Each week one of the pastoral staff prepare a message for the congregation.
James saw himself as the servant of God. His letter is addressed to the new Israelof God, the twelve tribes scattered abroad, the church of Jesus Christ. Insteadof being ensnared by the world, James 4:8 calls the church to draw near to God.Who then is this God? He is revealed in James’ words. James 1…
The past few weeks have been deeply challenging for me. The more time I spend reflecting on James, the more acutely I’m aware of how far I fall short of God’s standards. I struggle to find joy in my trials. I’m slow to hear, quick to speak, quick to anger. I know what God’s word…
When I was in Junior High, my school had an annual school cleaning campaign day. Instead of school bags, we were asked to bring cleaning cloths. Our teacher explained the task of the day—every class is responsible for cleaning their own classrooms and we need to complete the task before the end of the day.…
We all have our plans in life. Some of us may have plans to further our studies abroad, to get married, to buy a house, or to travel to this or that country. Likewise, although the Bible does not mention Mary and Joseph’s plans, I believe they had theirs as well. Being human and betrothed…
I had always felt that peace was such a fleeting sensation. Perhaps my time in the hospital best exemplified this: I could be looking out of the window at lunchtime, briefly losing myself in the peaceful serenity of the autumn landscape, marvelling at the beauty of God’s creation; in the next minute I find myself…
Have you ever noticed that whenever the Bible talks about believers, it uses metaphors that talk about Christians as a whole community, rather than as individuals? We need to be connected to the true Vine (John 15:1-8) We are one Body (Rom 12:4-5, 1 Cor 1:12-27, Eph 5:23) We are a chosen people, a royal…
Recently, someone handed me a copy of our Advent worship bulletin from 1965. That is almost 60 years of Advent celebrations here at ORPC, and maybe more if it started even further back. But what makes celebrating Advent so special that it has become an integral part of our tradition? Robert Webber, in his book Ancient-Future…
In recent weeks, Singapore has continued to reopen travel with the rest of the world with successive launches of vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs). Pent-up demand for overseas travel is expected, as many in Singapore look forward to being reunited with family members abroad, or simply to go travelling again. This is despite the significant additional…
It’s been about 18 years since I first stepped into this church. And it occursto me that the reason why I was initially comfortable in this church is thesame as one of the reasons why I left for a season. We don’t look out fornewcomers and jump on him/her trying to be welcoming. We don’t…
During my time as a doctor, I quickly learnt that there’s no such thing as taking a break from my profession. I got used to the idea that, even on a day off, I could be asked to give medical advice when meeting friends, be expected to help if someone faints in a mall, and…
