards told that Chinese churches ban blood-based foods, from Acts 15.
1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 didn't help. OK.
Still, we learned that these peripheral questions need to be put to the periphery and not discussed in the big group. Pat and the kids came from the youth meeting and so I got to go home in the car rather than bus and tram. Luxury !
I went in a lower room to do a bit of trombone practice in order to clear my head and blow away the cobwebs a little.
Peopel arrived from about 6 and we ate delicious food then sang in Cantonese before handing over for the talk.
We had planned that this would be in French, but a few people had little French so in the end I spoke in Englich with Mandarin interpretation from François Liu. The message was from Mark 7 - on the need for real purity in the heart, not ritual purity from ceremonies or restrictive laws.
I committed a faux-pas when referring to verse 19 - where Jesus declares all foods clean. One girl said "but not blood, right?"
I said ,"All foods clean."
"Yes, but not blood."
I was afterwards told that Chinese churches ban blood-based foods, from Acts 15.
1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 didn't help. OK.
Still, we learned that these peripheral questions need to be put to the periphery and not discussed in the big group. Pat and the kids came from the youth meeting and so I got to go home in the car rather than bus and tram. Luxury !
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