Vesak Day

Each major religion in Singapore is allowed by the government to choose two of its holidays to become public holidays. This past Friday was a Buddhist holiday, Vesak Day.  According to a website about Singapore public holidays, Vesak Day is the most important day of the year for Buddhists, as they celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha, the prophet who founded Buddhism  On Vesak Day worshipers bring offerings of flowers, candles, and incense to statues of Buddha in the temples.  Also, "Buddhists believe that performing good deeds on Vesak Day will multiply merit, and it is often a day when Buddhist youth organize mass blood donations at hospitals and other Buddhists perform acts of generosity that can include releasing of caged birds and animals, taking goods to the poor and needy, and making gifts to charity." Some Buddhists are also involved in a ritual in which they travel in a procession to a temple, and "devotees take steps on both knees, bowing at every third step as they pray for world peace, personal blessings, and repentance."  

A week and a half before Vesak Day, an enormous tent was set up across the street from the block of buildings where we live.  People worked there for the next week to prepare for Vesak Day celebrations.  We even received a postcard in our door, inviting us to join the Buddhists in their celebration.  The postcard says, "On Vesak Day, Buddhists give praise to the wisdom of our Lord Buddha and our gratitude to His unlimited great compassion." (Wow...how about the wisdom of the Lord God, and our gratitude for HIS great compassion?!!)  We were invited to visit the celebration site or join the Buddhists to pray at any time during the week.  We were also invited to join them in a two-hour "chant for peace" on Friday night.

What follows are some pictures of the celebration site.

The site was well-lit at night, with festive lights 

strung all down the street, far past the tents.

This shows how deeply entrenched Buddhism is in Asia--Buddhists were celebrating Vesak Day over 500 years before Christ was born!

Some themes that apparently play a large role in Buddhism

This sidewalk was put in special for the celebration also--it is usually just a big open field.

Look at all those oranges!  Oranges are a big thing in Chinese culture, and we often see them placed in front of idols as offerings.  They are thought to symbolize wealth, prosperity, and luck.

You may have noticed that one of the signs at the celebration site referred to "The Way." We as Christians know THE WAY--Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. What a wonder that God chose us, to give us salvation through Him!

Bishan Park

A few times lately we have gone to Bishan Park, a very large, beautiful, and peaceful park nearby.  I say "peaceful" because Singapore is a bustling, noisy city--but Bishan Park is very quiet.  People walk, exercise, and ride bikes through there, but the noise of the city is gone.

An interesting tree in the park

There are a few restaurants in Bishan Park.  One is McDonald's.  McDonald's can be found everywhere in Singapore.  (So can KFC.)  Another is a beautiful outdoor restaurant called Canopy Garden Dining--a great place to sit and eat as long as it doesn't rain on you!

There are a couple of different playgrounds in Bishan Park, as the park goes on for at least a mile.  But who needs a playground when you have rocks in a stream?!

 

Here is a picture of one of the people who maintains the park.  I put this in here so you can see how they dress.  It's usually 85-95 degrees and always very humid--I can't imagine working outside dressed like this!  Those who cut lawns here dress the same way--and cut the grass basically with weed-whackers, no matter how large the area they are cutting!

There are two areas of Bishan Park, which are divided by a busy road.  The first time we went to the second area of the park, we were struck by how many temples there were around, just outside the park.  I'm not sure which religions they represent.

Here is an interesting sign we came across in Bishan Park one day.  Let's hope we only come across the SIGN, and not what it is warning about! :-)

Three of our trips to this park have been with people from church.  Kong Wee and Dorcas are the parents of Elijah and Jael, whom I have written about before.  The first time we were joined by one other family as well.  We have very much enjoyed our times of fellowship with them.

Enjoying new friendships!

Church Outing

Last Wednesday, May 1, was Labor Day in Singapore.  Since people have off work, each year there is a church outing on Labor Day.  This year it was at the beautiful Labrador Park on the southern coast of Singapore.

Those who have seen Prof. Dykstra's slideshow on Singapore have seen some of the interesting building designs here.  We passed this one on the way to the church outing, and I have to share...quite the architecture!

Here is Labrador Park:

The outing began with singing and an exhortation by Brother Meng Hsien on fellowship.

Next, we were split up into groups and each given a number of items to work with to depict either the church theme for the year (doctrine according to godliness) or the theme of the day's exhortation (fellowship).  The items included an empty plastic bottle, newspaper, some sticks, a shoebox, a garbage bag, and one "special item" for each group--in our case, a big box.  I was very glad for creative people on my team! :-) After fifteen minutes to put our projects together, we had to explain them to the rest of the people.

A church, where the doctrines of Scripture are explained

A lantern to guide our feet in the paths of godliness

Fellowship of the young people as they play soccer

After the activity we had lunch, which consisted of rice or noodles, along with foods for each team to grill.  These weren't your typical grills though--they were aluminum foil roasting pans with charcoal placed inside, and a thin grate put over the top when it was hot enough.  Worked great!  We might have to make our own grill outside our flat! :-)

After lunch there was free time.  Adults talked, kids played on the nearby playground, a soccer game got going, and through it all we had the fellowship that Meng Hsien had talked about earlier in his exhortation.