Taiwan’s outlying islands are all special, but the crown jewel of them all must surely be Lanyu! A tiny green dot in the middle of a vast blue ocean, and on a sunny day (or 3) wow, the island glimmers … Continue reading WOW! Lanyu 蘭嶼 Orchid Island, Taiwan
Christ is risen, Alleluia! It’s been a meaningful, joyful and blessed Holy Week here at Advent Church, St. John’s University ~ and now Easter is upon us, so a very happy Easter to you all! This is the Easter fire, … Continue reading Holy Week and Easter 2018 @ Advent Church, St. John’s University, Taiwan!
It’s Holy Week and the sun is shining all week in Taipei, yippee! Today is Maundy Thursday, and appropriate for Maundy Thursday is a visit to Zhongshan Presbyterian Church (中山基督長老教會) in central Taipei (62, Linsen N. Rd 林森北路62號), where the small stained glass window above the altar is of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, while his disciples are fast asleep nearby. The window at the back of the church is of Jesus the Good Shepherd… This morning, very early, I cycled past this church on my way into Taipei. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the traffic … Continue reading Zhongshan Presbyterian Church, Taipei 中山基督長老教會
Today was Tan Mama’s funeral and funeral party. It was held in Advent Church, the sun was shining, the cherry blossom was out and Tan Mama would have been smiling! Just like in these photos of her taken a few years ago! Tan Mama’s funeral was moving, dignified and fitting, a service that included Holy Communion, in which we thanked God for Tan Mama’s life and commended her into God’s care and keeping. Her ashes were in a box (actually a chocolate biscuit box!) at the front of the church for the service. The church was full, family and friends … Continue reading R.I.P. Tan Mama 譚鄧承義姊妹追思聖餐禮拜 And what an amazing lady she was!
But where to start?! It’s quite a task to take on ‘praying for the world’ ~ so on Saturday night at the St. James’ Church Youth Group in Taichung, we started with, well, where else to start, but, of course, Taiwan! And we prayed around the Tropic of Cancer for all 16 officially-listed countries, one of which is Taiwan. Interestingly, many of those countries are very arid and dry ~ the Tropic of Cancer actually passes right through the middle of the Sahara Desert. And the highest mountain on the Tropic of Cancer is …… (drum roll here)… Yushan in … Continue reading Praying for the World…
Ah yes, and as with every Chinese New Year, food featured highly! Food, food and more delicious food. YUMMY! For most people, the New Year celebrations revolve around family reunions, gatherings with old friends, temple visits to pray for blessings for the new year, preparing food offerings and worship at the family ancestor shrine, and of course the enjoyment of meals and delicacies of every kind. Many people also take the chance to travel, but just as many people say they can’t face the traffic jams and prefer to stay home. Meanwhile those in the tourism and transport business work … Continue reading Chinese New Year 2018!
Lighting the Candles at last night’s ecumenical Taizé Service, organized by the National Council of Churches of Taiwan (NCCT) and held at the Taipei Wesley Methodist Church in central Taipei… The theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was “Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power’ (Exodus 15:6), and prepared by churches in the Caribbean. We had readings and songs in many of the different languages spoken in Taiwan. Very meaningful and beautiful. I love Taizé services! Continue reading Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2018 @ Taipei
Today is Epiphany, when we celebrate the visit of the Magi (Three Wise Men / Kings) to the Christ child…. In January 2015, I was visiting one of my CMS-UK Link Churches, St. Andrew’s Church, Tudhoe Grange, Spennymoor, Co. Durham and they had introduced a practice of Epiphany House Blessings (Chalking The Door) into the parish. They had one on their own church door. It was completely new to me, so when I left, the vicar gave me my own envelope with chalk (chalk reminds us that we are made from the dust of the earth) and information paper inside … Continue reading Epiphany House Blessing 2018
SJU is definitely a happening kind of place during Advent and Christmas! Taiwan doesn’t have any holidays for Christmas, so apart from weekends, the students are here in classes all over Christmas, the office staff are working all over Christmas, … Continue reading Advent & Christmas 2017 @ St. John’s University (SJU) & Advent Church, Taiwan
Catherine Lee 