International Graduate Student Ministry – Gracepoint Berkeley

At the Gracepoint Fellowship Church combined Bible study last week, we studied 1John 4. Verses 9-10 say: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” One point from the Bible study that really struck me and touched me was that Christmas (i.e. the birth of Jesus) was a big “I LOVE YOU!” proclamation from God. This simple and yet powerful truth pierced through my heart, which was cluttered by the frenzy of the holiday season. I was thankful that I was brought back to this foundational truth about Christmas and about life in general: God loves us.

On Christmas Eve, Chul and Sharon hosted a wonderful dinner at their house for those who are still in the area. We got to know one another a little bit more by sharing about our most memorable holiday experience or our most memorable gift. Each one of us shared a very interesting story; as a result, the whole sharing time lasted over one and a half hour. I thoroughly enjoyed that time. After the sharing, we went to see the Christmas lights on Thompson Street in Alameda. This is a well-known street in Alameda because every house on this street block is decorated with Christmas lights every Christmas. Although it was raining, the lights were still on and we were able to walk through the street. The rain, the chill, and the dazzling Christmas lights made it quite a memorable Christmas for me.

Many friends, some just done with finals, came to celebrate Christmas together with ISM at the Lipman Room. We ate well, met new people and reconnected with our friends. We listened to a message about the meaning of Christmas and played a gift exchange game. What a packed night! Check out the pictures.

As is our normal tradition, ISM celebrated the end of the final exam period with our annual Christmas party.  We had a lot of good food at our potluck…  I particularly enjoyed Jisup’s chili (though I always seem to enjoy chili), Jame’s sweet rice ball dessert, and of course, more chili.  (Jisup and Sara, my wife will not be thanking you for this delicious dish!)

After that, we had a message by Chul that showed an awfully clean and cute version of the Nativity…  I think the people were lego figures, so it was a sanitized, kids’ version.  The stable looked too clean.  But he talked about the message of Christmas and how we need to have room for Jesus in our own hearts…  (the podcast will be up soon for those who missed the Bible study but want to hear it)

But as you probably figured out, the highlight was our annual gift exchange.  We had a lot of people show up and actually ran out of gifts, though many brought extras too.  It was crazy.  There was an AM/FM/CD player radio that was quite popular.  A label maker as well.  But of course, very few people got exactly what they wanted because of the crazy gift exchange game.  2 things to note: (1) “This is so fun” made its way back to ISM…  twice.  I can brag that I won each time on those challenges!  And (2) The arm wrestling challenge was hilarious…  The biggest surprise of the night?  Billy is stronger than I thought…  I thought Joe would beat him for sure, but they were pretty evenly matched for 1 minute.  It was great to watch!

If you missed it, join us for our other Christmas activities…  or we’ll see you next year!

There’s a lot of good news in the world… but good news for everyone? That is a rare thing indeed. And yet in the birth of Jesus, there is good news of salvation for everyone. We all need salvation because the biggest problem in our lives is sin against God. In a spectacular miracle, Jesus sacrificed the right to be God so that he could free us from our sin problem. That’s the Christmas story!

Listen:
 

The graduate students in ISM joined the on-campus college groups from our church (Gracepoint Fellowship Church) for an unprecedented Christmas caroling time on campus. After our Friday Forum, we all gathered at the Valley Life Science Building lawn with our tiny LED lights and cell phones in hand to sing Christmas carols together. Before we sang, Daniel, who led the time, asked us to raise our LED light or cell phone when he called the year in which we came out to our church or our fellowship group. He started with 1991 (right?) and went up to 2008 this year. As the year progressed, the number of lights increased. This was a powerful imagery that we, as a church, can be a bright light to the world, though we might be a small light individually.

In our second look at the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda, we see a perfect illustration of a man who experienced the power of Jesus—but not a relationship with Jesus. Like the crowds, its easy for us to lack meaningful contact with God when we lack humility and trust. So when we decide to follow God, we need to know: being a Christian is an easy thing only if we have the humility to let go of our own desires. If we insist on our desires, we’ll find ourselves a lot like this healed paralytic.

Listen:
 

I picked up a copy of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christmas from the book table at Gracepoint Fellowship Church after the Sunday Worship Service yesterday. It’s a small pocket-size book (91 pages), which took about two hours to finish. Lee Strobel is a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, whose larger books are The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for Creator. I enjoyed his journalistic style of writing because I could follow the path of his investigation on the case for Christmas with his clear logics and insightful questions. He often brings up the opposing views against Christianity to his interviewers, which include scholars, an archaeologist, and a pastor. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to investigate methodically the true meaning and story behind Christmas.

In the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, we get a glimpse of a crippled man who was hoping for healing and wholeness by competing against others like him. He was so focused on winning that he couldn’t even listen to Jesus’ rather obvious question: “do you want to be healed?” And yet, we see a picture of modern man here: obsessed with success so much that we don’t pay attention to others, particularly God.

Listen:
 

Do you hear what I hear? Well, you probably don’t. As December has arrived, I am hearing the songs of Christmas in my head. Christmas has always been a magical time for me ever since I came to the United States because people just seemed nicer around the time of Christmas. However, I didn’t understand the true significance of this holiday until I became Christian in college just a few years back. The love of God culminates in the birth of Jesus, in the form of a human body. (If you don’t know the full story, come to our Bible study to find out more.) It’s amazing! So, now, I celebrate Christmas by singing well-known Christmas songs in a much more meaningful way. What is your favorite Christmas song?