Went to a Sunday worship service at the Hung Hom Hall of the Polytechnic University just now. I didn’t know that the group exist until yesterday. It turns our they have been there for 4 years now. That shows me there is still so much about our university that I do not know.
I was not surprised to find the music loud, the pastor wearing jeans, and the generally casual atmosphere. I was still pleasantly surprised to find 150 people, passionately singing, laughing at the preachers’ jokes, screaming when their friends’ faces show up on the screen among those becoming members.
The sermon was touching and relevant, serious and also humorous. We suffer when we are of two minds, when we cannot decide whether to live according to the worldly, fashionable trends (and feel ashamed) or to live according God’s moral precepts (and feel restless). We have to make up our minds. On the other hand, our assurance is from God - who does not fail, and does not depend on our will, which can (fail). The preacher was obviously familiar with university life. His witty observations resonated with the congregation. There are many PolyU students, but also many from other universities, and young people returning from USA.
I was not surprised to find some students that I know or look familiar. I was still very pleasantly surprised to find that so many of them have taken one of the service-learning courses that I taught, or have participated in some overseas project that our office have organzied - Myanmar, Cambodia, Rwanda, …, United Nations Volunteer project in East Timor, … A girl from Kazakhstan will be going to help in the project in Kazakhstan, … Service-Learning and faith, obviously, is a good match.
It is so heartening to see young people so passionate about God, and actively living out their faith.
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